Make Me Yours (Bellamy Creek #2) - Melanie Harlow Page 0,112
your house? Putting on lipstick? Trading your I-give-up sweatpants for a gold sequin miniskirt?”
“All of it.” I looked down at my outfit. “But especially the miniskirt.”
She laughed. “You look fucking hot, and every guy in here is trying to work up the nerve to approach you. You need to stop hiding out in the kitchen.”
“Give me a break. Most of the guys in here I’ve known since I was born. They’re all Griffin’s friends.”
“Not true,” she argued. “I specifically invited some new people tonight to make the party more interesting. See that guy talking to Beckett by the window?”
I looked over and saw who she meant. “Yeah.”
“Well, he’s been staring at you since he got here.”
Self-conscious, I touched my hair. “Who is he?”
“His name is Zachary Simon. He’s a lawyer, new in town. Just moved from Mason City.”
“How’d you meet him?”
“He’s a regular at the bakery every morning. He said he had no plans tonight because he doesn’t know many people in town, so I invited him. You should go introduce yourself.”
“Blair! He could be a serial killer or something. You don’t even know this guy.”
“I’m not saying you should go out to the alley with him, I’m just trying to get you out of my way here.” She moved around me to grab her oven mitt. “And it wouldn’t kill you to have a conversation with someone new.”
“It’s no use,” I said with a sigh. “I’m not over Cole. I don’t know if I ever will be.”
Blair gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry.”
“Still no word on whether he’ll show up tonight?”
She shook her head. “Griffin didn’t say much about their conversation. Just that Cole said he still loves you and he’s trying to work through some stuff. He might come tonight, he might not.”
“Yeah. That’s what Griffin told me too.” A lump jumped into my throat, and I tried to wash it away with champagne.
“He was annoyingly tight-lipped about it all. But I guess you can’t fault him—Cole’s been his bestie for what, almost thirty years? They’re loyal to each other.”
“I know.”
Blair finally stopped bustling around and faced me. “Look. You’re here, you’ve got a nice glass of champagne, you look like a million bucks, just go say hi to the new guy, okay? For me. Do it now. Beckett just walked away from him, and he’s all alone. I feel bad.”
I sighed again. “Fine. For you. But I’m warning you now, I don’t think I’m going to make it to midnight. I miss my couch and my sweatpants already, and if Cole shows up, I might embarrass myself by crying in my bubbly.”
She gave me a shove in the direction of the window. “Go.”
Pressing my lips together, I walked casually over toward the new guy, who gave me a friendly smile as I approached. He was really very handsome, with wavy dark hair, warm brown eyes, and an athletic build. But I didn’t care. In a way, it would have been much easier if my pulse had started to race when I got close to him, but it didn’t. In fact, he wore too much cologne, and the first instinct I had was to sneeze.
Thankfully, I held it off.
“Hi,” I said, holding out my hand. “I’m Cheyenne.”
“Zachary,” he said, closing his hand around mine. “You’re Blair’s friend. She told me about you.”
“She talks a lot,” I said, shooting Blair a murderous look over my shoulder. “I hear you’re new in town.”
“Yes. Only been here about a month. But I like it.”
“What brought you to Bellamy Creek?”
“My job. I’m an attorney for . . .”
But I completely lost track of what he was saying because suddenly I saw Cole appear at the top of the stairs. I might have gasped, because Zachary broke off mid-sentence and looked at me a little funny. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said, anything but. “Sorry. What were you saying?”
He started up again about whatever it was he did, but I didn’t hear a word of it because Cole and I had locked eyes, and he was headed my way. The look on his face told me he was not happy to see me talking to some other guy.
Well, tough!
He hadn’t so much as called me in a week! I’d thought seeing him would make me cry, but seeing him like this—jealous and possessive, all fists clenched and chest puffed out—just made me mad.
Even if it was kind of hot.
I moved a little closer to Zachary and laughed as if he’d said something