Anything but Love

by Celya Bowers

  Cole stood in her doorway dressed in casual slacks and a silk shirt, looking like a million bucks. “As a matter of fact you can.” He walked past her and entered her house without so much as an invitation.

  Kendall stood slack-jawed, as her mother would say. That wasn’t the answer she was expecting, especially since they’d shared so much the previous weekend. She expected…well, she didn’t know what she expected, but that wasn’t it.

  “Are you going to close the door?”

  She closed the door before she answered. “Why are you here?”

  “Something smells good.” Cole walked to the dining room and took a seat at her table. “That looks good. Where’s the meat?”

  “I don’t think I invited you,” Kendall said, reclaiming her seat opposite Cole. “Besides, I thought you had a manuscript to finish.”

  Cole nodded. “Plate?”

  Kendall was confused. “What?”

  “Can I have a plate? Or do I have to eat with my hands?”

  Kendall rose and retrieved a plate for him. She placed it in front of him. “You know that’s my dinner?”

  Cole scooped some rice on his plate. “Oh, we can go out for some real food later. We need to talk.”

  Kendall couldn’t believe he was acting as if he lived there or something. “What are we talking about?”

  Cole ate the rice in a few quick bites and drank her glass of wine. “That was good.”

  “You ate my dinner,” Kendall complained. “Let’s get that talk over with so I can find something else.”

  Cole smiled, irritating Kendall all the more. “Two things. The first, last night was amazing. I hope there will be many more to come. The second is that your board wants us to do a public service announcement to get more donations for your hospital.”

  That killed her appetite in a hurry. “This is just as I feared. The board wants to capitalize on the fact that a famous writer donated the money. I don’t like this. The whole idea of the hospital is anonymity. I don’t want to publicize the fact that people need to visit a charity hospital.”

  Cole nodded. “I know, but we can work around that. We could film general areas and without patients. If they need to see people, we could always hire actors.”

  “That’s dishonest,” Kendall said, but she thought his idea could work.

  “It’s not dishonest. It satisfied everyone involved. CNT wants to do the story, and it will be on national television. You could get a lot of money that way. You could have all the money you need for that cancer center you want to build.”

  She could also hire the appropriate personnel for the job. The possibilities would be endless with a larger budget. She could help even more people. Maybe it was worth a little smoke screen. “So what’s in it for you?”

  “Basking in your beauty.” He rose and headed for the living room.

  Kendall sighed and followed him. “Look, Cole, I’m not some starstruck fan. I know what’s what.” She wanted to beat him to the punch.

  “Obviously you don’t know.” He sat on the couch and motioned for her to join him.

  Kendall hesitated, not wanting him to think he had an upper hand, mainly because he did. In the end, she sat beside him. “Okay, Cole, tell me what I don’t know.”

  He took a deep breath. “You have your little speech all ready because you think I’m going to break your heart. I have no intention of breaking anything. I have every intention of making love to you tonight.”

  Kendall didn’t think her body could take another round of lovemaking with this man. Her brain would definitely turn to mush. “Cole, I thought you wanted to talk.”

  He leaned back on the couch, looking very at home on her suede sofa. “I can multitask. I can do a lot of things while I’m making love to you.”

  His voice had taken on that sexy timbre that sent shivers down her spine. He could he make her feel that way without even touching her! “You said you wanted to talk.” She had to do something to get her mind off making love with this man or she would be in a world of trouble.

  * * *

  Cole smiled and enjoyed his moment of triumph. He’d actually caught Kendall off guard. “Why don’t you move closer?”

  “I think I can hear you just fine from here.” Kendall grabbed a pillow and placed it between them. “Now what were we talking about? The PSA?”

  “How about the fact we nearly used a box of condoms. I had to buy more today. Want to see how many we can use?”

  “Cole, are you always like this? I think I liked you better when you were being an arrogant jerk that day you sprained your ankle. Horny Cole is not very becoming.”

  “You’re just trying to find something non-sexual to focus on. Or at least that’s what I’m trying to do, and it’s just not working.”

  Kendall cleared her throat. “You were mentioning something about hiring actors if needed. How are we going to do that and the reporter not know and expose us as frauds?”

  “We’ll talk about the hospital and I’ll talk about my new book, which happens to be set in a hospital much like Briarwood. We can get publicity for both, and it won’t cost a dime.”

  “What am I supposed to say to this reporter?”

  Cole shrugged. He had an idea, but didn’t know how to present it to Kendall. He didn’t want her thinking he was trying to take over the whole thing. “How about I come up with a little script and you can look it over. Say tomorrow night over dinner.”

  “Sounds like you’re the one winning this deal,” Kendall mumbled.

  He moved the pillow from her iron grasp and tossed it on the floor. “Some would say so.” He moved closer to her. “Some would say you’re trying to play hard to get.”

  Her mouth hung open and Cole took full advantage. He kissed her slowly and hungrily, his mouth devouring hers, before he eased his tongue inside her mouth. He felt the surrender as she drew him closer.

  But Kendall had a different plan for him. She broke the kiss, stood and straightened her shirt. “Don’t just stare at me.” She held her hand out. “I think you’re trying to turn me into horny Kendall.”

