Page 21 of The Accidental Wife

“Oh, bite me,” I grumble, crossing my arms over my chest and looking out my window.

“Just say where baby,” He drawls leaning closer. I cover his face with my hand and push him back. He licks my palm, and I yank my hand back and wipe it on his shirt.

“Ew! Oh my God, you did not just lick my hand!” I exclaim, and he giggles like a girl as he pulls out of his parents’ driveway.

“I couldn’t bite you, so I improvised.” He claims with a shrug, squinting at me sideways with a mischievous grin on his stupidly handsome face. I hate him. I swear to God, these antics of his drive me up the wall. I sneak a look at him, and he looks at me at the same time. I couldn’t contain the smile any longer. We laugh. On the journey home, we had the top down to the car, music up loud, and singing along to the songs on my playlist. I find Chicago – ‘If you leave me now’ and crank up the volume. Cole looks at me puzzled when I start to sing the song to him while he fights the urge to laugh. His lips curl into a smile, his eyes darting from the road then back to me as I sing the lyrics dramatically.

“If you leave me now, you’ll take away the biggest part of me. Ooh, no, baby, please don’t go!” I sing pleadingly, grabbing his hard bicep, and he cracks up laughing.

“A love like ours is love that’s hard to find.” We sang together, leaning into each other when he stopped at a light and burst out laughing and didn’t stop till we pull up outside my apartment building.

Grinning, Cole kills the engine and turns in his seat to look at me. “Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow morning?” He asks. I shake my head and fish out my keys from my handbag.

“No, my car is sorted. I’ll just see you at the office. Thank you for offering, though.” I reply and could have sworn I saw a little disappointment on his face, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared.

“Of course. We still need to work on the contract. Tomorrow?” I nod and smile before I push the door open.

“Tomorrow. I’ll see you in the morning.” I get out of the car and close the door. Just as I get to the door, I hear him call my name. I look back and see him jog over to me.

I look up at him, and he holds out the icepack. “Here, you’ll need this. Make sure you ice it every twenty minutes for at least an hour.” I take the icepack from him and nod. He reaches up and brushes his thumb over my cheek tenderly.

I lose my breath at his touch. “I will, thanks.” Our eyes meet again, and my heart does that weird thing where it flickers a little when he smiles at me.

“Thank you for introducing me to ‘caraoke.’ That’s most definitely the most fun I've had while driving.” He expresses with a little laugh, and I chuckle nodding in response.

I was thankful it was dark out, so he couldn’t see the blush on my cheeks. “You’re very welcome.” I smile, biting my bottom lip. “Goodnight, Tristan Cole Hoult,” I say, and he licks his lips and looks down at his feet before he looks at me again.

“Goodnight, Shayla Hart.” I pull the door open and glance back at him one last time; he looks back as he walks toward his car and waves. I wave back and walk into the building. I lean against the wall by the door and close my eyes, willing my heart to stop fluttering wildly in my chest.

Stop it Shayla.

I groan and walk up to my apartment. What I need is a hot shower, a good movie, and my girls. Speaking of the girls, as soon as I walk into the apartment, Jo and Aimee fly to the door and greet me with broad smiles on their faces. They’ve seen the article.

“Oh my God, Shayla! We’ve been trying to call you for hours, where the hell have you been? What on earth is going on? You’re literally on every magazine cover?” Aimee asks in a flurry.

I drop my keys in a bowl that we keep by the front door and sigh, “Girls. I have had a hell of a day. I will answer all of your questions, I promise, but please just let me take these shoes off and shower first.” I say tiredly and they both nod in response.

“Okay, fine, but hurry up! We’ve been dying to find out the deets!” I wave them off as I kick my shoes off and walk toward the bathroom. I don’t even know where to begin explaining the whirlwind that has become my life.

I run the shower and look at the mirror at my reflection and notice the bruise forming on my cheek just under my eye where her giant wedding ring caught me. I reach up and brush my finger over it gently. I close my eyes, and the image of Cole brushing his fingers over it and the concerned look in his eyes flashes through my mind.

I try to shake off all thoughts relating to Cole Hoult and try to enjoy my shower, but of course, I fail miserably, and my mind wanders off to him again. I wonder if he was thinking about me too.

Ugh. Get a grip, Shayla. Of course he’s not, you idiot!

* * *

After my shower,I get into my pj's, the girls and I order pizza, and we open a bottle of wine while I fill them in with everything that’s happened. “I’m relieved you’re not pregnant, obviously, but what are you going to do about your family Shay? Sam called me twice today.” Aimee says, pulling her knees to her chest.

I sigh and shrug, “I don’t know girls, he’s called me a dozen times too, but I keep ignoring it. I’m terrified to answer because I don’t know what to tell them. I might go and see them tomorrow.” I take a sip of my wine and stare into my glass. “I’m all tangled up in this giant web of lies, and I don’t know how I'm going to get myself out of it.”

“Can you imagine you guys play the roles of being in love so well that you end up falling in love? How romantic would that be? Just like a movie.” Aimee gushes, and I roll my eyes.

“That only happens in rom-coms Aimes, let’s get real, Cole and I are just too different ever be anything serious. We’re complete opposites and not even each other’s types at all.” I utter picking off pieces of my pizza slice.

Aimee looks at her tablet and holds it up for me to see, “I’m so sorry, but this doesn’t look like two people who aren’t each other's types. If I saw this and didn’t know either of you, I would say you guys are genuinely in love.”

“Aimee’s right Shay, we haven’t seen you that happy in a long time.” I shake my head and run my finger along the rim of my glass.

---