For Everly (11 page)

There was a time when that type of thing had infused him with pride. Here was this woman, this beautiful, seductive woman, and she was with him.

Now, he couldn’t help but feel that it was all calculated. A show.

A lie.

He stood as she approached, not about to forgo the manners his mother taught him. He wasn’t unaware of the wondering looks that shifted from her to him as guests tried to determine if he was who they thought he was. Rebecca smiled as she reached him, showing perfectly straight, white teeth framed by ruby colored lips.

“Hello, Cole,” she said.

When she reached him, she stretched up to give him a kiss. She met air as he turned at the last minute and gave her a brief hug to cover the maneuver. He pulled back and saw her eyes flash with some sort of emotion. Confusion? Annoyance?

“Hello, Rebecca.”

They took their seats beside each other at the bar. His eyes drifted down when she crossed her legs. Those legs were one of her finest attributes, and she knew how to use them. Her dress was short and revealing, an odd choice considering the season. When his gaze returned to her face, she gave him a knowing smile.

Taking a long swallow of his drink, he asked, “What can I get you?”

“Has your memory faded so quickly in only a few months?” she chided, looking at him from beneath her long lashes.

Glancing at the bartender, he said, “A vodka martini for the lady, please.”

“So you do remember,” she murmured.

“I remember all kinds of things, Rebecca.”

Sighing, she brushed her hair back from her eyes and nodded. “I understand that. I hope you know that I’ve swallowed my pride to speak with you, Cole. I know you’ve heard me say that I made a mistake when I broke things off with you, but I don’t think you understand how much I’ve regretted my own stupidity.”

He waited for the bartender to place the martini in front of her. “I guess you’re right. I don’t understand. What happened in the span of four months to make you change your mind?”

She took a healthy sip before responding. He took the opportunity to finish his drink and signal for another one. He was starting to feel liquid courage flow through his veins and didn’t want to lose the buzz. When Rebecca glanced at him, there were tears in her eyes.

Oh, great.

“Cole,” she began, “I’m going to begin by apologizing again. This is going to sound beyond juvenile.”

His brows drew together. “Okay.”

After taking another sip of her drink, she continued, “You mentioned that we’re at different places in our lives. I know you think that means you’re younger than me and I’m more mature. But the truth is, my decision to end things with you was motivated by very immature reasons.”

Wondering if he’d ever make sense of this conversation, he just stared at her.

“The thing is…I ended things with you because I thought you’d beg me to take you back,” she said in a quiet voice.

Fortunately, the bartender walked up with his beverage right then, as Cole couldn’t think of a thing to say. He barely resisted grabbing the bartender’s arm to keep him there as he tried to formulate a response. Since he couldn’t do that without drawing undue attention to himself, he opted for taking another swallow of his drink.

“I know…you don’t know what to say,” she said in the same soft voice. She used her cocktail napkin to dab at her eyes. “I’m the one who thought it would be a good idea, and even I don’t know what to say.”

She sniffled. He squirmed.

“I’m sorry. I know you don’t like it when a woman cries,” she said as another tear fell. “Oh, I’m only making this worse.”

He felt his resolve crumbling. If there was one thing he couldn’t stand, it was a woman’s tears. Withholding a sigh, he reached over and rubbed her shoulder.

“Don’t cry, Rebecca. We’ve all made decisions we’ve regretted.”

She shook her head and blotted her eyes again. “Not like this, Cole. I jeopardized a future with you in a foolish attempt to gauge how you felt about me. I should have just asked instead of acting like some schoolgirl.”

He still didn’t know what to say, so he just kept rubbing her shoulder like an imbecile.

After taking a shuddering breath, she looked at him through wet lashes. “Do you hate me?”

“Of course I don’t hate you,” he said. Thank God he could think of that much to say.

Rebecca gave him a watery smile. “Well, at least I can take that away from all of this.”

What was he supposed to say to that? As he considered that question, he took another sip of his drink.

“Look, Cole,” she said, reaching over to touch his bicep. “Haven’t you ever done something that you regretted? Something you wished you could take back or do over?”

