Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,31

you for what you did for me today – as for everything else, we’ll work through it together, I promise you.”

Elise rose to go and find the spare bedding, however as she reached the doorway, another thought struck her and she turned back to Cole.

“Cole?” she asked. He looked up from where he had been removing his shoes.

“Yes babe, what is it?”

“I was just wondering – whatever happened to Bobby last night?”

Cole started laughing then; a genuine proper belly-laugh which sounded really good to her ears.

“Oh, Elise,” he said, his eyes watering “only you could ask the most inappropriate question at the most inappropriate time.” She glared at him in mock anger, and grabbed a cushion off one of the dining chairs, aiming it squarely at Cole as he continued to laugh. Finally he composed himself enough to answer and in some ways, Elise was sorry – it had been good to hear him laugh.

“Bobby went home after he went to call Helen, when he left the table. She went into labour a couple of days early but everything was fine. They had a baby girl; Rose, they’re going to call her. Last I heard mother and baby were doing good.” He grinned and then started laughing again. “Thank god for Bobby and his extremely normal life!”

Elise chuckled. Amen to that! “I’ll just go and get you that bedding. Night, Cole. Sleep well.”

“Night, babe. Love you.”

Chapter Nine

Elise woke to her alarm clock after a fitful night. She kept dreaming about Dale and Vaughn. In one dream, she was with Dale and in the other she was with Vaughn. Eventually, both dreams merged into one and both men realised that she was cheating on each of them and all hell had broken loose. The end result hadn’t been pretty and Elise was infinitely grateful when she woke up to normal life.

Well, as normal as her life got these days.

Trudging downstairs, she checked in on Cole who was still asleep. She needed to wake him up and get him home before she went to meet Celeste at the precinct. Not that she had a problem with him being here but it wouldn’t be long before one of her neighbours noticed his car and although she wasn’t especially friendly with any of them, she wouldn’t put it past one particular neighbour to mention the strange car to Dale ‘in passing’.

Making two cups of strong coffee, she headed into the lounge and gently began to shake Cole. She couldn’t believe how beautiful this man was even with all the cuts and bruises which looked even angrier now in the light of day. He was totally relaxed in sleep and she revelled in being able to watch him in these moments when his guard was down.

Mentally, she began comparing him to Vaughn; both men were beautiful but in a different way. Vaughn was more striking; darker and definitely more dangerous. Wait, she was sitting here comparing Cole and Vaughn when her husband was recovering in the hospital, for Christ’s sake! Her priorities were seriously screwed.

Shaking herself, she pushed against Cole a bit harder and finally managed to rouse him. She watched as he opened his eyes and took a moment to work out where he was. She saw the instant that clarity hit and he turned to face her, gorgeous chocolate eyes meeting her baby blues.

“Hey, beautiful.” he said, yawning and stretching a little. “Now this is the way to wake up. My seriously hot best friend and a cup of strong coffee. I must have died and gone to heaven.”

Chuckling, she shoved him good-naturedly. “You need to get your lazy ass out of bed, Cole Andrews. Whilst I love having you stay the night, I really don’t want to provide any more gossip fodder for the neighbours. Besides, I have a hot date!”

Cole choked on his mouthful of coffee. “A hot date! What the ........?”

“Ha! Got you there!” she said, “Although if I did have a hot date it would be absolutely none of your business.”

“If you had a hot date my sweet-cheeked best friend, I can assure you that it would be my business and I would find myself siding with your toe-rag of a husband which is something that I didn’t think would happen until hell froze over!”

She laughed at the seriousness of his expression. “Alright, keep your hair on! I was only joking! I’m going to meet Celeste at the precinct to go shopping. She wants to get a killer dress