  * * *

  The next morning, Kendall heard the unmistakable sounds of a man in her bed. Her companion was snoring. Kendall pulled the sheet up to her neck and turned over slowly.

  Cole lay on his side facing her, and had the nerve to wear a smug grin on his face. Kendall couldn’t believe she’d succumbed to temptation again. She sighed and lightly tapped Cole on his shoulder. “Cole, get up.”

  “What time is it?” He never opened his eyes. “It can’t be that late.” He stretched his arms and reached for her.

  Kendall yelped, but went into his embrace easily. “Cole, you have to leave.” She didn’t really mean it, but she had to say something.

  He rolled on top of her, pinning her beneath him and his monster erection. Finally, he opened those beautiful hazel eyes and stared at her. “Okay, now that you have me up on all accounts, you have to do something about it.”

  “Cole, we don’t have time for this, or at least I don’t. You’re a writer, so you make your own schedule, but I have patients to see.”

  Cole ignored her protests and kissed her. Kendall was lost in the feeling of his very experienced hands traveling her slender body, making her body sing for orgasmic penetration.

  Her body wiggled as his long fingers entered her. She was trying to think of a reason to make him stop, but her brain wasn’t working. Her legs were, as they parted to give him better access.

  He reached for something under the pillow. A condom. “You were saying something about getting to work on time.” He opened the packet with his mouth and slipped it on with the urgency of a horny teenager.

  Kendall stared at him. “What?”

  Cole smiled. “Now let’s stop talking, at least with our mouths, and let our bodies continue this conversation.” He withdrew his finger and entered her with one strong stroke.

  Kendall gasped, wondering how many times the human body could experi
ence an intense orgasm before totally collapsing. It could be an experiment worth researching. Cole would definitely be the perfect study.

  He withdrew quickly and moved off her body. “Am I hurting you?”

  Kendall reached for him. “Only if you stop.”

  Cole smiled and embraced her. He kissed her hard. “Well, I don’t think I can. Want to find out?”

  Kendall nodded, and for the first time didn’t give a thought to the patients she had waiting. Her only thought was that Cole definitely knew how to take her mind off work.

  * * *

  When Kendall finally made it to work it was almost eleven. Thanks to Cole and his stamina, she was well on her way to finding out the answer to her research problem. They had made love until she cried uncle.

  Thank goodness she didn’t have any morning appointments. She was supposed to research costs for the hospital, but she could still do that later. Staci was her first afternoon appointment, so she had a little recoup time. In only a few days, she’d had more sex with Cole than she’d probably had in her entire adult life. She glanced at her clock; it was just before noon. She could take a little nap on her couch, and no one would know she and Cole had gotten their “freak on,” as her nephew called it, again. Yes, thirty minutes of sleep should recharge her batteries, she thought as she walked to the couch.

  The last thing she remembered was kicking off her stilettos.

  “Kendall, wake up.” A cold hand shook her.

  But she didn’t want to open her eyes. She had just closed them. Wasn’t she allowed a little catnap doing the day?

  “Kendall.”

  It was Staci’s voice, she finally realized. But that appointment wasn’t until one. “Staci, you’re early. Come back at one.”

  Staci laughed. “Girl, you better check your watch.”

  Kendall finally pried her eyes opened and gazed at her friend. “It’s barely twelve. Why are you here so early?”

  Staci sat in the chair next to the desk and let out a tired breath. “First of all, Ms. Thing, I’m about an hour and a half late. It’s two-thirty. I left you about five messages explaining I had an emergency and would be late.”

  Kendall sat up slowly. “I didn’t hear the phone ring.”

  “I know. Jami thought you were trying to take a nap, so she took the messages. But I called your cell and you still didn’t pick up.”

  “I would have heard the phone. I must have had it on silent or something,” Kendall said. “I couldn’t have been that tired.”

  “Don’t tell me you and Cole have been bouncing around on the sheets again?”

  Kendall couldn’t hide the look. At least not from Staci. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Nice try, Kendall. But the next time you’re trying to feign innocence, make sure that you don’t have a hickey on your neck.” She started laughing. “I crack myself up!”

  Kendall wanted to be mad. But soon she found herself laughing as well. “You got me.”

  “Okay, can I have some details?”

  “Why on earth would you want details?”

  “Hey, my very frigid friend is getting laid more times than an intern at the nation’s capitol. Of course I must have details.”

  Kendall nodded. When Staci wanted to know something, there was no stopping until she was satisfied. She was much like Cole in that respect. “All right.”

  * * *

  Staci leaned back in the chair and sighed. “If I wasn’t pregnant, I’d need a cigarette after that story.” She rubbed her stomach and laughed. “I can’t believe two forty-year-old people used an entire box of condoms!”

  Kendall couldn’t either. “Actually Cole is forty-five,” she said with feminine pride. “He’s in pretty good shape.”

  Staci hoisted herself up from her chair. “Don’t think I don’t see you grinning like a Cheshire cat. I know you’re proud of your man and I’m proud that you got some. I think Cole is going to give your hormones a run for your money, not to mention your heart.”

