No One to Hold

by Arell Rivers

  Hand-in-hand, I lead her into the nightclub while ignoring the questions being hurled at us from all sides. Emilie’s a little nervous about all the hoopla, judging from the death grip she has on my hand. Gotta give her credit, though. No one would ever guess her inner turmoil.

  Once my eyes adjust to the dim lighting, I lean toward her ear and tell her, “Don’t worry, darlin’, the worst is over. For now, anyway. What can I get you to drink?”

  “I’ll have a glass of champagne. Merci, Cole.”

  I walk her over to her girlfriends who have commandeered a couple of white sofas in an alcove facing the dance floor, and then leave to get our drinks. I join Russell at the nearest bar, which has mirrors behind it that perfectly frame the models.

  “How’s it going with Emilie?”

  “She’s a nice girl, Russell. She’s somewhat overwhelmed and definitely heartbroken, but she’s putting on a brave front.”

  “So, is she going to be treated to some Cole magic tonight?” He smiles, bumping my shoulder.

  “This is just for publicity, Russell.”

  “Never stopped you before.”

  His reply brings me up short. He’s right. Beautiful and unattached women were all fair game for me in the past. I’ll let him believe what he wants, at least until Rose and I can come clean. Leading this double life sucks.

  “We’ll see what tonight brings,” I respond as I take the beer and champagne from the bartender and return to Emilie.

  I place her glass on what passes for a table, an LED cube that glows a different color every few seconds, and slide onto the sofa beside her. “Here you go, darlin’.”

  “Merci, Cole.”

  The other models sitting around the sofa giggle and sip their drinks. Sam and a guy from Platinum have joined the little group, and they’re doing their best to chat up Emilie’s friends. I really should give her a kiss for our audience, but I’m not ready. At that exact second, I receive a text from Rose.

  Hope you’re canoodling with Emilie. Make it look real. I’m okay.

  How did Rose know that I was struggling right now? Her words give me the reassurance I needed. Thanks, babe. Can’t wait to show you how much you mean to me.

  With Rose’s text echoing in my brain, I take a deep breath and a long pull of my beer. Leaning over to Emilie, I place a chaste kiss on her cheek and run my hand up and down her arm.

  We sit like this for a long while, sipping our drinks, chatting and taking in the atmosphere. The music is pounding. The dance floor is filled, a light show whipping dancers into a frenzy. Every so often, a smoke machine adds to the high-voltage energy. One-by-one, her girlfriends pair off with my crew, leaving us alone on the sofa.

  “Do you think people are watching us, Cole?”

  “I’m sure they are. That’s why we have to keep up appearances.” I catch the eye of a server and order us another round. Even if we aren’t hooking up, there’s no reason not to enjoy the night.

  “Cole, how wonderful to see you!” Gruesome. Ugh. She’s wearing a tight black dress and stilettos. Too bad her personality doesn’t match her banging body.

  I stand and give her a kiss on both cheeks. “Greta, have you met Emilie?”

  Emilie rises gracefully from the sofa and extends her hand to Greta. “Madame VonStein, I have heard so many good things about you and your firm. A pleasure.”

  “The pleasure is all mine,” Greta coos. “Well, from the looks of it, the pleasure is not all mine.” She smirks and continues, “Cole, a word?”

  I turn to Emilie and see her reaching for her purse. “You two stay here. I will run to the lavatory,” she says in her accent.

  As soon as Emilie leaves, Gruesome starts in on me. “How’s it going, Cole? Emilie and you look perfect together. She’s just what you need on your arm before your big world tour.”

  “It’s going well, Greta. I think she could use a friend right about now.”

  “You go on being that friend,” Gruesome says with a knowing look in her eyes. I get her message: Don’t mess things up because you’re stuck with her for months.

  “We’re cool.”

  “Good.” Gruesome is almost purring, sliding her talons up and down my forearm. “You’re a natural at this. Keep up the good work. I’ll make sure to have Rose call you in the morning to fill you in on the public reaction to your new romance.”

