Edible (30 page)

The tall man turned on his heel and looked around at the people waiting on each of the couches. Framed by expensive-looking, black hipster glasses, his eyes landed on her before he moved across the lobby. Rachel got the impression he was sizing her up. He was at least six feet tall with dark hair buzzed down close to his head, and he had the perfect amount of stubble lining his cheeks and jaw to look fashionable. When he stopped in front of her and looked down, she could see curious blue eyes surrounded by thick dark lashes.

“Well, now. I knew Madison was a lucky bastard, but parading you under our noses is just mean-spirited, even for him.”

Rachel felt her mouth twitch as the large yet-to-be identified man unbuttoned his jacket and took a seat beside her. Crossing one leg over the other, he placed one of his arms across the back of the couch behind her and turned to face her.

“You are Rachel, correct? Otherwise, this will be very embarrassing.”

Rachel couldn’t help the sarcasm that slipped into her voice as she quipped with a smile, “Oh? And if I’m not, will you go and find her and deliver that same line?”

The man beside her placed a large palm over his heart. “You wound me. That was the absolute truth, not a line.”

Rachel pulled her bottom lip into her mouth to stifle a small laugh.

“See, you doubt me. I can tell,” he accused.

Shaking her head at his playful tone, Rachel replied with a full-blown grin, “You can, can you?”

“Yes. You definitely doubt my sincerity, yet I was telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.”

“Well, maybe I would be more open to believing you if I knew who you were,” Rachel informed him in a conspiratorial whisper.

The man gave her a smile that was just this side of naughty as it met his mischievous eyes. “But then, all the mystery is gone.”

Unable to hold back the laughter any longer, Rachel chuckled as she tilted her head to the side. “Obviously, you know Cole.”

“Yep, I have had that mostly fortunate pleasure since we were tearing up the college campus together.”

Rachel looked him over, noting that he was just as put together as Cole but far more relaxed. As her eyes came back to his, his dark brow quirked up behind the dark-framed glasses.

“So? Do I measure up?”

“I wasn’t checking you out,” she sputtered.

“Yes, you were. It’s okay though. People can’t help themselves.”

Letting out a bark of laughter at his easy arrogance, Rachel raised a hand to cover her mouth. “Are you serious?”

“Very. I mean, look at all of this.”

Rachel looked around to see if anyone else was paying attention to the outrageous words spilling from this man’s mouth, but no one else seemed to be looking at them, including the receptionist.

“I still don’t know who you are,” she pointed out, choosing to ignore his last comment.

“That’s right, you don’t, do you? Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Logan Mitchell.”

Rachel ran the name through her mind several times.
Logan Mitchell.
Mitchell
. Her eyes moved to the wall behind the receptionist where the name of the firm, Mitchell & Madison, was announced to incoming clients and guests in large block lettering.

Oh shit, this is Cole’s partner
, she thought, turning back to him.

He winked at her and pointed out, “See, I was telling the truth. People find me irresistible when they look at all of
this
.”

Rachel wasn’t really sure what to say to that, but as she stared at him, he lost some of that flirtatious shine. She thought that there was probably a lot more to that comment than what he had said.

“Well, Mr. Mitchell—”

“Oh, come on, Rachel. I think you can call me Logan. We’re practically long-lost friends now,” he said as he slid closer to her on the couch.

Rachel held her ground as she looked up at him. “Okay, Logan. Obviously, you know that I’m here to see Cole. So, do you know where he is?”

Logan nodded and replied vaguely, “Yes.”

Rachel rolled her eyes with a small laugh. “Wow, why am I so surprised that you are just like him?”

“Oh no, that’s where you are very wrong, Rachel. Cole and I might both be apples, but when we fell from the tree, we fell further apart than expected. That’s all.”

Rachel frowned as she tried to read between the lines. When she came up with nothing, she told him, “Well, like him, you are very good at deflecting and acting vague, Mr. Mitchell.”

“Logan,” he corrected.

“Yes, okay. Sorry, Logan. So, are you going to tell me where Cole is?”

“Why? So, you can leave me all alone?”

Rachel reached up and scratched her brow. “Now, why do I find it hard to picture you ever alone?”

Logan’s smile fell back into place as he stood, holding out his hand to her. “Because I’m so incredibly charming?”

“If you have to point it out yourself, I believe the charm is negated by arrogance.”

Logan laughed loudly then, a full-on belly laugh, as she took his hand and stood.

“I can see exactly why Cole has grabbed on to you. Come, I’ll take you to him.”

“How very kind of you.” Rachel muttered as she followed him across the lobby,

When Logan opened the door to the offices and she moved to walk past him, it became clear that she hadn’t been as discreet as she hoped or he must have had supersonic hearing.

“I’m never kind, Rachel, but I’m also not stupid. If I don’t take you to Cole in the next…oh, let’s say five minutes, he’s likely to go apeshit, and that would ruin my lunch as well as yours.”

Rachel stopped and looked up into Logan’s now very serious expression.

“And why would he go apeshit?”

As he looked down at her, she thought the answer she would get would scare her, make her want to leave and never come back, but instead, the answer she got sent a delicious thrill up her spine.

“It’s simple really. He’d go apeshit because you are his.”

