Chapter 3

Josie

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” I smiled. It had been a while since a man had slept over. “I’m sorry to wake you. I have to go out to East Hampton to put my grades in the computer for report cards since the Wi-Fi isn’t working yet. I didn’t want you to wake up and the house be empty.”

Cole sat up and dragged a hand through his hair. “Shit. What time is it? I must’ve fallen asleep on the couch while I was working last night. Sorry about that.”

“No problem. And it’s almost nine. You were really out cold. I came downstairs and made coffee, took a shower, and even unloaded the dishwasher. You didn’t move a muscle.”

I shook my head. “Nine o’clock? Wow. I can’t remember the last time I slept past six.”

“How late did you work last night?”

“I’m not sure. But I got a lot done.”

“I’m glad. Would you like a cup of coffee?”

Cole stood. He lifted his hands over his head to stretch, and his sweater rode up, revealing some pretty impressive abs and a sexy line of hair that ran from his navel down into his pants. Damn, he wasn’t just a pretty face; he had a body to match. I thought he might’ve caught me ogling him, so I pretended I’d been looking down at my shoe and quickly knelt to tie my sneaker, even though it wasn’t untied.

“No, I’m good,” he said. “I don’t want to trouble you. I’ve already put you out enough. I’ll make a pot when I get home.”

“Umm…no, you won’t. We still don’t have any power.”

“Shit…right.” He looked around. “I forgot since it’s light out now, and you have a generator. I’ll run out and grab some at Dunkin’ Donuts. I don’t want to make you late.”

I waved him off. “It’s fine. I can show up anytime today to enter my grades. I’m not in a rush.”

“Alright. Well, if you have it made, I’ll take a cup, please.”

In the kitchen, I poured two mugs of coffee. I added a little half and half to mine and held up the carton to Cole. “Do you take cream or sugar?”

“No. Just black, please.”

I passed him his coffee. “You know, I could have guessed that. You seem like a black coffee kind of guy.”

“Oh yeah?” He leaned his hip against the kitchen counter and sipped. “What exactly are the characteristics of a black coffee kind of guy?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know… I guess they’re sort of…like you.”

He chuckled. “So maybe like a neighbor who backs over those flower beds you have at the end of the driveway and doesn’t say anything?”

“Actually, you’d probably say something. You’d tell me it was my fault.”

Cole hung his head and laughed. “I can see I made a really good impression on you.”

I waved him off. “Eh, it’s okay. Some of the best men I know come across as stoic and grumpy, but deep down they have a heart of gold. My dad and brother are that way, so I don’t give up easily on people. I keep looking until I find something redeeming.”

Cole smiled. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“By the way,” I said. “I finally got through to the electric company this morning. There’s a twenty-block power outage. There was a fire in the main transformer or something like that—so it wasn’t my fault after all. But they said it could be two or three days before we get full power restored.”

Cole sighed. “Great. I guess I’ll pick up a generator today.” He finished drinking his coffee and rinsed his mug in the sink. “Thank you again for letting me use your electricity last night. And again, I apologize for overstaying my welcome.”

I set my coffee mug in the sink. “Actually, it works out well that you stayed. Now when I call my mother this weekend and she asks how things are going on the man front, I can tell her I had a man stay over the other night, and I won’t be lying.”

Cole’s eyes did a quick sweep over my body, and he flashed a sexy grin. “You better tell her I was good.”

“Oh, no worries. You were fantastic.”

He nodded with a smile. “Thank you. I aim to please.”

For some reason—the same way I’d known he would take his coffee black—I was certain Cole was indeed a man who would aim to please in bed. As I walked him to the door, I stole a glance at his firm ass. His jeans hugged him nicely, and I imagined his naked derrière matched his muscular abs.

He turned around unexpectedly, and my eyes jumped to meet his.

“Well, if you can’t find a generator for some reason,” I said, “you’re welcome to come back and work here again tonight or charge your laptop or whatever you need.” I wrote down my phone number on a piece of paper. “Just text me first so I know you’re coming over.”

