15. Cole
COLE
Sleeping with Jenny was lovely, and I didn’t mean sleeping with her sleeping with her. I meant sleeping next to her.
I never let the women I dated sleep over. As in, never ever . As soon as we finished having sex, I was out the door. If it were the unfortunate circumstance that we’d ended up at my place, I’d make some excuse about having to take meetings with my global business partners in the middle of the night. Then I’d call for a car and send the woman on her way.
I never called and asked for a second date. I never texted. I was, as Shirley had once said, about as emotionally unavailable as you could get. But this thing with Jenny was different. She was my paid roommate, so that made her presence “safe.” Having her in my bed was expected. It was part of the deal.
I was surprised, however, by just how much I enjoyed it.
The thing was, she snored. She splayed her legs out and took over more than her fair share of the bed. I usually couldn’t stand anyone touching me while I slept, but when she pressed up against me, I felt comfortable. Despite drinking way too much at the party, I’d slept great.
I was a chronically early riser. So when I woke up, Jenny was still asleep. Sunlight streamed through the windows and framed her pretty face. She looked so innocent, so vulnerable. Something unfurled inside my chest; some sort of grip loosened its hold. I didn’t know what that meant. But I did know that as I watched Jenny, I had this overwhelming urge to protect her. How was someone so sweet stuck working as an escort? How did that happen? I had no idea what her life was like. I just knew that she was funny and beautiful and that she stood up for herself.
She probably has to stand up for herself a lot. It was an unpleasant thought. I didn’t want to picture the dark side of what Jenny had to endure as part of her job.
Sighing, I climbed from the bed. I had a private chef who left meals prepared for me; I’d asked him to make double portions while Jenny was staying with me. I padded out to the kitchen, made myself a coffee, and pulled out breakfast from my enormous refrigerator. It was homemade waffles with berries, and it looked delicious. Yum . I plated everything, then went and watched the sun rise higher in the sky.
My phone pinged with a text from James.
Hope you got home okay last night.
You were pretty wasted.
YOU were pretty wasted.
How’s your date?
He didn’t text back for a minute. Then:
Good. Stop bugging me.
BTW, Todd and Evie want you at the Rehearsal Dinner tonight. Il Pastorne, your neck of the woods.
You stop bugging ME. See you tonight.
If you’re lucky
In typical James style, he didn’t respond. I thought about my friend, remembering the way he’d held on to Audrey at the bar last night. He’d watched her every move. The look on his face told me everything I needed to know he was smitten with her. Big time. The fact that he’d been holding her hand and making out with her in front of his whole family was a big deal. He’d never been affectionate with anyone in public before. Audrey might not know that, but I did.
I wondered if James himself was aware of his feelings. And then I wondered what exactly he was going to do with that escort of his.
“Good morning.” Jenny came into the kitchen wearing my T-shirt again. She looked impossibly beautiful with no makeup on, the morning sunlight glinting off her creamy skin and the gold flecks in her hair.
“Good morning, Jenny. Coffee?”
“Yeah, definitely.” She rubbed her temples. “My head hurts. I drank too much last night.”
“Me too.” I got up, made her a coffee, and slid it across the island. She grabbed it gratefully and smiled at me.
I smiled at her. And then I just…stood there. I didn’t know what to do. I was suddenly feeling… What the hell was I feeling? Shy?
“Would you like some cream?” I sounded like a server waiting on their first-ever table, petrified and wooden. I’d never actually had a woman in my penthouse for breakfast. Shit! I didn’t know what to do!
“Yeah, sure. Hey, are those waffles?” Jenny perked up at the sight of food. “Those look awesome!”
She maneuvered around me, grabbing the plates and popping them in the microwave. Then she rummaged around in my refrigerator for syrup. “This is the biggest frickin’ fridge I’ve ever seen. You could get lost in here!” She finally pulled out the syrup, triumphant. “Aha!”
Jenny grabbed the plates, clanged through some drawers until she found napkins and silverware, and then set everything on the island. “You want some orange juice?”
“Sure. I’d love some.” I watched, fascinated, as she bustled around the kitchen some more. She added cream to her coffee. She poured us each a glass of orange juice. She even found some powdered sugar and set it next to the maple syrup. What was I worried about? Jenny made everything easy.
But maybe that, in and of itself, was something to worry about. I decided not to think about it. Instead, I sat down next to her, put my hand on her bare thigh, ate my waffles, and drank my orange juice.
“Mmm, this is so good. Who made this? Shirley?” Jenny asked. “Because I know you didn’t!”
“My chef made it,” I admitted. “But how did you know it wasn’t me?”
She snorted. “There isn’t a crumbanywherein this place. You probably don’t even make yourself toast!”
We both eyed the toaster oven, which was brand-new, gleaming, and unused.
Jenny turned to me, eyebrow raised. “Need I say more?”
“Ha. No, you don’t.” I kept my hand on her thigh and finished my waffle. “What would you like to do today, Jenny?”
She shrugged. “I dunno. What do rich people do on a nice day like this?”
“I usually work,” I said, “but I’m off.” I’d just decided that. We didn’t have that much time together, and I intended to enjoy myself.
“Yay!” She grinned at me. “So, what should we do?”
I grabbed her hands. “I think we should go shopping. I want to get you some more dresses if that’s okay. I just found out we’re invited to the rehearsal dinner tonight at Il Pastorne, which is pretty formal.”
Jenny’s eyes widened. “You already spent so much on that other dress. You don’t have to do that, Cole?—”
“Iwantto do that. If it’s okay with you.”
She smiled. “Okay,” she said, giving in. “That’s real nice of you.”
“It’s my pleasure. Is there anything else you’d like to do?” I asked.
