Leena just needed a quick nap and she’d be fine. She’d checked in with Sue Ellen several times and been told that Donnie was taking excellent care of her and no, she didn’t need anything. He gave her fireworks and a woman didn’t need more than that.
Leena would figure out her sister’s cryptic remark later. For now she walked in her front door and headed straight for her bed. Before she got there, her BlackJack rang. A quick look at the screen told her it was her agent from Chicago. She took the call.
“Leena, it’s Irene. Listen, I’ve got great news! A client wants you for his new ad campaign for a new line of jeans for plus-size women. You have got to get back here ASAP. In the next forty-eight hours.”
“But you fired me.”
“Minor detail. Just get back here.”
Leena heard the dial tone in her ear.
She was too exhausted to deal with anything. She just needed to lie down for a second and then she’d figure everything out. She took off her clothes and crawled into bed.
She woke up to find Cole kissing her. “Hey, Sleeping Beauty. I knocked but you didn’t answer. I was getting worried.”
She’d kicked off the sheets in her sleep. He viewed her nearly naked body with wicked appreciation.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night,” she admitted.
“Let me kiss your temple and make you feel better.” He parted her legs.
“That’s not where my temple is.”
“Trust me, I’m a doctor.”
“Of veterinary medicine.”
“I know what I’m doing. This is your temple.” He brushed his fingers against her face. “And this is your temple.” He used his other hand to brush his fingers over her clitoris. “Up here is where you get headaches . . . and down here is where you get other aches.”
“Mmm.” She was melting.
“Temples like this should be respected and worshipped.” He lowered his head to do just that.
The ensuing sharp pleasure was divine. Downright blissful.
While she lay there, steeped in sensual satisfaction, he quickly removed his clothes and joined her in bed.
She assisted him in putting on a condom and then guided him to her.
He filled her so gloriously. With each powerful thrust, she came closer and closer to reaching that apex of orgasm again. The pressure built until her very universe expanded and contracted as she came.
She clenched her nails into his back as wave after wave consumed her. He heard him shout her name as he climaxed.
Afterward, hot and sweaty, they showered together in her tiny bathroom. She pinned him to the wall, intending to have her wicked way with him, but he turned the tables on her and seduced her instead, his slippery fingers working their magic. She returned the favor to his utter delight.
Later, as they finished off some leftover cold chicken, Leena confessed that her agent had called. “She wants me to come back to Chicago right away.”
Leena was undecided about what her next step should be.
But before she could say that, Cole stated his opinion. “You should go.”
At her look of surprise, he added, “I always knew you’d be leaving. We knew this was temporary.”
“That’s all you have to say?” What had she expected? Passionate declarations of his love for her? Husky requests that she not leave him? Romantic vows that she was his soul mate? Clearly that wasn’t what he was feeling.
His expression was impassive as he looked at her. Gone was the fire of an hour ago. “Do you need the money to get there? I can help you with that.” He peeled off some cash and tossed it on top of her coffee table.
Leena stared at the money and felt her heart shatter. Cole was paying her off. As if she was a whore he’d had sex with. The town golden boy dumping her, the poor trailer-park trash. The fat loser.
Her shame was complete and ran bone deep. Pain and humiliation lasered a hole clear through to her very soul. She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. She sat there frozen. How had things gone so wrong so fast?
“Have a good trip.” He was gone before she could throw him out.
Chapter Eighteen
Cole was no idiot. He knew he’d messed up big-time last night. But Leena’s announcement about her agent wanting her to return to Chicago immediately had completely blindsided him. Even so, he shouldn’t have blown her off the way he had.
After years of perfecting his nothing-bothers-me persona, he’d been in danger of losing it last night. That’s why he’d gotten out of there so fast. Because he was in over his head with her. His problem, not hers. He wasn’t about to stand in the way of her big dreams.
She’d told him from day one how she hated Rock Creek and how she had no interest in anyone who wanted to stay here. She’d made that perfectly clear.
