Chapter Seven
Cole
She whirled around with her mouth open, those perfectly pink lips making such a kiss-ably shocked round ‘o’ that it was all I could do not to kiss her with everything I had.
Instead, I stood there with my hands shoved in my pockets to keep myself from reaching out to grab her.
“How long have you been here?” she demanded.
“Here, at the bar? About ten minutes.”
“No, I mean, how long have you been listening to me talk?”
I flicked my eyes up at Brynn, who pursed her lips together and took a sip of her drink. She hadn’t warned Autumn as I got close enough to hear them discuss me. I owed Brynn a drink as a thank you. Probably several. “Long enough,” I said.
“You...”
“Autumn, come dance with me.”
“What?” She looked scandalized and excited at the same time. Watching Autumn fight with her emotions sent me right back in time to the moment when I last saw her, smiling and blinking back tears as she told me to go to college, that she was breaking up with me for me.
I thought that was what she wanted. I thought I was making her happy by walking away. But now I heard that she’d been just as miserable as I was without her and the weight of the years knocked me down to one knee. “Please,” I begged her. “Just a dance.”
I reached out my hand and goddammit I still fucking loved her.
Her long, elegant fingers slipped into my palm and I closed my hand around hers before she could get away. “Cole,” she began as I pulled her to me.
“It’s nothing major, Autumn. I just want to talk.” I tried to bring her closer, but I misjudged her footing. She lurched to the side and for one, brief, beautiful moment, her perfect breasts were pressed against my arm. All I would need to do was move my hand a fraction to cup one in my palm.
Instead, I froze and let her step away. Her eyes were accusing, but I feigned my innocence and hoped like hell she wouldn’t look down and spy the raging boner I was now sporting
“You want to talk?” Her voice was muffled against her hand as she covered her mouth and looked away, and part of me wondered if she was laughing about the inadvertent tit-grope. Back in the day, she would have thought it was hilarious.
She composed herself and allowed me to lead her — gently and with no more near tit-grabs — away from the table and into a quieter section of the bar. I didn’t try to sit with her. I knew she needed a chance to walk away from me.
She took a deep breath and looked up and I saw her grit her teeth. “Okay. So we’re talking. I’ll talk first then.” She pushed her hair behind her shoulder. “How is New York?”
I cleared my throat. Small talk. Okay. I could do small talk. “Big.”
She blinked “That’s it?”
I was grinning like an idiot, so wide my cheeks were aching. “I don’t really want to talk about me,” I told her, feasting my eyes on the way her red hair glinted in the low light of the bar.
Her grin was wicked. “Well there’s a first.”
“Atta girl.” I leaned against the wall. “What’s been up with you, Autumn?”
“You want me to sum up eight years in one sentence?”
“How about the last six months?”
“Busy,” she said shortly. Then her voice softened. “The kids are fun.”
“Tell me, do teachers have favorites?”
“Oh, absolutely!”
I pretended to be shocked. “You’re supposed to lie to me and tell me that you are completely diplomatic and professional.”
“Why?”
“Because now I know my teachers really actually did hate me.”
Now she was laughing. “Just Mrs. Collis.”
“Oh god, it was that noticeable?”
“Well, you did let a fucking cow loose in our school!” She was laughing even harder now.
“It was just that one thing!” I protested. “I was only a freshman, I was trying to make my mark!”
“Kind of cemented your reputation, though, didn’t it?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, guess so.”
She blinked those perfectly blue eyes of hers. “You were really smart, though,” she said, her voice just a little bit softer.
My whole body ached with wanting to kiss her. I had to look away. “Were?” I said, pretending to be petulant to disguise how badly I needed her.
“Well, tonight’s not exactly been a shining moment of intellectualism. So far you’ve had a few drinks and tried to feel my tits.”
“I think trying to feel your tits is the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”
“Oh, he still thinks he’s so charming.” Her voice was mocking but she was smiling.
I looked at her. “I don’t actually really think that anymore.”
“What?”
“That I’m so charming.”
“Um...”
“You asked me how New York is.” I reached out and took a lock of her red hair in my hand. She gasped and held her breath as I twirled it in the low light, loving the way the colors glinted like fire. “I’ll tell you how it is. It’s lonely.”
She gently took the piece of hair from my hand and tucked it back behind her ear. “You don’t have a ton of friends? Come on, Cole, you can’t expect me to believe that.”
I cleared my throat and as I talked I realized I was telling the truth. “I have... colleagues. Work buddies. Associates. Networking partners. I have a bunch of people who I use to get ahead and who use me in the exact same way. It’s a little... soulless.”
She was silent but her eyes were soft. Friendly. Knowing. She understood me better than anyone ever had. I took her hand. “It’s been a long, long time since I just talked to someone about... nothing.”
“Are we talking about nothing?” she asked.
I nodded. “Is that okay with you?”
“It actually is.”
“Merry Christmas, Autumn.”
“Merry Christmas, Cole.”
“Autumn?” I drew a circle around her white wrist. “Dance with me?”