“Agreed.” Hazel adjusted her glasses. “That was quite invigorating.”
“You know what would be really invigorating?” Nora asked. Her dark hair was in a thick, bouncy ponytail. “A man who can find my clit without fumbling around for ten minutes.”
I laughed. “Date last night didn’t end as well as you’d hoped?”
“It was such a disappointment. And I thought he had so much potential.”
“I’m sorry, sweetie,” Everly said.
“At least he learned a little something,” Nora said. “The next girl will thank me.”
We took a few minutes to stretch next to our cars, then walked across the street to Brody’s and picked a table in the bar. It was quiet this time of day—past lunch but too early for the dinner rush. Jake, the cute bartender, recited our usual orders from memory, snapping his fingers when he remembered to change Everly’s drink from a martini to a lemonade.
Our food came out shortly thereafter—sensible salads for our health and dirty martinis because simple pleasures were healthy too. Except for Everly, of course, but she enjoyed her lemonade.
I felt my ponytail drooping, so I tugged on my curls to tighten it, debating whether to tell them about my evening with Cox. Had it been a date? A means of coaxing me into bed? A bit of both? I was flirting with danger, allowing a tiny spark of hope to burn inside me. Hope that maybe I’d judged Cox too harshly. That maybe, just maybe, he actually liked me for more than what I had under my dress.
The front door opened and I froze with my mouth open. My fork fell from now-useless fingers, clattering onto the table.
It was Cox.
What was he doing here?
Eying him as he sauntered toward our table, I stuck my fork back in my salad.
“Everything okay?” Everly asked.
“Oh boy,” Nora said, her lips curling in a smile. She’d spotted him. “This should be fun.”
All eyes swung to Cox.
He wore a dark shirt and jeans, looking just as sexy in casual clothes as he did in a suit. The stubble on his jaw cut through his sharp businessman air and hinted at something rougher.
With an easy smile, he stopped, his eyes sweeping over me and my friends. I could practically feel him sprinkling charm over our table like pixie dust. Even Nora’s eyes brightened a little.
“Afternoon, ladies,” he said in that smooth Southern drawl.
I opened my mouth to say something but couldn’t quite get anything to come out. His sudden nearness and unfairly charming smile made my lady parts thrill.
Stay calm down there. He’s not getting anywhere near you.
“Hi, I’m Everly.” She smoothly filled the awkward silence with her usual friendliness. “This is Hazel, and Nora.”
His eyes met mine. “Don’t you want to introduce your husband?”
Spell broken. I shook my head a little. “This is Camden Cox and technically he’s still my husband.”
“Nice to meet all of you.” He slid an extra chair over to our table and sat. “I suppose technically your husband is accurate, although we sure had a good time last night, didn’t we, love bug?”
Three sets of curious eyes fixed on me.
“No, it wasn’t… We didn’t… It wasn’t a date or anything.”
“Sure it was.” He reached over and lightly fingered a loose curl behind my ear. “Although you did slip away without a goodnight kiss. I’ll have to be faster next time.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you. How was your run?”
“It was good.”
“You look a little sweaty. Will you need any help peeling off your clothes?”
“Wow,” Nora said. “Bold.”
Everly raised her eyebrows. Hazel looked at me with clinical interest, like I was a subject in one of her psychology experiments.
“Can I see you outside?” I stood, grabbing his shirtsleeve, and tugged him behind me.
He followed me through the bar and out the front door without protest.
When we got outside, I whirled on him. “What are you doing?”
“Just having a little fun.”
“I know things got heated earlier, but that wasn’t an invitation to come barge in and say stuff like that in front of my friends.”
“Sugar, I’m just playin’ with you.”
I blinked at him, a sad realization washing over me. He was just playing with me. That was exactly how it felt. Like I was a plaything. An amusement. Temporary.
I didn’t want to be someone’s toy.
“I need to get back to my friends.”
He leaned away and a flicker of surprise passed across his features. A second later it was gone, hidden by his well-practiced charm.
Holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender, he took a step back. “All right, sugar. I’ll see you later.”
I watched him turn and walk away, feeling slightly sick to my stomach. Was I being too harsh? Unfair? I’d dated the wrong guy before and it had brought me nothing but trouble. Big trouble that I was still digging myself out of. So was I being smart and protecting my heart from inevitable breakage?
I didn’t know.
15
Cox
Sophie had my head spinning in about ten different directions. I was working from my home office today—or I was supposed to be. Mostly I was replaying everything that had happened over the weekend and picking it apart like a man obsessed.
This wasn’t like me.
Why was she fucking with my head?
It was one thing to know what I wanted and to pursue it relentlessly. That was what I did. No, it was who I was. I worked hard. Hustled. Made things happen. I knew how to charm, enchant, captivate, and mesmerize to get what I wanted and meet my goals. That was why I’d met with so much success. Why my mama no longer lived in a single-wide trailer and the big logo in my office had my name on it.
But it was quite another to keep knocking on a door after it had been slammed in your face a couple of times. A real man knew that occasionally he had to take no for an answer, whether he wanted to or not.
Which was why I’d walked away from Sophie yesterday.
Despite what she seemed to think, I hadn’t gone down to that bar because I thought her texts were an invitation. I knew I’d surprise her. I’d simply seen an opportunity and taken it. And really, how could I have resisted? I did want to peel the clothes off a sweaty Sophie.
But she hadn’t taken to that suggestion the way I’d thought she would.
I clicked away from a website that sold zip-front sports bras. I needed to let that go. Sending her one would probably just make her mad.
And why the fuck did I care? Why was I sitting here agonizing over what to do about her? I was putting a lot of mental energy into a girl I just wanted to fuck a few times.
Except, maybe—
Nope, that wasn’t it. Feelings need not apply.
Althea came in, dressed in head-to-toe black, her hair in her usual bun. “Here you are. Not coming into the office today?”
“Just trying to get caught up on some things.”
She pulled a chair up to my desk and sat. “Sorry to bother you, but you’re going to want to hear this.”