Valentine (On Dublin Street 5.5)

I thought I’d give him the chance to get me out of it this time.

Along with the dress, I was wearing black suede ankle boots that made my short, slender legs look longer.

“Shortcake?” he called from his room.

Oops. I was taking too long.

Clutching the chocolate I sauntered into the back hall, my heels clicking against the tiled flooring. I stopped in the doorway of Cole’s room to see him sitting on a stool and the brunette relaxed on his chair.

There was no sign of paleness to be found.

Cole raised an eyebrow at the sight of me as I walked slowly in so he wouldn’t miss one bit of the dress.

“Chocolate.” I handed it to him, suppressing a smile.

He took it and handed it to his customer without even looking at her. “When did the quick change act happen?”

“While you were in here.” I shrugged and smoothed my hands down the dress. “I wanted to be ready.”

“Good call,” he said, still eating me up.

“Do you have a date for Valentine’s Day?” the brunette asked, her eyes on me as she nibbled on the chocolate.

Feeling faint my butt. What a waste of my ‘for the fainties’ chocolate. There were people who really needed that chocolate!

“I do. But he’s late.”

Cole shot me a look, his lips curling up at the corners. “What an arsehole.”

I gave a ‘well, whatcha gonna do?’ shrug. “Do you think he’ll like the dress?”

“I think he will love the dress.”

“Aye, you look good,” the brunette added before turning to Cole with flirt in her eyes. “What about you? Do you have a date tonight?”

I just stopped myself from rolling my eyes.

Cole wasn’t stupid. He got flirted with all the time. He knew she was flirting with him, and he knew that’s why I hadn’t left the room after delivering the chocolate. “With my fiancé.”

She almost choked. “You’re engaged.” She looked entirely put out, like she had a right to be or something. “Well she’s a lucky girl.”

“She knows.” I wiggled my left hand at her where the beautiful diamond Cole had put on it months ago, sparkled.

And everything finally came together for her. Cole ducked away, hiding his grin as he pretended to clean up.

“Oh, you two.” She gestured between us. “Right. I missed that.” She gave me a sheepish smile. “I guess I’m holding you guys up. I’ll just go.”

“Only if you’re feeling better,” I said with as much genuine feeling as I could inject into it. I did a pretty good job pretending because she now looked guilty.

“I’m much better thanks.” She got up off the chair. “I’ll just pay and get out of here.”

“I’ll take care of that.” I stared at my fiance’s back. “I take it you gave her the after care talk?”

He glanced over his shoulder. “I did.”

“Thanks again, Cole.” She gave him a little wave.

“You’re welcome.” He gave her a chin nod before turning back to pretending to be busy.

As soon as she was out of the door I rolled my eyes at his back and then followed her out.

The brunette’s cheeks were flushed with embarrassment as she paid and I actually started to feel bad for her. Once she’d left I wandered back into Cole’s room and leaned against the doorway.

He turned around, giving me a thorough once over that made me instantly overheated.

“You really need to make it clear to them that you’re not single.”

Cole grimaced. “Shannon, I wasn’t flirting back with her.”

“I know that. But you should have seen her face when she was paying.” I winced. “I actually felt sorry for her. She was mortified.”

“What can I do?” he shrugged. “If a woman didn’t flirt back with me I would take it to mean she wasn’t interested. You’d think any sane person would get the hint.”

“Oh really.” I stepped into the room, my arms crossed over my chest. “Because I distinctly remember not flirting back with you and you still coming on to me.”

Cole raised an eyebrow. “Shortcake, you didn’t need to flirt back with your words. You were practically panting.”

“Ugh. You are so arrogant. I was not panting.”

“You were panting.” He nodded, still grinning that ridiculous but sexy as sin grin.

I narrowed my eyes on him, ignoring the tingles of arousal between my legs and in the swell of my breasts.

This made him grin harder and then he raised both eyebrows suggestively. “I’m making you hot right now, aren’t I?”

“Yes, but that’s beside the point.” I turned on my heels and walked out.

“Where are you going?”

“To get your Valentine’s Day gift. Perhaps it will distract you from your ego.”

I heard his laughter as he followed me out into the main studio.

Unlocking the cabinet drawer behind the desk I pulled out his present and handed it to him.

Cole took it with a curious smile on his face. “What is it?”

“Open it and see.”

My stomach fluttered with excited nervousness as he carefully tore the wrapping off. He raised his eyebrows as he stared down at the gift in his hands and I had to stop myself from crying out, ‘Well?’

He looked up from the photograph I’d had framed. “How?”

Cole had these really cool black and white photographs in his flat. The one above his bed was my favorite. It was taken from the backseat of a classic American convertible. The driver was turned in profile. He wore dark aviators and smoke billowed from his lips as he seemed to stare out at the world in boredom, and beyond the car was a deep canyon, giving the impression that the car was mere inches from the edge.

As cool as Cole’s photographs were, none of them were personal.

The one in Cole’s hands was.

It was a candid shot of the two of us at a beach in Longniddry, a coastal village just outside of the city. We’d visited there last autumn with Cole’s sister Jo, her husband Cam, their daughter Belle, and their best friend Nate and his wife Olivia and their kids. Cam and Nate grew up there and their parents still lived there. It was a gorgeous place.

Anyhow, Nate was a photo journalist and a bit of a camera nut. He’d taken lots of pictures that weekend and when I was scrolling through them I found one of Cole and me that was so cool I asked him to save it for me. He’d gone one further and printed it out and had it professionally framed.