Crazy in Love (Blue Lake #3)(12)

As the two ladies droned about business, Cole remembered Rachael had said that she and the owner of this place were friends.

“You know Rachael McCoy, is that right?”

Lucy paused mid-sentence and turned her full attention to Cole. “She’s one of my best friends. Is she treating you well at the inn?”

“Actually, I was wanting to get her a little something for being so cordial to me last night, letting me check in early and all.” Oh, the plan was forming perfectly. “If I gave you two VIP, backstage tickets to my show tomorrow night, would you bring her?”

“Absolutely!” Lucy’s green eyes lit up. “I’d love to take you up on that, but I don’t think it’d be right for me to take the ticket, seeing as I own the place. Maybe you could—”

“The tickets come with a private dinner with me before the show,” he added at the last second. Lucy started to say something, but he grabbed her arm and squeezed gently, silencing her. “Say yes.” He winked to seal the deal.

Lucy bounced up and down on her toes. “Okay, but if I take the invitation to dinner, can I auction off my VIP pass to a member of our wine club?”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” he said, nodding.

Lucy screamed, and threw her arms around his neck. As soon as she touched him, she checked herself. “Rachael and I would be honored to be your dinner dates tomorrow.”





Chapter Five





“I’d rather not,” Rachael mumbled, as she ripped the sheets off her bed. “Why’d you tell him that?”

Lucy stood in the doorway, her arms folded over her chest. “Because he’s Cole Freaking-Gorgeous Turner! What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.” She tossed the bedding into the hallway and then stormed past Lucy. “He’s a guest. That’s all.”

Okay, so there were a few moments when they were alone yesterday when she’d wished he was more than a guest. He was amazingly good-looking with a hard body and smoldering eyes. Looks aside, the man was hilarious with a dry sense of humor that tickled her bones. And although the fireworks at StoneMill weren’t going to harm her, he’d practically shielded her with his body, proving there might’ve been hints of chivalry hidden beneath his ego.

“No, he’s more than a guest,” Lucy countered. “Cole Freaking-Gorgeous Turner! Do you have a pulse, Rach? If you don’t think he’s the hottest thing to stroll into Blue Lake in the last hundred years, I’m worried about you.”

As Rachael charged into Cole’s room, Lucy followed closely behind. And when she tore the blanket off his bed, Lucy whimpered. Rachael spun, the sheets crumpled in her hand.

“What?” Rachael said. Her friend was pale, licking her lips with crazed look in her eye. “What’s the matter?”

“He slept in those sheets. Good God!” Lucy reached out for them, a silly smile on her face. “I know half-a-dozen ladies, myself included, who’d pay a month’s wage to have those as a keepsake. Okay, that was a little far.”

“Yes, it was.”

“I’d pay a month’s wage to sleep in those sheets, just once.”

“You’re ridiculous.” Laughing, Rachael tossed the sheets into the hallway, but as they ballooned into the air, Cole’s scent hit her hard. The room and everything in it smelled like him. And God, did he smell good. She wavered slightly, her knees wobbling.

“A-ha!” Lucy said, pointing. “You do have a pulse!”