“My very own bowling ball?” I looked at all the specifications and had to laugh. “Dry lane conditions, medium polish surface, and high performance. Who knew there was so much to consider?”
“It didn’t look like you enjoyed sticking your fingers in those holes.”
“So you were watching me.” I opened the box and managed to wrangle the glossy red and black ball out of the box.
“Closely.”
“Why?”
“Lots of reasons.”
“Can I hear at least one?” I asked, caressing the shiny ball.
“Hearing your laugh made me happy.”
“You could hear me laughing?” I set the ball on the couch and it rolled backward.
“You do it a lot. I like it.”
Heat formed in my cheeks as he watched me.
“Thank you for the bowling ball. I now feel like I won’t come home with something unwanted.”
Cole laughed and handed me another box. This one was lighter and I tore through the paper in record speed and opened the box.
“No, way. They make normal looking bowling shoes?”
“I wouldn’t call them normal,” he laughed, as I pulled out the red and black, Chuck Taylor looking shoes out of the box.
“More normal than what they’ve been making us wear for the last twenty years.”
“How’d you know my size?” I asked.
“I remembered.”
“And you’re a size twelve.”
His grin deepened. “So you remember?”
I rolled my eyes and opened the smaller package.
“No way. They make bowling gloves?” I stared at the red wonders.
“Always be prepared.” He looked like he was trying to hold back laughter.
The oven dinged and he stood up.
“I’ll get the cookies out while you marvel at your gifts.”
I chuckled and watched him go into the kitchen as my fingers ran across something under the gloves. I lifted them up and saw a bracelet.
But it wasn’t any bracelet. It was a promise bracelet he’d given me when we were sixteen. My fingers trembled as I picked up the sterling silver jewelry and turned it over.
Your laughter is my ray of light
Cole walked back into the room as I set the bracelet back down. Even in high school he knew how to impress. I might not have sent him the box of letters back, but I did send this bracelet back to him. A surge of guilt ran through me.
“You kept it?” I asked, my heart racing.
“You weren’t the only one wishing for something different.” He walked into the living room and took a seat next to me and the bowling ball.
“I understand not wanting to come back to the island because of your parents, but I still don’t understand most everything else.”
“Like what?”
“If you say you still loved me, why wouldn’t you come back for me?”
He took in a deep breath and nodded.
“I thought you were with Nick. I’d heard from friends off and on that you and Nick were together, always together.”
“But we weren’t,” I interrupted.
“I thought you were and because I thought that I didn’t want to ruin your happiness. All signs pointed that you were done with me, Natty. I sent letters and got them returned. I called and was told by your mom to quit harassing you. I heard you were always hanging out with Nick.”
My breathing slowed.
“My father has cheated on my mother the entire time they’ve been together. It’s made my brother and I keenly aware of what that does to a person. I would never cross that line and neither would my brother. I thought you were taken. Happily taken. Even though I wanted you, I thought you made your decision. If I knew what I know now would I have done things differently? Yeah. I would have fought for you with everything I had. I would have told your mom to stay out of it and would have driven you to Georgia. I would have told my father to piss off, and I would have—” he stopped. “But we can’t both keep living in the past.”
Cole slid his hand to my knee, and I slowly began to see the distorted past that so clearly shaped his present, our present, but I still didn’t know if learning any of this would change the possibility of a future.
“How is a man on crutches supposed to bowl?” I asked, resting my hands on my hips, noticing Anthony make his way onto the premises.
“The sad thing is he’ll still do better than you,” Tori laughed. “Nice outfit by the way.”
I tugged on my bowling shirt and tightened the Velcro on my gloves. “Say what you want, but I’ve been taking lessons. You gotta dress the part to feel the part.”
“Do you realize I’ve bowled more in the last month than I’ve bowled in my life?” Mason took a seat and began entering our names into the machine
“Doubtful.” Tori poked Mason, and he stopped typing to wrestle her down and kiss her.
I wanted that.
I looked over to see Anthony propping himself on crutches while a few teenagers asked him for an autograph and giggled. Cole still hadn’t appeared. He probably dropped Anthony off at the door.
I unzipped my bowling bag and lifted my shiny new ball out.
“Whoa,” Tori chuckled. “Should I be nervous?”
“Only if you’re afraid of losing.”
Mason smiled and shook his head, looking at a piece of paper as he finished typing our names in for the scoreboard.
“Hey, Anthony. Are you sure you should be on this slippery floor?” I asked, watching him navigate down the steps.
“If I had to stay at home one more night, you’d probably find me at the bottom of Oyster Bay.”
“It can’t be that bad,” I said, making sure he made it over to the bench safely.
“I don’t know how much you know, but things with my career have been a little crazy lately. I needed some downtime.”
“I’d heard.” I shrugged, glancing toward the door. Where was Cole?
“Anyway, little did I know I’d have to be listening to my little brother moan and groan the whole time we were at the house.”
Tori threw a glance in my direction and I smiled.
“How so?” she asked, switching sides with Mason.
“He’s got it bad.”
“Got what bad?” I asked.
“Do you want a beer or anything?” Mason asked, standing up.
