“Can I take you to dinner tomorrow night?” Her naked eyelashes flutter. The lipstick she wore is probably on me now. “Madison, I would very much like to get to know you better.”
Her lips part in surprise. “What?”
Closet-Girl gasps.
Denise hushes her.
The other girl is silent and recording everything for future gossip.
With complete sincerity I keep my gaze on Maddie. “No games. No ulterior motive. Clothes left on. I would like to get to know you, and if you’ll do me the honor, I’d really like to take you out somewhere nice.”
Blinking at me she thaws on a stammering, “I…I…Really?”
“Just dinner. That’s all I’m asking.”
Denise smacks her arm and Madison glances over, quickly returning to me. “Seriously?”
“Yes,” I smile. “Seriously.”
She frowns and takes a really long time to say, “Okay.”
It’s a single two-syllable word that under any other circumstance wouldn’t hit me, but hearing that answer right now, after I’ve looked forward to seeing her again for month after fruitless month, its effect is powerful. I take a deep breath and lean closer to block everyone else out. “What kind of food do you like?”
“My favorite is Italian.”
“Perfect.” Pulling out my phone I unlock it, find the contacts and offer it to her. “Can I have your number?”
She thumbs it in, and hands the phone back to me. “Here.”
“Eight work?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll call for your address.”
“Okay.”
“There’s that word again.” Smiling, I repeat it back to her, “Okay,” and turn to the others. “Denise, good to see you.”
She grins at me. “You too, Nicholas. Well played.”
I lock eyes with Closet-Girl. “What is your name?”
“I kinda don’t wanna tell you now.”
“We both knew what we were getting into.”
She hesitates a moment, but finally agrees, “Yeah…we did.”
“Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” she mutters, glancing to her hands. “It was what it was.”
I turn back to Maddie. “I’ll call you in the morning. Looking forward to this.”
The last thing I see is Denise whispering in her ear.
My ride took off, but it’s all good because I’m flying home tonight.
CHAPTER 21
M ADISON
Denise hisses,“It’s almost eight!” as she shoves me into a dress that’s been ignored in my closet since she made me buy it from her store ten pounds ago. “Just put the damn thing on!”
“Too tight, stop it!” I push her hands back and she sighs, standing back for a peek.
Her eyes brighten.
Suspicious I ask, “What’s that look for?”
Turning to the mirror that’s nailed to my closet, I gape at curves that would drop any man’s pants in a hurry.
Denise and I slide approving gazes down my reflection.
She smirks and crosses her arms, “Still too tight?”
“I might pop out…” Spinning in a circle I smile, “But I’m okay with that!”
“Look at you! Damn!” Denise throws her head back on a laugh. “He is going to have a heart attack on your doormat! You see what I did to your eyebrows here.” Reaching over to trace them she explains, “You needed a little plucking, and then some penciling in to fill out the naked parts. And these lips! Honey, the best thing I ever did was give you that lipstick. Is this your color, or is this your color?”
“Definitely,” I breathe, shocked. “This is the hottest I have ever looked in my life.”
I grab Denise and hug her.
Fingering tight curls with a long yellow nail she saucily grins, “He is going to rip this thing off of you!”
“Oh no! I will not sleep with him tonight. I need to find out what his game is. That’s the only reason I accepted.”
She tosses my heels to me. “Maddie, you drive me crazy sometimes.”
I wriggle into them. “He comes from different stock than I do. Than most humans do! The man is perfect. His reputation however is not. At least he apologized to Alicia.”
“She was so fucking bummed.” Denise checks her reflection and finds it beyond satisfactory, throwing a cocked eyebrow over her shoulder. “I admired her for not saying her name.”
“Me too,” I mumble while pulling at the taut fabric stretched over my breasts. “I have no room to breathe, yet it’s so worth it.”
“Did you see how jealous she was that he made such an effort with you?”
Shrugging I lean forward and check out the pretty eyeliner Denise expertly applied on me. “I don’t want anyone jealous of me. It doesn’t make me feel good.”
