Cole(82)

She went still. Her eyes locked on mine. “You caught that, huh?”

“Sia!” I pretended to shake her arm, grinning like an idiot. “You love Jake!” This was huge, huger than huge. “I’m so happy for you.”

Her hands rested on the counter. “I know. I do. I’m really happy. I mean—” She waved to me. “I’m worried about you because hello, the mafia—but yeah, I’m happy. I really do love Jake.”

“You’ve never said that about a boyfriend.” I frowned. She had. “Not in the real sense, I mean, where you actually do love him.”

She laughed, digging in her purse. “I know what you mean, and you’re right. I’ve not said it for real. It’s real.” She pulled out her lipstick. “It’s so real and so amazing, and I know I’m going to fuck it up somehow.”

“No.” I shook my head. “No way. I know you won’t.”

“I hope not, but let’s be honest. I’m the love ‘em and ditch ‘em girl. I’d usually be on boyfriend number two after Jake by now.” She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “I can’t mess this up. That’s all I know.”

I touched her hand and squeezed. “You won’t. I know you won’t.”

“Let’s hope not.” She grinned wryly at me. “But enough about me; are you ready for tonight?”

I laughed, letting go of her hand. “I think I should be asking you that question. Are you ready to officially meet Cole?”

She groaned, shaking her head. “No. Not a chance. Yes. Oh, God. That’s really happening tonight. I saw him and had to come get you. I—I’m nervous, Addy.” Her voice dropped to a whisper.

“Don’t be.” I raised my chin and squared my shoulders. “You can do this, and you want to know why?”

Her eyes met mine in the mirror. “Why?”

I knew Jake was nervous; well, I didn’t know what Jake was feeling. But while he’d been geeking out before, the plan to meet Cole in a real-life way had him suddenly quiet. I was optimistic, hoping his closed lips had more to do with him calculating when he’d ask Sia to move in with him, but I knew some of it was about Cole. Sia switched roles again, back to being the one more open to meeting Cole as my—I went blank. Boyfriend?

Lover?

Significant other?

None of those seemed to fit. Cole was mine. I nodded to myself. That felt right. He was mine.

“Addison?”

Sia had been waiting for me. I pulled out of my thoughts. “Oh yeah, because I love you.”

“I’m going to handle meeting your super hot and scary boyfriend because you love me?” She scoffed.

I nodded. “Yes. Well, no. It’s because you love me. Cole will see that, and he’ll like you.”

“Because I love you?”

I rolled my eyes, matching her half-grin. “I know. I know. My thoughts are a bit jumbled, but that’s the gist of it. Besides, if he didn’t like you already, I doubt I ever would’ve gotten the floor.”

“What do you mean?”

She’d been about to apply her lipstick when she paused.

“You know.” I shrugged. “You were the one who got the number for the apartment, remember?”

She turned back to looking at herself in the mirror. It was like she hadn’t thought about it that way, or something…

I paused now too, my frown matching hers. “Sia?”

“Huh?” She was deep in thought.

“What’d I say?” I’d said something wrong.

“No. Nothing.” She shook her head, putting her lipstick away. “Never mind.” A bright smile formed on her face, and she rolled her shoulders back, fixing one of her straps. “You ready? I’ve got thirty minutes left to dazzle the best of them, and then we’re off to Gianni’s.”

“Yeah…” What had just happened?

“Great.” Her smile spread another inch. “We should go. I locked the door so we could have our girl time in here, but I’ve got a feeling some of the socialite housewives aren’t going to be happy with me.”

“Just tell them you had to fix something.”

Sia crossed to the door, unlocking it and pushing it open. She groaned. “God. That’s even worse. They’ll complain that the Gala isn’t ‘up to code’ or ‘appropriate’ enough for them. I’ll have to hand out champagne for the gift baskets at the end.”

She was right. Two ladies, both decked out from head to toe in diamonds, waited outside, and both looked annoyed. One had her arms crossed over her chest and was actually tapping her fingers along her arm. The other harrumphed, “About time,” as she swept past us.