  “Oh, I don’t think that will happen. I know it was because I confessed about the crush I had on him when I was a teenager.” She opened the office door so that they could finally get started on Staci’s test.

  Staci walked to the door and slammed it shut. “Okay, start from the beginning.”

  Kendall shrugged, not wanting to remember that particular part of that magical evening. “Not much to tell. Remember after my divorce you thought I was depressed about James?”

  “Yes. You didn’t date for at least two years. When you finally started dating it was sparingly, I might add.”

  “It wasn’t because I missed James. It was because I didn’t love James in the first place. I married him in hopes he’d give me closure over Cole, my teenage crush.”

  “I guess that didn’t work, did it?”

  Kendall shook her head. “I felt bad for ruining what could have been a good marriage.”

  “He did cheat on you.”

  “I drove him to it,” Kendall admitted. “I never gave the marriage my all.”

  Staci planted her hands on Kendall’s shoulders. “Now you look here, missy. So your marriage didn’t work. Don’t blame yourself. James had been cheating on you longer than you realize. So don’t go thinking you failed him.”

  “What do you mean?” Kendall faced her friend.

  “I mean that man has had just about every nurse at my hospital. The only ones he never approached were yours. They were too afraid to cross you. Thank goodness you scare the daylights out of people.”

  “I don’t know if I should thank you for that compliment or wait until the baby’s born and knock you silly for the insult.”

  Staci ignored her remark and headed out of the room. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You like it.”

  Kendall laughed. “Yes, I do, but that is about to change. I don’t want the nurses to be afraid of me. In fact, I don’t want anyone afraid of me anymore.” They walked down the hall to the examination room.

  “I knew you would change one day. Power is great, but friends last longer.”

  Trust Staci to hit the nail on the head.

  CHAPTER 10

  Cole was in the zone. Everything he typed on his laptop computer screen sounded like gold to his ears as he read it out loud. His story was coming along nicely and he was way ahead of schedule, and could probably set up a date with Kendall very soon. The more he thought of their night together, the more he had to see her, and soon. Who would have thought a forty-five-year-old man could feel this horny?

  He thought he heard the phone ringing, but kept typing anyway. Whoever it was would have to call back. His family knew when he was writing that everything was off limits and not to call.

  But the phone kept ringing, forcing him to stop his flow of creative juices and answer the darn thing. He walked down the hall to the nearest phone and snatched it to his ear. “What?”

  “Dad?”

  “Taylor?” Cole silently cursed his bad luck. Of all the times for his estranged teenaged son to call, he mused. He’d only been waiting a year for this call.

  “Yes, Dad. Did I catch you at a bad time?”

  “No, no. What’s up? How’s school?”

  “That’s kind of what I want to talk to you about. Is it okay if I come to Texas for a visit now?”

  “Sure, Taylor. You don’t have to ask. I didn’t think you’d want to visit me here. At least that what your mother said each and every time I’ve called to speak with you.”

  His son sighed. “Well, Mom told me that you didn’t want to see me, and that you went back to Texas to get away from me.”

  “That’s rubbish,” Cole spat. “You know how much you mean to me, Taylor. How could she tell you such lies? Sure, it didn’t work out between your mom and me, but that has nothing to do with you.”

  “She was mad at you, Dad,” Taylor clarified for his father. “I just found out she was lying to me about you. I overheard her on the phone to Grandmother. She told Grandmother s
he doesn’t want me to see you, ever, and would do whatever it took to make sure it didn’t happen.”

  Cole was about to let a string of expletives fly out of his mouth, but stopped abruptly. Taylor was an innocent in all this, and besides, it wouldn’t do any good to be as spiteful as his former wife. His ex-wife was using the one thing Cole valued most against him, his son. “I’ll get your ticket and call you back with the information.”

  “Okay, call me at this number.” Taylor quickly rattled the numbers to his father. “Mom will kill me if she knew I called you.”

  “How’s she going to take you coming to Texas?” Cole already knew how his ex would take the news. She’d more than likely kick Taylor out on his butt.

  “I’ll most likely be living with you from now on, but I just can’t take it living here with her anymore. I don’t like being her showpiece to all her friends. She keeps telling people that I’m going to Harvard. I don’t want to go to Harvard. I want to go to SMU. Mom said if I stepped one foot on Texas soil, I no longer existed in her eyes.”

  Cole’s heart sank at how selfish one woman could be. “Well, welcome to Texas.”

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  He heard the catch in his son’s voice as Taylor ended the call. A sixteen-year-old shouldn’t have to go through this. Taylor should be concerned with dating and college prep exams, not afraid of getting tossed out by his mother. But Cole would make sure his transition would be as painless as possible. First thing he had to do was to book a ticket for his son.

  * * *

  Kendall rubbed her head in frustration. The board wasn’t making this PSA nonsense any easier. Now they wanted her and Cole to do two spots instead of just one. The CNT reporter wanted to do a phone interview before she committed to flying down to do the real interview.

  What happened to her safe, controlled world? She couldn’t imagine working with Cole through two PSAs. She’d be a basket case by then. Or a nymphomaniac.