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Pushing through the door, she gave him a jaunty wave. “Have a good weekend, Noah. I certainly plan to.”
CHAPTER NINE
Cole entered the reception area, a new client report in hand for Melodie to type up, and frowned when he found the surface of her desk cleared for the evening and Noah standing by the front door staring out the window.
“Hey, where’s Melodie?” he asked as he dropped the five-page report into her in-basket, thinking she’d most likely run out to get a bite to eat since it was only five fifteen.
Noah turned and headed back toward her desk, his expression way too pensive for Cole’s peace of mind. “I’m not sure you really want to know,” his brother replied wryly.
Cole frowned, an ominous feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. “Why wouldn’t I want to know?”
“Let me put it this way. Melodie’s not thrilled about all the women you’ve been interviewing while you’ve been ignoring her, and she’s decided that she wants to have fun and meet men who’ll show her a good time and treat her like a real woman. Her words, not mine.”
Cole rubbed his temples, where a slow throb was making itself known. “That doesn’t tell me where she is,” he persisted.
“She asked me where she could go to meet men,” Noah replied matter-of-factly. “So, I told her about Paxton’s.”
Noah had sent her off to a trendy nightclub by herself? Images flashed through Cole’s mind, taunting him. Melodie dancing with other men. Melodie drinking and letting go of inhibitions. The situation was too ripe for sex and sin, and Cole was furious that Noah had encouraged her interest.
“Why the hell would you go and do something stupid like that?” he barked.
Noah lifted a dark brow at his insult. “Give me more credit than that, Cole. It was the smartest move I could make considering how intent she was on going somewhere, with or without my help. She made it abundantly clear that if I didn’t suggest a nightclub for her to go to, she’d find one on her own. I figured this way you’d know exactly where she was, and you could go and keep an eye on her.”
Cole jammed his hands on his hips. “What makes you think I want to keep an eye on her?”
“Maybe you don’t, then.” Noah stared at him for a long, penetrating moment, then gave him a too-pleasant smile. “She’s a big girl, so she can take care of herself, and she’s a consenting adult and can do whatever she wants, with whomever she wants.”
Cole’s blood pressure spiked a few notches at the thought of Melodie doing anything with another man. He released a harsh exhale, torn between letting her go to Paxton’s unchaperoned to get the experience out of her system, and heeding Richard’s heartfelt request. You’re the only one I trust to keep an eye on her, he’d said.
Without further internal debate, Cole knew what he had to do—what he would do—because he’d made a promise to Richard, and if anything happened to Melodie he’d carry that blame with him for the rest of his life.
“Fuck,” he cursed between gritted teeth and stomped back down the hall to his office to shut everything down. After the day he’d had and the women he’d in
terviewed for the Russell case—none of whom even came close to what he was looking for—he didn’t need this added stress with Melodie.
Noah followed and propped a shoulder against the doorjamb. “You’re doing the right thing, Cole.”
“As if I have a choice,” he muttered as he switched off his computer and shoved files into his briefcase so he’d have them at home for the weekend. Hearing Noah chuckle at his expense, he narrowed his gaze at his brother. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“Yeah, I guess I am,” Noah said with an unabashed smirk. “Watch yourself with Melodie tonight. She’s a little feisty and she’s issuing curses,” he joked.
That caught Cole’s attention. “Oh?”
“Would you believe she cursed me with finding a woman who’ll reform me and my playboy ways?” Noah feigned a shudder.
“Like that’ll ever happen,” Cole said with a cynical snicker. “That’s about as likely as me settling down, getting married, and having a bunch of kids.” And he knew for a fact that that particular scenario wasn’t in his future plans.
But playing protector to a stubborn, determined, sexy woman most definitely was.
* * *
Cole waded his way through the throng of people jammed into Paxton’s on a Friday night, the loud, pulsing sound of rock music reverberating through his tired body and increasing the pounding in his temples. Strobe lights flashed in time to the music in the dimly lit establishment, adding to the dull ache in his head and making it difficult for him to see beyond a few feet in front of him.
Without a doubt, Paxton’s was the happening place to be on a weekend night, but the loud, raucous atmosphere and abundant display of female flesh was more suited to Noah’s outgoing nature than Cole’s low-key personality. He preferred a quiet night at home or a casual beer at Murphy’s to the earsplitting music and the lascivious stares from the opposite sex.
Much to his chagrin, as he made his way through the crowd, women eyed him like a favorite piece of candy they wanted to unwrap and devour. Some were even bold enough to touch him as he tried to brush past in his single-minded quest to find Melodie. So far, he’d felt a hand slide along his arm, fingers skimming down his spine and a brazen palm pass over his ass. But there were so many people around him he couldn’t be sure who’d done what.
He continued his search while nursing a soda, ignoring the voluptuous women in tight-fitting outfits shoving their breasts in front of his face and others who attempted to strike up a conversation, which was nearly impossible over the deafening beat of the music. And that suited Cole just fine since he wasn’t in the mood for a hollering exchange of inconsequential chitchat.
