“Alana texted me and told me to stop by. Where is she, anyway?”
“Gone.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“Javi must have been really mad to do this to your face. Daddy will be glad to find out that all those boxing lessons didn’t go to waste.”
Of course Javi had had boxing lessons. It’d slipped his mind while Javi was punching him that Javier had done Golden Gloves in college. Karrie had made him stop because she hated violence. It was one of the many things that Javi had said about his ex-wife over beers.
He’d fucked up, but Alana wanted to take care of him. He felt shit. “Alana sent you here?”
“Yeah, she was pissed that I’d spilled the beans about you two to Javi, but she said I could make amends by coming over here and making sure your pretty face didn’t get infected.”
Cole’s chest tightened; Alana still cared enough about him to worry about his wounds getting infected. He quickly dashed his own hopes. Alana was just conscientious. She would be worried about Cole suing her family if he had severe injuries. And it wasn’t like she’d stayed herself to patch him up.
“Thanks. I appreciate you coming to check on me.” After Carla put a butterfly bandage next to his eye, he moved to stand up. “I’ll see a doctor when I get back to D.C. tomorrow.”
“You’re leaving? Why?”
“I don’t have any reason to be here anymore.”
“That’s ridiculous. Javi is going to get over you being with my sister in about three minutes. He’s just a hothead with a bad temper.”
“I’ve just never been on the receiving end before. I think he’s really pissed about this.”
“He’s not. He’s pissed at himself about the whole Karrie thing.”
Carla was an extremely confusing woman. She was talking about her brother and his ex-wife when this whole thing was about him. And his inability to keep it in his pants. “What the fuck are you talking about?” She took a deep breath, like a parent with an exasperating toddler. “What’s Javi mad at you about?”
“I’m not good enough to be with his baby sister because I’m a man whore.”
“Since you all have known each other, who’s slept around more?”
Cole did not want to answer that question. Partially because he didn’t know who was the bigger slut between him and Javi. He screwed up his face, and made his cuts sting more. It would take a while to count and compare. “That’s a tough one.”
“My money’s on Javi. I saw you with my sister. When she’s in the room, no one else exists. It was that way when she saw you at our parents’ house on New Year’s Day. It was like that at the baseball game. You, at the very least, are smitten with my sister.”
“What does that have to do with Javier and Karrie?” Cole was still confused.
“Javi felt that way about Karrie, too. And then she broke his heart. So, he thinks love is dead or some stupid shit like that. And now he’s a big old slut. He’s projecting.”
“So, he thinks I’m a lying slut because he’s a lying slut?”
“You should have told her about the job offer right away. She hates when Daddy and Javi cut her out of things at work. And you should have had the balls to tell Javi that you really like her on New Year’s Day.”
“You’re right. But I didn’t want her to know that Javier went behind her back.”
“Which shows you care about her.” Carla hesitated. “But you still should have told her. It hurts her when Daddy and Javier shut her out of important decisions in the business. She didn’t deserve that from you.”
Cole knew that. He knew that would hurt her just as much as if he’d cheated on her with that girl last night. He should have told her right when Javier had offered. Right after dinner, but he’d fucked up. And he should have told Javier that he was falling for his sister right up front. Alana deserved to have someone on her team, not a wishy-washy douche like him.
It knocked the wind out of him when he’d told Alana that they weren’t going to last that morning. He’d never allowed himself to love someone before her. Not even his ex. She’d been more about validating himself, checking the boxes in life. So, he hadn’t known how it felt to have a broken heart. Until today when he saw the tears form in Alana’s eyes. In disbelief, he said, “I’m in love with her.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?”
“Fuck if I know.”
Chapter 17
Alana could feel Javi’s discomfort with the silence in his car. But every time he opened his mouth to speak, she glared at him. A glare intended to say that she was offering Javi his life in exchange for silence.
She’d had about enough of her brother interfering with her life. She’d respected his privacy and picked up his slack for months, and he repaid her by interfering with her love life and her professional life. She’d always thought they were on the same team, but he still didn’t see her as a grown-up. The fact that he’d offered Cole a job without consulting her crossed a line that she couldn’t abide. She was going to have to go to her father and lay it all out. The whole machismo thing was a little passé—both about the work and about who she slept with.
The car felt hot even though Javi had his air conditioning blasting. She felt sweaty and nauseous thinking about never seeing Cole again. The past few days with him had been almost magical. Not only was the sex out-of-control good, she’d felt like she could trust him. But she couldn’t. He’d lied to her about wanting to stay in Miami and give their relationship a shot. He’d just been bored, and she’d been more than willing to be his pastime.
What would have happened if Javi hadn’t shown up? Would he have shown up to work and pretended that they’d never been together? Would he have used it against her in front of her father and brother when she didn’t want to give him his way?
She ran her fingers through her messed-up hair. This whole thing was so embarrassing. She’d been duped by a slick fuckboy who’d just wanted to get his dick wet while on vacation. And he’d almost wandered into a job at her family business.
