Somehow despite protesting against it for days, I was standing next to Rae and Mike in the entrance to the basement bar that was part of a split-level nightclub called Fire. The basement had been turned into a private function suite for Cole’s party, organized by his friend Hannah, and hosted by the owner of the club, Braden Carmichael. And yup, Rae told me that Braden was J. B. Carmichael’s husband.
“Because you look hot and it’ll annoy the f**k out of Cole and greatly entertain me,” Rae said, leaning into Mike’s side.
I pulled a face at her, but secretly I was pleased by her compliment. It made no sense, but I wanted to look my best tonight.
As always my hair was down, but I’d taken special care to make sure it was soft and not wild. I was wearing a black figure-hugging short dress, black stockings, and black suede ankle boots with a thin silver heel. No accessories. My makeup was fresh and light—my lipstick, eye shadow, and nail polish peach because it was a color that worked nicely against my skin tone and hair.
Since the dress was short and the heels were high, my legs looked longer. Wearing no jewelry and no color meant that the dress and my hair were doing all the work tonight.
Tony waved from across the room, just this mere action drawing gazes my way. He strolled toward us in another beautifully fit suit, his hand clasped in Simon’s. Simon wore dark jeans and a white T-shirt with a Banksy print on it. As soon as Tony reached me I received a kiss on either cheek. When he stepped back his eyes raked over me with a thoroughness you’d expect from a straight guy. “You look bellissima,” he murmured throatily.
Seriously, the guy oozed sexual charisma.
The strangers beyond him were looking at us again, and as I scanned the group I halted on a familiar face. Cole. I flushed and turned my attention back to Tony, murmuring my thanks.
Tony turned to greet Rae and Mike, and Simon took his place beside me. “You do look sexy as hell, Shannon.”
I smiled gratefully. I felt completely out of place and out of my depth, but looking good and being appreciated, especially by Tony and Simon (whom I’d come to adore) made me feel a little better. “You look sexy too. But you always do.” It was true. He could wear a bin bag and look hot.
“Simon,” a low, pleasant voice said, and I turned to my left to see it belonged to a stunning and very pregnant blond woman. She held her arms out and Simon stepped into her, enfolding her in a gentle embrace.
“Hannah, you look great, sweetheart.”
Oh. So this was Hannah. I studied her while she smiled at Simon. This was Cole’s best friend.
Her gaze moved to me and I could see her brown eyes were brimming with curiosity. “Introduce me, Sy.”
He did so and then promptly left me alone with her.
Hannah held her hand out to me with a friendly smile and I took it with my own. I nodded at her small baby bump. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” She patted her stomach and then gave a nod to the left. “It’s our second.”
I followed her gaze to an exceptionally tall, broad-shouldered too-good-looking-to-be-true guy with fantastic caramel skin. He was talking to a dark-haired man I didn’t recognize, holding a little girl with dark curly hair in his right arm, while a little boy, the spitting image of him, gripped his left hand.
“My husband, Marco,” Hannah said. “And our daughter, Sophia, and my stepson, Dylan.”
“You have a beautiful family,” I said with genuine feeling.
Wistfulness caused a light ache in my chest.
She smiled. “They keep me busy.” Just like that, her gaze turned questioning. “So, you’re the new receptionist at INKarnate?”
It occurred to me I had absolutely no idea what Cole had said to her about me. My answering “yes” was cautious.
“Hmm.”
I waited, but that was all I was going to get out of her on the subject apparently, because the next words out of her mouth were “You have the best hair ever.”
I laughed and some of the tension between us broke. “Thank you.”
“How do you get it to do the ringlet thing? With straighteners or a curling iron?”
“The ringlets are natural,” Rae butted in. “The bitch’s hair looks like this naturally, all the f**king time.”
Clearly used to Rae, Hannah didn’t even blink at her calling me a bitch. She just laughed, told us to help ourselves to the free bar and buffet, and wandered off to mingle with other people.
