by Brooks, Abby
“Can you get it?” his mom called from the kitchen. “I’m elbow deep in chicken.”
“It’s my own damn door,” he called back with a laugh. “Of course I can get it.” As Maggie giggled and muttered something about sons becoming men, Cole threw open the door. His breath caught in his throat.
Lilah looked lovely. More than lovely. Gorgeous. Sweet. Sexy. And slightly embarrassed.
“Hey,” she said, holding out a plate of something covered in tinfoil as if it were a peace offering. “I come bearing cookies.” Her eyes flickered to his and she offered up a weak smile, a flush rushing up her cheeks.
Cole realized he was glaring at her, all six foot four inches of him filling the doorway like some hulking viking. He smiled and stepped aside, gesturing for her to enter. “Cookies?” he asked, smiling wide enough to erase any lingering remains of the angry neanderthal who had opened the door. “Of course you can come in if you’re bringing cookies. Hey Ma?” he called back into the apartment as he shut the door. “Why haven’t we invited 3B over before tonight?”
A look of relief washed across Lilah’s face. She looked so pretty tonight, with her hair down and her cheeks matching the soft pink of her dress. “They’re fresh from the oven,” she said, looking up at him through her eyelashes. “But I’ve got to warn you, these are the first cookies I’ve ever made, so I make no promises as to how they taste.”
Maggie peeked her head out of the kitchen. “You made it all the way to womanhood without knowing how to make cookies?” Shock lifted her eyebrows. “What kind of childhood did you have?”
A funny look crossed Lilah’s face and her cheeks grew even pinker. “Oh, you know, just the normal kind,” she said, looking around the apartment. “So, can I put these down or do you just want me to stand here with them for the rest of the night?” She lifted an eyebrow and hit Cole with a look that would have had a lesser man’s testicles crawling up into his belly.
“I think you’re good to just stand there,” he said and dropped himself down onto the couch with a sigh, propping his feet up on the coffee table and crossing his arms across his chest. Gives me a chance to keep looking at you, he thought and inwardly cursed his mom. That plate of cookies in Lilah’s hand was the final bit of proof he needed. His mother had orchestrated this night because she fully intended him to do the girlfriend thing with Lilah.
“Cole Bennett!” His mother poked her head out from the kitchen again and scowled at him. “You take those cookies from Lilah and offer her a drink.”
Well, hell. So much for looking tough and in control. Nothing like having your mother put you in your place to take you down a notch. Cole looked at Lilah, who was busy biting back laughter, her eyes made all the prettier by the smile on her face.
“Here, princess,” he said, taking the cookies from her and gesturing to the couch. “Please, have a seat. Would you care for a drink?” He made sure to enunciate his words clearly, infusing as much sarcasm as he possibly could into them.
Lilah shrugged and lowered herself onto the couch, crossing her legs and folding her hands on her knees. “What do you have?”
“Beer. Water. I think there’s some Coke in there, if you’re into soda.” One look at her trim figure and prim posture told him she wasn’t going to ask for a beer or a soda.
She squinted her eyes and gave him a look he couldn’t quite read. “I’ll have what you’re having,” she said.
He had planned on having water with dinner. His nightly beer had felt more and more like playing with fire after what happened with his mom. But for some reason, he wanted to watch Lilah squirm. “If you say so,” he said and grabbed two bottles of beer from the fridge and wandered back out to sit on the opposite end of the couch.
He handed her one and then twisted the cap off his own and took a sip, watching Lilah intently. She read the label and took a peek at the cap before wrapping her delicate hand around the top and giving it a twist. She grimaced and pulled her hand away, looking at her palm for any signs of injury.
“Ow,” she said and gave it a shake before trying again. She looked so cute, with her perfect posture and her pink dress, struggling with a twist off cap on a bottle of beer like she had never opened one before, he could barely stand it.
He reached out and took it from her, removed the cap in one quick movement and handed it back to her. “There you go, princess.”
