Wrong Side Girl (The Girl Series Book 1) (25 page)

“I talked to my lawyer, just in case, but nothing has happened, which would prove Lizzy is right. She isn’t coming after me.” That was Cole.

“It’s been too quiet. I don’t like it,” Max grumbled.

“She knows she’s beat. You went on the offensive, found out that she was sleeping with her boss, used it, and she got fired. Your mother hasn’t talked to Courtney from what Derrick could gather. Courtney is jobless, all her credit cards are maxed, and she’s a pregnant single woman. If she’s smart, she has reassessed her situation and come to the realization that she has other things to worry about.”

“Yeah, a smart woman would do that, but she isn’t smart. I say we stay alert, just in case,” Cole said. Max nodded his agreement.

“All right. You guys stay alert all you want. I’m too busy to keep looking over my shoulder. I’ve got a life to live, kids to worry about, and a wedding to plan. And according to my fiancée’s assistant, he is taking me some place special tomorrow tonight and I don’t own fancy clothes. He has seen the only little black dress I own. I’m not that fond of shopping, but my new posse tells me that I have to look the part, so they’re taking me shopping on our lunch break tomorrow. So you do what you gotta do and I’ll do what I deem as more important.”

“You don’t like shopping?” Max asked me, seemingly shocked that there was a woman out there who didn’t enjoy spending most of her time in a busy shopping mall.

“It’s not one of my favorites, no.”

He looked at Cole. “You’re a lucky guy.”

“Don’t I know it. It’s also very frustrating, though. The only woman I want to give anything she wants, and she doesn’t want one single thing. It’s a pain in the ass to buy her a gift. Always has been. Even when she was a little girl. Sweet as pie and hard as nails.”

“Like I said. Lucky guy.”

“Yeah,” Cole agreed, then his eyes came to me and he grinned.

I rolled my eyes at both of them, making them both chuckle. I changed the subject. “You staying for dinner?”

“Wouldn’t mind if I did,” Max mumbled.

Derrick shrugged his shoulders. “Sure,” he said.

“Good. Cole makes a mean lasagna.”

Cole chuckled again and shook his head at me. Then he proceeded into the kitchen to start cooking, giving me a quick but deep kiss as he passed by me.

Now was now. I had gone shopping with my besties and had only received a few groans and stink-eyes when I had complained about trying on all the dresses they had picked. Even Rainey had joined us and had found the experience more than amusing. She was so much like me it wasn’t even funny. At least that’s what Marie and Sam had said. Rainey had shrugged and grinned at me.

But I had to give it to them. Sam and Marie knew what they were doing. I was ready to go, dressed to the nines, hair and make-up done. I turned in front of the mirror for one last check.

Wow.

I couldn’t believe that was me. Sam had not been wrong. She knew her way around clothes, so I had trusted her judgment without question. Still, I had no clue that
I
could look like that. After finding the absolute perfect dress for me—her words—she took me to MAC to let them show me how to do my make-up and hair. I’d had some difficulties pinning my locks partly back the way they had shown me, but I got it on the seventh try. My make-up was light, but smoky, the grey bringing out the green in my eyes. Pale red lip-gloss. Silver waterfall earrings with little black stones at the end, matching the necklace adorning my ample cleavage. And what cleavage it was. Yeah, I had tits and ass, but holy hell! The dress was out of this world. It was green, which I usually didn’t wear, not a fan of the myth that anything green looked stunning on redheads. But this shade of green went perfectly with my coloring. It hugged my hips and other important parts of my body, coming just to the top of my knees. Sexy, black, not too high heels completed the ensemble. No purse. I told Sam I wouldn’t need it. Cole could put my lip-gloss in his pocket and that was all I needed. She had been a little disgruntled at not getting the opportunity to shop for the perfect clutch, but had let it go.

I heard a pained groan coming from behind me. Looking over my shoulder in the mirror, I saw Cole standing in the doorway, completely frozen. Only his eyes were moving, taking me in from top to bottom to top, then came to meet mine. At seeing the look in them, I caught my breath and shivered. It was almost animalistic. Pure desire and need stared back at me. Sam had been right. Cole didn’t know what hit him. We were standing frozen like that, staring at each other’s eyes through the mirror for several minutes until Cole broke the silence.

