Текст книги "Echoes of Scotland Street"
Автор книги: Samantha Young
Соавторы: Samantha Young
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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 18 страниц)
CHAPTER 6
A lthough the hostilities did not cease between Cole and me, time passed pretty quickly while I grew more accustomed to my job at INKarnate and living with Rae. Sometimes I couldn’t believe it had only been a little over a month since I first came to work at Stu’s studio. Not much had changed: I worked, avoided Cole when I could, snapped back at him in retaliation to his cold impatience, and watched him disappear out to lunch every now and then with Jessica, whom he’d been dating for the last few weeks.
Not that I cared.
I had Simon and Rae to use as buffers in the situation with Cole. They found the tension between Cole and me weirdly hilarious. They just went with it. Honestly it was almost becoming second nature to ignore him, or glare at him when I couldn’t ignore him.
That was exactly what I was doing on Tuesday midafternoon. Rae had a client; it was Simon’s day off; Cole was free but keeping himself busy (i.e., avoiding me) in Stu’s office. I was sort of on my lunch break. I’d been late that morning, so I was making up for it by having my lunch break at my desk. That way I could still deal with customers if they came in or called. I was trying not to think about why I was late getting to work.
My nightmares had returned.
For ages after everything that had happened in Glasgow, I’d had bad dreams. When I moved to Edinburgh they were quickly taken over by stress dreams of the “my teeth falling out” variety. They were better than the nightmares, though, and they didn’t wake me up in a sweaty mess at night, so I dealt with them. Then I got the job and a new roommate and the dreams had disappeared completely.
Now they were back and after waking up early that morning a complete trembling, clammy mess, I’d eventually fallen asleep but then slept right through my alarm.
I frowned and buried my nose deeper into J. B. Carmichael’s latest book as I munched on a homemade sandwich. I was just getting into the story when I heard footsteps approaching from the back hallway. I didn’t even have to look to know it was Cole—I’d grown that aware of him.
Concentrating with all my might, I attempted to ignore him as he walked into the main studio, his footsteps nearing me. I felt him hover around me, but I’d buried my nose so deep in the book that now all I could see was paper and black lines.
I heard an exasperated sigh seconds before I felt hands on my waist and then my whole body was lifted up out of my chair. I gasped and froze in shock as I was gently lowered to my feet near the filing cupboard door. I still held my book and sandwich in the exact same position, my eyes peering over the top of the book, as Cole steadied me and then pulled my chair out of the way of the desk. As he bent down to retrieve an empty folder from the drawer my shins had been pressed against, I finally found my voice.
“Couldn’t you have just said ‘excuse me’?” I was trying not to look at his arms. I knew I was small, but he’d just lifted me like I weighed less than air!
Cole turned his stony stare on me and suddenly started toward me. I refused to back up, but he got so close I had to smoosh my sandwich and book against my chest. I sucked in my breath as the heat radiating from his body hit me along with the tantalizing and mouthwatering smell of his cologne. I now knew that irresistible scent was the sport version of L’eau D’issey by Issey Miyake because I’d found Rae wrapping a gift set of it just the other day only to be told it was for Cole for his upcoming birthday. At the time I resisted the urge to grab the bottle off her, spritz my bedding, and roll around on it naked like a crazy lady.
Perhaps the tension between Cole and me was getting to me just a little.
Maybe.
Eyes wide, I watched as Cole’s face came closer . . . and then completely bypassed mine as he reached behind me for a pen sitting on the top of the filing cabinet behind me.
Unfortunately my body responded to his proximity in a way I really wished it wouldn’t. It was completely out of sync with my brain. Confused and upset, I held still as Cole pulled back with the pen in his hand. His expression was hard until he caught sight of mine. It made him pause.
Cole’s eyes flickered over me before coming to a halt at the cover of my book.
“J. B. Carmichael fan?” he said.
I swallowed hard, trying to pull myself together. “Yeah.”
He nodded and then lifted his eyes from the book to meet my gaze. “She’s best mates with my sister. She lives in New Town.”
What?
Wh—
My mouth fell open as I visibly fangirled. “Seriously?” I whispered, visions of meeting her and having my books signed dancing in my head. I’d known she was an American living in Scotland. Her series was set in Richmond, Virginia, and Edinburgh also featured, but I had had no idea I’d been this close to her for the last few weeks.
Something wicked glinted in Cole’s eyes, but I was too busy freaking out to really notice what it meant. “Yup.” He made a tsk noise. “Shame, that.”