And apparently, that was that.

Cole looked up when he heard a light knock on his door. Logan pushed it open, and as Rachel appeared, Cole was shocked by the immediate sense of calm that washed over him. As she moved hesitantly into his office, he glanced at Logan as his partner tilted his head down with a smirk as if to say,
I see exactly what you meant.

As Mr. Fogerty was wrapping up, Cole gestured to the couch, and Rachel immediately took a seat. Logan closed the door, and even though Cole couldn’t greet her, her stare made him feel her
hello
more eloquently than if the words had left her lips.

“Well, Mr. Madison, I believe that is all I can tell you right now, but I will be sure to send you the paperwork with the written statement as soon as possible.”

Cole watched Rachel as she slid back into his couch and crossed her wildly covered legs. All the while, she was watching him like this was the first time she had seen him.

“That sounds fine. As soon as I receive it, I’ll be in contact.”

Leaning back in his chair, he remembered the way she had looked last night, staring down at him as she traced her fingers over his body.

“Terrific. Listen, Madison, will you be at the function for the new DA at the Shedd Aquarium tomorrow?”

“Yes, I’ll be there. In fact, I’m hoping my lunch date today will be accompanying me.”

Through the speaker, the man chuckled. “You mean, you’re going to bring someone? Well, I’ll be damned. That’s a first.”

Cole’s eyes moved up to see Rachel’s blue ones staring back at him with questions.

“Well, I’ve never found someone worth bringing before,” Cole admitted, sitting forward as he rested his arms on his desk.

The man on the other end told him, “In that case, maybe you should give the little lady my number, so I can warn her all about you.”

“I will see you tomorrow, Mr. Fogerty, and you can warn her then.”

“
If
she says yes, my man. You still have to ask her.”

“She’ll say yes. I won’t let her say no.”

“That’s the way, Madison! See you tomorrow night.”

“I will see you then,” Cole replied and reached out to hit the end button on the speakerphone. Leaning back in his chair once more, Cole quietly requested, “Come over here, Rachel.”

Almost as though he were watching her in slow motion, he let his eyes track down her tight black dress and loose cream cardigan to her tall black boots, and he couldn’t help the tightening he felt between his legs.

She moved toward him but stopped on the opposite side of the desk.

“Here,” he said, patting his lap.

“I’m not doing anything in here, in your office,” she sputtered out almost hesitantly.

Cole tilted his head to the side and raised his gaze to hers. “Did I ask you to?”

“You want me to sit on your lap,” she pointed out.

“And that automatically means I am going to spread you across my desk and take off your tights?”

Looking around as if to make sure they were alone, she whispered, “The way you were looking at me—”

“Yes?” he coaxed. “Go on.”

“The way you
are
looking at me makes me question your motives.”

Cole stood then and watched as her hands gripped the back of the leather chair she was standing behind. Moving around the desk, he walked up beside her, and he was slightly amused that she continued to stare out the window behind his own chair, instead of facing him.

He reached out and traced her hand that was still clenching the chair, watching her closely as she sucked in a deep breath.

“Are you more scared of what I will ask you or that you won’t be able to deny me?”

Turning her head, she looked up into his eyes, and he could tell she was fighting some kind of internal battle.

“What’s going on in there?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she denied too quickly before looking away.

“You’re lying to me,” he pointed out. “Rachel, I will never make you do anything you don’t want to.” Leaning in close, he placed his mouth to her ear and whispered, “I suspect that’s the problem here, isn’t it? You want to.”

Cole continued watching her as she stepped away from him and moved over to the window to stare out at downtown Chicago.

Rachel couldn’t describe to him how she was feeling.

After Logan had told her so matter-of-factly that she was Cole’s, she had experienced such a rush of arousal and acceptance that when she had stepped through his office door, she had been hard-pressed to sit down on his couch and wait for him.

Then, he had sat there, running his eyes all over her, and he’d said words that had only ramped up her feelings.

Am I ready to let a man have such a hold over me again?

Whether or not I am ready doesn’t seem to matter though, does it?

He already had a hold over her, and as she stood staring out at the buildings surrounding them, she reminded herself that it was time to surrender to her feelings, not to second-guess them.

Time to give in, to trust.

“My father used to work in a building like this,” she told him as she glanced over her shoulder.

Cole slid his hands into his pockets and moved over to stand behind her. He didn’t touch her anywhere, but she could feel the heat emanating from his body.

“Did he? What did he do?”

“He was an accountant.” Rachel laughed softly. “A boring numbers man, he would say.”

“You say
was
. He passed away then?”

Rachel felt her heart ache as she nodded and wrapped her arms around her waist. “Yes. Both my mother and father have passed away.”

He didn’t touch her, and Rachel wondered how he knew that if he did, she would crumble to the ground. Instead, he offered condolences.

“They must have been amazing individuals to raise such a unique and beautiful woman.”

Rachel felt a small smile touch her lips. “My dad always encouraged us to be ourselves—hence the crazy hair and the fact that Mason loves to cook, which isn’t the manliest occupation.”

Without touching her, Cole’s mouth was by her ear. “I love your hair. It was the first thing that drew me to you…well, that and your miniscule skirt. As for your brother, he seems to be doing okay for himself.”