Page 22 of Hard Luck (Blackstone House)

Inwardly, Cole cursed himself. He hadn’t dated for years, not seriously, not since Gretchen blamed him for her cheating and told him he just wasn’t ambitious enough to make a good husband. That she needed aprovider. Maybe some men would have taken that as a challenge, but he didn’t want to climb the corporate ladder and become a CEO, and living in a McMansion was his idea of hell. Working fifty hours a week just to afford healthcare and payments on a Lexus? It would be a slow death. His mom had always said he had a wanderer’s soul, so instead of sticking around in San Diego to watch Gretchen and his ex-best friend set up home together, he’d quit California and gone to volunteer at a turtle sanctuary in San Gallicano for three months. And when his savings ran out and he still couldn’t face returning to the US, he’d hopped over to a different island, taken a job as a deckhand on a dive boat, and embraced the Caribbean lifestyle.

And now, during the second-worst period of his life, he’d met a woman who’d gotten right under his skin, but she didn’t feel the same way.

“Which part isn’t a good idea?” he asked. “The extra sleep, or the repeat performance?”

“Hey, lady.” Bella stood on tiptoe and looked over his shoulder. “You make a habit of eavesdropping on private conversations?”

Cole turned to see a forty-something woman in a burgundy pantsuit pretending not to look at them. When Bella didn’t drop her stare, the busybody shook her head and tutted.

“We’re in apet store.”

Bella looked around, feigning surprise. “Well, gee, honey. You said you were taking me to a swingers’ club. Hey, sweetheart,” she called to a gent hovering in the background, presumably the woman’s husband. “If youneed a break from the wife, gimme a call. I wouldn’t blame you.”

The woman gasped and grabbed her husband’s arm, but not without a parting shot. “You people disgust me.”

Cole dropped Bella’s hands and picked up the crutches. “Is that your not-so-subtle way of changing the subject?”

“I’m a one-and-done kind of girl. Feelings give me the ick.”

“Who said anything about feelings?”

“The last time I broke my rule, the guy lasted a month before he started bitching that I wasn’t picking up his calls fast enough.”

“Then don’t even give me your number.” Hell, now he sounded desperate. “It’s just… You know where I live. If you’re feeling…” What was the right word? “If you’re feeling…”

“Needy? Horny? Like I need a good dicking from a virtual stranger?”

She was so damn blunt, and he felt his cheeks heat. “All of that. Anyhow, come over whenever you want.”

“What if you’re with another woman?”

“I’m not going out in Vegas to pick up women.”

“Okay, what if another woman picks you up?” Bella ran a fingertip down his jawline. “You didn’t put up much resistance.”

Trying to explain that he’d never done that before and probably never would again would be a wasted effort. He couldn’t tell her that she was unlike any woman he’d ever met before, that she was special, because there was a risk she’d interpret that as feelings. And she might not even be wrong.

“Fine, I’ll put a sock on the door handle. Happy?”

It was a rhetorical question, but she seemed to give it some thought. Finally, she shook her head.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been truly happy. I’m not even sure I’m capable.”

He opened his mouth to offer sympathy, to ask why she felt that way and what he could do to change things. But then he caught himself.Bella isn’t like any woman I’ve ever met before.She didn’t want him to act as a therapist, and what if this was a test?

He kissed her chastely on the forehead. “This is all getting a bit deep. Don’t you need to buy dog treats?”

“I do,” she said and smiled a genuine smile. “Don’t forget the basket.”

A half hour, seven kinds of dog treats, and three flavours of cat food later, they made it back to Bella’s car just as the tow truck pulled up. A young guy jumped out wearing a pair of overalls and a back-to-front ball cap.

“Thelma’s up to her old tricks again?”

“Thelma?” Cole asked.

“My car.” Bella’s don’t-you-dare-to-say-a-word look made Cole bite his tongue. “She coughed a couple of times and cut out as I was driving.”

“I’ll have her loaded up in a jiffy. Did she overheat?”

---