“Thank you.” Her fingers brushed his as she took the beer from his hand and damn if she didn’t have the softest skin he had ever felt. She brought the bottle to her lips and took just the tiniest of sips, swallowed with a thoughtful look on her face. She made an appreciative look and shrugged her shoulders before taking another drink, longer than the first.
Cole watched those shapely lips wrap around the mouth of the bottle and had a flash of what she would look like with his dick in her mouth, those pretty eyes looking up at him as he thrust himself to the back of her throat. Damn if his cock didn’t jump to attention and double damn if she didn’t make matters worse by licking her lips and smiling across the couch at him. Cole took another sip of his beer and focused on his mother in the kitchen, humming away, happier than she had been in a long time.
Cole was certain of two things. First, Maggie Bennett was busy playing matchmaker, happily ignoring the fact that her son wasn’t in the least bit interested in making a match. And second, he was going to spend the whole night arguing with his dick because he wasn’t going to be able to get the image of Lilah sucking him off out of his head for the rest of the night.
10
Lilah had never felt so small and unwelcome in all her life as she did when Cole yanked open the door to his apartment and glared down at her. His broad shoulders filled the space, practically touching both sides of the doorway, his head scraping the top of the entry. His face didn’t exactly scream warm and welcoming and Lilah worried that the one plate of cookies in her hands wasn’t going to be enough to tame this particular monster.
But the scowl softened—that rich smile of his warming everything but those stormy eyes—and he stepped aside, making enough room for her to enter. The apartment was a carbon copy of hers. Identical floor plans, the same single window beside the front door set in the wall across from the sliding glass doors in the back of the apartment that lead out to a concrete slab better known as the patio. The furnishings weren’t much different from Lilah’s either, although he did have a dinner table, worn and pockmarked though it may be.
She stepped into the living room and stood there, waiting for an invitation to sit, directions as to where to put the cookies, anything to help make the whole situation feel a lot less awkward. Of course, Cole being Cole, all she got was a lot of sarcastic. Luckily, Lilah could fling sarcasm around with the best of them and didn’t hesitate to put him right in his place.
Throughout the simple yet completely satisfying dinner, she amused herself watching Cole and his mother interact and tried to understand their relationship. They both had the same look in their eyes, darting and distrustful and never fully smiling no matter how loud they laughed. And they laughed a lot. Poking jokes at each other about anything and everything and Lilah laughed hard enough to get a stitch in her side more than once.
Maggie even remembered to ask about her nephew, smiling knowingly while Lilah cooed over how tiny he was. By the time they unwrapped the cookies, there was no doubt in Lilah’s mind that she liked Cole and Maggie Bennett.
“Hot damn,” exclaimed Maggie as she peeled back the tinfoil. “Those are the prettiest cookies I have ever seen.”
Lilah had made sugar cookies because the recipe had seemed simple enough, but was so disappointed when they came out of the oven as just boring old white circles. She may have gone a little overboard learning how to make icing and decorating each of them individually.
Cole frowned at the selection of flowers and butterflies. “Got any man cookies in there?”
Maggie slapped his arm and plucked a cookie from the plate. “Don’t b
e an ass.” She took a bite and moaned, her eyes rolling closed. “Good god, girl. These are tasty,” she said around a mouthful.
Lilah smiled at Cole and pointed to one cookie in particular. One with a faint trail of icing the same color as his eyes, the sea and the sky. “I made that one with the manliest of ingredients.” She waited for him to grab the one she pointed to. “Special for such a manly cookie monster.” She couldn’t help using his nickname, knowing full well that it would embarrass the hell out of him.
Maggie covered her mouth as she exploded in laughter and Cole glowered at his mother.
“Really, Mom?” He shook his head trying to look intimidating despite the smile creeping onto his face. “Well, now that the secret is out I might as well grab that pink butterfly cookie and eat that, too.”
“Believe me,” said Maggie, staring at the last bite in her hand. “You’re gonna want more than just one.”