Cole smiled as he took the number. “Thanks, Josie. Have a good day.”

“You, too.”

After work, I stopped and ran some errands. So when I pulled into my driveway, it was already starting to get dark. I took two bags of groceries out of the trunk of my car and looked over at my neighbor’s house. There weren’t any lights on, but there was a ladder set up out front. And were those Christmas lights strung over the windows? Why yes, yes, they were. My sexy scrooge neighbor was hanging holiday decorations?

I set the bags in my arms back down in the trunk and strolled across the street. Cole walked out his front door just as I reached the top of his driveway.

“Scrooge hung up Christmas lights?” I asked. “Am I seeing things?”

He smiled. “I figured it was the least I could do since you let me borrow your generator and crash on your couch. I thought you might like the entire block lit up better than a bottle of wine or something to say thank you.”

“I do! I love that you did all that for me.”

“Good.” Cole held up one finger. “Hang on a sec.” He disappeared into his house and came back out carrying a brown paper bag. Extending it to me, he said, “I also bought you wine, in case the lights weren’t enough.”

I felt warmth in my belly, even though it was cold outside. “Thank you. That was very thoughtful.”

“No problem. But confession…I might also have bought it because I need to butter you up. The store was sold out of generators. My laptop is almost out of juice again. If you don’t mind, it would be great if I could plug in and charge it later.”

“Oh, sure. No problem.” I nodded toward the house. “Do you like tortellini alfredo? That’s what I’m making for dinner. We could share this bottle and eat while your laptop charges. Think of how excited my mom will be if I tell her a man slept over and he came for dinner the very next night?”

Cole smiled. “Well, when you put it like that… I wouldn’t want to disappoint Mom.”

“Great. I’ll let you finish putting up your beautiful lights, and I’ll get started cooking. Come over around seven?”

“I’ll be there.”

I had ninety minutes before Cole would arrive. After putting all of my groceries away, I was just about to start preparing dinner when the lights in my dining room suddenly turned on. Then I heard random beeping throughout the house—the sound of various electronics coming back to life.

Oh my God! The power is back!

As lucky as I was to have the generator, there was nothing like fully functioning power. Relief washed over me. I’d been truly worried they’d never get things fixed, and that Christmas—which was only a week away—was going to be ruined.

Within minutes, my phone rang. It was Cole.

I picked up. “Hey! Did you get your power back?”

“Yup. Wasn’t expecting that—way sooner than they estimated. Christmas came early, I guess.”

I exhaled. “What a relief. I was just about to start dinner when the lights came on.”

There was a pause. Then he said, “You haven’t started cooking yet?”

“No.”

“Good. Because I, uh, probably won’t be coming by. I appreciate the offer, but I should go to the store instead—reload my fridge, take care of some things around here now that the power is back.”

Disappointment filled me. “Oh…okay. Are you sure you don’t just want to eat and run? I’m cooking anyway.”

There was a moment of silence. Then he said, “I probably shouldn’t.”

I felt a little sad—and stupid. I thought Cole and I had hit it off pretty well. Maybe it was delusional to think there was something there. He apparently didn’t want to hang out with me. He’d just been using me for electricity.

“Okay, well, I hope you get a lot done,” I said in a short tone.

“Thank you. And thanks again for being so awesome through all this.”

Before I hung up, I felt compelled to ask him a question. “Cole?”

“Yeah?”

“I know Christmas isn’t your favorite holiday, so I was wondering… Which Christmas song is your least favorite?”

“Least favorite?”

“Yes. Least.”

“Hmm…” He laughed. “Probably ‘All I Want For Christmas is You.’ It’s overplayed.”

“Ah. I actually love that one. But okay. Fair answer based on the overplayed part.”

“Why did you want to know my least favorite and not my favorite?”

“I found that to be the more interesting question.”

“I do have a favorite,” he said. “Wanna know what it is?”

“What?”

“It’s ‘Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.’”

I rolled my eyes. “Why does that not surprise me?”