Viciously I was yanked out of my excitement at the tone. That wicked look registered and I knew exactly what it meant. Any hopes I had of meeting the author had been dashed from the moment I’d started a war with Cole.
He gave me a tight, triumphant smile and walked away.
My anger got the best of me. “You’re an immature idiot!”
“I could give a fuck, Shortcake,” he threw back at me. “And you started it.”
* * *
Usually I enjoyed Rae’s particular brand of conversation, but that night at dinner I wanted her gone already. Mike was taking her to a movie, but he was running late. Rae had decided to have dinner with me before heading out to meet him, thus stopping me from throwing a snack together and hiding out in my bedroom where I was going to pull out my acrylic paints for the first time.
I’d done as I promised myself and bought the paints with my first paycheck, and now I felt like a kid at Christmas, waiting for an empty flat so I could use them without fear of discovery. The first landscape I wanted to work on was the cityscape I’d drawn from the top of the castle.
However, Rae was taking her sweet time with dinner. She was also being strangely quiet.
Since my flatmate didn’t like anyone asking if she was okay (she usually responded with something sarcastic that made me wish I’d never bothered to be concerned in the first place), I ate in silence.
Until Rae had the notion to speak again. “I haven’t said anything, but I’ve got to tell you my curiosity is killing me.” She dropped her fork and leaned across her plate, her eyes trapping mine. “Why the fuck are you and Cole acting like shitheads to each other? It’s like working with psychos. You’re all nicey-nicey to everyone else and then your attitude turns to ice the second he walks in the room and vice versa. Split personalities much?”
Honestly I was impressed that she’d managed to restrain herself for this long. I blew out air between my lips before answering her. “He kept coming on to me, so I put him in his place.”
Rae laughed. “Why would you do a silly thing like that? It’s Cole.”
“It’s Cole—so what? Just because he’s hot and talented and confident I should fall at his feet? I know his type, believe me. I don’t do bad-boy players anymore. They chew you up and spit you back out. As for Cole, he’s like the Thor of the bad-boy world and . . .” I trailed off as Rae started laughing hysterically.
Glowering at her, I waited for her to stop.
My annoyance only made her laugh harder, so it took her a while to finally calm down. I’d finished my dinner, in fact.
“Oh.” She wiped tears from her eyes. “Forget the hilariously random analogy that didn’t even make a lot of sense but totally did anyway. What the hell are you talking about?”
I stared at her blankly. “Cole. Bad boy.”
“Right.” Rae snorted and started chuckling again.
“What?” I said, more than annoyed now.
“Nothing.” She stood up and took our plates over to the sink. “I’ll let you figure this one out on your own, you bloody numb nut.”
Bewildered, I stared at her as she cleaned the plates. Finally I got up and left the kitchen but not before murmuring somewhat huffily, “You’re the numb nut.”
Her only response was to keep laughing, which she knew would bug the crap out of me.
* * *
The next day something different happened. Something unusual.
Like every day I let myself into the studio just before nine o’clock knowing that Cole and either Rae or Simon were already there setting up for the day. Sometimes, nearly almost always, if it was Simon’s day to work he came out to greet me and retrieve the cappuccino I brought him. If it was Rae’s day she came out to tease me about something and retrieve the black coffee I’d brought her.
Cole never came out to greet me in the morning. Not since we’d declared war.
So I was more than a little taken aback to see him striding toward me as I shrugged out of my jacket.
“Today we call a truce,” his deep voice boomed into the room.
Ignoring the familiar butterflies that took up residence in my belly whenever Cole entered the room, I crossed my arms over my chest in defiance. I might have looked intimidating and impressive if it wasn’t for the fact that I had to tilt my head back so much to look up at him. “I don’t see the point.”
The muscle in Cole’s jaw flexed. I ignored the warning sign that I was pissing him off.
“Well?” I shrugged, flicking my hair over my shoulder.
His eyes followed the movement before he could stop it.
“Cole?”
Transferring his focus from my hair to my face, Cole sighed. “Can you just pretend to be a grown-up for two seconds? One: I don’t like acting like this. I rarely acted like a teenage brat when I was a teenager, and it bloody galls me that a two-foot-nothing Glaswegian has reduced me to one.”
Irritated at the suggestion I was the reason he couldn’t maintain a level of professionalism (he was the one who started snapping at me when I shot him down), I opened my mouth to argue only for Cole to silence me by cutting the air in front of me with his hand.
