Page 41 of Perfect Fling
Cole’s hands clenched into fists.
“Chill out. Just giving you something to think about. So I suggest you take the next however many months until she’s due to sort through your issues. A kid’s not something to take lightly,” Nick said, as serious as Cole had ever seen him.
“I’m not taking anything about this lightly.”
Nick shook his head and let out a groan. “You’d better not be. Take it from someone who had to fight for the woman he wanted. It’s worth it. And so is she.” He tipped his head toward Erin.
She was worth it, Cole thought. And that was the exact reason he was sticking to his plan. But for now? While he was here, living in her house, protecting her, taking care of her?
She was his—until he had no choice but to let her go.
Chapter Nine
Because Erin wasstarving, Macy, being a good pal whose family owned The Family Restaurant, went into the kitchen and returned with a big hunk of chocolate seven-layer cake that had Erin’s name written all over it.
Erin eyed the dessert and sighed with pleasure. “I have so earned that baby.” She picked up her fork, ready to dig in. “Come to mama,” she said, and whisked the plate from Macy’s grasp.
“Okay, if you need chocolate, you must not be getting sex.”
Erin paused, her fork halfway to her lips. “I’m getting. Sort of,” she said, shoving the fork in, hoping Macy would change the subject.
Macy snatched the plate away. “Spill.”
Erin scowled at her friend, but knew she wouldn’t get her cake back until she explained. “Fine. We slept together again, but before we did, he made it perfectly clear it didn’t change the future. And I agreed.”
Macy shook her head sadly. “And here I thought the man had potential.”
“Not finished,” Erin said, eyeing the cake longingly. It was her dessert. “I backed off the next day. There’s no way I’m going to let myself get emotionally involved when I know the outcome ahead of time. But then he’ll say and do things that lead me to believe he feels more than he’s admitting to me or to himself.”
“Such as?”
Erin shrugged. “Acting all possessive. I mean, get this: Heforbademe to go to the Bar Association event with Evan. He said, and I quote, ‘If you’re sleeping in my bed, you sure as hell won’t be going on adate, business or otherwise, with some other man,’” she said in a baritone imitation of Cole’s voice.
Macy chuckled but her eyes opened wide. “Did you kick him in the nuts for ordering you around?”
“He was driving. Can I have my cake back now?”
“I’ll rephrase. Did you want to kick him in the nuts for ordering you around?”
No. No, I did not,Erin thought, knowing her reaction had been a shock to herself at the time.
“You’re blushing!” Macy squealed.
“Shh!”
“So... you liked his command.”
Erin resigned herself to the inevitable mortification. “It turned me on,” she whispered. “Now give me my cake!” Her voice rose in direct relation to her frustration.
Macy grinned and returned the plate.
Erin dug in. “Thank God, Aunt Lulu is back with you. This cake is something else.”
“Aunt Lulu is still hoping for a settlement from the grocery store. What do you think her chances are?”
“Good, actually. Turns out there’s a family feud going on over who should be able to run the business. The high-powered legal team was one brother’s way of trying to manipulate the other brother into caving. Long story. Anyway, when I found out what was going on, I called the father who’d left his two moron sons fighting over the running of his business while he retired in Florida.”
“Family-run businesses can get hairy.” Macy shuddered, knowing that truth from experience.