Her relationship with Cole was the first time she’d done something that her family wouldn’t approve of since she moved across country to go to law school.
And she’d fucked up.
The look on Cole’s face while Javi yelled at him haunted her. His words about them just being a fling didn’t ring true for Alana. Not after the way he’d touched her, the way he’d looked at her. Why would he have thrown a jealous fit over Manuel if he didn’t care about her, at least a little?
And why didn’t he fight back? The image of his bloody nose and bruised face brought tears to her eyes. He could have cleaned her brother’s clock with very little effort. The only reason he wouldn’t have was if he’d believed he deserved to get hit. That he didn’t deserve to be with her. And maybe he believed that because she hadn’t told him how she felt. He’d been the one to tell her that he had feelings that went deeper than lust. But she hadn’t reciprocated because it was too soon, and she wasn’t supposed to fall for her fling.
But she had. She had totally fallen for him, and now it was ruined. He’d leave Miami, and she’d just be one more reason why he didn’t think he was deserving of love. Alana choked on that thought. Javi looked over at her, his brow creased in concern, but she still said nothing. She didn’t trust herself to say anything that wouldn’t irreparably damage her friendship.
She needed to be alone with her confusion. And she needed to figure out how to get her family out of her personal life. She might have to be their bitch at work, but her family—especially her brother—didn’t get to decide what she did outside of work.
No more. She was going to move on with her life, even if it wasn’t with Cole. Sure, she was going to cry her eyes out for a little while. She wasn’t going to start going on dates with anyone immediately. When she did, she’d have to put a few male models on the roster, just to get the point across to J
avi. But she would move on. And she was going to make sure her family got the message that she could take care of herself. Starting now.
By the time she made the decision, Javi’s car had made its way into her front drive. Alana jumped out of the car and grabbed her bag from the back. She was halfway up the walk when she felt Javi come up behind her. She turned around. “Go home.”
“But what about—” Javi looked bewildered at her firm instruction.
“Go.”
“That’s good. But shouldn’t we talk?”
“What do we have to talk about? You don’t respect me enough to make my own choices, so what do we possibly have to talk about?”
“Listen, sweetie, I couldn’t let you date that guy—”
Alana held her hand up. Cole might have dumped her, but that didn’t mean she was going to let her brother talk about him in that way. “How well do you even know him? Have you ever even talked to him? Like about his life?”
“Yeah, we talked about his life. It was all about liquor and women.”
“You don’t know anything about beyond the fact that you have fun drinking with him, do you?” Alana put her hands on her hips, no longer caring if she made a scene in her driveway. “I know him. He told me. He showed me who he was.”
Javi stared at her slack-jawed as she continued. “And you don’t know about his family. He wasn’t as lucky as we were. You know what I think? I think you’re projecting all your bullshit hatred about women on to Cole. All that anger that you think you’ve kept so cleverly hidden? You’re taking that out on every waitress/model in South Beach when you fuck them and never call them again.” At Javi’s shocked look and grimace, she knew she was right. “You’re the one who isn’t dateable. I wouldn’t wish you on my worst enemy right now.”
She pulled her keys out and opened her front door. She stood on the threshold and said, “You’d better go apologize to him before you come back. Until you do, you’re not my brother. Not the one I grew up with.”
Then she slammed the door shut, grateful for the silence even though she felt empty inside.
She might not be able to get over Cole lying to her, but he hadn’t deserved the treatment he’d gotten from Javi.
Chapter 18
He’d fucked up.
Cole had no idea how he was going to get Alana to give him another chance. Driving north on I-95, the landscape rushed by in a blur. He saw her tear-stained face instead of the traffic lines. Luckily the interstate was nearly empty after he got through Fort Lauderdale rush-hour traffic. He’d have at least fourteen more hours to get his fucking head together before he got home. Without Alana, it was just four walls, like a cubicle where he slept.
His insides felt raw at the idea of never seeing her again. His vacation had left him worse off than he was before. He’d thought some time on the beach with some cocktails would ease his sense that life was slipping away. It hadn’t.
His vacation had turned everything around—and then dumped it on its head. He shifted on the bench seat, couldn’t get comfortable. He vaguely noticed the sun setting over the treeline.
He wondered what Alana was doing. He’d guess she was in the ratty pajamas that she’d tried to hide from him, drinking a glass of wine looking at the same sunset from the single lawn chair in her backyard.
She was working on something important that her father and brother would never recognize.
Cole didn’t understand how he could miss someone so much when he’d only known her for a few days. Didn’t make sense. But, deep down, he knew she was perfect for him. The tightness in his chest eased when he was around her because she made him feel like he had a purpose. She wasn’t afraid to need him.
That’s what he’d been missing since Beth dumped him. Right now, he felt as worthless as ever. And, this time, unlike the last, it was his own damn fault. Even after a few days, it was so much worse.