“Don’t.” His tone and body language suggested it might be safer for me to listen. Cole waited a beat to see if I was going to obey his command. It hurt to do it, but I couldn’t help remembering the way he lifted me out of my chair as if I were inconsequential. “Two,” he continued once he realized I wasn’t going to back talk him. “Stu is popping in today with an old friend who wants a new tattoo from him. If Stu senses even the tiniest bit of the bad atmosphere you and I have created this past month, he’ll fire your arse so fast your knickers will turn to ash.”
Oh, crap.
That never even occurred to me.
I was immediately consumed by anxiety.
What I was feeling must have shown on my face, because Cole’s expression actually softened. “I can pretend to get on with you if you can.”
The thought of losing my job caused me to nod quickly in agreement. As we stared at each other I wanted to ask why Cole would think to protect me, to protect my position here. I would have thought he’d be glad to see me fired.
Too scared to ask him in case it made him change his mind, I kept my lips sealed and Cole gave me a determined nod before heading into the back.
I stared after him for a while, beyond puzzled that he’d been considerate enough to do this for me. For some reason a surge of uneasiness began to slosh around in my tummy for a while.
* * *
No more than forty minutes later the front door of the studio opened and the mammoth that was Stu Motherwell strode inside. Although I was anxious I was also pleased to see him. He had a natural merriment about him that really did remind me of a biker version of Santa Claus.
As he walked in he was talking to the man behind him. The man was almost the same height, same build, same hair, with the same beard.
“There she is!” Stu bellowed cheerily. “Steely, meet Shannon. Shannon, Steely.”
Steely and I exchanged hellos as Cole strolled into the main studio. He reached Stu and it was hard not to miss the affection in the older man’s eyes. I’d known Cole meant something to Stu during our interview. He spoke about Cole with such respect. But now I could see it was more than that. As he clamped a hand on Cole’s shoulder, giving him a manly shake and asking him how he was, it was in the gesture of a father asking a son.
He said something, but I wasn’t quite paying attention to what; I was so focused on witnessing the dynamic between them. But then Cole laughed at whatever Stu had said and it was a deep, rumbling, full-on laugh that lit up his eyes and completely mesmerized me. I’d never seen Cole laugh like that before.
It occurred to me then that I didn’t really know Cole Walker at all.
I’d made assumptions (which I still believed were true), but I didn’t know a thing about Cole’s past, his present, or what made him tick.
“Shannon?”
I blinked out of my musings. Stu grinned back and forth between Cole and me in a way I found disturbing. “How you getting on?” He looked at Cole. “How’s wee fairy getting on?”
Cole immediately threw me a kind smile that caused this weird flippy feeling in my chest. “She’s doing great. She’s revolutionizing your filing, Stu.”
Doing my very best to hide my shock, I grinned gratefully back at Cole.
He appeared almost dazzled by the smile, blinking rapidly at me.
“Good stuff,” Stu said, apparently not noticing the strange interplay between his two employees. “Which room am I in today, then?”
“Mine,” Cole said. “It’s Rae’s day off, so I’ll take her room.” He nodded past Stu to Steely. “How’s things?”
“Aye, no bad.” He frowned, though. “After fifteen years together, the wife finally noticed I’ve got a woman’s name scribed on my shoulder.” He looked at me in disbelief. “Fifteen years. Talk about a lack of interest, eh?”
“To be fair, it is a tiny script and the name is ‘Cherry,’” Stu said.
“Aye, that was her argument. I asked her what the hell she thought ‘Cherry’ meant if it wasn’t a woman. She said she thought it was a fucking song title.” Steely sighed. “Anyway, she’s annoyed about it, so I promised I’d get one done for her to prove some such nonsense or whatever. I don’t know. So let’s get it done.” Cole chuckled and Steely pinned him to the wall with a serious glower. “Never get a woman’s name inked on your skin. Never.”
Stu grinned at Cole. “He’ll ignore that, Steely. I know him too well.” Cole barely responded with a mysterious smile and a half shrug. “And will it be the fair . . .” Stu frowned. “Fuck, what’s her name? Jessica, is it?”
I immediately wanted to bury my head in my files. I really didn’t want to know anything about the fair Jessica, but Cole stopped me from turning away by flicking an enigmatic look at me before answering.
“Nah.” He glanced back at Stu. “Broke up.”
I stopped breathing.
“Ah, and what happened this time?”
“You’re a nosy bugger,” Steely ribbed his friend.
Stu ignored him. “Well?”
“She started redecorating my flat in her head after only two weeks of dating.”
Stu shuddered. “Cling-on.”
“Oh God, yeah.”