“It would make me feel good!” She points to the clock. “Holy shit! It’s seven fifty-eight! Two minutes!”
The doorbell rings and we freeze.
Bucky jumps off the bed and runs to answer it for me.
Denise shouts, “No minutes!”
“Go get him Bucky!” I sit on my bed, dress complaining that it prefers to stand.
“Why aren’t you answering the door?”
“I can’t do this.”
“Maddie, yes, you can.”
“No, I really can’t.” Our eyes lock as I implore her to understand. “I’m too excited. I’m in over my head, Denise! He’s too perfect. I can’t do this. Please tell him I’m sick or something.”
She thrusts her arm out. “Bucky is barking at him, Maddie! Let the man in! He’s getting harassed by the dog he saved! Is that wrong or is that wrong?”
“Oh, shit.” I rush out, her chasing after me, both of us in heels that abhor running. “I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this.”
“You’re a catch!”
“Stop saying that.”
“Would I be friends with you since birth-ish if you weren’t amazing?”
“You were stuck with me. You hated Tee Tee.”
“Well Titty wasn’t easy to like.”
I crack up, holding onto a wall, laughing nervously and sounding sorta like a lunatic.
Denise pushes me, grinning her ass off, “Laugh your way to the door, woman!”
Nicholas’s voice comes through the wood, a smile in his voice, too, since he can hear us. “Madison? That you?”
“Gah!” I scramble past my overly excited Labrador. Grabbing his collar I unlock the door and wave Denise away.
“I’m not going anywhere! I want to see this! You kidding me?!”
Cracking it open, and then widening his view, I smile, “Hi, sorry, wasn’t ready yet.” I’m bent over to control Bucky, so my cleavage is doing yoga, reaching for the floor.
His jaw drops to join it.
I straighten up in a hurry.
Bucky leaps onto Nicholas who laughs and gives him lots of pets. “He remembers me, look!”
Nicholas is dressed in a black, form-fitting sweater and dark, sexy jeans. Black boots reach out, their detailed threading screaming, these weren’t cheap.
In awe of him my nervous throat closes as Denise and I share a look.
She nods with understanding.
“How ya been, boy? Lookin’ good! You’re almost as tall as I am like this.” Nicholas’s grin lights up my whole apartment.
“You’ve had dogs before,” I smile.
Rubbing behind Bucky’s ears, Nicholas says, “Oh yeah, my whole life. Big ones, small ones, we had them both.”
“No cats?”
“Not when we were kids, but my sister Zoe, she recently moved in with our cousins and shares theirs—Samantha and Lexi.”
“Those are cute names for cats.”
He laughs and lets go of Bucky, stretching his shoulders. “Ha, no, those are my cousins.”
“Oh, Sorry.” I glance to Denise as I recall him shouting Alexis Cocker. Guess that’s Lexi, and Caden mentioned her, too. I’
m just too fucking nervous to remember all those damn Cocker names.
Nicholas glances around the apartment as he tells me, “Sally Ashes and Ralphie Rooster, those are their cats. Cute as hell.” He locks onto me. “Maybe you’ll meet them someday.”
I laugh, “Yeah right,” and tuck curled hair behind my ear—Denise’s handiwork—aware that he is now checking me out and not hiding it.
“Damn, Maddie, you look beautiful.”
“Uh…those are definitely cute names. Do you wanna wash your hands? He licked you like crazy.”
“You mind?”
“No, go ahead. Kitchen’s right over—” Denise thrusts a damp towel at Nicholas. “Where did you get that from?”
“I ran and got it while you were talking. I know you.” She grins at me. “Now get out of here.”
Nicholas cleans up, amused at her subtlety, his eyes flicking to Bucky. “He’s in pretty good shape.”
“Thanks to you.”
“Hey, I just got him out. It’s been all you from there.” He returns the towel to Denise’s outstretched hand, “Thanks,” locks eyes with me, reaches above my head to wrap his fingers around the door’s edge. “After you, gorgeous.”
