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“It’s not a stupid team, and you’re right, it’s not your fault we haven’t seen each other. Maybe it’s hers?” He asked, motioning to Audrey and simultaneously checking her out from head to toe.
“It’s lovely to meet you,” he said, taking her hand and beaming down at her predatorily.
Audrey shot me a quick look, as if to ask a question, and smiled back at him tentatively.
“I’m Audrey Reynolds,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too.”
“Cole Bryson. And the pleasure’s all mine,” Cole said.
“Down boy,” I said, moving closer. “Audrey’s mine. She’s agreed to be my date through these two horrible weeks.”
“So she’s beautiful and brave,” Cole said, reluctantly dropping her hand.
“Yes. She is.” I took another step protectively toward Audrey and wrapped my arms around her side. Cole was my best friend, but he loved women, and more importantly, women loved him. He’d been my staunchest competitor in grad school for hot dates; I had no intention of losing my current one to him.
I squeezed Audrey a little tighter to me.
She turned to me and laughed. “I’ll give you two a minute to catch up,” she said, pulling away from me. She handed me the plate of half-eaten crab cakes and, continuing to play the game, kissed me gently on the cheek.
“I’ll be right back,” she said and was gone before I could process the fact that my cheek was burning where she’d just kissed it.
We watched her head down the hallway to the ladies’ room.
“I thought I’d never see the day,” Cole said, turning to me with wide eyes. “You’re in love with that girl.”
I came back to earth with a thud and scoffed at Cole. “You just got here,” I said. “Don’t start being an asshole already.”
“I’ve never seen you look at a woman like that before,” Cole said. He motioned to the plate I was holding and stared at it, aghast. “And you ate crab. You hate crab. You must be totally in love with her.”
“Oh, fuck off, Cole,” I said, exasperated with either myself or with my best friend, who knew me better than anyone.
I put the plate down on the bar and turned back to him, irritated. “I’m not in love with her,” I told him in a low voice. “I only ate the crab cake to be polite.”
“You’re never polite,” Cole said. He grabbed a pint of beer meant for someone else from a passing waiter.
I sighed and glared at him. “She’s been very good to me,” I said, wondering how much I should tell him. Cole was the only person I was almost always honest with. Still, he didn’t know everything about me. No one did.
Cole drank some beer, waiting. “Out with it,” he said. “Tell me everything and make it quick. She’ll be right back, just like she said.”
I glowered at him. I didn’t want to tell him the truth, but I also didn’t want to deal with his nagging. Cole could be a relentless pain in the ass when he wanted.
“I hired her to be my date,” I said, keeping my voice low.
He looked at me, his handsome brow furrowed, not comprehending.
“She’s not your girlfriend?” he asked.
“No,” I said.
“She sure seemed like it,” Cole said.
“I just met her this afternoon. I picked her up from an escort service,” I said.
Cole almost choked on his beer. “Shut the fuck up,” he said.
“It’s true. I couldn’t face my family alone, and I broke up with Logan a while ago.”
“Logan sucked ass,” Cole said.