  God, I hate the idea of Rose having to sift the Internet for all the gossip about my fake fling. At least this is a good segue for me to ask for what I want. “Speaking of Rose, I want her to come with me to manage the publicity for my world tour.” I pause. “Since you’re obviously needed here in LA.”

  “Let me see what I can do,” she responds offhandedly. I’ve already lost most of her attention. She’s scanning the room, searching for fresh meat. Whether the meat is for her business or her pleasure remains to be seen.

  Emilie exits the ladies’ room. “Greta, I see Emilie coming back. We’ll keep doing what we’re doing.”

  “Ramp it up. You’ve been stuck at PG all night.” Gruesome nods at Emilie politely and waves at a familiar face in the crowd.

  Emilie returns to her spot on our sofa while Gruesome schmoozes. Smoke and mirrors. At least we seem to be in the right place, given the décor.

  “She is a very powerful lady. You are so lucky to have her on your team, Cole.”

  “Yes, Greta and her team are excellent at the publicity biz. She thinks we need to ramp it up.” Might as well get it out there.

  After a long pause, Emilie says, “You mean go dancing?”

  Her response makes me chuckle. Her language challenges are adorable, although she seems to have done a pretty good job of mastering English. “Well, dancing can be part of it, Em, but she meant that we need to put on more of a show.”

  She frowns, puzzling through my statement. “Oh! She wants us to become lovers.”

  It’s a struggle, but I manage to swallow my mouthful of beer rather than spit it out all over her. “Not quite that far, darlin’, but she does want us to get a little cozier.”

  “That will be, how do you say? A cinch.”

  My eyebrow shoots up with her characterization, but I don’t say anything. What’s there to say? I glance at my watch. 1 a.m. I probably don’t have to stay here more than another couple more hours, but I have to make a less PG move on her otherwise people may start to wonder.

  Sending sincere “forgive me” vibes to Rose, I take Emilie by the shoulders and deliberately pull her toward me. She places her hand on my cheek, stroking it. The atmosphere around us shifts, and I sense that cell phone cameras are being pointed in our direction.

  “I’m going to kiss you now, Emilie.”

  In response, she nods her head and I see her eyes drift shut. Reluctantly, I close the distance between our lips. Her hand on my cheek gives me an idea. I put both my hands on her cheeks, obscuring our audience’s view of the lip-lock. After what I believe to be a long enough, yet chaste, kiss, I pull back. Our foreheads are touching, my hands still on her cheeks. I kiss her nose and smile as her eyes open; she smiles back.

  “I’m sorry I’m not the man you want to be here with, Emilie.”

  “I am happy to be here with you, Cole. It is I who am sorry that I am the wrong woman.”

  “You’re very sweet. Your Rinaldo was an idiot.”

  She stiffens in my arms. I pull her in for a tight hug, trying to impart the sense that everything will turn out okay.

  I’m stroking her back in comfort when someone taps me on the shoulder. A backward glance reveals Russell and Wendy are standing behind us. Disengaging from our embrace, I wrap my arm around Emilie’s shoulder to mark my figurative territory. I invite them to join us on the sofa. The more the merrier, in my opinion. Wendy gushes over Emilie, which lifts her spirits nicely after my faux pas of mentioning Rinaldo.

  “We’re going to head out . . . well, when I manage to disengage my wife from your date,” Russell announces. He leans over and continues, “Sh
e’s been watching you two all night and is convinced you’re a perfect pair.”

  I contain a snort and don’t contradict him. We must be doing a good job of pretending to fall for each other.

  Once they leave, I invite Emilie to the dance floor. Not surprisingly, she’s a good dancer. We enjoy dancing to several of my friends’ songs, and I feel myself actually start to relax. That’s when Gruesome catches my eye from across the room. She makes an impossible to misinterpret gesture; she’s demanding that I grope my date.

  A slow song starts, so I pull Emilie tightly against my body, placing my hands on her ass. “Sorry, darlin’. I got a look from my publicist over there. She seems to think we’re being too tame again.”

  Please let Rose be able to handle the photos that are going to be published after this evening. Hell, I hope I can handle them.

  In response, Emilie wraps her arms around my neck. Given her heels and height, she’s only an inch shorter than me. She tilts her head, obviously expecting a kiss. One that I have no option but to give her. I can’t cover our faces this time, so this kiss has to look real.