My eyelashes flicker to him. I’m so confused by this whole thing, and it’s showing on my face as I gaze at him.
Denise sighs, “Why are you still here?!”
Blinking to the floor on a smile, I walk into the fluorescent hallway.
She closes the door with the words, “Hey Bucky, it’s you and me now.”
Nicholas walks at my side, so much taller than I am. He shoves his hands in his pockets.
“I’m going to stuff these in here so they behave themselves because wow, that dress.”
Biting my lip I glance up to him. “You like it?”
He coughs on a laugh, “Nah, it’s too loose on you.”
Playfully smacking his arm I grin, “Tell that to my lungs. They think they got jailed for a crime.”
“Oh, it’s criminal alright,” he says, voice thicker. Stopping in the hallway he lifts my chin, searching my eyes. I hold my breath, excited and nervous. He’s so close in this bright light that I can see a dozen or so golden slivers in his irises. So complex, so breathtaking.
“Why are we stopping?”
“Madison, I’m not going to make a move on you tonight, but not because I don’t want to. I’m keeping my promise to earn your trust.”
With parted lips I stare at him, stunned because he seems so genuine. “I don’t know what to say to that, Nicholas.”
“Hopefully that you wish I’d take it back.”
Softly laughing I shake my head once and his fingers drop and slide back into his pocket.
“No, I’m not interested in being another girl you don’t remember.”
Narrowing his eyes he reminds me, “I never knew her name.”
“It’s Alicia. And she’s a person.”
“She wanted it to be the way it was. Some people get off on anonymous.”
“Not me.”
We continue to his Tesla, deep in thought. As he opens my door his smile returns, “You’re a puzzle.”
A spark of pride glimmers behind my eyes. “Thank you. But just so you know, all women are.”
CHAPTER 22
N ICHOLAS
O h yeah? Then why are you the only one I’m thinking about…
My cousin Gabriel’s album kept us company as we drove to the new Italian restaurant I scoped out in Buckhead, Vittolli’s.
On the ride here I was talking too much, laughing too loudly.
Madison normally hides her natural beauty probably because she doesn’t know about it. But damn if tonight I can’t stop doing backflips trying to impress her.
With a distracted glance to the host, I inform him, “I have a reservation.”
“Name?”
Locked on Madison I answer, “Nicholas Cocker.”
“Cocker?” he exclaims, excited. We turn our heads as the guy beams at me. He’s somewhere in his early forties with a smattering of salt in his pepper. “Any relation to Jeremy and Meagan Cocker?”
“Those are my parents.”
“I was a waiter at Burn! This is my place! They inspired me to get this, to buy my own!”
My eyebrows go up because I don’t recognize him, and while I’m happy he knows my folks, the guy doesn’t look Italian, so now I’m wondering if the food is going to be any good here.
I shake his hand, “Nice to meet you.”
“Name’s Barry Silvers. I worked days so you were in school. Saw you running around once or twice, but you were much scrawnier then!”
Madison stifles a laugh, eyes darting to me.
With a sideways smile I warn him, “Okay, I’m on a date, Barry. Don’t make me look bad.”
He laughs, glancing to the list. “Ah, here you are! I didn’t take down the reservation or I would’ve recognized that name in a second. Your folks are great people. And boy, your mom can cook! I asked her to be my head chef but she said that evil word: retirement! What a waste! Right this way.”
We follow the enthusiastic guy—who did not name this place Silvers—into dark wood, low lighting, rows of red booths and blessed privacy. It’s perfect. Still not optimistic about the food but he got the ambiance right.
Madison slips into the booth, breasts jiggling above the top of her dress like crazy. Cocking an eyebrow I tell Barry. “Bring us your best red. Don’t worry about price.”
Impressed, his eyes gleam dollar signs as he practically taps his fingers with jubilation. “I’ve got the perfect thing!”
Laying down menus he hurries off.
I slide in, patting the leather cushion by my thigh. “Come a little closer.”