“That sounds great,” Anthony said, reaching for his wallet.
“No need, man.” Mason scanned us for requests and we added ours to his list.
“Come on. I want to hear this before Cole comes inside,” Tori said.
“He lived with me while he was in college.”
“In Georgia?” I questioned.
Anthony nodded and continued. “I thought if anything would get him out of his doldrums having an older brother with a band and access to endless—”
“You can skip the details.” I held up my hand.
“Well, for two years that kid studied nonstop. He got Magna Cum Laude. Focused all his energy on studying and promoting our band. Cole even wrote several songs for us.”
My stomach tightened in knots.
“He loved you. He loved you so much it wasn’t healthy.” Anthony shook his head. “I tried to get him to go out and he wouldn’t. He spent two years of college focusing on nothing but studying and I mean nothing.” Anthony’s gaze focused on mine. “Then he spent the next three years throwing everything he had at our band and growing his business. Again, giving no time to dating.”
I liked where this was going and mentally did the math. Five years.
“Well, Natty hasn’t dated anyone since Cole,” Tori said, not realizing what spilled out until it was too late.
“Seriously?” Anthony’s eyes grew huge.
Thanks a lot, Tori.
I didn’t say anything one way or another so Anthony kept going.
“When we got our first recording contract, he started to take on other clients. He realized he w
as really good at what he did. Cole worked himself to death, but he grew the firm into one of the most well-respected agencies in LA, all before he hit the age of thirty.”
I’d done my research over the last few days. Cole’s agency spun the careers of several obscure unknowns into well-known actors, not to mention what he’d done for his brother and two other bands.
“I appreciate the picture you’re painting of Cole, but it’s hard to imagine he didn’t dabble a little,” I only half teased. “I mean he did come to Fireweed with a fiancée.”
Anthony scowled. “That was partially my fault. I pushed Cynthia on him. I don’t think either of us realized how manipulative she was or how—”
A few girls gathered near the shelves of bowling balls behind us and giggled. I motioned them over, and their eyes looked like they were about to fall out of their heads as they gripped their pens and any scraps of paper they could find and rushed to Anthony’s side.
Cole came in as Anthony began scribbling on the items being pushed in front of him, and Cole just shook his head, laughing as the girls began quietly shrieking as they took off toward the door.
“How cute.” Cole smiled, jogging down the steps.
“Your brother was just informing us about how you grew your firm,” Tori explained.
“Sounds riveting.” Cole took a seat next to me as Mason came back with several bottles of beer.
“It was. I had no idea you were Magna Cum Laude,” I told him.
“Wasn’t hard to do.”
“Yeah, I guess when all you do is study, things come naturally.” Anthony took a beer from Mason. “Thanks.”
“We’d gotten to the part about me persuading you to take Cynthia out.”
Cole’s jaw tensed, and he flashed a look of death toward Anthony.
“I don’t need to hear that part. I think it’s time we start our match or whatever we call it in bowling.” I glanced at the scoreboard. “I think there’s something wrong with our team’s screen names.”
“Nope,” Mason said. “I entered them just how Cole told me to.”
I squinted my eyes. “What is f-x-y-l-d-y?”
“Foxy Lady,” Cole said, laughing.
“Please, tell me you’re kidding.” I slapped his leg.
“Why would I joke about something so serious? Breakin’ the law. Breakin’ the law.”
“I can’t believe the one person who should have my back on something like this would instead have it glaring on a big screen in the middle of our town’s bowling alley.” I scowled at him playfully.
“I’m sure after this many years, not a soul remembers,” Cole whispered, bringing his mouth close to my ear, sending a stream of shivers through me. God, I loved feeling him so close.
“Oh. My. Word. I totally forgot about that,” Tori said, laughing so hard she almost fell off the bench.
I shot Cole a nasty look and he grinned wryly.
“What am I missing this time?” Mason asked, taking a swig of his drink.
“Sophie threw the most epic graduation party in our senior year. It was a costume party.”
I held my head in my hands as Tori continued. “It was incredible. One for the history books.”
“Okaaay.” Mason’s brow rose.
“Anyway, I came dressed up as the Angel I am.”
“Of course,” Mason agreed.
“And Natty came dressed up as her own version of Foxxy Cleopatra from Austin Powers. Except that she called herself Foxy Lady.”
“It was unbelievably hot,” Cole said, his arm wrapping around me.
Mason and Anthony laughed as Tori forged ahead.
“Well, as with many high school parties, it got out of hand. Police showed up about the time Natty was dancing on Sophie’s pool table, eyes closed, clutching her red solo cup of god knows what inside. Cole came running into the basement trying to get Natty to get off the pool table and hide, but she was so out of it she just kept dancing.”
I let out a groan. “And being that it’s a small town, the sheriff knew my dad and gave him a call. He explained the situation, and of course, those two devised a plan to scare the shit out of me before I went off to college,” I told Mason.
“They pretended to arrest her,” Tori continued. “They made her pose for a mug shot and everything. By Monday, it was all over school that Foxy Lady got arrested.”
“And you still didn’t learn your lesson?” Mason laughed, clanking his bottle with mine.