Cole’s pained expression stayed painted across my mind’s eye as I bent my head and started pulling out the files I’d last been working on. I still hadn’t come anywhere near to finishing the digitization of them. As I began to work, all the warm and fuzzy feelings I’d been afraid to admit to developing since Cole called a truce for the day dissipated upon new evidence that Cole really and truly was the kind of bad boy I needed to avoid.
I felt sorry for Jessica.
She’d probably only suggested Cole get some cushions for his sofa or something, and he’d misinterpreted it as a threat to his bachelorhood.
Arse.
I lifted my head to wave Stu and Steely a temporary good-bye as they disappeared into the back to get to work on Steely’s new tattoo, and then I looked back down at the files.
But I could feel Cole’s gaze on me.
Steadying my nerves, I looked up at him and somehow I managed to unstick the words blocked in my throat. “Thank you.”
Cole’s lips twitched with amusement. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“I still don’t like you.”
The humor left his eyes. “The feeling is mutual.” He shook his head, his expression unreadable now. “You really are the biggest disappointment, Shannon MacLeod.”
Without another word he followed our boss into the back, leaving me reeling.
His words had almost sounded . . . sad.
* * *
At that point I’d really thought the worst was over for the day. Cole and I had put on a united front and Stu seemed happy enough. However, I was wrong.
I knew I was wrong when Stu showed Steely out after he’d finished the tattoo and then turned to me once the door shut behind his friend. He scrutinized me in a way that made me squirm as I scanned photographs of a guy’s tattoo Stu had done fifteen years ago. It was of a muscled naked chick riding a motorbike toward the gates of hell. It was disturbing, but the artwork was awesome.
“Glad to hear you’re getting on so well here, Shannon.”
Was that a question? It sounded like a question.
I tensed.
“Yeah, it’s going great.” Cole suddenly appeared and walked toward me.
Weirdly, I’d never been happier to see him.
Stu looked at us both and then nodded. “Great. Glad to hear it. So I’ll see you at Cole’s birthday party, then?”
Birthday party?
Say what?
Panic. Yes, that was definitely panic causing my heart to do that horrible fluttery thing in my chest. “Uh—”
Cole reached me and slid his arm along my shoulders, pulling me into his side. I tried my best not to stiffen, in fact allowing myself to relax into him. I flushed, feeling his lean, hard body pressing into my soft one.
My head barely reached his shoulder.
I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I chanted in my head to remind myself as I quickly grew heated and turned on.
“Of course she’ll be there.” Cole gave me a squeeze and my left boob was crushed against his chest.
Oh boy.
I tried for a grin, but I was pretty sure it came out tremulous because Stu got this suspicious look on his face. However, the suspicion melted into a gleam of delight that quickly made me realize he’d gotten the wrong impression about what was going on between Cole and me.
“Oh.” He nodded and tapped a finger against his nose. “I got you.”
No, he did not get us! He did not get us at all.
“Have fun, kiddies.” He laughed and threw open the entrance door. “See you soon!”
The minute Stu was out of sight of the front windows, I wrenched away from Cole’s embrace, my hands flying to my hips. “Birthday party?”
Looking beleaguered, Cole nodded. “My friend Hannah is on maternity leave. She’s bored. Extremely bored. I am not telling my bored, pregnant best friend that she can’t throw me a birthday party no matter how much I don’t need that shit right now.”
There was a lot in that sentence I did not want to deal with. “I don’t think I should go.”
“That’s entirely up to you, but Stu will be there and he’ll wonder why you’re not there since the two of us get on so well. Everyone I know will be there.”
I growled in frustration.
Cole raised an eyebrow at my reaction. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. It’s not likely that we’ll cross paths at this thing. I’ll barely even know you’re there.”
And once more the irritant walked away with the last word!
CHAPTER 7
T he room was naturally dark since it was a basement room, but warm lighting had been placed in alcoves all around and rugs covered the flagstone floors. To the left of the bar situated in the back of the room were two long tables with enough buffet food to feed a small family for a good couple of weeks. Booths were situated around the edges of the room, and people had already laid claim to most of them.
There were no balloons, no banners, nothing but a birthday cake to suggest this was indeed a birthday party, which told me that Hannah knew her best friend quite well.
“Why am I here again?” I said to Rae.
Somehow despite protesting against it for days, I was standing next to Rae and Mike in the entrance to the basement bar that was part of a split-level nightclub called Fire. The basement had been turned into a private function suite for Cole’s party, organized by his friend Hannah, and hosted by the owner of the club, Braden Carmichael. And yup, Rae told me that Braden was J. B. Carmichael’s husband.
