Page 9 of Tricking an Introvert

Cole

Just a few hours ago, Cole had told Whitney that Tessa was cute. He’d been wrong. She wasn’t cute at all. Not when she attacked a crab with a mallet, drowned it in butter, and sucked at it, moaning in delight. Not when she laughed. Not when she pouted and held a crab up to Cole’s mouth, forcing him to try it.

It wasn’t half as bad as he would have thought.

All right, it was delicious.

And she wasn’t cute. She was sexy. Gorgeous. With highly kissable lips. He wanted to wrap his hands in her mane of red hair and pull her to him.

And he had no clue if any such thing would be welcome. None at all.

Cole was used to women, to their signals. She wasn’t flirting with him in the least; in fact, she treated him the exact same way she treated Michael. She blushed occasionally at something he said, or did, except she seemed to blush at everything and anything.

So, he kept his hands and thoughts to himself, and enjoyed the damn food. For now.

She and Michael were still chatting about his story, and the illustration she was going to make. Her excitement was contagious and irresistible. Cole had always loved Michael’s stories, even before he’d published anything, and now he’d never been so desperate to read one, hearing her engage Michael about the details no one would ever hear about. The inner conflict of the villain, the secrets behind the mythology Michael would never spell out in the book.

“You’re not asking about the ending,” Michael noted. “Cole always asks about the ending.”

Tessa rolled her eyes. “That’d spoil everything. The journey’s the important bit, so I don’t want to go in knowing how it ends.”

Knowing it would get a rise out of her—secretly looking forward to it—Cole confessed, “I read the last page of every book before starting it.”

She was infuriated, fire in her eyes, making them look like stars exploding in a million pieces.

“What sort of monster are you?” she demanded.

“The kind who doesn’t like surprises.”

Tessa crossed her arms over her chest, making her breasts pop up in her loose silk blouse.

Today and yesterday, she’d been wearing clothes two sizes too big and designed to hide her shape. It took all of Cole’s strength to avoid glancing at her neckline. Damn. That woman was going to be serious trouble.

“Did you peek at your Christmas presents, too?”

“I certainly would have, if my family celebrated Christmas,” he replied, striving to sound casual.

Michael’s jaw tightened, like it did every time they talked about either of their families.

Tessa guessed, “Jewish?”

“No.” He left it at that, and she didn’t push, though her eyes were full of questions. No doubt she’d caught the shift in the atmosphere.

Fuck, what a downer. He shouldn’t have brought it up.

“Thanks for bringing me here, Tessa,” Michael said, no doubt just to change the subject. “We would have ended up in another steakhouse if you hadn’t.”

“Nothing wrong with steakhouses.” Cole would die on that hill.

“Unless you’ve visited every single one in New York City so many times you know every menu by heart.” Michael had always despaired at Cole’s diet of meat, meat, and more meat.

He liked the occasional pizza or Chinese, too, but he ate some sort of steak four times a week. Cole was health-conscious enough to have plenty of vegetables on the side, and he practiced taekwondo, swam, and lifted weights, too, so he was healthier than most. His doctor agreed. The women who licked his abs agreed. Michael disagreed.

“You live in the city?” Tessa blinked. “That’s pretty cool. If you have time, we could have a studio draft day. Like, instead of me sending you a few drafts, you come to my studio and we work together on sketches until we get your vision. I do that with one of my friends; ultimately, it saves time as we can get exactly what you want on day one.” Then, she blushed, and started to mumble, her eyes darting away. “I mean, if you have time. If not, don’t worry about it, working remotely also gets results. It’s just…”

She was questioning herself, and Cole hated it. Why did she seem so hesitant? Her idea was great.

“It sounds perfect,” Michael said. “And fun, too.”

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