Well. At least the cookies weren’t disgusting. Lilah watched Cole take a bite and pleasure zinged through her as his face went from one of wariness to pure enjoyment. “That’s a damn good cookie,” he said, his mouth still full. He turned to his mom. “We need to invite her over more often.”
Maggie smiled knowingly, her eyes dancing between Lilah and her son. Something in that look made Lilah think that there was more to this dinner invitation than just a repayment for a kindness. This whole evening was designed to get Lilah and Cole together. Didn’t Maggie know what kind of man her son was? Lilah had zero interest in being another girl slinking out of his bedroom in the morning, thank you very much.
“Hey Cole,” Maggie asked as she started gathering plates and carrying them to the kitchen. “Would you play me a song? It’s been too long since I’ve heard good music.”
“Nah.” Cole grabbed the glasses and ducked his head in a movement that might have looked self-conscious if it wasn’t coming from Cole Bennett. “Not tonight, Ma.” He glanced towards Lilah and looked away as soon as he saw she was watching him. Was that … vulnerability? Did Cole Bennett look vulnerable right now? Lilah couldn’t let this moment go to waste.
“Play what?” she asked, leaning on the wall near the kitchen.
“His guitar,” Maggie called over the rush of water as she turned on the faucet to get the dishes started.
“Here, Ma. Let me clean up. You go sit with Lilah and talk about girl stuff.” Cole tried to take a plate out of his mother’s hands, but she gave him a polite elbow to the gut.
“Don’t think you can get out of playing by trying to be helpful.” Maggie smiled up at her son. “I’m happiest in the kitchen listening to you make music.” Maggie turned to Lilah. “He’s really good.”
“I’m sure he is,” Lilah responded, studying the hulking man in front of her and trying to picture him with a guitar in his hands.
Maggie turned to Cole. “Now look, you’re making me look like one of those moms who thinks sun shines out of her kid’s ass. She doesn’t believe you can play.”
Cole frowned at his mom and hit Lilah with a scathing look, almost daring her to agree with his mom. When would this man learn that the only thing looks like that did to Lilah was egg her on? She lifted her eyebrows and shrugged, smiling as sweetly as she could.
“That’s okay, Mrs. Bennett. I’m sure Cole is every bit as good as you say he is.” Lilah made sure to infuse her voice with just the faintest hint of sarcasm and doubt. Not enough to make it obvious that she was messing with him, but just enough to make him question. Something told Lilah that Cole wasn’t used to being mocked and that made this moment all the more sweet.
He looked at her. Pursed his lips together. And without a word, he disappeared upstairs, his footsteps somehow managing to thunder on the carpeted steps.
Maggie laughed and shook her head. “You might be the only woman in the world to get under that boy’s skin,” she said.
Cole returned without a word and took a seat on the couch, went to work tuning an old guitar, the varnish chipped and peeling. He plucked a string and twisted on a tuning peg until he was satisfied with the sound, working his way across the rest, one after the other. When he was through, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, his body bent around the guitar as if it was part of him.
And then he started playing, one set of fingers dancing over the frets while the other plucked a melody into existence, frantic and beautiful. Cole’s face changed as he played, his features relaxing, the tension in his jaw dissipating. His breathing deepened and when he finally opened his eyes, the storm was gone. The corners of his lips twitched up into the tiniest smile, one that came from the very bottom of his soul. Goosebumps shivered out across Lilah’s skin and her lips parted.
Cole took a deep breath and sang, closing his eyes again. The voice that filled the room was so beautiful, deep and rolling, constructed of emotion and meaning. He opened his eyes and they glistened with truth, like Lilah could see past all the hard lines he had drawn for himself and she could see exactly who he was. And who he was was beautiful.
Lilah stared at Cole with her mouth open, her heart open, her skin rippling as she shivered with the power of his voice and words. The simple beauty of the guitar accompanying him. Gone was the harsh man, judgmental and withdrawn, and in his place was a person beaming with meaning and warmth. She wanted to know this man. To touch him and talk to him and bring him into her life because having him would surely make things better.