He was only driving away because there was no way he could fix it. Now that he’d broken her trust, she wouldn’t believe in him. She couldn’t depend on him. He wished, more than anything, that he could go back and tell her about the job offer when it happened. He wished he would have stood up to Javier from the very beginning. That first night with Alana had been something special, and he wished he would have pursued Alana with the same intensity that he’d pursued becoming a SEAL, making something of himself. Loving Alana would make him into something more the same way that serving his country had.
It had grown dark, and he almost missed the silver sedan on the side of the road. The driver hadn’t put on flashers, but he saw a young woman next to a flat tire.
He pulled over and trotted back to the car. The driver was younger than he’d originally thought, no more than a teenager. She was crying. Tear tracks of mascara all over her face.
He held up his hands to show her that they were empty. The look on his face and messed up beard would probably make him look like a serial killer. “Do you need help, ma’am?”
Her head snapped up. “My dad taught me how to do this, but I forgot.” She motioned toward the jack and the spare tire sitting next to her on the ground. “He isn’t answering his phone.”
“I can fix you right up.”
He stooped down next to her and had the spare on within minutes. But the girl kept crying. He didn’t want to invade her personal space by touching her. “Is that all that’s going on?”
He didn’t want to get too involved, not really, but he couldn’t let her keep on driving when she was this upset.
“Nothing. I just got broken up with. And now this just sent me over the edge.”
“I know what you mean. You should have seen me sobbing over some Celine Dion before I saw you broken down.”
That got a laugh out of her. “Who would break up with you?”
“You’d be surprised,” he said.
“Thank you for helping me. You’re a good man.” She’d stopped crying and got back in her car.
“Make sure you get a new tire as soon as you get where you’re going. And I hope whoever dumped you gets a bad rash or something.”
The girl snorted. “I hope the lady who let you go knows what she’s missing.”
Cole waited until she drove off before getting back in his truck. You’re a good man. That might be true, but was he good enough for Alana? He realized that he’d thought that Javier was right all along. He didn’t feel like a good man.
But here he was, sweaty and dirt-stained from helping a stranger. And Alana had never made him feel like he was something less than good. Even though he was sure that he was missing her more than she would ever miss him, he wanted her to see that he was a good man who could be there for her—even when she wanted to be a very bad girl.
His fingers itched as he turned the keys in the ignition. He pulled into traffic and drove north, feeling like he was leaving something very important behind.
He didn’t want to go back to his bare-walled studio apartment and his boring job. He wanted to be with the woman who made him crazy in the best ways.
It hit him that none of the things Javier had said about him were true, not when it came to Alana. He may have been afraid of a commitment after Beth, but Alana made those fears seem stupid. He’d never felt that way about anyone; she’d cared about him. And he would do whatever he had to do to prove that he was deserving of her care. Deserving of her love.
He found one of the places in the road where cops set up speed traps and made a U-turn.
Good thing he had a couple of hours to drive back to Miami; he needed time to think of a way to convince her that he wasn’t a lily-livered jerk.
* * * *
Alana dropped into a lounge chair in the lobby to wait for Carla and Geoff to show up to their engagement party. Her mother had taken one look at her puffy-eyed face and sent her away from their guests. She did look pretty dreadful.
After Javi had left her alone, she’d thrown herself into the work she’d been putting
off during her time with Cole and run out of tasks a little after midnight the night before. Normally, she would have collapsed in a heap, her mind exhausted by keeping track of clients, figures, and individualized investment strategies.
But last night, she’d dragged herself into her bed and cried when she realized that it still smelled like her and Cole. Together.
None of it made sense. He’d come home from the club and cuddled her. She vaguely remembered him crawling into bed and holding her tight. The way he’d woken her up before dawn didn't make it seem like he’d been ready to move on.
So why hadn’t he fought for her? Why hadn’t he just told her the truth about Javi’s offer? If she couldn’t trust him about that, she couldn’t trust him with her heart. He knew that her father and Javi making decisions behind her back drove her crazy. And then he’d gone and done the same thing.
She was so gone for Cole. The one thing she swore she wouldn’t do. It was pathetic. And he’d probably already found her replacement. He’s probably having sex with her right now in the same bed at the condo. Or maybe he’s back at the Clevelander, looking for another one-night stand.
She hoped it was the latter. She hoped she’d never have to see him again. And that he caught a terrible venereal disease and his dick fell off. If she couldn’t enjoy it, no other woman should, either.
She’d never been one of those women who couldn’t keep it together after a break up. Granted, she hadn’t done much breaking up before Cole and the guys she’d called things off with were nothing. None of them ever made her feel anything beyond vague annoyance.
She was about to burst into tears again when she thought about how dismal her prospects were. Not even the guy she thought she could trust was really into her. They’d been having a fling; she hadn’t really pressed for more. She’d just assumed that he was into her because the sex was so good. One lousy broken nose from her stupid brother and he threw in the towel.
Maybe Carla had the right idea: stick to a guy who you know will never leave you. Even when you treat him like a valet.
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