Fuck. Okay. Let’s get this show on the road.
I knock on the door and a pretty, curvy woman with long blonde hair answers. “Hi,” I say, pasting a smile on my face and offering the flowers in her direction. “I’m Cole Mitchell.”
She looks at me and her eyes narrow. “Yes.” Her tone is cool. “And you aren’t an escort. What are you really playing at, Cole?”
15
Cole:
“What?”
She glares at me. “Oh give it up,” she snaps. “My nephew is the biggest nerd in the world. I took him to Comic Con two months ago for his birthday. You signed his copy of Hammer for him.”
My cover is well and truly blown. “Fair enough,” I sigh. “I’m not really an escort. Can I come in, and I’ll explain?”
Her nod is slight, and her gaze remains hostile, but she stands aside and I enter. “Sit,” she orders, gesturing to the couch. “And don’t move. I’m calling for reinforcements.”
“Huh?”
“Oh yeah.” She sounds satisfied. “Patti’s a lawyer, and she’s really good at telling when she’s being lied to.” She calls someone on her cell and has a whispered conversation with them, shooting daggers at me the entire time. Ten minutes later, Patti, Sadie’s other best friend appears, and my interrogation begins.
“Tell me,” Patti bites out, “why I shouldn’t call Sadie right now and expose your lies, you scumbag?”
I hold up my hands in a gesture of peace. “Can I tell my side of the story before you two burst with righteous indignation?” Sarcasm isn’t probably the best weapon to use when Anna and Patti look like they want to break a glass vase over my head, but no one has ever accused me of treading warily.
“Fine. But this better be good.”
So the entire story comes out, and I don’t hold anything back. “Originally, it was just a stupid way to avoid talking shop with Sadie,” I say. “I wasn’t able to create anything new, and I was panicking daily about my inability to draw. Talking to someone about Hammer felt like torture. All through Comic Con, people kept asking me when the sequel was coming out, and I had nothing. I wanted to avoid another incident like that.”
Those days had been really grim. Things are so much better now, and it’s all because of Sadie, really. For the first time, I have someone to think about, someone I care about more than myself. The mere act of focusing on something else has unplugged the creative well. The words are flowing freely. Life is good.
And I’ve kept lying to the woman I’ve started to fall in love with. “I really like Sadie,” I finish, sounding more than a little sorry for myself. “And I should have told her the truth the second time we met. But once I heard her story about her ex-husband, I realized she’d never date me if she knew the truth. So, I told myself that it was okay to lie.” I grimace. “What I’m doing is wrong. I should just tell her the truth and accept the consequences.”
“Or, you could keep lying to her.”
“What?” I gape at Patti, who has just voiced that heretical idea. “Are you serious?”
Anna leans forward, listening intently, as Patti makes her case. “Absolutely,” she says. “Let’s think about this, shall we? Sadie, as we all know, is incredibly risk-averse about guys. Jude did a number on her.”
Anna glares at Patti. “I think she has a right to be, don’t you?”
Patti looks sympathetic. “It’s been three years, Anna. I know it hurts, but at what point do you need to say enough? Jude was a mistake, but how long should she punish herself for him?”
Anna bites her lip, but doesn’t contradict her. Patti continues, looking at me. “What are the odds that she’s going to want to have nothing to do with you when she finds out?”
“Pretty damn good.” My voice is gloomy.
“I agree. She doesn’t trust men. The only reason she’s hanging out with you is that you are completely off-limits.”
“This isn’t going to end well, Patti,” Anna warns. “Sadie’s going to be very unhappy when she finds out that we’ve conspired with Cole to lie to her.”
“Only for a little while longer,” Patti says. “She’s friends with Cole now, right?”
“Right.” I’m not sure what I feel about this. I really don’t want to lie to Sadie any more. The last two weeks, I’ve felt like a cad. Whatever the consequences, I should be straight with her.
I’m about to open my mouth to point that out when Patti says, “and she likes Cole.”
“She likes me?”