“I’m stubborn like that.”
“I’m sure very few people remember,” Tori added.
“Okay, onward and upward. Mason, you’re first.” I pointed at the lane as Cole slowly ran his fingers up my back.
“I’ve been practicing in my living room,” I informed Cole, trying to shake the feelings his fingers were conjuring. How could someone’s touch do so much?
“How does that work?” he murmured, coming in closer.
“Not very well.”
Mason threw a strike and Tori jumped up cheering.
“Take that,” she said.
“It’s not always about winning.” I stood up and took my shiny new ball with me. Cole was right behind me.
“That’s not fair,” Tori said, chuckling. “That’s cheating.”
Cole’s arms wrapped around me, and I suddenly didn’t care what she wanted to call it as he pressed himself against me.
“Cole…”
“Too much?” he whispered, moving his arms with mine.
“Not enough.”
Needless to say by the time we’d finished bowling with friends, I didn’t care what the scores were. All I wanted was to get to my house and pull Cole inside with me.
There was just one slight problem with that plan and his name was Anthony.
Cole walked me up to my door and saw me inside and that was almost where it ended.
“I really enjoyed spending time with you tonight,” Cole said.
“Me too.”
Anthony honked the horn and Cole rolled his eyes.
“Its hard to believe he’s the older brother.” He took a step forward, and I glanced over his shoulder to see Anthony flashing the lights.
I waved at Anthony but yanked Cole inside as he shut the door and locked it.
“In case he’s more ambitious than I realize,” Cole laughed.
I traced my fingers along his chest.
“Would you believe I still have my Foxy Lady costume?”
Cole’s smile deepened. “I’d like to see that sometime.”
“You just have to hang around long enough…” my voice trailed off as his lips touched mine.
He softly slid his tongue along my lower lip, and I became heady with desire as I parted my lips. Cole tasted so good, so sweet as his kisses intensified, and he carefully walked me backward to the wall.
Pressing his body against mine, I softly sucked on his tongue and a soft moan escaped his lips.
Oh, yeah. Way better than eighteen.
Cole slid his hands up my bare stomach, and my heart hammered in my chest as his lips slowly parted from mine, and he placed soft kisses along my neck as his fingers skated under my bra.
My body trembled as he knelt in front of me and began placing slow kisses along my stomach and my fingers ran through his hair.
“Cole,” I breathed in.
He stood up and grabbed my hands, pinning them above my head.
“Yeah?”
I slowly opened my eyes to see him watching me and another wave of pure delight drilled through me.
“Maybe we should…”
He interrupted my train of thought by swiping another kiss along my lips before unfastening his hands from mine. He took a step back, and I tried to gain my composure.
“Thank you for an amazing evening,” I said, hoping the wall would continue to hold me up because my legs felt like they were about to give out on me within seconds.
“See you soon, Foxy Lady.”
“You wish.”
“
You have no idea.” His eyes darkened, and if it weren’t for the threat of Anthony, I wasn’t sure where I’d be right now.
I closed my eyes as Cole let himself out, my lips still tingling, and I wondered if I’d ever allow myself more.
I spotted Cole in the far booth with a bunch of guys, and my heart literally lifted like the world suddenly lacked a little thing called gravity. He looked so relaxed, and it made my heart tug a little that I couldn’t be part of it this morning, but I was off to the shop. I had a couple orders to fill for the afternoon, and I also hoped to sneak off to the book festival.
“Hey.” Cole slid out of the booth and gave me a hug before pulling me over to the group of guys. They all looked at me like they knew me, which kind of freaked me out a bit because I had no idea who they were.
“These are the people who hold Crimson together,” Cole said. “And guys, this is Natalie.”
“The one and only Natalie,” the guy on the end whistled and held his heart, grinning. His blond hair was spikey, and he had several brow piercings framing his attractive features.
I felt so bad that I had no idea who these people were. Were they bandmates? Crew? Managers? No idea.
“Hopefully you won’t go breaking Cole’s heart again,” another one of the guys laughed. This one had a shaved head, but you’d never know it because he had so many tattoos covering it. “I’m Angus.”
As in the meat?
“Nice to meet you, but I’m not sure you heard the right story,” I laughed and Cole slid his arm around my waist. “He was the heartbreaker. Not me.”
“I’m Eliot,” the blond guy said. “And that’s Nils.”
I glanced at Nils and he waved, still chewing his bite of pancake.
“It’s nice to meet you all, but I’ve got to run.” I turned around and almost kissed Cole but stopped short, realizing what I'd almost done. He caught my look, and his lips curled into an amused smile.
Mortified told only half the story so I quickly spun on my heels and booked out of there.
“I can see why you’ve been dreaming of her for so long bro,” Angus whispered behind me, and I literally floated out the door and down the street to my little shop.
I unlocked my store and took in a deep breath of the hyacinths that lined the floor. The sweet smell always made me so happy. Dropping off my bag, I flipped on my order system and checked to see if any other orders came in for the day beyond what I saw early this morning at the house.
Love Redone in Hidden Harbor (Island County Book 2) Page 16