Bad Girls Don't (39 page)

“It was a sucker punch,” Cole growled.

Sue Ellen patted his arm. “Yeah, that’s what Luke claimed that time Julia hit him before they were married.”

“Who are they?” Leena asked, trying to follow her sister’s line of thought, which was never an easy task.

“My friend Skye’s sister and brother-in-law. I can’t wait to introduce them all to my famous sister,” Sue Ellen said, before admitting, “I never bragged about you before because Skye and her family are a little weird about makeup and stuff. But now that you’re here, they can see for themselves how great you are.” Sue Ellen paused to take a much-needed breath. “But I still don’t know what you’re doing in the vet’s office.”

“She’s here about a job,” Cole replied.

Sue Ellen frowned. “What kind of job could a supermodel do for you? She knows Iman, you know.”

Which wasn’t a lie . . . exactly. Leena knew
of
Iman. Who didn’t? The famous supermodel was married to rock star David Bowie. She possessed a tall graceful elegance that Leena could never even aspire to.

But Leena had aspired to the world of plus-size modeling and thought she’d made her mark.

“Then maybe Iman should give her a job,” Cole retorted.

“Don’t be silly.” Sue Ellen smacked Cole’s arm. “My sister doesn’t need a job. She’s one of the most successful models in Chicago. Tell him, Leena.”

Leena sighed and wished she could sink through the floor. But years of posing in front of a camera had given her the ability to mask her inner emotions. “I’m having a temporary reversal of fortunes,” she said. “Which requires my returning home for a short period of time.”

“How short?” Cole demanded suspiciously. “I don’t want to hire you as my receptionist only to have you take off a few days later.”

“What do you mean reversal of fortunes?” Sue Ellen demanded. “Do you have a gambling problem?”

“No, of course not.” Leena answered her sister’s question first because it was the easiest. “I don’t gamble.”

“You taking off to Chicago was a gamble.”

Okay, so Sue Ellen had her there. Apparently her question wasn’t as easy as Leena first thought. Which left Cole’s question. “I wouldn’t leave without giving two weeks notice.”

“So you’d work two days and then give two weeks notice?” he countered.

“I anticipate being here through the summer.” The words actually made Leena feel ill saying them. But the bottom line was that unfortunately, it would take her that long to get her act together financially to climb out of debt enough to start over.

She’d used her organizational skills to come up with a timeline that charted out the least amount of time she’d have to spend in Rock Creek. And given the salary this position was offering, proudly displayed on that Help Wanted sign she’d seen, it would take her a couple of months to regain control of her life.

The job paid well for Rock Creek, which surprised her at first. Apparently she wasn’t the only one a little desperate. The vet seemed to have trouble getting the position filled. Not that she planned on asking why no one in town wanted to work for him.

Not yet.

“So are you accepting my offer to help you?” she asked Cole.

“How are you going to help him?” Sue Ellen demanded.

“By working as my receptionist,” Cole replied.

“No way! Stop right there. No way is my sister working in a crummy vet’s office. Not that you’re a crummy vet,” Sue Ellen hastily assured Cole. “I didn’t mean that. I just meant that your office is crummy. Not that it’s dirty, although it smells like dog urine in here.”

“That’s from my boots.” Leena looked down at her ruined footwear. “Oscar peed on one of them earlier. I tried to clean it off . . .”

Sue Ellen glared at Cole. “You allowed a dog to pee on my sister? Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with here? She’s
famous
! She is
not
someone to be peed upon!”

Cole shrugged, his mouth curved as if he were holding back a smile. If he laughed at her, Leena would have to punch him again. Instead he drawled, “I can’t guarantee it won’t happen again.”

“Then she is not working here,” Sue Ellen stated firmly. “Come on, Leena, let’s go.”

Leena recognized Sue Ellen’s bossy big-sister mode. Sue Ellen was ten years older than Leena and she took her job as the elder sibling very seriously.

But Leena had no intention of being bossed around. Not unless it was by someone who was signing her paycheck.

Cole, curse his twisted soul, just stood there, arms crossed across his chest, a stupid grin on his face. She could read his mind.
Whatcha gonna do now, big girl?

Okay, maybe the “big girl” bit at the end was her own interpretation, but the challenging look in his admittedly sexy blue eyes was definitely being broadcast to her loud and clear.

“I’ll be back in the morning,” she told him firmly.

“The office opens at nine,” he replied, “but staff should show up at eight-thirty.”

“No problem.” Right. Talk about a huge lie. Leena had tons of problems. Boatloads of them. But at least she had a job. Now she just needed to find somewhere to stay.

“You’re staying with me, right?” Sue Ellen said. “You know that Mom and Dad gave me their trailer. I haven’t had a lot of time to redecorate it yet because I’ve been getting my real estate license. I’m sure I’m going to pass that test this next time around. Anyway, you can stay in your old bedroom.”

Just kill me now.
Leena reached through the open window of her blue Miata for a paper bag from her front seat and started breathing into it.

“What are you doing?” Sue Ellen demanded.

Leena just shook her head and held up her finger in the universal sign of
wait a minute, I’ll be right with you.
Right after she had a nervous breakdown.

“She’s hyperventalating,” Cole said as he joined them in the parking lot.

“You’re a doctor, do something to help her!” Sue Ellen shoved him toward Leena, almost knocking her down in the process.

The second Cole put his hands on her waist to steady her, Leena instantly wished she was thinner. Or richer. Or both.

She lowered her hands, and the paper bag, to remove his fingers from her body before he measured her further.

The rustling crush of the bag mimicked her rustling heartbeat.

His hands left her waist, but only to move to her shoulders in order to pull her even closer.

“What are you do—mmmbbb!”

His lips covered hers, muffling the rest of her words and answering her question. He was kissing her. Gently, softly, seductively, but this was a kiss all right. No mistaking that.

He didn’t try to tongue-down right there in the middle of the parking lot, in front of her sister. No, he was just tempting her, exploring infinite possibilities before releasing her.

Just breathe, Leena told herself, inhaling a ragged gulp of air.

Grinning, Cole gently lifted the paper bag back to her mouth.

Leena batted it away and glared at him. If the man was amusing himself at her expense, he’d live to regret it, regardless of how awesome a kisser he was.

“Do you always kiss your employees?” Leena demanded.

Cole’s grin widened. “You’re not officially an employee until you fill out the paperwork tomorrow.”

“You were kissing my sister?” Sue Ellen stared at him in disbelief.

“Just practicing a little mouth-to-mouth recesitation, ma’am.”

“Well, go practice it on someone else.” Leena lifted her chin to give him her best haughty Queen of the Universe look. “I don’t need you rescuing me.”

“Yeah, so you said earlier. You’ve come to rescue
me
, right? You know, I think I could get used to that idea.” One final devastatingly sexy grin and then he was gone, sauntering around the corner of the building and out of sight—but not out of Leena’s mind.

Which left her with the sinking feeling she’d just jumped out of the frying pan smack dab into the fire.