“Oh my God!” I said.
“What? What?” Zainab gasped, looking around her, slightly alarmed.
“Hudson Bell is coming to Boston this week!”
Zay’s shoulders sagged and she exhaled.
“For crying out loud. I thought something happened. Is that it?”
I glared at her.
“Um… yeah! You know how much I love his books. That’s a big deal. Any chance you can do without me on Friday and Saturday? I could be back by lunchtime on Saturday or really late on Friday, I suppose.”
I stared at her, then stared harder, giving her my best impression of a pleading kitten begging to be rescued.
“You need a whole night away for a signing? What? Are you spending the night with him?” Zay said.
“Well, if Cole won’t put out…” Alina mumbled, and Zainab chuckled but suddenly stopped and goggled at me.
“Wait. That’s it,” Zainab said.
“What’s what?” I asked.
“You and Cole. Maybe that’s what you need to get into his pants.”
I rolled my eyes at her.
“I’m not trying to get into his pants,” I said, which wasn’t entirely true, meaning, I wouldn’t mind getting into them, but I wasn’t desperate. Yet.
“Yeah, whatever. Maybe you just need a couple of days away from everything and everyone, just the two of you to get things moving,” she said.
“Oh my God, Zay! That’s brilliant,” Alina said, shoving her girlfriend’s shoulder.
“Are you serious?” I asked. “The man has a job and a child. He can’t ditch them last minute to go on a sexcapade.”
Zainab smirked.
“Huh. So you admit it. It would be a sexcapade.”
I ignored her.
“You won’t know unless you ask. He might be into it. Didn’t you say he’s been a workaholic since he lost his girlfriend?” Alinaasked. I nodded. “Then maybe he needs an excuse to escape for a day or two.”
Perhaps…
I hated to admit it, but they did have a point. Should I be worried that these two made sense? It wasn’t a common phenomenon. Then again, they were the ones who had pushed me to go to the bachelor auction and given me the excuse to spend time with a gorgeous human being and his equally gorgeous daughter.
I pressed my lips together and moved them from side to side, then before I second-guessed myself, I grabbed my phone and texted Cole.
Samir: Hey. I know this might sound random, but my favorite author is coming for a signing to Boston Friday evening, so I was wondering, and feel free to say no as I know this is so last minute, but… would you like to come with me?
I pressed send and put the phone down as if it were on fire and I was afraid of getting burned.
“There. I asked. Now I wait,” I said.
“Now we wait.” Zainab nodded.
25.Cole
