Free A Late Thaw by Anna Blaze Page B

against her order pad.
    “I mean it. Your skin is real nice. A little makeup and some highlights and you could look good.” Andi grinned. “You should come by the shop.”
    “The shop?”
    “The beauty shop. I got my license a few months back, so I’m a professional now.”
    Kiley nodded. Her mouth opened and shut soundlessly like a fish. Cole was starting to imagine little bubbles popping out when she finally responded. “That’s nice.”
    “So you’ll come by?”
    “Maybe. I’m going to be working a lot, so…busy.”
    “That’s exactly why you should do it,” Andi insisted. “Everyone knows blondes get better tips.”
    Cole didn’t know if that was true, and he didn’t really care. He liked Kiley’s hair the way it was, dark and straight. He’d been imagining getting his hands in her silky, smooth hair for the better part of a decade. The thought of Andi screwing it up before he ever got a chance made him wince.
    “I don’t know. ” Cole shrugged. “It seems like there are plenty of blonde waitresses here. When the waitresses have different colored hair it makes it easier to remember which one is yours.” And now he sounded like a douche-bag who only recognized women by their hair color. It was official: he actually lost IQ points when Kiley was around. Her scientist side would probably find that interesting. The rest of Kiley was less likely to be impressed.
    Kiley looked across the room. He followed her gaze. A table of rowdy tourists signaled her on the other side of the bar. Her lips curved up, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.
    “I’ll certainly keep that in mind. Enjoy your drinks and let me know if you need anything else.” She was off in an instant, leaving him to fake interest in Andi’s gossip and pretend he wasn’t following Kiley’s move ments as she walked from table to table.
    H e’d lost track of the number of customers who’d had to switch their drinks around after Kiley served them while he was still nursing his first beer. Kiley was not a very good waitress. He grinned.
    Andi sighed and leaned across the table. “You could have told me this wasn’t a real date.”
    Cole frowned. “What?”
    “It’s pretty obvious we’re here so you can spy on your ex.”
    “Who? Kiley? No! We’re… She’s just an old friend.” It wasn’t exactly a lie; they’d never dated. But saying Kiley was just anything was not entirely sincere.
    Andi laughed. “But she is the reason we’re here.”
    “That’s not… I’m sorry if I’ve been distracted, I’ll—”
    “I’m not mad, Cole. I didn’t think you were going to propose or anything.” She shrugged, and her thin shoulder snuck up through the loose neckline of her blouse. “But if you’d told me all you needed was a cover I could have saved myself the trip home to shave my legs before we met up.”
    Cole chuckled and nodded. He’d not given Andi enough credit. It took a cool woman to slam a man with the sex he’d no longer be welcome to.
    “You do look great,” he offered genuinely.
    “But not your type. Story of my life.” She twisted a lock of hair around her finger and winked.
    He doubted that. Andi was friendly and quite attractive in a bold in-your-face fashion. He was a man on a mission to figure out why the girl who’d run away was back in town, but he’d still noticed that Andi’s high-heeled sandals and extremely short skirt showed off a nice pair of legs. He should have at least told her that, but she was right; his mind was somewhere else.
    “You want me to take you home now.”
    She laughed. It was a nice laugh, sort of throaty and sexy, but it wasn’t Kiley’s laugh. “Nope. You owe me at least another drink. Besides, this got me out of babysitting for my sister’s demon spawn, so I can’t get too mad.”
    “Another beer it is then.”
    “Make it a Long Island Iced Tea, Romeo.”
    Cole grimaced and lifted his hand to wave at Kiley.

Chapter Three
    HE’D LEFT WITHOUT SAYING