“That sounds ridiculous,” Cole said. “And I’m only saying that because you’re my best friend.”
“Sometimes I think I need to protect her from myself,” I said lowly.
Cole looked as if he was going to say something admonishing, but Jenny and Audrey came to the bar then, still happily chatting. I put my arm around Audrey and pulled her to me, kissing the top of her head. The two minutes we’d been apart were too long. Cole looked at me, reading me like a book, and just shook his head in mock disgust.
“I didn’t know you owned part of the Rhode Island Thunder, Cole. Jenny just told me. That’s so cool,” Audrey said.
The Thunder was the NHL farm team that Cole was currently obsessed with. “We have box seats tonight,” Jenny squealed. Cole put his arm around her and squeezed her against him.
“We can have box seats whenever you want, Princess,” he said and kissed her on the nose. Jenny smiled at Cole happily, and he beamed down at her. I didn’t know how sophisticated Jenny was, or how well she could read people. But I hoped she knew that Cole was a player, through and through. He would be happy to play with her and spoil her for a while, but he was not a one-woman man. Never had been.
Jenny snuggled up against Cole, and Audrey watched her friend carefully. “Jenny, come to the bathroom with me,” she said after a while, grabbing her by the hand. She flashed a dimpled smile at us. “We’ll be back in a few, guys.”
“What’s that all about?” Cole asked, watching Audrey drag Jenny away from him.
“I think Jenny’s going to get a talking to,” I said.
“About what?”
“Not getting her hopes up about the billionaire with the box seats,” I said.
“Huh,” Cole said, watching them retreat.
Audrey
I steered Jenny past the ladies’ room, down the hall to the empty coat check. I looked around carefully, making sure that no one from James’s family was nearby or could see us. “Jenny,” I said gently. “Cole hired you through AccommoDating, right?”
“Of course,” she said.
“He seems like a nice guy.”
“He’s awesome, Dre. We’ve been having so much fun.” She beamed at me and grabbed my hands. “Thank you for doing this for me. Elena’s so happy that James sent her a referral. I told her I was going to rock Cole’s world and make him a regular.”
“Okay,” I said. “I just want to make sure, though…”
“What?”
“That you don’t think he’s gonna buy you, or anything,” I said miserably. “The way you were looking at him out there—”
“Aw, Dre, c’mon!” She said. She was laughing at me. “This isn’t my first date. You don’t think I have an actual crush on Cole Bryson, do you?”
“Don’t you?” I asked, dumbfounded.
Jenny shrugged. She looked exasperated. “I like his wallet. I like his thick cock. I like his box seats. I like batting him around like a cat toy.”
“You don’t like him?”
“Oh yeah—I like him, all right. Who the fuck wouldn’t? He’s wicked hot, and he’s a billionaire! But he’s a John, Dre. He’s paying for me to do whatever he wants. And he wants to do lots of things, let me tell you. He’s nasty, and I like it.” She paused to fluff her hair.
“But just because I’m enjoying myself doesn’t make it any less of a job. Or any more than a job. I mean—oh, you know what I mean.”
My heart sank, and I nodded at her. “I know exactly what you mean.”
“Enough about me. I can take care of myself.” She looked at me with her big, blue eyes. “How’s it going with Mr. Sex in a Suit?”
“Great,” I said noncommittally.
“He did fuck, you, right? I saw you two out there.”