I looked around at the gathering, at the faces I didn’t recognize, at the small children laughing and running in among the adults. I wouldn’t have expected there to be kids, but it suddenly made sense why the party had started so early on a Sunday evening. Stu had even closed the studio early for it. I saw our behemoth of a boss over by the dip, talking to a curly-haired blond girl who was staring up at him in awe.
This was a family party, completely at odds in my mind with the man it was being thrown for.
“Cole knows a lot of people.”
“Yeah,” Rae said, and grabbed my hand. “And I know which one you want to meet.”
Without mercy Rae began to drag me through the room. Struggling against her would only draw more attention to us, so I just went with it, even though I was sure I was about to be mortified.
When I stumbled to a stop at Rae’s abrupt halt in front of an attractive blonde I recognized from her author photo, I knew I was right.
I froze as I took her in. She leaned into a tall, rugged older guy. His dark hair had some gray in it at the sides, but this only made him more distinguished looking than he already was. His amazing pale blue eyes seared right through me.
Rae and I had interrupted the couple’s conversation.
Floor, swallow me. Please.
“Joss, Braden,” Rae said in an almost militant manner. “This is Shannon.” She gently nudged me forward and I gave Joss a strained smile. “She’s my new flatmate and our receptionist at INKarnate. She’s a fan of your books, Joss.”
Joss gave me a kind smile, as though she sensed my discomfort. Admittedly it wouldn’t have taken a writing genius to sense that. I shook her hand, surprised by how nervous I was to meet her. That was probably why the next words that spilled out of my mouth were unfiltered and revealed way more than I’d meant to. “I just want you to know that your books are important. They’ve helped me through the worst months of my life this last year.”
I tensed as soon as the words were out of my mouth, and my three companions noticed. Rae noticed. She put her arm around me and pulled me close so she could press a kiss to my hair. She gently released me and walked away, leaving me staring after her.
Sometimes that woman could surprise the heck out of me.
When I turned my attention back to Joss and Braden, I discovered they both now wore identical expressions of concern.
“That really means a lot,” Joss said, and I noted that her American accent was interrupted quite a bit by Scottish inflections. According to Rae, Joss had lived in Scotland for seventeen years. “I hear you’ve moved from Glasgow. How are you settling in?”
“Good, thank you. I’ve always loved this city.”
She smiled in response, but I could see that she was still assessing me. “Well . . . you know we’re a tight group here . . . if you ever need anything . . .” She shrugged.
I was stunned.
Her offer of support, her acceptance of me as part of their group of friends when she’d only just met me blew me away. I thought about the fact that my own family hadn’t contacted me at all since my sister’s blunt text weeks ago, and I had to look away because this stranger’s kindness had moved me to tears.
I blinked them back hurriedly, staring at the girl with the head of blond curls again. Now she was herding a group of younger children toward the buffet table. Looking more closely, I could see she had Joss’s tip-tilted eyes and smile. “Is she yours?”
“How can you tell?” Joss said, following my gaze, a smirk playing on her full mouth. “That’s our daughter, Beth, and the little dark-haired boy holding her hand is our son, Luke.”
I glanced around the room, taking everyone in. “Big family,” I muttered.
“We’re kind of a tribe, really,” Joss joked.
I smiled and took a step back. “Anyway, I’ll let you get back to your evening. It was a pleasure to meet you.”
“You too, Shannon.”
“And remember,” Braden spoke up, and I was instantly transfixed by him. The air around him crackled like it did with Cole. I hadn’t noticed because I’d been so focused on Joss, but her husband was really kind of sexy. “If you ever need anything just ask.”
Wow. That was nice. “That’s very kind.” I nodded my thanks and walked away, thinking Cole was one lucky son of a bitch to have people like them in his life.
* * *
An hour later I’d met almost everyone and also caught up with the twins and Karen. I hadn’t spent much time with them since meeting them that first night weeks ago, but from their friendly demeanor it was clear they didn’t know about my war with Cole.