Both Anna and Patti shoot me identical looks of pity. “Why are guys so dumb?” Anna asks rhetorically, and Patti rolls her eyes.
“Of course she likes you, you idiot,” Patti says. “She’s spending all her time with you, isn’t she?”
“What’s the plan, Patti?” Anna interrupts. “Let’s get to the point. She’s not going to either like Cole or trust him when she finds out he’s been lying to her.”
“The plan,” Patti says, a tone of hidden glee in her voice, “is that Anna starts expressing interest in Cole. Sadie needs to get jealous if she’s ever going to take a chance on a guy.”
Anna looks thoughtful. “That could work,” she admits. She fixes me with a stern glare. “If you are a jerk to her, even a little bit, you’ll answer to me. Understand?”
I’m a little terrified of these women and their diabolical plans. I’m also hopeful. I need a plan, and Patti has laid one out. Now, all I can do is play my part, and hope that these women know their friend well. Because if Sadie doesn’t get jealous, then I’m doomed. She will never forgive me for my lies.
16
Sadie:
I might have created a monster.
Anna and Cole have gone out multiple times in the last month. “He’s great for my ego,” Anna gushes every time I see her. “He’s so nice. So attentive and so easy on the eye.”
Cole, on the other hand, has said very little. But he has made one thing very clear, to my complete delight. “I’m not sleeping with her,” he’d announced one day out of the blue, after one of their dates.
“What?”
I must have looked confused, because he’d elaborated. “Your friend Anna. I’m not sleeping with her. I thought you should know that.” He’d grimaced. “I don’t make it a habit of sleeping with my clients, Sadie. You were an exception.”
It had felt like a massive weight had been removed from my chest. Why was I an exception, Cole, I’d wanted to ask, but I hadn’t been very brave that day. Or any other day, as a matter of fact.
Rather than respond to his declaration, I’d gone off on a tangent. “You haven’t cashed my check,” I’d accused him. “It’s messing up my attempts to keep my account balanced.”
He’d grinned and shrugged, I remember. And he still hasn’t cashed my check.
* * *
Cole:
I’m working, completely in the zone. The story, the images, they are flowing out of my head onto the paper in a way that feels almost effortless. At this rate, I tell myself, you’ll even be able to work on the third book this year.
Then, like a complete moron, I go on Reddit. Occasionally, someone says something that’s insightful and thoughtful, but largely, the comic sub-forums are a cesspool where Internet trolls dominate the conversation and derail thoughtful discussion. I stumble upon a thread that’s titled ‘Cole Mitchell is a talentless hack’, and though I should shut the browser window and walk away, I don’t. It’s like the train wreck that you have to stop to rubberneck at.
The effect of reading one hateful post after another? A month ago, I would have been crippled by self-doubt. I would have stared at the blank sheet of paper for hours, trying to recapture my muse.
Not anymore. I have bigger concerns now. My feelings for Sadie eclipse every other emotion in my head. Each day we hang out, I fall in love with her a little more. Soon, I promise myself, I’ll tell her the truth. I’ve already hinted at it by telling her that I’m not sleeping with Anna, but it isn’t enough, not by a long shot.
>
There’s a knock on my door and my heart jumps. It’s probably Sadie. This is about the time of the day when she’s usually ready to knock off work and take Devil for a walk. I open the door and sure enough, it’s her.
But there’s no beagle straining at the leash. Instead, she has tears streaming down her cheeks. “Cole,” she whispers, as if she doesn’t trust her voice to quite speak, “can I get a hug?”
* * *
Sadie:
His arms go around me and he pulls me into his body. I rest my cheek against his warm chest and savor the feel of him.
“What’s the matter, sweetie?” he asks, his voice thick with concern. His hand strokes my hair, calming strokes that serve to comfort me.
The initial shock of the hateful email I’ve just received is wearing off, and I start to feel just a little silly. My tears are a complete overreaction. “It’s nothing,” I mutter, flushing. Cole must think I’m really, really needy. “I’m sorry. I got a horrible note from an author I’ve been working with, and it upset me.”