Jenny appeared to take my question seriously. Her pretty face screwed up into a grimace as she went quiet for a minute, considering her choices. “I’d like to go see the seals if that’s okay.”
I blinked at her. “I’m sorry?”
“The seals . You know, the sea animals that are kind of round and look like torpedoes. They have whiskers.” She mimed hair coming out of her face.
“I know what a seal is,” I assured her, laughing. “I just don’t know where we can go see them.”
“At the aquarium, silly!” She hopped up and started gathering the dishes. “They have them in a big tank out front. It’sfree. You can just go there and watch them. I do it all the time.”
“You go see the seals all the time…?” This girl was full of surprises.
“Yeah,” she said. “They’re cute, you know? And I love animals. So sometimes I go stand there and watch them swim.”
“That sounds great, Jenny.” I hopped up and helped her with the dishes, even though I never picked up after myself. I literally had a “picker-upper,” a woman who worked for the management company. She came to the penthouse every day and cleaned up after me when I left for work.
“Yay!” She kissed me on the cheek. “This is going to be the best day ever !”
Before we made it out the door, we made love again. Twice. Once in the bed, once in the shower after we’d been in the bed. The second time was by accident—I couldn’t seem to keep my hands off Jenny, or my dick out of her for that matter. As soon as she was near me, as soon as my bare skin touched hers, I got hard.
I wasn’t exactly complaining about it.
“Your complexion looks real good, Coley,” she cooed when we finally made it out the door and into the elevator.
“So does yours.” I pulled her against me again for a hot kiss, then released her. “Woah, I need to take it easy. We arenotdoing it in the elevator.”
“Yet,” she teased. She looked smug.
Amari was working again. He gave us a broad smile as we crossed the lobby. “Mr. Bryson. Ms. Jenny. It’s nice to see you again. It’s a lovely day—would you like me to pull the car around?”
“I think we’re going to walk. It’s about twenty minutes to the aquarium, right?” I asked.
Amari’s smile widened. “Yes, it is. Lovely day for a walk. Enjoy the gorgeous weather, you two.” He held the door open for us, and we stepped out into the gorgeous morning.
Boston was not known for its weather, and for good reason. But today was one of those rare days when the sun was shining, and there was no humidity. I held out my hand for Jenny’s, vowing to enjoy all my good fortune.
My escort looked beautiful. Her skin and fantastic body were on display in the simple black sundress she’d chosen, which was perfect for the weather. She perched huge sunglasses on her nose and smiled as we walked down the street. “When was the last time you walked to the aquarium?” she asked.
“Never.”
“Have you everbeento the aquarium—even when you were a kid?”
“No,” I admitted. “My father wasn’t one for day trips. And he didn’t let our nanny take me out much.”
“Oh. You had a nanny?”
“Yep, she was French. Very strict,” I said. “But she used to make usmacarons, so she wasn’t all bad.”
“Huh.” A note of concern crept into her voice. “And your mom…?”
I shrugged. “She died when I was little.”
“I’m so sorry.” Jenny sounded like she might cry.
“It’s okay.” I squeezed her hand. “I don’t talk about her very often, so it makes me happy to think about her. Thank you for asking.”
“Aw, that’s real nice.” She sniffled.
“What about you?” I asked.
“I told you, I go to the aquarium all the time.” She squeezed my hand back. “The seals are always there for me. Even when the weather sucks.”
Dodging my real question, she didn’t say more. Jenny had opened the door by asking about my mom, but she didn’t seem as though she was going to walk through it. I had to respect that, even though I wanted to know more about her. But if she wasn’t going to offer, I didn’t want to pry.
I enjoyed our walk. Even though I was mildly hungover and should have been drained from having all the alcohol and sex possible in the past twenty-four hours, I felt invigorated. Hands linked together, Jenny and I both had a bounce in our step. People we passed on the sidewalk smiled at us. We smiled back. The sun shined down, and the only clouds in the sky were the cute little white puffy ones.
It was like something out of a rom-com, and I didn’t watch rom-coms.
Finally, we made it to the aquarium. “There they are!” Jenny pointed to a giant tank located near the entrance. Massive gray seals covered in black spots swam back and forth, gliding past each other in the clear blue water.
Little children shrieked with delight as they swam past. The exhibit was already crowded, with families milling around, pushing strollers, carrying backpacks, and all the other crap you needed when you had kids. One of the mothers called for her twins, and a space opened up—Jenny hustled me over.
“Look at them! Look at those eyebrows!” The seals had both bushy white whiskers and wiry eyebrows, which they seemed to raise as they swam their laps.
“Aren’t they cute?” Jenny cooed. “They remind me of dogs. Big, fat, swimming dogs.”
A particularly fat seal somersaulted in front of us, and I laughed. “He’s showing off for you.”
“That one’s named Tuba.” Jenny pointed at the chubby guy. “I had to ask one of the girls what his name was—he’s such a cutie.”
“Tuba? That’s funny.”
“Yeah, and that one’s Reggae and that’s Chewbacca…” She rattled off a few more names as the creatures whizzed by.
“You weren’t kidding. You really do come here a lot,” I said.
Jenny kept her hands on the glass, her eyes on the seals. She looked genuinely delighted. “They always cheer me up. And it’s cheaper than therapy.”
I watched as one of the seals floated near Jenny, seeming to wave its flipper. My heart melted a little. “That’s true,” I agreed.
“Yeah,” she said. “And these guys are always here for you. Rain or shine. Good days and bad days. They always make me smile no matter what. How lucky is that ?”
I turned and inspected Jenny. Her face was so open and happy as the seals torpedoed by, friends that she’d made from her side of the glass.
I’d thought it before, but now I knew for sure. I’d never met anyone like her.
“It’s lucky,” I agreed again. “Pretty freaking lucky.”