“I don’t know if I should be happy Sam is your new best friend or if I wished I had never introduced you.” He advanced on me. His hands went around my waist, gliding on the smooth fabric of my dress, resulting in another full body shiver. “You are the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on,” he whispered as he nibbled my ear. “I’m gonna have a hard time keeping my hands off of you tonight.”

“Who said you had to keep your hands off of me?’ I was starting to pant as his lips caressed the skin behind my ear.

“If I don’t, the other patrons at the restaurant will get a show with their dinner,” he mumbled. One last kiss before he stepped back, turned me, grabbed my hand in his, and walked us towards the door, down the stairs into the front hall where he helped me into my coat, and then took me out for our celebration dinner.

I smiled back at the waiter, who had just taken our orders, closed my menu, and returned it to him. Cole did the same without the smile, his eyes on me.

“I’ve made a decision,” he stated after a few seconds of perusing the parts of my body that weren’t hidden by the table.

“And what is that?” I asked.

“It’ll take up all my precious free time if I follow my instincts and rip off every guy’s head that dares stare at your glorious body. That won’t do since I intend to spend every minute of that time with you for the rest of my life, however that comes about. So instead, I’ve decided to show you off and enjoy the envious looks
I
get, since no other man will ever come close enough to touch you. All they can do is look. You’re mine, so I can kiss you and touch you whenever and wherever I want.”

“That’s a good plan. Though, I’m not so sure about the wherever part. I’m no exhibitionist.”

“Neither am I.” I gave him an ‘Oh really?’ look. He knew that I knew he had had sex in public places before. “At least not with you,” he amended. “What we share when we’re together is private and intimate. I wouldn’t risk anyone seeing you like that. But don’t get me wrong. If I see an opportunity to be adventurous but discreet at the same time, I’ll take it. Like at my office. I’m dying to take you on that couch and have the memory of that with me at work.” Thinking about christening his couch made me want to be adventurous. He could tell by the glaze that had covered my eyes.

“Behave,” he growled.

“You started it. What do you expect me to do when you talk like that? It’s not just you who has to control himself to not jump me every time I walk into a room. I feel the same way about you.”

“That’s good to know,” he shot me a wide grin. Our drinks arrived then and we toasted to us and our future. Kind of corny, but I loved it.

Sam hadn’t exaggerated. This place was
fancy.
I had thought I might be a tad overdressed, but I wasn’t. Every woman in this room was wearing a dress just as lavish as mine. Where they dripped with diamonds though, I wore simple silver jewelry. I looked around. The restaurant was completely booked to capacity. It was close to Christmas, so there were a few bigger groups, not just couples. I noticed a few people looking my way. No, not looking at me. Glaring at me. They were all women. What? I looked at Cole, confused and a little uncomfortable. It wasn’t the first time in my life women wanted to kill me with just a look, though I suspected this time it was for a completely different reason. He shook his head at me, quietly laughing.

“You see it, don’t you?” I leaned in closer over the table so he could hear me when I asked in a quiet voice, “Why are those women glaring at me? You know them?” Cole’s shoulders kept shaking.

“No, I don’t know them. Baby, they’re glaring at you, because you’re a hundred times more beautiful than they are and they know it. They envy you.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Maybe so, but it’s true. They’re also probably pissed because the men they are with couldn’t tear their eyes away from you when we walked in.”

“It’s just the dress. Sam knows her way around clothes.”

“It’s more than just the dress. It just makes an already unbelievably gorgeous woman even more so. It’s your eyes, your hair, your laugh, everything about you that men want and women are jealous of.”

“They haven’t heard me laugh.”

“Not yet. Wanna bet how many heads are gonna turn when you do?” I crossed my arms over my chest, not liking his teasing or the situation at all. It brought up too many unpleasant memories.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go out to places like this anymore. It makes me uncomfortable when people stare at me,” I looked down at the empty table in front of me and fidgeted with the napkin on my lap.