“Come on,” he urges me toward his couch. “Sit.” I realize I’m still clinging to him like a limpet, and I make moves to disentangle myself, but I abandon the attempt when he growls in protest. Let’s be honest - I’m happy to stay connected to him. “Tell me what happened?”
“You know how busy I’ve been this past month?” I ask him, and he nods. “I’ve been editing a book by an author I haven’t worked with before. Janey Stuart. And it’s been a ton of work. Loose threads all over the place, abrupt point-of-view switches, head-hopping, you name it, this book had it.”
Cole’s looking a little blank at my editor-speak, so I tone it down. “Long story short, it was bad. Anyway – she hasn’t been the easiest person to work with, but I thought that’s just because she was stressed by the process. Then today, I received the ugliest email from her. No thanks, just a long rant about my lack of editing skills. And she copied my boss.”
Cole’s hands are stroking my back, and I can’t hold my train of thought anymore. His touch sends tingles through me, and my breath catches in my throat. “Cole…” I whisper. Sitting here like this next to him, his body pressed against mine, I can’t resist him anymore. I’ve tried; God knows I’ve tried. I’ve told myself he’s an escort time and time again. I’ve told myself that men aren’t to be trusted. I’ve reminded myself of how long it took to get over Jude, and how miserable I had been in the aftermath of my marriage’s collapse.
But I can’t resist anymore. I can’t pretend that I don’t want Cole. My body needs him with aching desperation. Even though he’s an escort, and the idea of him on a date with someone else breaks my heart.
“Cole.” I twist in his arms, pressing my lips against the prickle of his beard. “I want you…”
“Sadie.” His voice is raspy with the same need that’s swirling like a tempest through my blood. “All I’ve been able to think about in the last month is the way you felt in my arms. The softness of your skin. The heat of your body, the perfection of your touch.” He swallows and looks into my eyes, his green eyes glittering with an unnamed emotion. “I don’t want you as a client, Sadie,” he continues. “I want to date you. For real.”
I’m so stunned I can’t think of a reply. He speaks hurriedly, taking my silence to be rejection. “I haven’t slept with anyone since that night,” he says. “You’re the only woman I want.”
My pulse is racing. I’m startled to realize that I genuinely trust him when he says he hasn’t slept with anyone else. But I still can’t see how this will end well. He’s an escort. There’s no changing that. Can I stand by and watch him turn on the potent Cole Mitchell charm on other women?
“Sadie?” Cole’s voice is hesitant. “Say something?”
His tone is uncertain, and seeing his tentativeness, a sudden wave of warmth rushes through me. This is Cole. For six weeks, we’ve been friends. When I told him I didn’t want to sleep with him, he could have tried to change my mind, but he didn’t. He respected my desires, and he didn’t pout. Not even once.
He’s become the person I talk to about everything. He’s become my sounding board about what’s happening at work. He’s probably the most important person in my life.
I’m ready to take a chance. “Okay,” I whisper.
“Okay what?”
My cheeks heat. “I want to date you for real too,” I say. “Also, I think we are talking too much, and I think we should move this to the bedroom.”
I see the relief in his eyes, then it is replaced by intense, fiery lust. “I couldn’t agree with you more, Sadie.” He rises to his feet and offers me his arm. “Let’s go to bed.”
17
Cole:
She’s naked on my bed, and it takes every inch of self-control I possess not to part her legs and plunge into her hot, willing warmth. But this time, I’m determined to take my time.
“You’re wearing too many clothes,” she pouts. “As usual.”
I grin. “I can fix that,” I assure her, pulling my t-shirt over my head and undoing my jeans. Sadie’s eyes widen as my erection springs out, but I don’t know why she’s surprised. I’ve been walking around with a painful case of blue balls for most of the last few weeks. She has no idea how attractive I find her. I ache for her all the time. When she curls a strand of hair around her fingers, when she chews on her lower lip, when she smiles with unconcealed joy… Sadie is beautiful.