“Because you look hot and it’ll annoy the fuck out of Cole and greatly entertain me,” Rae said, leaning into Mike’s side.
I pulled a face at her, but secretly I was pleased by her compliment. It made no sense, but I wanted to look my best tonight.
As always my hair was down, but I’d taken special care to make sure it was soft and not wild. I was wearing a black figure-hugging short dress, black stockings, and black suede ankle boots with a thin silver heel. No accessories. My makeup was fresh and light—my lipstick, eye shadow, and nail polish peach because it was a color that worked nicely against my skin tone and hair.
Since the dress was short and the heels were high, my legs looked longer. Wearing no jewelry and no color meant that the dress and my hair were doing all the work tonight.
Tony waved from across the room, just this mere action drawing gazes my way. He strolled toward us in another beautifully fit suit, his hand clasped in Simon’s. Simon wore dark jeans and a white T-shirt with a Banksy print on it. As soon as Tony reached me I received a kiss on either cheek. When he stepped back his eyes raked over me with a thoroughness you’d expect from a straight guy. “You look bellissima,” he murmured throatily.
Seriously, the guy oozed sexual charisma.
The strangers beyond him were looking at us again, and as I scanned the group I halted on a familiar face. Cole. I flushed and turned my attention back to Tony, murmuring my thanks.
Tony turned to greet Rae and Mike, and Simon took his place beside me. “You do look sexy as hell, Shannon.”
I smiled gratefully. I felt completely out of place and out of my depth, but looking good and being appreciated, especially by Tony and Simon (whom I’d come to adore) made me feel a little better. “You look sexy too. But you always do.” It was true. He could wear a bin bag and look hot.
“Simon,” a low, pleasant voice said, and I turned to my left to see it belonged to a stunning and very pregnant blond woman. She held her arms out and Simon stepped into her, enfolding her in a gentle embrace.
“Hannah, you look great, sweetheart.”
Oh. So this was Hannah. I studied her while she smiled at Simon. This was Cole’s best friend.
Her gaze moved to me and I could see her brown eyes were brimming with curiosity. “Introduce me, Sy.”
He did so and then promptly left me alone with her.
Hannah held her hand out to me with a friendly smile and I took it with my own. I nodded at her small baby bump. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” She patted her stomach and then gave a nod to the left. “It’s our second.”
I followed her gaze to an exceptionally tall, broad-shouldered too-good-looking-to-be-true guy with fantastic caramel skin. He was talking to a dark-haired man I didn’t recognize, holding a little girl with dark curly hair in his right arm, while a little boy, the spitting image of him, gripped his left hand.
“My husband, Marco,” Hannah said. “And our daughter, Sophia, and my stepson, Dylan.”
“You have a beautiful family,” I said with genuine feeling.
Wistfulness caused a light ache in my chest.
She smiled. “They keep me busy.” Just like that, her gaze turned questioning. “So, you’re the new receptionist at INKarnate?”
It occurred to me I had absolutely no idea what Cole had said to her about me. My answering “yes” was cautious.
“Hmm.”
I waited, but that was all I was going to get out of her on the subject apparently, because the next words out of her mouth were “You have the best hair ever.”
I laughed and some of the tension between us broke. “Thank you.”
“How do you get it to do the ringlet thing? With straighteners or a curling iron?”
“The ringlets are natural,” Rae butted in. “The bitch’s hair looks like this naturally, all the fucking time.”
Clearly used to Rae, Hannah didn’t even blink at her calling me a bitch. She just laughed, told us to help ourselves to the free bar and buffet, and wandered off to mingle with other people.
I looked around at the gathering, at the faces I didn’t recognize, at the small children laughing and running in among the adults. I wouldn’t have expected there to be kids, but it suddenly made sense why the party had started so early on a Sunday evening. Stu had even closed the studio early for it. I saw our behemoth of a boss over by the dip, talking to a curly-haired blond girl who was staring up at him in awe.
This was a family party, completely at odds in my mind with the man it was being thrown for.
“Cole knows a lot of people.”
“Yeah,” Rae said, and grabbed my hand. “And I know which one you want to meet.”
Without mercy Rae began to drag me through the room. Struggling against her would only draw more attention to us, so I just went with it, even though I was sure I was about to be mortified.
When I stumbled to a stop at Rae’s abrupt halt in front of an attractive blonde I recognized from her author photo, I knew I was right.
