Page 8
I take a sip and the dragonfruit and lime bloom on my tongue.
“Delicious as always, Joss. You make getting drunk a pleasure.”
She snorts. “I think the booze has something to do with that.”
Ben raises his pint glass to that, overhearing us from his usual booth.
Joss smiles at him, walking over to talk to him. She’s good to Ben. Makes sure she doesn’t overserve him, takes his keys and puts him in an Uber so he won’t drive home. Lets him talk about his dog Shep, who he lost to cancer earlier this year.
I’m halfway through my drink and my nerves are slightly better. Joss is right. Surely, they’ll send me more information. There’s no need to panic yet.
My wishes are being fulfilled. I just don’t know when.
That’s the scary part.
The jingle of the door makes me look up. A man steps inside, one hand lingering on the door as it swings shut behind him.
“Oh,” Ivy murmurs.
Cole Hayes.
He pauses just inside the Dive, his gaze moving over the room. Dressed like he’s here for a board meeting, he smooths one cuff before letting his hand fall.
My throat goes dry. His double-breasted suit fits him like a glove: broad shoulders, trim waist. My eyes linger where they probably shouldn’t before making their way up to his face. Sandy hair swept back, silver catching the light at his temples.
I briefly picture my fingers in that hair while he kisses me against the bakery counter.
I haven’t even said hello.
I’ve seen him around. Seen his picture in the paper, hair perfectly coiffed, smile practiced. He’s the CEO of Hayes Real Estate. A family business. The biggest one in Garland Falls and probably the tri-state area.
And because I’m a red-blooded American woman and not blind, I can see that he’s devastatingly handsome. But that’s pretty much all I know about him.
Other than what people say. That he’s a playboy. That he’s got an easy smile that makes women’s panties drop to the ground.
I try not to listen to rumors, but with a face like that? A sharp jawline, bright verdant eyes…
He’s probably what they say he is and then some.
“What the fuck is Cole Hayes doing in the Dive?” Joss whispers, and I realize she’s leaned across the bar toward me.
“I don’t know,” I mumble back as he approaches the bar. “He has to be meeting a client or something.”
“Here?” Ivy asks incredulously.
Then my friends fall silent.
I can practically feel the body heat coming off him, he’s standing so close to my barstool.
I flush, watching Joss’s expression instead of looking over at him.
“Scotch. Top shelf. Neat.”
Joss plasters on a smile.
“Coming right up.”
She has to go into the back to find a bottle of Scotch and I see her blow dust off it through the swinging door of the backroom.