Right now, she’s licking her lips. “I want to taste you,” she mutters, heat in her tone.
“You’ll have to wait your turn.” I laugh at her mutinous expression. “Sorry baby. I can’t get the taste of you out of my mind. I need to feast on your sweet pussy first.”
Her face heats. “I’d forgotten how direct you are,” she says wryly.
I chuckle. She’s adorable when she blushes. I position myself between her parted legs, and I lower my head to her sweet, sweet pussy. I sweep my tongue up in a long lick, then I flick at her clitoris, and she almost arches off the bed.
“Cole,” she moans. “Oh god, yes. Please…”
She doesn’t need to beg. The blood roars in my head as I lap at her sweetness. She’s dripping wet, and I can’t tear myself away from her.
I push a finger inside her pussy, and her muscles clamp down. “Yes,” she groans. “More...” Obligingly, I add another finger, and let my thumb graze over her asshole. “Oh,” she gasps.
“You like that, baby?” I trace a slow, delicate circle over that tight hole. She moans, throwing her head back in sheer abandon and parting her thighs to allow me better access. I smirk. She’s a naughty girl, Sadie, and I love it. “You want more?”
Her cheeks are flushed with color, but she nods shyly. My dick hardens even more painfully at her response. This woman is going to be the death of me, I swear, and I can’t think of a better way to go.
I wriggle my finger until I’m buried up to the first knuckle. She gasps sharply, but she doesn’t stop me. Her hips thrust toward my mouth, wild and wanton and so responsive. “I’m going to come,” she whispers.
“No,” I order harshly, removing my fingers. “I want to feel you come on my dick.” I roll a condom on and lift her so she’s on top of me. “Ride me, baby.”
In this position, I can see every twitch, every tremor. Her eyes are hazy with lust, and her breath catches as she sinks onto my cock. “Oh fuck,” she groans. “You are so deep in me.” She lifts herself up and drops back on my cock, rolling her hips as she does so.
“Sadie,” I grit out. “If you keep doing that, I’m going to spew like a teenager.”
She laughs in delight. “In that case,” she says, mischief in her voice, “I’m going to keep doing exactly that.” Her fingers tease at her nipples and she winks at me. “Should I stop touching myself, Cole?” she asks coyly.
Fuck me, where did this temptress come from? I grin wide and lock my arms behind my head. “You better not,” I tell her. “I’m enjoying the show far too much.”
; “So you like this...” She pinches a nipple, hard enough to moan. “How about this?” Her fingers slide down her body and she rubs her clitoris, and fuck me, I have to recite multiplication tables to keep from exploding.
“You little temptress,” I accuse her.
“Guilty.” She does that hip roll again, and that’s it. I can’t take it anymore. I reach out and grab her hips in my hands, setting the pace, slamming her into me.
“Yes,” she breathes. “Oh God yes.” Her fingers rub at her clitoris, hard and fast. Her muscles milk my cock with each stroke, clenching around my shaft. I’m not going to make it. I can’t… she’s too hot, too perfect.
“Fuck,” I clench out. We both shatter at the same time.
Once I get rid of the condom, I pull her next to me. “I’ll be extremely displeased,” I tell her, “if I wake up in the middle of the night and find you gone.”
She smiles and laces her fingers in mine. “Fair enough,” she says. “But if I stay here, that means you have to make the first cup of coffee.”
“Deal,” I agree.
Coffee? I’d do anything for this woman. She makes me feel things I’ve never felt before. She makes me want to stick around and put in the effort. She makes me a better person.
18
Cole:
For nearly two weeks, Sadie and I have been inseparable. I’ve done all I can to demonstrate that I’m not her scum of an ex-husband. I’m ready to tell Sadie the truth.
There’s no denying that I’m nervous. Let’s face it – I’ve been lying to her. Sure, I haven’t cheated on her, but isn’t lying the same thing as cheating?
But my newfound partners in this conspiracy – Patti and Anna – have urged me to wait, and so I have, though I have many, many misgivings.
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