For once, his charm had deserted him and he’d shut down. Because despite all his best efforts, Leena had slipped into his heart. She hadn’t asked him to fall for her. She hadn’t tried to seduce him with her smart mouth and big heart. No, the blame was all his. He’s the one who’d fallen in love with her.
Cole had tried to do the right thing and give her access to her dreams by giving her the money she needed to accomplish her goals. Leena always had a plan, and he realized her plan hadn’t included returning to Chicago this soon, which meant she might not have the funds to do that.
But he’d handled it all wrong. Instead of giving her encouragement and support, he’d thrown the money at her and walked out. Because he’d panicked. He had no experience with this love crap.
This was why he’d kept things light and carefree in all his previous romantic relationships. Because he’d always known that if he fell, he’d fall too hard.
Cole was in a bad mood even before he walked into his office the next morning to find the money he’d given Leena on his desk. No note, nothing.
“Where’s Leena?” he asked Mindy.
“She’s gone. She called me at daybreak and said she was leaving. She got Mrs. Petrocelli to fill in for her at the reception desk. Mrs. Petrocelli’s broken leg is healed now, and she has some experience since she used to work at a dentist’s office as the receptionist.”
“She’s gone?”
“Leena? Yes. She’s driving back to Chicago. She sounded really upset. Like she’d been crying.”
Cole’s stomach clenched. “When did she leave?”
“She dropped something in your office about an hour ago. Hey, where are you going?”
“To get her.”
“Traitor.” Leena kicked the tire on her Sebring. Not hard, or she’d have a broken toe to add to her troubles. Just a token kick. She’d only gotten an hour outside of town and the stupid vehicle had stalled on her. She’d forgotten to recharge her cell phone so that was useless. She’d eventually hitched a lift with a Doritos delivery truck. The irony there was not lost on her.
And here she was—back at the Rock Creek Gas4Less Mini-Mart.
Now what was she supposed to do? She’d arranged for a tow truck to go get her car, but she couldn’t wait around here for that to happen. And she couldn’t ask her sister for a ride to the nearest airport because Sue Ellen’s knee was still too bad off for her to drive. Lulu didn’t own a car as far as Leena knew. And Skye was engaged to Cole’s best friend, so that nixed asking her for help.
Leena had to come up with a new plan pronto. She had to focus all her attention on that. Otherwise she’d start crying again. No way that was happening. Big girls don’t cry. They hauled up their big-girl panties and sucked it up. They moved on. She’d wasted enough tears on Pet Boy Cole Flannigan.
He’d done her a favor by shaking her out of her romance-induced stupor. She deserved better. So she’d covered her hurt with a thick blanket of anger. She was woman, hear her roar.
She still needed a plan. How to get out of this damn town . . .
A school bus pulled in to get gas. Sister Mary got off and pumped it herself. “Leena.” She waved.
Leena looked away. No way she wanted to speak to Cole’s aunt.
Sister Mary didn’t take the hint and came over, delegating the gas-pumping job to the bus driver. “Anything wrong?”
“My car broke.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I was heading back to Chicago. It’s important I get there.” Leena needed to get out of town before Cole threw any more money at her.
“Well, you’re welcome to hitch a ride with us. We’re taking a field trip to Pittsburgh. You could catch a flight from there to Chicago. I hope everything is okay?”
“Yeah, just fine. Are you leaving now?”
“Yes. We have a few empty seats—”
Leena grabbed her suitcase and climbed onto the bus.
“Okay, then.” Sister Mary followed at a slower rate. “What about your car?”
“I’ll make arrangements for it and the rest of my stuff later, don’t worry.”
“I am worried. You seem terribly upset about something. Does that nephew of mine have something to do with your sudden desire to get out of town?”
Leena avoided answering by saying, “My agent called me with a wonderful job offer.”
“Is that what you want? To go back to modeling?”
“I was only here for the summer, to get enough money to go back to Chicago.”
“The summer isn’t over yet.”
“It turns out I can leave earlier than expected.”
“If that’s what you want, then I’m happy for you.”