  I place my mouth over hers. One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi. That has to be long enough. Well, maybe not. How long would I kiss Rose? Like fucking forever. I can’t keep kissing Emilie like this, I just can’t, so I move my lips down to her long neck while stroking her back. For her part, Emilie has her hands curled in my hair. Damn, I wish this girl were Rose. I pull back and offer her what I hope looks like a sexy smirk.

  “Wanna get out of here?” I ask loud enough to be overheard.

  Smiling, Emilie nods in agreement. I give her a real smile, deep enough that I’m sure my dimple is showing, because soon I’ll be in Rose’s arms.

  I kiss her hand, and we say our goodbyes to our friends on the dance floor. From what I can tell, Sam is going to get lucky tonight with one of Emilie’s friends, which bodes well for a productive Monday. I wink at him and he gives me the thumbs up sign.

  We make a show of leaving together. The paparazzi take many more photos to document our departure. Soon we’re safely ensconced in Gruesome’s limo once again.

  “Sorry for all the groping I had to do in there, Em.”

  “Do not be sorry. We were doing our jobs.” She giggles. “Besides, it is not a hard job to kiss with such a handsome man.”

  I smile. “You’re not too hard on the eyes either.”

  A short ride later, we arrive at the high-rise building where Emilie has an apartment. From the front of the limo, Wills says, “There are a few paparazzi out front. Do you know, Miss Dubois, if there is a back entrance?”

  “I do not know, Monsieur. I only moved in a short time ago.”

  I don’t want her to have to face the paps alone. But, if I walk her up to her apartment, I’ll have to stay all night. After all, I have a reputation to live down to. Fuck.

  “Have the driver circle the block while you call the building and ask, Wills.” I need to get home.

  Emilie tries to comfort me, but my panic rises to a crescendo as the minutes tick past. I can’t spend the night apart from Rose. There has to be another way for Emilie to get into her damned apartment.

  Finally, Wills says, “We’ve located another entrance.”

  Exhaling, I say, “Thank God. Let’s go.”

  “There’s a small problem. We’re working it out.”

  I want to punch something, but that won’t get me anywhere. Wills is a professional and he’s working on it, so I cling to that thought.

  “Did you have a good time tonight, Cole?”

  She’s trying to distract me. Sighing, I answer, “Yes, Em. You’re a lovely date. Another time, I probably would have asked to join you upstairs.”

  She smiles at me. “I might have let you come up.”

  Her response wrings another real smile from me. This girl has a fun personality, which will make the next few months bearable. Considering the alternatives, I lucked out. Thanks to my girlfriend.

  Wills clears his throat. “The night watchman in your building, Miss Dubois, has unlocked the delivery door in the back. We’re going to transfer you to another car that one of my associates is bringing to a nearby parking lot. That car will drop you home. We can’t have the limo drop you off because it’s too conspicuous.”

  Geez. All this cloak and dagger crap just to get her home? Even with this solution, I can’t chance being seen sneaking her into her apartment. My eyes land on Wills. “I’m sorry that I can’t walk you to your door, Em. I’ll have Wills go with you to make sure you get inside your apartment safely. I would do it, but—”

  “I understand, Cole. Do not worry, I will be fine. You can keep your Wills with you.”

  “I’d feel better if he went with you.” I raise my voice, “Wills, would you please accompany Emilie to her door.”

  “Sure thing. I’ll get home in the decoy car. See you on Monday, Boss.”

  I stop Emilie’s protest by placing my finger across her lips. “No arguments. Now, thank you for a fun evening. I’m sure our reps will be in touch to schedule our next outing.”

  I lean over and give her a peck on the cheek. To my surprise, I genuinely do like her. She’s like a little sister I never had.

  “Thank you, Cole. Until we meet again.” Wills whisks her into a black Escalade with tinted windows.

  My limo takes off in the opposite direction. I’m finally on my way home.

  THE CLOCK READS 4 a.m. when I finally walk into my house. I need to be with Rose. As I place my keys into the bowl on the foyer table, I catch a whiff of perfume. It’s Emilie’s.