Maggie appeared at her side, drying her hands on a dishtowel. “He’s something, isn’t he?”
Lilah didn’t want to mar the moment with something as plain as her own voice so she just nodded, unable to take her eyes off Cole.
“I always said he was meant for more than shrimping.”
Lilah couldn’t agree more. How could a man this talented waste himself out on the water? How could he survive in this tiny little apartment, almost as empty as her own? How could he settle for such a hard life, one that made his eyes close off as he drew definite lines around himself and the people around him? Is this why he seemed so unhappy? Because he was living as a shrimper instead of a musician? Denying some basic part of himself?
Cole stopped playing and looked up at Lilah. When their eyes met, she shivered again. Cole beamed at her, happiness lighting him up from the inside out. He dropped his eyes and ran his fingers across the strings, plucking another melody into existence. He closed his eyes and tapped his foot, bobbing his head as he lost himself to the music. He didn’t sing this time, just played. His fingers moving with intricate precision. Lilah watched, almost hypnotized by the unexpected pleasure of learning that something like this lived inside Cole.
While he played, Lilah and Maggie sat back down at the dinner table, sipping cups of coffee Maggie brought for them. Cole made his way through a few more songs, two of them with lyrics so powerful, she felt driven back in her seat by the sheer truth in them.
“Play that one I love so much,” Maggie said when Cole finally took a break, covering the strings with his palm and silencing the guitar.
“Which one?” Cole looked at his mom with peacefulness in his eyes that suited him. There was no denying that Cole Bennett was a good-looking man, but this extra softness in his eyes took him from good-looking to compelling. Lilah couldn’t take her eyes off him.
“You know the one.” Maggie offered a smile to her son, one that spoke of years of connection.
“You mean this one?” Cole strummed a few notes, playing a song that even Lilah recognized, although she couldn’t quite remember the name.
“That’s the one,” Maggie said, settling back in her chair. “What’s it called?”
“It’s She Talks to Angels, Ma.” Cole shook his head. “I don’t know why you can’t remember that.”
“Why do I need to remember when I’ve got you to do it for me?” Maggie traced her finger along the rim of her coffee mug. “You want me to make you a cup while you play or are you going out on the boat tomorrow?”
Cole’s fingers meande
red along the guitar strings and he shook his head. “Got my alarm set for bright and early. Last thing I need is a cup of coffee. Thanks though.” And with that, he stopped meandering and started playing purposefully and when he sang, his voice cracked with emotion, filling the small apartment with big feelings.
Silence sat between them when he finished. “Thanks Cole,” Maggie finally said. “I think I like the way you sing that one better than whoever sang it first.”
“The Black Crowes. You ever plan on remembering that, or are you just gonna keep relying on me for that one, too?”
Maggie stood up and crossed the small apartment to drop a hand on her son’s shoulder. “I guess I can’t keep relying on you for everything, now can I?” There was grit in her voice and all that hardness came rushing back into both of their eyes. It was like watching a door slide shut. Like watching water freeze in an instant. The disappearance of an oasis in the heat-scorched desert.
“Of course you can,” Cole said and Lilah felt like she wasn’t supposed to be part of this moment. Like they were talking about so much more than Maggie forgetting the name of a song and the band that wrote it.
And then the moment passed and Maggie made a big show of a huge yawn. “Thanks for the music, son. I’m tuckered. These old bones don’t like late nights like they used to.” With that, Maggie smiled sweetly and headed upstairs, leaving Lilah and Cole alone.
11
As Maggie disappeared upstairs, Lilah became more and more aware that she was alone with Cole in his living room. She also became more and more aware that Cole hadn’t been the one who invited Lilah over for dinner in the first place. She remembered the scowl on his face when he yanked open the door—the one that made it obvious he didn’t want her here. Without Maggie, Lilah felt unwelcome as all hell. She fidgeted with the hem of her dress for a few seconds before she realized what she was doing and folded her hands together. Lilah Moore had never been one to fidget and she sure wasn’t going to start now.