Free Big Girls Don't Cry by Cathie Linz Page A

at?”
    “That bitch over there.”
    “Hey!” Leena protested.
    “Don’t go ballistic on me. I was referring to Mrs. Petrocelli’s Pekinese. She broke her leg. Mrs. Petrocelli, not her dog Misty, who just slipped outside, which is why I whistled for her. Misty isn’t eating so I said I’d come look at her. I didn’t come to look at your breasts. I didn’t know they’d be on display this way. But now that you’ve pointed them out to me, I have to say that while it’s true I have seen breasts before, yours are . . . very fine. Excellent cleavage.”
    Leena was accustomed to men looking at her. But not like this. None of them had ever had this kind of powerful effect on her. Cole was touching her with his eyes. Not in a creepy kind of way, but in a very seductive erotic way. Like he had in the back of the mini-mart.
    Suddenly Leena couldn’t breathe. She felt as if she’d swallowed an Altoid.
    Wait—she had just swallowed her Altoid!
    She didn’t dare cough, for fear he’d pound her on the back and her breasts would launch themselves at him, fleeing the confines of her Jane Austen Does Dallas dress.
    “Are you okay?” Cole asked, perhaps noticing how her face was turning red. She’d soon be turning blue from lack of oxygen if she didn’t get some air . . . Thankfully the Altoid finally went down and cleared her air passages.
    Stay calm and just breathe, she told herself while nodding in reply to Cole’s question. Of course she was okay.
    Well, maybe okay was a stretch. If her life were truly okay she’d be back in Chicago working, not standing here in the Regency Mobile Home Park with a photographer who normally did wedding photos and could pass as Pee-wee Herman’s twin brother. And Leena certainly wouldn’t be standing here flaunting her cleavage at Cole.
    Of course he wasn’t whistling at her. What had she been thinking? The world did not revolve around her, as her former agent told her before dumping her.
    She felt like the butt of a dumb-blonde joke. In fact, her entire life lately had turned into some dumb-blonde joke. But Leena wasn’t laughing.
    “Here.” Sue Ellen joined them and shoved something into Leena’s hands.
    “What’s this?”
    “Double-edged tape. Actresses and singers use it all the time to keep their dresses in place. That should avoid a Nipplegate situation. Lulu told me they had one at the high school a while back. Something to do with a cheerleader. Hey, Cole.” Sue Ellen smiled at him. “What are you doing here?”
    “Your sister accused me of ogling her breasts,” he replied.
    Sue Ellen nodded proudly. “They are impressive, aren’t they?”
    “Hey!” Leena felt her face getting hot. “Next thing, you’ll be asking Cole to help me tape them in place.”
    “Anything I can do to be of assistance.” Cole’s grin was one-hundred-proof wicked.
    “Hold on a sec, I have to take this call.” Sounding like a showbiz mogul, Sue Ellen turned her back on them to answer her pink Motorola Razr phone.
    “Don’t even think about it,” Leena warned Cole as he reached out for the tape. She tightened her grip on it.
    “So now you’re telling me what I can and can’t think? Anyone ever tell you that you’re bossy?”
    “I prefer to think of it as being sure of myself.”
    “Right.”
    “Some men feel threatened by that.”
    “Not me.”
    “Right.” She deliberately repeated his word choice, right down to the mocking tone. “You’re probably used to women instantly obeying your every command. Just like Misty here.” Leena pointed to the Pekinese, who was now perched at his feet, gazing up at him adoringly.
    “Absolutely,” Cole agreed. “And they usually drool too.”
    The man was too much!
    “Yeah,” Cole said reflectively. “There’s nothing like doggy drool first thing in the morning.”
    “Don’t try to tell me that you only hang out with canine females. I’m sure you’ve got more than enough human female companionship.”
    “Can one ever