Cole's Christmas Wish (3 page)

Rachel stared into the eyes she knew so well. Eyes she’d seen
filled with almost every emotion in the book. And now, she saw something intense
and passionate lurking in the depths, along with a desperation that made
her
heart ache. In other words, she saw love.

Every instinct she had wanted to deny what she saw, but she
couldn’t. “I think I have to meet the woman who finally captured Cole Foster’s
heart,” Rachel whispered in shock. “I never thought...never...” She blinked.
“Well, isn’t this terrific? I’m so happy for you.”

Leaning in closer, Cole plopped a friendly—
brotherly
—kiss on her cheek before easing away again. “You’re with
Andrew and think he might be the one. I’ve fallen in love with someone I
know
is the one. I have a hunch,” he said with a wink,
“that this Christmas will be
very
memorable.”

“Right. Memorable.” That was one description.

“You look a little pale, Rach. Are you feeling okay?”

“Oh, yes! I’m just...tired.” She gulped another large mouthful
of coffee. “You know how traveling is.”

“I do.”

She tried to think of something, anything, to say to fill the
gap, but couldn’t. Cole was in love. That was fine! Of course it was. She had
Andrew, for crying out loud. “Um. Andrew should be back any minute,” she
mumbled. “That was probably a business call.”

“Business on vacation, huh? He must be dedicated.”

“He is. He... I know he wasn’t on his best behavior at first,”
she said, suddenly finding it very important to build up Andrew. For her sake or
for Cole’s, she didn’t know. Even so. “But he really is a great guy.”

“I’m sure he is,” Cole agreed.

“Just...give him a chance before deciding you don’t like him.
That’s all I ask.”

“I can do that. He took me off guard with that Kyle crap, but
it’s obvious he cares a lot about you. The fact he does, and makes no bones
about it, goes a long way for me.”

“So...are you saying you approve?”

“You don’t need my approval, Rach,” Cole said quietly. “You
know that, right?”

Rachel shook her head, still trying to clear cobwebs. “Yeah. Of
course I do.”

Cole beamed a smile. “Just like I don’t need yours.”

“Right. No approval necessary.” She sucked in a breath, taking
the air in so deep it almost hurt. “But I’d like to meet your...girlfriend. I
mean, if she’s going to be a part of your life...”

“I’d like that, too. Unfortunately, Cupcake—that’s what I call
her—is a little shy. Might take some time, convincing her to agree to an
introduction.” Pausing, Cole closed his eyes as if thinking something through.
“Maybe if it were just you at that first meeting, that would be okay.
Less...intimidating than introducing her to you and Andrew at the same
time.”

“Sure,” she said without thought. Cupcake? He called her
Cupcake?
Cole didn’t do terms of endearment. Or he
never had before. “Andrew can stay at the house.”

“He won’t mind?” The concerned pretense from earlier returned.
“Gee, I don’t know about that. I’d hate to cause problems while you’re trying
to...repair your relationship.”

“We’re fine, we’re not—” Screw it. Let him think what he
wanted. Besides, he wasn’t wholly off base, even if Andrew hadn’t yet arrived at
that realization. “That isn’t an issue.”

“I’d also hate to upset him by taking up too much of your
time,” Cole said in complete and utter sincerity. “From what I gathered, Andrew
appears to have a jealous nature.”

“Now that Andrew is aware you’re in love with another woman,”
Rachel said, nearly choking on the admittance, on the reality of the situation,
“I expect the jealousy to fade.”

Cole hesitated, as if mulling over the idea. Finally, he
nodded. “Well, then, I’ll set something up. Just try to keep your schedule open.
Convincing my Cupcake to step out of her shell won’t be all that easy. And while
she isn’t impatient, exactly, once she makes her mind up about something, she
can be rather determined.”

“What is she? Shy or bossy?” Rachel said the words that popped
into her head, even though she probably shouldn’t have. “Because by your
definition, she’s both, and honestly, I haven’t met very many people who fall
into both categories.”

“Let’s call her...complicated. That’s a good word to describe
this particular woman.”

“Complicated?” She snapped her mouth shut and silently counted
to ten. Cole jumping through hoops to please some shy, determined,
complicated
woman didn’t sound encouraging. It was
annoying. And the image, the very thought of it, rubbed Rachel in all the wrong
ways. “I already don’t like this woman,” she muttered.

“What’s that? I couldn’t quite hear you.”

Gripping her coffee cup so hard that her knuckles ached, Rachel
forced her mouth to move into a smile. “I said that I can’t wait to meet this
woman.”

“I knew you’d be excited for me.” Cole reached over to tug a
lock of Rachel’s hair, just as she’d seen him do a thousand times to his sister,
Haley. “Thank you for being such a wonderful friend.”

“Forever friends,” she said, using their childhood phrase. As
the words left her lips, the last bit of hope—hope she hadn’t known still
existed until that second—fizzled out.

Suddenly, she sort of wished she’d chosen Hawaii.

* * *

An hour later, Cole watched Andrew and Rachel leave the
coffee shop, unsure of what, exactly, had propelled him to create a pretend
girlfriend. The touching had irritated him, though he didn’t have the right to
be irritated. Andrew’s posturing had, surprisingly, been more amusing than
infuriating. Well, except for the comment about Cole’s career.

Even so, he hadn’t reacted to the push—Rachel had done that for
him—and Andrew’s apology had seemed sincere. At that point, the tension
emanating from Andrew had lessened, and Cole saw a glimmer of the real man
Rachel had brought with her to Steamboat Springs. And damn if he didn’t begin to
like him...just a little.