  I refuse to go to our bed smelling of another woman, even if Rose set me up with her. Climbing the stairs, I veer away from the master bedroom with my girlfriend in it and enter Rose’s Command Center. At least I can feel her presence in here.

  After my shower, I wrap a towel around my waist and walk over to the sink. Taking a fresh toothbrush out of the cabinet, I brush my teeth to rid my mouth of any remnants of this evening. Finished, I look into the mirror and survey my reflection, making sure I’m scrubbed clean for Rose.

  I pad down the hall and into my bedroom. After dropping the towel to the floor, I slip in alongside Rose and draw her warm body to mine. I frown, realizing that she’s wearing a nightshirt. Placing my hand at the top of her thigh, I slowly move it upward, not encountering any panties. Better.

  “Cole,” Rose mumbles in her sleep.

  She turns so that she’s facing me and sighs. As much as I want to be inside her right now, she looks so peaceful that I don’t want to wake her.

  Kissing her forehead, I respond, “Shhh, sweetheart. It’s early. Go back to sleep.”

  “Okay,” is her garbled response, and she’s instantly out again. I stroke her hair and revel in the sight of her sleeping form.

  Even though it’s late, I’m too wound up to fall asleep. As I stare at Rose, I find myself thinking of Mom and Dad, Dan and Suzanne, Jayson and Carl, Jessie and Amanda. All the couples I know and love.

  With Emilie tonight, I felt nothing beyond brotherly vibes. Yes, she has a great sense of humor, cute personality and good business sense. As a person, I like her. But there was no rush when we kissed for the cameras. Yes, Emilie is a beautiful woman by anyone’s standards, mine included, but I didn’t have the urge to scratch an itch with her. And it was because of the woman lying in my arms right now. I’d rather let her sleep than wake her up in the hopes of satisfying my own body’s desires. There’s only one possible explanation.

  I’m falling in love.

  Instead of feeling panicked by this thought, I’m calm. Rose challenges me, makes me laugh, makes me want to protect her. God, she’s been through so much in her life that I just want to put a permanent smile on her face. I want to take away the financial burdens she’s been shouldering for herself and her mother. I want to make love with her—and only her. What else can this be, but love?

  Inhaling Rose’s floral scent, I cuddle her closer to m
y body and finally drift off.

  “Wake up, sleepyhead,” Rose nudges my shoulder.

  When I turn my head, she’s standing beside my bed with a breakfast tray in hand. “I thought you might like some nourishment,” she says with a giggle. My cock instantly responds to that sweet sound.

  “You’re all the breakfast I need, Rose,” I respond, grinning at her.

  She places the tray on the side table and then sits down beside me. She’s wearing my favorite apron and, if I’m not mistaken, nothing else. I stifle a groan.

  As she’s leaning over and shoveling scrambled eggs onto the fork, I make a show of plumping the pillows behind me. She brings the food to my mouth and instructs, “Open wide.”

  “You too,” I say, reaching under her apron to part her lower lips. Closing my mouth around the fork, I begin to stroke her clit in a matching rhythm. We continue feeding each other until all of my eggs and bacon are gone and Rose’s pussy is dripping wet for me. My cock is rock hard and demanding attention.

  The fork clatters to the plate. Keeping my left hand inside of her pussy, I reach around and untie the apron from around her waist before tossing it over my shoulder. “Now it’s time for dessert.”

  “Eek,” she exclaims as I toss her, face first, onto her stomach. I grab one of my pillows and put it under her hips, raising her ass.

  Leaning down, I lick her pussy from behind, fluttering my tongue against her clit. “Oh, Cole!”

  “Not yet, baby. I want to come with you. In you.”

  “Yes!”

  I grab a condom and roll it on in two seconds flat. I move behind her and grab her hair. Despite my body’s urgent demands, I slowly ease into her.

  “This is where I belong,” I hiss as my cock disappears into her pussy.

  “God. Yes, Cole. Right. There.”

  Watching my cock work her pussy is turning me on even more. After I wrap my hand around a mass of her brown hair, I pull back with a slight tug, which causes her head to jerk upward.