I was trying desperately to remember everyone’s name, but the only ones that stuck were the names of Cole’s extended family—or tribe, as Joss called it. First Tony introduced me to a tall, slender woman who was quite possibly the most beautiful woman I’d ever met in real life. With her gorgeous light, clear green eyes, I wasn’t surprised to learn she was Cole’s sister, Jo. Her husband, Cameron, reminded me of Cole—not in looks but in manner. I could tell from the way he dressed and held himself that he’d been a huge influence in Cole’s life. They had their daughter, Belle, with them and the minute she saw me she threw herself at me and asked if she could play with my hair. Of course she was even more adorable in real life, so I let her do just that as Jo introduced me to her boss and uncle, Mick, his wife, Dee, and Mick’s daughter, Olivia.
Olivia was an attractive brunette, American, and bubbling with a humor and personality that dazzled me almost as much as her smile and her husband, Nate, did. Although Tony had warned me about Nate, there was really no way to prepare myself for the reality. He was just that good-looking. Everything about his looks, his smile, his confidence, screamed player . . . until he looked at his wife and their two daughters. Anyone could see they meant the world to him.
Finally I met Braden’s sister, Ellie, and her husband, Adam, and their two boys. Ellie was one of those women you couldn’t help liking immediately. She was down-to-earth, warm, and endearing and she just knew how to put a person at ease. After meeting her mum and stepfather, Elodie and Clark, I knew instantly where she’d inherited the qualities.
It was overwhelming meeting the tribe.
Even more overwhelming was that uneasiness I’d been feeling every now and then, an uneasiness that churned in my gut and came at me in waves as I met Cole’s friends and family.
Trying to shrug it off, I wandered over to the bar to order a glass of wine, hoping to sneak in a few minutes to myself.
I knew the instant he neared me.
I felt him.
From my peripheral I saw Cole slide in next to me. I turned to watch as he leaned against the bar. Tonight he looked even more amazing than usual, in a crisp white dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves, a fitted black waistcoat, and black suit trousers. A quirky silver pocket watch was attached to the waistcoat. He was wearing a leather aviator watch along with the black leather bracelets he always wore. For some reason that watch and those bracelets were incredibly sexy on him. Perhaps it was because it drew attention to his wrists, which then drew attention to his strong forearms, which then drew attention to his tattoos, which then . . .
You get the picture.
My eyes drifted up to his face, and heat instantly suffused me. His greedy gaze was roaming over me in a way that was blatantly sexual and at the same time consternated. Our eyes met.
“So, all I’ve heard tonight from my family is how bloody lovely Shannon MacLeod is.”
I flushed inwardly with pleasure, glad they’d liked me, but I didn’t respond to him. I didn’t really know what he wanted me to say.
No response was the wrong way to go, because it clearly exasperated him. “Want to tell me why I’ve not met this version of you? No . . . wait.” He leaned in close, those green eyes hot with anger. “I have met her, but she was fifteen.”
I looked away quickly, willing the bartender to appear.
Seconds later I heard a frustrated growl and then I felt Cole melt away from my side. I let go a huge sigh of relief only to choke on the remnants of it at the sight of Hannah hurrying toward me. She frowned as she came to a stop in front of me.
“What was that?” she asked, gesturing in the direction of where I assumed Cole had headed.
“Nothing.”
Hannah narrowed her eyes. “Cole is my best friend and he tells me everything, so I know he came on to you and you shot him down. I also know you shot him down in a probably not very nice way because of his reaction. Cole spends most of his life horizontal he’s so bloody laid-back, so it takes a lot to make him this frustrated and f**ked off. It’s not like him.”
“I only said the truth.” I defended myself because I didn’t want these seemingly good people not to like me. “I told him I knew he was a player and that I wasn’t interested.”
Hannah looked taken aback. “You’re kidding me, right?”
I shook my head.
“Cole? A player?” She guffawed. “Are you high?”
I grew very still, not liking her reaction at all. She smiled, but there was disbelief in the look. “Shannon, I’ve known Cole Walker since he was a shy fourteen-year-old that could barely say two words to me. Cole is definitely not a player.”