Stone Cold Fox (46)
“Perpetually, and that’s on purpose,” Chloe said.
“I think you’ll really like him, Bea.” Gale scrunched her nose at me.
“Gale,” Haven said under her breath before taking another sip of her cocktail.
“He’s betting on it, I’m sure. Going four for four.” Calliope giggled.
“What will I like about him, Gale?” I asked her outright.
“I just think you’ll get a kick out of him, that’s all.” She grinned.
“She means Dave’s a bit of a lady-killer,” Haven said, which made Chloe and Calliope laugh out loud, splashing some of their drinks.
“That’s putting it mildly! Dave’s a total manwhore,” Calliope said. “He got around with some of the boys’ wives and girlfriends, and at this point nobody is friends with him anymore. Well, except for Gale.”
“That’s only because he doesn’t want to sleep with her,” Chloe pointed out, much to my delight.
“I don’t want to sleep with him either,” Gale said, defending her honor. “Look, say what you want about Dave Bradford, but he’s one of us. That means something and Collin knows that, too.”
“And you think he’ll want to sleep with me?” I asked them all, emboldened by their salacious chatter.
Calliope was uproariously laughing now. “Yeah, duh!”
“Girls.” Haven snorted, just as amused. “That’s enough.”
“I’m sure Bea has had a line out the door her whole life, but she has selected our dear Collin,” Chloe said, slurping her drink. Wasn’t that a compliment? So she couldn’t be on Gale’s side, could she?
“Don’t worry, Bea. We’re just teasing you,” Gale said, no trace of a smile at all.
“And Gale is right. Dave and the Bradfords are a part of our lives, so . . .” Haven said authoritatively, to the point that I knew this illustrious Dave Bradford would be at my wedding. “That’s enough of this talk now. Those indiscretions of Dave’s are all in the past and have nothing to do with Collin or Bea.”
“A bit of a lady-killer,” Chloe repeated, still giggling. “Honestly, Mom.”
Haven began to discuss color schemes and the shower and flowers while I put two and two together. I caught Gale staring at me, swirling a straw around her glass, looking quite pleased with herself.
Of course.
Dave Bradford was Cat Man.
CHAPTER
10
Dave Bradford. HOW anticlimactic, unlike the recurring sex dreams I had been having about him. I was hoping for a more fanciful moniker like Pacey or Dylan or Xander, but I suppose life wasn’t a salacious teen soap for my viewing pleasure. What I really craved were the details about his alleged affairs with his friends’ partners—Hannah, Elizabeth and Paisley, I presumed, the Tory Burch Trifecta; who knew they had it in them?—but it was far too inappropriate an ask in front of my future in-laws.
However, with that revelation, it was even more infuriating that Dave hadn’t hit on me when the opportunity presented itself in Gale’s building. But I suppose he didn’t know I was Collin’s fiancée. He was a man who loved the forbidden. How delectable for me, but I would have to slap my hand away should it get too close. A tawdry affair with a man like that for the sake of the thrill was a little too much like Mother for my taste.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t have any fun with it. I was hoping Collin would be up for some goss when I arrived home after tea time. He had to know the scoop and if I poured us a drink or two, he’d give me the goods. “Babe?” I called out for him, surprised he wasn’t waiting in the wings, anxious for my triumphant return. I had texted him that I was on my way back and that it went quite well, all things considered, so I was insulted when he didn’t respond immediately.
“Collin?” I called out again. Nothing.
I went upstairs to find him fast asleep in the middle of the afternoon. Let me tell you that the sight of a grown man in the center of a king bed, curled up in the fetal position like a little boy, was not what I had hoped for when I was all riled up about Cat Man. I didn’t want to outright wake Collin like some sort of harpy, so I slithered into the master bath and shut the door just loudly enough to rouse him and regain his focus.
“Bea?” I heard, muffled through the door.
“Just a minute! Sorry, babe, didn’t mean to wake you,” I lied. I took a few seconds to primp in the mirror and rejoined Collin in the bedroom. “You were fast asleep! Are you ill?” I asked him.
“No. Just tired. How was it?”
“It was really great! Everyone’s excited.” I sat down next to him on the bed, animated and adorable. “Even your mother. I can tell. We shared laughs! I do believe I’m winning them over. No surprise there, right?” I went in for a kiss and he met the bid for affection with little enthusiasm. A mere peck. The way you’d kiss a dowdy old aunt with a goiter on Easter Sunday. Well, excuse me.
“That’s great,” he said, his eyes closing once again, leaning back into the pillow. Now he was really irritating me, so I wouldn’t dance around the subject of Dave as initially planned for the fun of it. I needed Collin’s full attention at all times so I could use him appropriately.