He shrugged. “Sure.”

“Well, I’m asking you to give me a chance to take back my stupid decision. We had a good thing going. We can rekindle it.” Her hand drifted down to his upper thigh. “Right now, you can help me stop feeling like I made the dumbest decision in the history of dumb decisions.”

Whoa. He reached down and moved her hand, telling his body to calm down. It was easier thought than done.

“You know we had something together, Cole,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper as she leaned closer to his ear. Her hand once again slid along his upper thigh. “We move in similar circles. We have common friends. We have similar interests.” Now, her lips brushed against his earlobe. “We couldn’t get enough of each other in bed.”

Lord help him.

He took another drink, but it didn’t make his body any less responsive to her touch. All he could think about was the two of them in the sack.

“It was wrong of me to call things off,” she said into his ear. “I was feeling insecure.” Her hand moved even higher. His breath seized. “But I know now that I have no reason to be.”

A throat cleared behind them. Rebecca moved slowly away from him and glanced over her shoulder, then turned and took a sip from her drink. Cole looked up and saw a teenage boy standing behind him holding a napkin in his hand. His pronounced Adam’s apple moved up and down as he stared at Cole.

“Um, excuse me,” he said in a voice clearly going through the change. “Mr. Parker, I’m sorry to bother you.”

The interruption was like a bucket of cold water. Cole released a pent-up breath and gave him a smile.

“It’s all right. What’s up?”

The kid extended the paper napkin and pen toward him. He had yet to blink. “I, um, was wondering if you would sign this.”

“Sure thing.” Cole took the napkin and pen. “What’s your name?”

“Willie. With an ‘ie’ instead of a ‘y.’”

Cole paused with the pen above the napkin. “Willie, huh? You play ball?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You aspiring to be like Willie Mays, maybe?”

The boy’s eyes widened. “My mama named me after him, sir.”

Cole smiled. “Well done on her part, then,” he said. Then he signed the napkin.

Willie took it and read it. Then his wide eyes moved back to Cole. “Thank you, Mr. Parker.”

“You’re welcome, Willie. Don’t ever stop trying, hear?”

Nodding and smiling wide, Willie held his napkin like a rare piece of finery and hurried away. Cole watched him go, then looked at Rebecca. She gave him a sultry smile as she ran a finger along the rim of her martini glass. His gaze watched her finger for a moment. Then he looked her over from head to toe, really seeing her for the first time.

Hair colored in a salon. Skin probably tanned in the same salon that did her hair and nails. Eyes that he knew from personal exposure were colored gray by tinted lenses and that he suspected were enhanced by fake lashes. Artificially white teeth. Surgically enhanced breasts.

Once, it had been appealing. Now, for reasons he couldn’t quite identify, it wasn’t.

“Rebecca, what is it you hoped I’d say when you called things off in April?”

Her smile faded. “What do you mean?”

“You said you hoped I would beg you to take me back. What is it you hoped I’d say?”

Her brow furrowed. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“I think you do. I just don’t think you expected me to ask.” He took another swallow of his drink, then said, “Here’s the thing. I have an older sister. I know something about how females think. If you went through the process of trying to provoke me into begging you to come back, you’d have this whole scenario in your head about what I’d say, what you’d say in return, and how it’d all turn out. Nine times out of ten, it would read like some kind of Lifetime movie with me pronouncing my undying love and you reluctantly letting me back into your life. Then we’d float away into the pink sunset or some such crap. So what were you hoping I’d say?”

He watched her as he spoke. Her expression went from surprised to thoughtful to something more than thoughtful that he couldn’t interpret.

“I’m no ignorant young girl, Cole,” she said. “If you’re thinking I was trying to manipulate you into saying you loved me, I know better than that. Our relationship isn’t to that point yet.”

Despite the drinks he’d ingested, he was suddenly thinking quite clearly. “You’re right, Rebecca. And we both know it never will be. So why should we pretend any different now?”

Her eyes widened. He watched as they filled with tears as if on cue.

“How can you say that?” she asked. “We haven’t even had a chance to explore that level of our relationship.”