“Oh, no. I told you I’ve decided to show you off. This is fun.” My self-consciousness turned into attitude. “You know, crossing your arms like that really accentuates your generous breasts.” I uncrossed my arms quickly and sat up straight, my eyes going wide, not wanting or needing any more attention on my body. Cole burst out laughing. Great. Now it felt like everyone was staring, though at least all the women were now looking at him instead of me.

“Maybe they were glaring at me because they’re jealous I’m with you,” I snapped. That made way more sense.

“It doesn’t matter. None of them matter. Baby, as much as I like you riled up we are not going to argue tonight. Come here,” he leaned over the table, stopping about mid-way toward me, waiting for me to do the same. He was right. It didn’t matter if or why other people were jealous. What mattered was that we had each other. Again, corny. But it had always been our truth. And I didn’t want to argue either. So I complied and leaned in, going in for a quick kiss on the lips. Cole had a different idea, though. When I started pulling back he held me by the side of my neck, keeping me in place, kissing the hell out of me. I was breathless by the time he was done.

“Now, tell me about your day. And how are Jesse and Chloe? They still happy in their new home?” My heart melted. That was only one reason why I loved this man so much. He genuinely cared.

“They’re as comfortable and happy as they can be right now,” I said in a quiet but proud voice. “Chloe is coming more and more out of her shell, and Jesse is starting to let his guard down not just with me but with the other workers and kids more and more as well. He’s very funny actually, and quite the charmer. All the girls at the shelter are head over heels in love with him. They follow him around and hang on every word he says whenever the both of them stop by. They stopped by after school yesterday and I’m really happy at how settled they seem.”

Cole was grinning at me proudly. “That’s good to hear. I’m glad.”

“Me too.” I grinned back at him, but then scrunched up my eyebrows in worry. “It’s just that I’m a little concerned about their father. He hasn’t confessed to anything, says he doesn’t know why his children hate him so much that they would make up stories about him, says they must be doing it out of grief for their mother, whom he couldn’t save.”

“That’s bullshit. He’s just trying to save his own ass. Everyone knows what happens to child molesters in prison. There’s no way anyone believes him, right? No way they could send them back to him?”

The vehemence in his voice made me smile again. I really did love this man with everything in me. “No, honey, there’s no way they could be sent back. He assaulted and beat his son unconscious in public. Both their x-rays show old fractures, Jesse more so than Chloe, but he’s beaten them both. And he’s touched his own son, threatened to do the same to his daughter if Jesse ever so much as hinted at what was going on at their house to anyone. That’s why Jesse took his sister and ran, because he knew that sooner or later his father wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off of her. Yes, it might be a case of their word against his, but the judges aren’t stupid. And I’ve put Bobby on the case. We had lunch together today and discussed everything. Bobby will make sure Jesse and Chloe will stay safe, has ensured me that there’s nothing to worry about, that there is no chance that their filth of a father will breathe free air any time soon.”

“Who’s Bobby?” Cole asked.

“Oh, only the most feared lawyer and child advocate in the field, graduated from Yale a few years ago and works pro bono most of the time; has no mercy when it comes to kids who have been abused or sexually assaulted. You should see it, the vengeance that lights in Bobby’s eyes at a case like this. Unstoppable. We don’t work together often, but I reach out when I have a case like this where the children have no family left to be united with, no one to stand up for them and defend them. I want the best for them and Bobby is the best. You could say we have developed somewhat of a friendship over the years.”

“I’m glad you could find them the help they needed. It sounds like this Bobby guy really knows what he’s doing. How come you’ve never talked to me about him before?” My lips twitched. He was trying really hard to hide it, but I could see the jealousy in his eyes, jealousy at the idea that I had struck up a friendship with a man he didn’t know, had never ever heard about before now.

I shrugged, trying to be nonchalant. “You know, I didn’t think you’d be interested in hearing about everyone I work with. It’s not like I see or talk to Bobby every day, not even every week or month. But we’ve got a lot in common. We always have fun when we go out for lunch. Turns heads like no one else I’ve ever met. Apart from you that is. Definitely hot, and you can tell with just one look that there is a lot of passion underneath that hard and shark-like exterior that everyone in our circles knows about. Probably breaking hearts left, right, and center.”