Crazy in Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

go to dinner with Cole.”
    “And me.”
    Her eyebrows pinched. “What?”
    “You’ll go to dinner with Cole and me,” Lucy corrected. “Don’t think you’re leaving me out of this, just because you two are shacking up.”
    “Excuse me?” a gravelly voice said from the doorway. “Who am I shacking up with?”
    Jolting off the bed, Rachael snatched the dust rag and pretended to be dusting the headboard.
    “I was just say—saying,” Lucy stuttered. “That you two are sleeping under one roof. When you drop us off tomorrow night, it’ll be convenient since you’re staying here.”
    “That will be convenient.” He strode across the room and checked the lids of the boxes in the corner. He stood over each of them, as if he was counting. “You didn’t go through these, did you?”
    Rachael wasn’t curious about the boxes before, but she was now. What would he keep in them that made him so paranoid? He probably earned a couple million dollars last year. Surely he could replace whatever was in the boxes if the items were damaged or lost.
    “We were cleaning,” Lucy blurted. “I may have accidently smacked the box with the back of my broom handle when I was beating Rachael with it.”
    Cole smirked, the stress lines around his eyes vanishing. “I want to ask, but something says I shouldn’t.”
    “Good call.” Rachael backed out of the room and motioned for Lucy to sneak out behind her. “We’ll leave you now. You probably want to rest.”
    It was nearly two in the afternoon. Before meeting Cole and “his crew”, she would’ve thought musicians simply showed up before the show, played their numbers and went back to their hotels. Cole, however, seemed involved in the process.
    He took off his coat and slung it over the chair in the corner. “What’s for dinner tonight?”
    “Umm…” She glanced at her phone as it buzzed. It was Joey, confirming they were on for dinner and a movie. He wanted to meet at Angie’s at six thirty. “…I’m cooking something simple. Spaghetti and Caesar Salad. Is that all right?”
    “If it’s edible, it’s perfect.” He flopped on the bed.
    Lucy leaned around Rachael to peek in the room. She elbowed her friend, forcing her back.
    “Dinner will be early tonight. Five o’clock. And I won’t be eating with you.”
    He threw his hand over his forehead and turned to glance at her. “Why not?”
    “I have a date.”
    She started to close the door. He sat up, propping himself on his elbow as if he was posing for a GQ ad. “A date?”
    “Don’t worry,” she said, her voice suddenly hoarse. “I’ll make sure everything is taken care of before I leave. I won’t leave a stone unturned. And if you need me, I’ll take my cell.”
    As she closed the door further, he put up a hand to stop her.
    “If I need you?” His voice was deep, a sexy husk. “What if I need you now?”
    “Good God,” Lucy whispered from behind her. “My ovaries just moaned.”
    Rachael gave her an elbow. “What do you need, Cole?”
    He licked his lips, unhurried and ruthless. Her heart panged against her chest and wet heat pooled between her legs. Lucy whimpered over Rachael’s shoulder.
    “I need my pillow back,” he said simply. “You must’ve taken it with the wash.”
    Rachael nodded once. Twice. Three more times. It wasn’t until Lucy pulled her back by the sweater, did she realize she’d been in some kind of trance. She shut the door and ran down the hall with her best friend, giggling like a teenager.

Chapter Six
     
     
    The fact that Rachael was going on a date with some backwoods mountain man—at least that was the image he’d drawn up in his head—didn’t bother him. Not at all. It was the fact that Rachael hardly responded to any of his advances…
    Cole had made up his mind that she wasn’t interested in men for the time being or dating in general. She’d probably been burned before and was taking a dating hiatus.
    He could’ve swallowed that truth and moved