Chapter Three
Madison
One drink. That was all I’d promised him.
Yet somehow, I was still at the bar twenty minutes later, no closer to wrapping my lips around anything resembling hard liquor. The bartender kept disappearing every time I raised my hand to signal him.
Cole was charming, I’d give him that. And funny. I gripped my glass of tepid water, fending off Cole’s attempts to engage me in conversation. The bigger his smile, the more difficult I found it to keep the pained expression on my face.
“So, where did you say you grew up?” Cole persisted with his line of inane questions, his sexy voice rumbling beside me.
I played with the corner of my napkin, trying to remain focused on the subject at hand and not on the warm sizzle in my belly currently moving on a downward trajectory to trouble.
“Minot, North Dakota. And I didn’t.”
My sharp tone had his eyes twinkling like icicles in the sun. Like I amused him. I pressed my lips together and gritted my teeth.
“What, you didn’t grow up?” Feigning surprise, Cole laughed and his gaze sauntered down my body in a leisurely perusal. “Believe me when I say you most definitely did.”
I added dangerously sexy to my list of annoying things about Cole. His laugh was a slow seduction, sliding across my senses like whipped butter. I pretended I couldn’t hear it. Similarly, I tried to ignore the way his irises darkened into a suggestive, black smudge whenever he looked at me. Like now.
Something soft fluttered into my lap and I looked down to find my napkin shredded into a million ragged pieces. I brushed the mess off my skirt.
“No. I didn’t say. Just like you didn’t say you grew up on the wrong side of the tracks.” I tipped my glass of water at him in mock salute. “It was your impeccable manners that gave you away. What?” I taunted, keeping up the roll of verbal punches as Cole’s expression grew noticeably darker. “In case you forgot, I think I mentioned not wanting to talk to you.”
“Isn’t that why you’re here?” Cole dropped all pretense at southern charm. “A rich, solitary woman comes into a hotel bar. Something’s happened.” He drilled me with a measured look. “A break up? Cheating lover?” He gave a satisfied grunt as I froze in my seat. “Yes. Something bad enough to send you in here searching to boost your confidence. Why else would you still be here, flirting with me and not drinking?”
“Flirting!” I forgot my earlier rule and spluttered all over the bar. “I’m not flirting. I’m insulting you.”
“Same thing in my book, darlin’.”
My mouth fell open. “For your information, I wasn’t taking notice of anyone. Least of all you.”
“Now, we know that’s not true.” Cole laughed that damned sexy laugh again, melting away a healthy dose of my moral outrage. He nudged the side of my seat so I swung out to face the bar. “Take a look, sweetheart. It’s an all-male revue tonight. And everyone has sure noticed you.”
I didn’t need to look to know most of the men were still glancing my way. It had been like that for as long as I remembered. Men lining up to lavish me with admiration. I liked to be noticed. It made me feel good. Special.
I dropped my gaze. Except that wasn’t the reason I’d turned up tonight.
Was it? I’d come looking for answers. About Logan.
Hadn’t I?
The little voice inside my head mocked my denial. Had I really travelled two hours to Baltimore, to the hotel where my ex-fiancé had cheated on me, not to do anything?
Why shouldn’t I get something for all of the heartbreak? No one else gave a damn. Not my mother. Not my stepfather. And certainly not Logan—the man my mother would no doubt force me to reconcile with tomorrow.
I’d just been asking when it was going to be my turn, and like magic, Cole had appeared. There was no point denying my attraction to him. I was drawn to him. Probably because he was exactly the type of man my mother had forbidden me to associate with. He might have the name, but he had no stock, no style and no status. He was worth nothing to me.
Yet tonight, for some inexplicable reason, Cole had become an intriguing enigma.
I lowered my gaze from pale blue eyes that saw too much.
“I need a drink,” I said flatly.
This time, Cole gestured for the bartender. No surprises when a shot glass appeared in front of me shortly after. I wrinkled my nose, closed my eyes and tipped back the liquid. This time there was no comforting burn, no gasping for air, no feeling that every swallow slid down my throat like razors. I just felt…numb. Swiveling my glass in my hand, I caught a glimpse of my fractured reflection.
Broken.
And tomorrow, life would rock back into its inevitable rut. With Logan.
I blinked back a sudden, inexplicable urge to cry. Surely then, tonight had to be about doing something different. Being someone different.
I glanced sideways for the umpteenth time and a stir of heat pricked at my senses as I contemplated Cole a second longer. Even as I denied it, the voice inside whispered temptation into my ear—I’d always been good…done the right thing…why shouldn’t I take what I wanted?
Yes. Why shouldn’t I? At least if I was bad, this one night, I might actually deserve the crap life kept dishing up on my fine-bone china plate with its gold rim and fancy fucking pattern.
The swear word felt good this time. Justified.
I placed my shot glass back on the bar with an audible bang. “So, how do we do this?” I asked without flinching. His jaw dropped and for a moment, I thought I might have made a mistake—maybe he had just been toying with me. “I’m not…it’s just that…” My resolve faltered, cheeks bursting into a blaze of heat.
Cole’s surprise was quickly masked. Something dark and wild flared and he swung my barstool around until I faced him.
“I’m going to hate myself for saying this, but maybe you should go back to your room. On your own.” Cole rubbed at the back of his neck. “Something tells me this isn’t really you. And, believe me, you’ll like yourself a whole lot better in the morning.”
Was he blowing me off?
I laughed out loud, drawing the attention of other men sitting in the bar.
“Who says I like myself now?” I lifted one delicate brow.
Cole’s shoulders stiffened and he drew back, his gaze turning speculative as it traced over every inch of my face. Tingles of excitement trickled through the numbness, shots of awareness dancing along my spine. Something I hadn’t felt in a long time.
If ever.
“You’re right that I’ve come here looking for someone. So, is it going to be you?” I kept my voice low, forcing him to edge closer. “Or is it going to be somebody else?”