She eyes me. “I’ll stay where I am.”
“Afraid my hands might wander?”
“Yes.”
I chuckle and lay the napkin on my lap. “I was really just wanting you closer.”
“You can see me better from here.”
A grin flashes as I nod, reaching for the menu. “Make it difficult for me.”
“Oh, I plan to.”
We watch each other, her menu untouched. I set mine down and throw an arm over the back of the booth, twisting in it to face her. “You’re right. This is better.”
She blushes, a slight smile tugging at reluctant and very full, magenta lips. “Nicholas, you’re acting very…”
“Interested?”
Biting her lip she nods. “Yes.”
“You think it’s an act?”
“I’m not sure what it is.”
Staring at her a long moment, I confess, “Neither of us can figure the other one out. I just know that while you were gone, I looked for you.”
Madison’s eyelashes drop to her lap then slowly rise again, the wall cracked. “I wasn’t gone, I just wasn’t there.”
“Where were you?”
“Denise’s grandmother died the night of the fire.”
Frowning I straighten up. “Oh shit, I didn’t know that. I’m so sorry.”
“We were in Virginia when Billy had his first party.”
“You went for the funeral?”
Fiddling with her napkin she stares at it, then places it on her lap. “Yes. I’ve known Denise since we were three.” Maddie chews on her lip, eyes far away. “Weird when people leave forever. It’s hard to grasp.”
“I bet.”
“You haven’t lost anyone?”
“Not yet.”
Barry walks around the bend with a bottle in one hand and a red napkin over his arm. I motion for him to give us a minute. He glances to Maddie and backs out of sight.
“How’d she handle it?”
“She drank. I’m kidding. We both drank. Her mom did something really unexpected at the funeral, so it was a very emotional day. You don’t want to hear about that.”
“Try me.”
Madison stares at me a second, unsure if I deserve this private information. “Your family
is very important to you.”
“More important than anything.”
“Would you share with me something like this?”
“I don’t know what it is, but if it wasn’t too private, and I liked you, then yeah.”
She smiles and glances away. “Maybe I don’t like you.”
“I meant as a friend. Because I don’t share this type of stuff with girls I…” The words lay in the air between us, unspoken and unneeded. “But we’re friends, aren’t we?”
Under her breath she laughs and rolls her eyes. “Well, I won’t share anything that Denise wouldn’t want me to. She and her mom had this big fight the night before the funeral. It was pretty bad. They got past it. Something broke, I think. Because when her mother was giving the eulogy, she said that it should be Denise up there talking, not her. And she gave up the mic. We were shocked.”
“Did Denise go up?”
“Mmhmm. In front of everyone, and Nana was very loved in the community so there were a couple hundred people present. Denise could hardly talk she was so choked up. She waved me up and I stood with her and held her hand while she told a roomful of mourning people how much Nana meant to her.” Madison clears her throat and looks away. “She wasn’t in the mood for parties after that for a while.”
“I can imagine,” I whisper, thinking about how I would have felt. “I’m very close with my family. My grandfather had a heart attack four years ago and that’s why Caden’s studying to be a doctor. He doesn’t want us out there in the waiting room ever again not knowing what’s going on when one of our own is in trouble.” I tap the table as I stare at the memory of Ethan running to tell us that crazy news about Uncle Jett and Grandpa Michael.
“Why are you smiling, Nicholas?”
“Just remembering something that happened that day. Sometimes good can come out of bad, you know?” Holding her eyes with meaning I add, “Like Billy’s house catching fire.”
“His parties have sure grown. He seems happier.”
“I meant us.”
Madison frowns, voice lowering, “If you’re messing with me for fun, it’s really not nice.”
“I’m not.”
“Nicholas? What the hell are you doing here?”
Madison and I look over. “Ethan, hey! I was just thinking about you!” To Madison I mutter, “Family-interruptions again. Hold that thought.”
Nicholas Cocker (Cocker Brothers Book 16) Page 10