Although I wanted to go on pretending I wasn’t aware of Cole, my job involved taking payment from the customer, so I had to look up as they approached. Ross looked a little peaked as Cole led him to me.
“Are you okay?” I said.
Ross threw me a shaky, dry smile. “Want the tattoo, don’t particularly like the way I feel during and afterwards.”
“I’ve got something”—I bent down to rummage around in my handbag—“that might help. Aha!” I curled my hand triumphantly around the bar of chocolate and tugged it out. “Here.” I broke off a few squares and handed them to him. “Sugar.”
He grinned gratefully. “Thanks. How much do I owe you?” He chewed on a piece of chocolate as my eyes flicked over the price list on the desk.
I could have asked Cole, but again that meant looking at him. “Four hours . . . that’s two hundred and forty pounds.”
As I took Ross’s credit card and popped it into the card reader, I expected Cole to vamoose back into his workroom, but he stayed there, chatting to Ross about the Lowlight gig they’d both been to a few months ago in Glasgow. Usually I would have jumped right into the conversation, but, again, I was avoiding interaction with my boss. Moreover, I was supposed to have been at that gig. I didn’t want to think about the reason why I hadn’t gone.
Once Ross had paid he gestured with his last piece of chocolate in thanks to me and departed the studio. Leaving me alone with Cole.
I could feel his stare burning into me.
After a while it became impossible to withstand the intensity. I looked at him in question without saying anything.
Unfortunately he was bestowing upon me that boyish grin that led to dirty thoughts. “Can I have a piece?”
Outraged, I sucked in a breath. “Excuse me?”
His lips twitched with amusement. “Of chocolate,” he clarified. “A piece of chocolate.”
Embarrassed that I’d misunderstood, I thrust the bar of chocolate at him, ignoring his chuckle as he took it. To avoid him I stuffed the last square in my mouth and turned back to scanning the files.
“When’s my next client in?”
“In an hour and a half,” I said without looking up or at the appointment book. I’d already memorized Cole’s schedule for the day.
A twenty-pound note slid toward me on the desk. “Can you go out and grab something for our lunch? Better get Rae something too. She’ll be in soon and she’s usually starving. If we feed her right away, it mellows her a little. But only a little.”
Glancing up as I took the money, I found him smiling at me. “What would you like?”
Cole’s grin turned positively wolfish. “If I answered that honestly you’d likely find me very unprofessional.”
I stiffened at the flirtation but tried to remain polite. “Then perhaps you shouldn’t answer honestly.”
With an exaggerated, beleaguered sigh, Cole crossed his arms on the other side of the desk and leaned toward me. My breath hitched at the heat in his expression as he stared down at me. “I pride myself on being straightforward.”
Willing my body to stop reacting to him, I stepped back from the desk and turned around to grab my jacket off the coat hook behind me. As I shrugged into it, I very deliberately met Cole’s still glittering gaze. “I pride myself on being professional.”
The door to the studio blew open, stalling whatever Cole’s response would be, and distracting us from the crackling tension between us. Rae stomped inside and slammed the door shut with a grunt.
Cole’s body language changed as he took in her red face and blazing eyes. His back straightened and his hands fisted at his side. “What happened?”
“My roommate just fucked off! I woke up and she’d fucking packed every fucking thing she owned and fucked off with that fucking Malaysian dude she met a month ago! Fuck!” She stomped her foot, her chest rising and falling rapidly. “How the fuck am I going to pay the rent?”
Despite the voice screaming in my head that it was a very, very bad idea, I found myself saying, “I’m looking for a place.”
Rae rolled her eyes. “I don’t think so.”
Ouch. “Well, why not?” I crossed my arms over my chest, annoyed by the immediate dismissal.
“I can’t be worrying about walking on eggshells in my own place. Shit pours out of my mouth before I can stop it, and I need to be around people that can hack the fucking awesomeness that is me.”
I heard Cole laugh but refused to look at him as I made my case. “I never said I wanted to move in with you. I just said I’m looking for a place. Where is your flat? How much is rent?”