Page 12 of Auction Time
“Sure, of course they are. Come on though, I just want to be there for you. You’ve never allowed me to be before. You’ve been through something awful with Tony. So if I see a hot guy who looks like he’s into you, of course I’m going to want you to have him.” She nodded like Cole being hot was sufficient to tick all boxes for me.
“Mia, Cole is of a different variety.” It was the best I could say. The man had always had a way of mystifying me. I couldn’t say that the years without him were a bad thing. Nope.
“Oh my God Vanessa. What the hell does that even mean? You’re going to end up like the crazy cat lady who used to live by the school. Don’t you want to lose your virginity while you’re young?”
“Yes, of course I do. I absolutely do.”
“Then what’s wrong with Cole? He made it sound like something happened between you two.” That spark of interest returned to her eyes.
Okay… it seemed like I was going to have to tell her. I just had to find the right words.
“Nothing happened… because he rejected me.” There. I said it, and… I actually felt the weight of embarrassment I’d felt at the time.
Mia’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “What!What the hell, Vanessa?”
“I was sixteen. It was the day before my seventeenth birthday and, um… I thought that he teased me the way he did at school because he liked me.”
“Jesus.” She brought her hands up to her cheeks. “Why did you think that?”
I knew she would think I was stupid. “Because the magazine told me so. It’s a thing, right? The guy that bullies you the most truthfully likes you, until you find out he’s truly just a bully and you gave him more ammunition to throw at you.”
She sighed. “Oh God …Vanessa. So, you actually what?”
“I …” I pulled in a deep breath and cast my mind back to the incident. I’d thought I was so brave. All the years of me hiding and drawingVanessa + Colelove hearts in my notebook had finally come to some fruition. I was basically seventeen and ready to become a woman. “I snuck into his room and waited for him to come home. I waited for him in his bed. I even bought some stupid lingerie. When he saw me, he laughed and basically threw me out.”
I could see her dying with embarrassment for me. She even made this sound in her throat that was a cross between a shriek and a gurgle.
“Oh my God, girl.Why? Why didn’t you consult one of us first? And, Cole Buchanan?Vanessa.”
“Please… I know. It was the worst thing I ever did.” I released a slow sigh.
“And is that why you just never…”
I nodded. “Yeah, it was. I wish it wasn’t, but I just haven’t met anyone who I felt like I could be brave with since.”
“Okay, I get it, and I get why he’s your least favorite person. But, Vanessa, he sounded a lot like he was interested in you the other night.”
I shook my head. “No, he was messing with me.”
“Well, if that’s true, then why is he here?” she asked, looking ahead of her.
I groaned inwardly and turned to see Cole walking up the path from reception.
The question of why he was here was definitely a good one.
Today, he wore a suit and smiled when he saw me.
Cole in a suit was a vision to behold. Most men looked great in suits.He,however, made the suit look great.
Cole made his way over to us looking like he’d just stepped off a billboard advertising some movie where he was the heart throb every woman with eyes swooned over.
That smile of his made heat flush throughout my body, and again I cursed myself.
“So, I’m gonna leave now and call you later,” Mia said with a saucy giggle.
She sauntered away just as he approached.
“Miss Cartwright, how are you on this wonderful morning?” He beamed looking me over, revealing perfect white teeth. The slight twist in his nose as he squinted suggested it had been broken at one point, but that just added to his perfection.