“We don’t have a relationship, Rebecca,” he said. “I think you know that as much as I do.”

She couldn’t seem to decide how to react to that. Her expressions ranged from anger to fear to sadness. Eventually, she settled on confusion.

“I don’t know what you mean. Are you saying you don’t love me?” A tear rolled down her cheek.

Seeing the tear, he downed more of his drink. “What I’m saying is that it’s a waste of time for us to try and force something that will never be,” he said. “I like you, Rebecca. You’re a beautiful woman. But—”

“Oh, give it a rest,” she snapped, lifting her drink. Her tears dried in an instant. “This is all on account of that little waitress of yours, isn’t it?”

He froze. “What?”

“Everly Wallace, right?” she continued, finishing her drink.

His blood chilled. How did she know about Everly? Did she know about his injury, too?

“She has nothing to do with this,” he managed to say.

She snorted. “You’re a man. You don’t think with your brain. Today wasn’t the first time I’ve been to your house. I know she’s there almost every day. It’s easy enough for my connections to run a license plate. Tell me, are you planning on turning up at some of your big upcoming PR events with a struggling waitress on your arm?”

She didn’t know that Everly was a PT student. Relief flooded through him.

Then he thought about it more clearly.

“You’ve been monitoring my house?” he asked. “Checking up on my schedule?”

She shrugged. “I saw Wayne the other day. He told me you have some engagements with heavy hitters coming up. In fact, he asked if I’d be going with you. I gained the impression that he hoped I was. He didn’t sound pleased when I mentioned your involvement with the waitress. As for why I went by your place, I had to know why you’ve been avoiding me.” When he just looked at her in disbelief, she quirked an eyebrow. “You think I’m crazy, but I’m not the one who’s been admitted to a mental hospital.”

What was she talking about?

“Your new Flavor of the Month hasn’t told you?” Rebecca asked, reaching for her coat. “Well, I wouldn’t expect anyone who’s been institutionalized to tell just anyone about it. I’m sure someone as destitute as she is would be especially unlikely to talk about it.”

She got to her feet, her coat and purse in hand. Cole struggled to come up with something to say, but his brain wasn’t coming to the rescue. He realized Rebecca had used her resources at the courthouse to research Everly and she’d discovered more through that search than Cole had learned in two weeks of almost daily interaction with her.

“She’s just using you for your money, Cole,” Rebecca said, leaning closer to him so he had a clear view down the top of her dress. She gave him a gloating smile. “I’m also willing to bet she hasn’t talked to you about Aiden.”

Cole met her gaze. All he saw was triumph.

“So much for honesty,” she said. “Thanks for the drink.”

Then she walked out of the restaurant without a backwards glance.

Chapter 14

Everly was glad to be busy after her work with Cole that afternoon. She hadn’t been able to think clearly once she walked into the pool bathroom for her shower and spotted the shampoo, conditioner, and variety of body washes lined up on the counter by the sink. Cole hadn’t ever asked her what brands and scents she preferred, so it had shocked her to see those that she used all the time sitting there for her.

How had he known what she liked? Had he been paying that much attention to her? If so, why? She was only an employee working with him thanks to Wyatt.

Right?

Although she had no plans of asking him that question, she decided she had to thank him for his kindness. She then received her second surprise of the night. Cole speaking with another woman over the security camera. Despite knowing that it shouldn’t, it bothered her to hear him making plans with that woman.

Stupid, she told herself. She was just plain stupid.

She was grateful that he’d left the gym before she headed out to work. It had mortified her to get caught standing there like an eavesdropper. Terrible timing on her part. His business was his business, and that was that.

Despite her best efforts, thoughts of him intruded throughout her shift. Every time a happy couple was seated in her section, it brought him to mind. Was he enjoying his time with that other woman? Who was she? Was their relationship serious?

Why did she care so much?

Then, when she was about an hour from close, he was suddenly there. She almost plowed right into him behind the server’s station when she reached for a tray.

“Cole.” She couldn’t help but smile. Had he come just to see her? Her heart did the flutter thing again. “What are you doing here?”