Just as I was about to grab the nearest server and order a bottle of wine, a high pitched giggle pulled my attention toward the kitchen. I knew that giggle. It had even fell from my lips a couple of times. That giggle happened when you like someone and you’re a bundle of awkward. Nothing you say comes out right because you can’t utter the one thing that everyone can see: you like him.
A guy and a girl were leaning against the bar. Their backs were toward me, but I knew it was Cole. It was more than the fact that he hit every characteristic on the list. He towered above his co-worker. His blond hair hung in shaggy waves and when he brushed it from his eyes, the giggle became a sigh. I knew it was Cole because he had the same power as Jacob: the ability to make a woman do just about anything with a single look.
When he turned toward me that look snatched all the air from my lungs. If Jacob’s eyes were the sky, Cole’s were the sea. Blue gray. Vast. Mysterious.
A curious smile curved his lips because I was staring, but I could tell from his stride that he was used to being stared at. He wore an ebony colored button down shirt and light colored jeans with every ounce of sophistication that his brother exuded in a suit. His smile deepened when he approached my table and heat involuntarily rushed to my cheeks.
There was one key difference between the brothers. Where Jacob was guarded, an intriguing puzzle that revealed his innermost desires with every piece that clicked together, there was no wall with Cole. He was an open book, and right now every page was etched with the word ‘sex’. He stripped me down with his eyes, licking his lips with approval.
Mortified, I broke the trance and brought my hands, specifically my left, to the table. I put on my business voice. “Hello. Cole, right?”
“The one and only,” he winked, his voice deep and all charm. “And I know we don’t know each other. I never forget a pretty face.”
Oh God. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Does that line really work?”
He leaned in. On closer inspection I saw that his features were much sharper than Jacob’s. Predatory. “Between you and me...yes.” He gave me another dazzling smile and stood upright. “But that’s enough about me-”
“Actually, it isn’t.” I scooped my flyaways behind my ear and skipped to the end. “I’m Jacob’s wife, Leila. Do you have a break soon? I’d like to talk to you.”
The smile dropped to the floor. “You’re Jacob’s wife?”
I nodded slowly. “And you’re his brother.”
“But you haven’t seen the birth certificate.” He meant it as a joke but the bitterness cut like a knife.
I offered him a small smile. “I knew you were his brother the minute I saw you.”
His gray eyes sparkled mischievously and his lips parted like he had something to say but he changed his mind and went quiet. He studied me, not in the overtly sexual manner like before, but with genuine interest. Somehow, that made me even more uncomfortable.
I snatched my gaze from his, scouring the menu as I fidgeted in my seat. “I guess I should order something.”
“I’ve got you.” He eased the menu out of my grasp. “I’ll run to the back and put your order in and grab a break so I can learn everything there is to know about my brother—and his beautiful wife.”
Blushing all over again I shook it off and watched him head back to the pass that separated the dining area from the kitchen. An older woman in a white shirt and jeans exited the kitchen and Cole’s admirer quickly got back to work...along with everyone in the near vicinity.
“Manager.” I murmured, expecting Cole’s exterior to change too, but the woman changed instead, her hawkish gaze softening. Her lips eased into a grin that she covered by shoo-ing Cole away. He pecked her on the cheek and made his way back towards me, the look on his face confirming what he said to me. That innate charm or draw must have been a genetic thing.
He pulled the chair from the opposite side of the table to a few inches from mine. While he was settling in, I scooted a few inches away, prepared for the game this round.
He smirked, my distance not lost on him. “You know, I don’t bite. Unless that’s your thing.”
“Cut that out,” I hissed, pulling my blazer tighter. “I’m pretty much your sister.”
He shook his head. “I have a sister. She’s sixteen going on thirty. Everything is boys, Instagram, Beyonce and volleyball.” He smiled to himself. “She’s back in Seattle, but we talk all the time. Somebody has to keep her on the straight and narrow.”
I relaxed, the peek behind the flirty, aggressive curtain revealing a loving, supportive brother. “She’s lucky to have you.”
He perked. “You have brothers, sisters?”
“Only child,” I answered.
“Then you’re the lucky one,” he joked. “Being an only child means you avoid these kinds of situations. No long lost siblings popping up at your business meetings.” His voice sharpened. “What did he call me...” He snapped when it came to him. “A disruption.”
“He called you a disruption?” I frowned. He definitely left that out.
Cole sat back, a weird look on his face. “Among other things.”
I didn’t know what to say. I knew Jacob, knew that this was the last thing he expected. I knew that he was angry at his mother...but also angry at fate, that he lost all the time with Cole. That didn’t align with Jacob going off on him.
Luckily, the awkward silence that followed Cole’s admission was brief since our first course was up. The flirty co-worker couldn’t wait to sneak in a few more minutes with Cole and I watched him woo her, tease her, then send her on her way. Like a switch was flipped, he went from smiling and laughing to dead serious with no light or warmth to be found.
“I take it Jacob redacted a few things,” he said coolly, “Like how he would contact me if he ever felt the urge to know me... And that sharing DNA didn’t make us brothers, it just meant our mother was a whore.”
“What?!” I shook my head slowly at first, then more enthusiastically as I replayed Cole’s words. “They aren’t close, but Jacob wouldn’t call his mother a whore. And he’s cautious because he doesn’t want to get hurt, but I know that Jacob wants to know you. That he feels like a life was taken from him.”
Cole looked away, his jaw tight and unyielding. “He’s had a change of heart then because the last time I saw him he made it pretty clear that he never wanted to see me again.”