“Why wouldn’t it be what I want?”
“You tell me.”
“Oh no!” Leena saw Cole out the bus window. “Don’t tell him I’m here,” she pleaded with Sister Mary. “Get rid of him. Please,” she begged before practically shoving the nun back out of the bus.
Leena crouched down in the aisle, out of sight.
“You’ll get hemorrhoids doing that,” an elderly woman with bright orange hair said.
Leena ignored her and tried to focus on the conversation outside the bus.
“Have you seen Leena?” he asked his aunt. “I thought I saw her as I drove by.”
“What’s going on, Cole?”
“I don’t have time to talk about it . . .”
His voice was getting closer to the bus’s door.
Leena scrambled into a seat near the back. She hunkered down and tried to be invisible. Impossible to do at her height and size. Especially given the fact that the other passengers on the bus were all senior citizens.
Short
senior citizens.
He found her easily and got right to the point. “Don’t leave.”
She shook her head. Her throat had clamped shut. Seeing him made the pain come rolling back.
“If you don’t get off this bus, I’ll have to pick you up and carry you off,” he said.
Just the thought of him struggling to carry her like a two-ton weight made her grit her teeth as rebel tears formed in her eyes. She refused to let them fall. She really should have gotten some sleep last night. Then she would have kicked his sexy butt right off this damn yellow bus!
Her vision was slightly blurred, but she was pretty sure Cole now looked totally panicked. A recalcitrant tear rolled down her cheek before she angrily scrubbed it away. She turned to face the window, expecting Cole to leave. Instead he dropped into the empty seat beside her. “Okay, then I’ll just go with you.”
“Go . . .” Hiccup. “Away.” Great. When Leena cried, or was on the verge of doing so, she got huge, honking hiccups. Backward ones.
Furious with herself and him, she wiped away another tear.
“Do you love me?” He tenderly cupped her chin in his hand.
She shook her head.
“Are you sure?”
She glared at him. The anger was coming back. “Beat it, Pet Boy,” she growled. Or tried to between hiccups.
“If you’d just get off the bus, we could talk—”
“I do not want to talk to you. Ever. Not even if we were the last two people on the planet.”
“Not even then, huh?”
“Sure, laugh while you can. You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone.”
“I miss you already. I messed up.”
“Ya think? I’m not some slut you throw money at after having sex.”
He looked shocked. “That was never my intention.”
“Then what was your intention?”
“To be supportive.”
“Hah! You failed, big-time.”
“Yeah, I get that now.”
“Too late.”
“It’s not too late.”
“I want you off this bus!” she shouted at him. “Right now!”
“If you’d just calm down a minute—”
“I am not calming down! I’m not doing anything you say. You’re not my boss anymore. You can’t tell me what to do!”
“I never could.”
“You’ve got that right. So go away!”
“What’s going on here?” Nathan demanded as he boarded the bus. “I was in the mini-mart when I got a call that there was some kind of altercation out here.” Spotting them, Nathan rolled his eyes. “Not you two again. What’s your problem this time?”
“I love this woman and she refuses to listen to me,” Cole said.
“You don’t know the first thing about love,” Leena retorted.
“Then teach me.”
She shook her head. She wasn’t buying his declaration of love for one second. “Do not use that voice on me.”
“What voice?”
“You know what voice, Pet Boy. That everything-is-gonna-be-okay soothing voice. It’s not going to work on me. Not this time.”
“Then I’ll just come with you to Chicago.”
“Yeah, right. You’ve got a vet practice here. You can’t leave.”
“Dammit, Leena, if you’d just listen to me . . .”
She was really tempted to stick her fingers in her ears and sing la-la-la, but that would be childish. Rewarding but still childish.
The old woman with the orange hair tugged on Nathan’s uniform. “He called her a slut.”
“No,” Leena corrected her. “He just treated me like one.”
“I did not!” Cole looked around at the audience, mostly female, all seniors who were glaring at him. “Leena, we have to talk. Can’t we go someplace a little more private?”