I froze as I took her in. She leaned into a tall, rugged older guy. His dark hair had some gray in it at the sides, but this only made him more distinguished looking than he already was. His amazing pale blue eyes seared right through me.
Rae and I had interrupted the couple’s conversation.
Floor, swallow me. Please.
“Joss, Braden,” Rae said in an almost militant manner. “This is Shannon.” She gently nudged me forward and I gave Joss a strained smile. “She’s my new flatmate and our receptionist at INKarnate. She’s a fan of your books, Joss.”
Joss gave me a kind smile, as though she sensed my discomfort. Admittedly it wouldn’t have taken a writing genius to sense that. I shook her hand, surprised by how nervous I was to meet her. That was probably why the next words that spilled out of my mouth were unfiltered and revealed way more than I’d meant to. “I just want you to know that your books are important. They’ve helped me through the worst months of my life this last year.”
I tensed as soon as the words were out of my mouth, and my three companions noticed. Rae noticed. She put her arm around me and pulled me close so she could press a kiss to my hair. She gently released me and walked away, leaving me staring after her.
Sometimes that woman could surprise the heck out of me.
When I turned my attention back to Joss and Braden, I discovered they both now wore identical expressions of concern.
“That really means a lot,” Joss said, and I noted that her American accent was interrupted quite a bit by Scottish inflections. According to Rae, Joss had lived in Scotland for seventeen years. “I hear you’ve moved from Glasgow. How are you settling in?”
“Good, thank you. I’ve always loved this city.”
She smiled in response, but I could see that she was still assessing me. “Well . . . you know we’re a tight group here . . . if you ever need anything . . .” She shrugged.
I was stunned.
Her offer of support, her acceptance of me as part of their group of friends when she’d only just met me blew me away. I thought about the fact that my own family hadn’t contacted me at all since my sister’s blunt text weeks ago, and I had to look away because this stranger’s kindness had moved me to tears.
I blinked them back hurriedly, staring at the girl with the head of blond curls again. Now she was herding a group of younger children toward the buffet table. Looking more closely, I could see she had Joss’s tip-tilted eyes and smile. “Is she yours?”
“How can you tell?” Joss said, following my gaze, a smirk playing on her full mouth. “That’s our daughter, Beth, and the little dark-haired boy holding her hand is our son, Luke.”
I glanced around the room, taking everyone in. “Big family,” I muttered.
“We’re kind of a tribe, really,” Joss joked.
I smiled and took a step back. “Anyway, I’ll let you get back to your evening. It was a pleasure to meet you.”
“You too, Shannon.”
“And remember,” Braden spoke up, and I was instantly transfixed by him. The air around him crackled like it did with Cole. I hadn’t noticed because I’d been so focused on Joss, but her husband was really kind of sexy. “If you ever need anything just ask.”
Wow. That was nice. “That’s very kind.” I nodded my thanks and walked away, thinking Cole was one lucky son of a bitch to have people like them in his life.
* * *
An hour later I’d met almost everyone and also caught up with the twins and Karen. I hadn’t spent much time with them since meeting them that first night weeks ago, but from their friendly demeanor it was clear they didn’t know about my war with Cole.
I was trying desperately to remember everyone’s name, but the only ones that stuck were the names of Cole’s extended family—or tribe, as Joss called it. First Tony introduced me to a tall, slender woman who was quite possibly the most beautiful woman I’d ever met in real life. With her gorgeous light, clear green eyes, I wasn’t surprised to learn she was Cole’s sister, Jo. Her husband, Cameron, reminded me of Cole—not in looks but in manner. I could tell from the way he dressed and held himself that he’d been a huge influence in Cole’s life. They had their daughter, Belle, with them and the minute she saw me she threw herself at me and asked if she could play with my hair. Of course she was even more adorable in real life, so I let her do just that as Jo introduced me to her boss and uncle, Mick, his wife, Dee, and Mick’s daughter, Olivia.
Olivia was an attractive brunette, American, and bubbling with a humor and personality that dazzled me almost as much as her smile and her husband, Nate, did. Although Tony had warned me about Nate, there was really no way to prepare myself for the reality. He was just that good-looking. Everything about his looks, his smile, his confidence, screamed player . . . until he looked at his wife and their two daughters. Anyone could see they meant the world to him.
Finally I met Braden’s sister, Ellie, and her husband, Adam, and their two boys. Ellie was one of those women you couldn’t help liking immediately. She was down-to-earth, warm, and endearing and she just knew how to put a person at ease. After meeting her mum and stepfather, Elodie and Clark, I knew instantly where she’d inherited the qualities.
