Chapter 7
Seven
You’re Gorgeous
“SO WHY DO WE NEED YOU GUYS to pick out our suits for us?” I turn toward the mirror, brushing a bit of lint off the shoulder of my tuxedo jacket. “We didn’t come with you to the bridal shop this morning.”
Cole laughs, leaning conspiratorially toward Sabrina, his arm snaking along the back of the couch.
We’re in a luxury menswear shop in Soho that I wouldn’t even have the courage to look at on a normal day, but when Sabrina and Seth drive all the way down from Boston to shop with us, I guess I’m going to do what they say.
“Isn’t that cute? He thinks they can do this unsupervised. ”
Beside me, Seth puts his hand on my shoulder. “Face it, little brother — we’re outmatched. I don’t know about you, but I have no idea what I’m doing, and I want to look good.”
“Turn around and look at me, both of you,” Sabrina commands, and we rotate on the spot. She tilts her head toward Cole. “What do you think, babe?”
“I mean, they look hot.” Cole drags his blue eyes all the way down my body, and I can feel my skin prickling in his wake. “But with all the variety and possibilities in men’s suiting — black tuxes, really? I think we can do better.”
The attendant clears his throat. I think he said his name was Jeremy? “Tuxedoes are a classic for a reason. They flatter everyone, and they fit every season.”
Cole fixes him with a withering stare, and Sabrina puts a hand on Cole’s knee. “Maybe Seth and I should look around the store a little?” she suggests. “We’ll pull a few more options.”
As she leads Seth away, Cole gets up off the couch, crossing the carpet to stand in front of me. He winks, leaning down to adjust my bowtie.
“You. Are. Drunk,” I murmur, tilting my chin up towards his face.
“I am not,” Cole scoffs. “Okay, maybe a little tipsy. They had champagne at the bridal salon and I might have had a couple of glasses.”
I can’t help grinning. “I knew it. You’re — I dunno, all loose.”
“Part of that is Bree. She just brings it out of me,” Cole shrugs. “But do you want to know the other part?”
“I don’t know, do I?”
He’s wearing one of his tight flowered shirts, and his sunglasses are pushed up into his hair, and I’m pretty sure I can see his nipples.
“Don’t tell Jeremy, but —” He drops his voice, his breath tickling my ear. “The whole James Bond look is really doing it for me. I want to unzip these pants with my teeth.”
“Fuck —”
And there it is — the perpetual cloud of horny longing that follows me around whenever I’m in Cole’s presence.
I remember it from that year in high school, when I could barely concentrate whenever he was within twenty feet of me.
And now, after a couple of weeks of answering his every booty call, I’m well on the way to being just as bad.
There’s a cough behind us, and we both step back quickly. Cole’s a little flushed, and I’m sure I look just as guilty. Jeremy is standing with an armful of suits, a knowing look on his face.
“We have a few more possibilities here, gentlemen,” he says crisply. “And Mr. —”
“Cole —” Cole supplies smoothly. “Mr. Alden is my dad.”
“Ah yes, Cole. Well, you’re also free to look about the store, and if you see anything you’d like to add, you are most welcome to suggest it.”
What follows is pretty much my worst nightmare.
Suit after suit, jackets and pants rustling over my body, my skin flushing with heat despite the shop’s air conditioning.
Sabrina and Cole have their heads together on the couch, discussing the finer points of fabric and colors with Jeremy, holding up swatches of the bridesmaids’ dress material against each suit.
And I’m starting to feel like an overstuffed doll, not even Cole’s presence lightening my mood.
Finally, Cole emerges from deep in the shop. The three-piece suit draped over his arm is a classic tweed in a subtle forest green. He holds it up against my chest and turns to look at Sabrina. “Thinking outside the box here, but what about this?”
Sabrina puts her chin in her hand, narrowing her eyes. “You know, I think you’re on to something —”
I clear my throat, and they both look at me. “Green, I mean — isn’t it a little, I dunno, used car salesman-y?”
Cole clutches a hand to his chest as if I’ve shot him. “You did not —”
“Let’s just give it a try,” Seth breaks in. As we step back into the dressing room, he turns to me sympathetically. “It’s been a long day. If this isn’t the one, we’ll take a break and try again. We don’t have to figure this out today.”
