Heavy Issues by Elle Aycart

look.
    “He didn’t ask me out. He asked me to sleep with him. And I told you, Holly, the dates he was offering were fake.”
    “What?” Annie and Sophie both shrieked.
    “Never mind, I’ll tell you later,” Christy said in a hushed tone.
    Her friends didn’t seem too pleased, but by then Cole had reached their table.
    “Hello, sweetheart.”
    His deep voice washed over her. God, no one sounded like Cole. His low, raspy voice caressed her from within and sent all her senses into overdrive, leaving her mind scattered and her body aching. He brushed his lips with hers while she mumbled something totally unintelligible even for herself, her face so hot she was sure she’d burst a blood vessel.
    “You’re late. Mind if I sit, ladies?” He offered Christy one of those devastating grins of his, and her heart all but stopped. Thank God the guy had been scowling at her at work, because truly, since he’d turned the charm on her, she hadn’t been able to put two and two together. No wonder women melted around him.
    Sophie and Annie looked thunderstruck while he went ahead and sat down.
    Holly smirked and whispered to her, “Well, you might have tried to turn him down. Obviously it didn’t get through.”
    At that moment James and his fiancée, Tate, entered the bar and came straight toward them.
    “Hello, my man,” James said, clapping Cole’s back. “We have a full house tonight.”
    As Holly moved to her right and left space for them to sit, the waitress came over with an icy bottle of champagne, some glasses, and an envelope. “Finally the girl of the hour. Happy birthday, honey,” she said, smiling to Christy, and after leaving the bottle and the glasses on the table, she handed Christy the closed envelope. “This is for you from your friends.”
    Sophie and Holly lunged to interfere, but Christy grabbed the envelope before her friends had a chance to snatch it away.
    “Today’s your birthday?” Cole asked in a clipped voice. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
    She ignored his tone.
    “Christy, wait…” Annie said, but it was too late, for she’d opened the envelope and was reading the card.
    A gala invitation. Before she could truly understand what she was looking at, Cole loomed over her and glanced at the paper. He became very still and his jaw clenched.
    “You got her an invitation to a stud convention? Are you nuts?”
    James barked out a laugh. He seemed the only one truly amused.
    “It’s not a stud convention,” Holly said, glaring at Cole. “Studs®us.com is the classiest escort agency in Boston and they’re hosting their yearly gala.”
    “Hey, am I getting an invitation like that for my bachelorette party?” Tate asked.
    “Not happening, princess,” James countered, pulling his woman onto his lap.
    “Just kidding, baby,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I already have my own stud.”
    Sophie turned to Christy. “There’ll be plenty of st—hem—men around,” she corrected. “It’s just innocent play. A dinner. Who you mingle with afterward is just your business and your decision. You sounded so dead serious the other night that we decided to go for it. We didn’t know you didn’t mean it.”
    “If we’d known, we’d have gone more traditional…”
    Christy cringed. More traditional? As in what, a dildo and a battery charger? She caught her friends’ gazes straying nervously toward Cole. “We can return it if you like,” Holly told her.
    “Good idea,” Cole replied. “You do that. She won’t be needing it.”
    What? Who the hell was he to make those decisions? She heard her own spine cracking. “Why would I want you to return it?” she said to her girlfriends. “You were right all along. Studs don’t fall from the sky. Ordering them online is more effective. Thank you.”
    From the corner of her eye, she noticed Cole’s jaw pulsing. Yeah, not the most appropriate comment. He wasn’t a happy camper right now. But that was nothing compared