“Okay.” I take my time slipping on the suit, buttoning the waistcoat, making sure the coat is straight on my shoulders. When I pull the curtain back, Seth is just emerging from his cubicle, and we head back into the store together.
When she sees us, Sabrina covers her mouth with both hands. “Oh my god, how are you so good at this?”
Cole looks impossibly smug. “With the eyes and the dark hair, right? I knew it.”
I turn to face the three-way mirror, and I can see what Cole means.
Seth and I look — well, we look good. Seth is standing up straight for once, his shoulders back, and I can tell he sees it too.
And the cut of the suit has a slimming effect on me, the rich color making my hair look glossier somehow.
Seth meets my eyes in the mirror, and he grins, clearly pleased.
“The important thing is that you like it, though,” Cole is saying, chewing on his lip as he looks at us. “I know that Bree and I have been sort of bossy today, but you’re the groom and we just want you to be happy.”
“I didn’t know I could look this good.” Seth is turning in place to check himself out from every angle, and even I have to admit that it’s sort of adorable. He raises his eyes to look at Sabrina. “What do you think, baby?”
“I love it,” she gushes, and wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss.
Forty-five minutes later, we’re at a rooftop bar in Tribeca, overlooking the Hudson River.
Cole has steered us to a pair of couches far away from the speakers, and there’s a light breeze coming off the water, the usual road noise of the city muted this far up in the air.
He’s fetched me a golden pilsner in a tall glass from the bar, and I’m content to sip my drink, listening to the three of them chattering with each other while I relax for the first time since we walked into that suit shop.
But Sabrina is eyeing me shrewdly over the rim of her mouth-wateringly pink cocktail.
“Why haven’t I heard of you?” she asks bluntly, breaking into a discussion between Cole and Seth about the merits of the New York City subway versus the T.
“Oh hi, sorry, I’m Ezra,” I can’t help replying, and Cole snorts. “You’re marrying my brother? We met at Christmas.”
“No, I mean —” She puts her drink down on the low table between us and leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “I thought I knew all of Coley’s stories. But he never mentioned you.”
“Yeah, and for that matter, I thought you hated literally everybody we grew up with,” Seth chimes in. “What’s the deal with you two?”
Fuck, we should have come up with a story. I glance over at Cole, but all I can picture are wintry hilltops, afternoons in my bedroom, my mouth traveling down his —
Thankfully, Cole is faster on the uptake. “Well, I didn’t actually grow up with you guys, so I didn’t count. We met when I really needed a friend.”
“Yeah, and there was the hurricane —” I added, finally finding my voice. “And after you go through something like that —”
“But you lost touch?” Bree asks. “Because by the time I knew him —”
“You know, we went to different colleges,” Cole shrugs. “And this one doesn’t have social media, so I never found him. But you know those kinds of friendships where you can just pick up where you left off? Like slipping your feet back into a comfortable pair of old shoes —”
My lips twitch, and I bite back a grin. “Or riding a bicycle —”
“Yeah, after all these years, you still remember exactly where to put your hands,” Cole finishes, and I don’t know how he’s keeping a straight face, because I’m pretty sure I’m sweating through my shirt.
Sabrina is giving Cole a long, searching look, so I figure I should probably change the subject. “Um, what about you guys? You go way back too, right?”
“Bree is like my little sister,” Cole says, and Sabrina reaches out to take his hand.
“But Coley acts like my little brother. He has the best taste in clothes and the worst taste in men, but he has the biggest heart, so I keep patching him up, no matter how many times he calls me at three in the morning because that heart’s been broken again.”
“And I love you for it, babe,” Cole replies. “But hey — time for some Callahan brothers bonding time. Family secrets — go!”
Seth’s eyes light up as he leans forward, and I settle back into my seat once more, letting him take the lead. I could get used to this.
***
“Fuck, I thought we would never get rid of them.” Cole kicks off his shoes at the front door to his apartment and crowds me against the wall. “I’ve pretty much had a hard-on since you walked out of the dressing room in that tux.”
“You know what they say about erections lasting more than four hours,” I murmur, dragging my hand down his back to grip his ass.
“What do they say?” Cole is nuzzling along my cheek, his lips brushing my skin.
“They say — fuck, I forgot —” I groan, and crush our mouths together.