Cole certainly had no intention of making up a woman—a special
woman, no less—when Andrew had then asked about his relationship status. But
Rachel stepped in, answered in the negative, and that—yep, that was what had
done it—had compelled Cole to lie. She’d been so sure, so damn positive in her
response, that Cole had wanted to shake her up and prove that she didn’t know
every microscopic detail about him or his life.

The maneuver had worked, too. If Cole was a betting man, he’d
have wagered cold, hard cash that she’d turned green with envy over his
declaration.

If she was in love with another man, why would she care if Cole
was seeing someone? She wouldn’t. Or, he corrected, she
shouldn’t
. By the way her skin had paled a good two shades and her
stunned expression, not to mention the wobbly state of her voice, Cole had to
believe she did, indeed, care. He couldn’t deny his satisfaction over that.

But he’d lied, and that bothered him. So now he had to decide
what to do about the fabrication. Confess the truth or keep the pretense in
play? Hell. Lying didn’t sit well with him, but Rachel’s reaction, especially
her whispered statement, “I already don’t like this woman,” egged him on,
teasing him with the possibilities of what both could mean.

Cole stood, waved goodbye to Lola and headed out into the
December night, thinking through those possibilities. What he’d said wasn’t a
complete untruth: there
was
a special woman in his
life. A woman he loved, a woman he saw himself quite capable of spending the
rest of his days with, having children with, growing old with and every last
thing that entailed.

Rachel, of course.

A plan, crystal clear in its clarity, formed in Cole’s mind. He
could use his real feelings for Rachel, along with what she believed to be true,
and enlist her help in wooing “the woman of his dreams.” If Rachel was jealous,
if she did hold more than friendship for him in her heart, wouldn’t that be
enough to propel her to act? Maybe.

Or it could backfire. Send her scurrying even deeper into
Andrew’s arms, into a future with him, and—like she’d done before—away from
Cole. But hell, what did he have to lose?

If he did nothing, he’d gain nothing.

The snow still fell as he walked toward the sports store, where
his truck was parked on the street out front, and a magical—dare he say,
Christmassy
—feeling wove in and wiped out his inner
Grinch. He had to try. Had to see if he could resurrect the flame between
them.

And if he couldn’t? If Rachel loved Andrew, if
he
made her happy, then nothing Cole did would change
that. But maybe, if luck was with him, the process would allow him to put the
past to rest. So he could move on and get Rachel out of his head.

Once and for all.

Chapter Three

R
achel finished loading the dishwasher with
the breakfast dishes and faced Andrew, who had just returned to the kitchen
after taking a phone call. “What do you want to do today? The snow’s falling a
little too thick for skiing, but we could walk around the town, take in the
sights, look for a tree...do some Christmas shopping. Whatever you want.”

“I’m sorry, Rachel, but that was the office,” Andrew said,
gesturing toward his cell. “There are some issues with a potential client that
will likely require my attention.”

“Oh.” Rachel fought off her disappointment. Andrew owned a
management consulting firm, and she was already well-versed in the
putting-plans-on-hold department. He was busy, traveled extensively and rarely
made it through a meal, let alone an entire day, without an interruption. “Well,
you warned me this would be a working vacation. Is it serious?”

“Maybe. Too soon to tell yet, but we should probably—”

“Stay in today,” Rachel finished his sentence for him. “That’s
fine! We can dig out the Christmas decorations, so they’re ready to go when we
find a tree, watch some old movies, play a board game.” An idea occurred to her.
A nice, homey, tradition-filled idea. “Hey! Feel like baking some sugar
cutouts?”

“You’re amazing, do you know that?” Approaching her, Andrew
dropped his phone on the counter and pulled her into a hug. “You’ve never given
me grief over my job, over the demands placed on our relationship because of it.
I appreciate that in you, Rachel.”

“I’m glad you’ve noticed,” she joked, standing up on her
tiptoes to brush her lips over his cheek. “Because sometimes, your job is a pain
in the butt.”

“I know it seems that way, especially since your schedule is
typically so clear,” he said, referring to Rachel’s careerless life. “But the
company is in a crucial period right now. We’re growing fast, which is good, but
I have to ascertain we’re able to sustain the growth, see to our existing client
base, bring new clients on board, all while expanding and training staff.”

His comment burned, a little, even though she knew he hadn’t
meant any harm. She kept herself busy enough with her parents’ social events,
where her attendance was deemed mandatory, charitable causes and their
functions—of which, there were plenty, and the odd class here and there, when
something pulled at her interest.

But Andrew was right. Her schedule was infinitely clearer than
his.

“I understand all of that, Andrew, which is why I don’t give
you grief.” She appreciated his appreciation, but she’d enjoy his undivided
attention a bit more. Especially now, on their first full day in Steamboat
Springs. “So...what will it be? Cookies, decorations, games or a movie?”

“Cookies sound—” Andrew jerked to grab his phone, but it wasn’t
his cell buzzing. It was Rachel’s “—delicious. Go ahead and get that. I’ll
search the cupboards for ingredients.”

Nodding, Rachel answered without looking at the display.

“Hey there, Rach. How’s your morning treating you?” Cole asked,
jovial as all get-out.

The sound of his voice—the rich, deep ring of it—sank in like
butter melting on a hot, fresh-off-the-griddle pancake. That, along with his
upbeat mood, caused her attitude to dip another degree. Still, she kept her tone
chipper when she said, “Wonderful. How’s yours?”

“Good. Real good, in fact.” Someone said something on his end
that she couldn’t quite catch, but she heard enough to know the speaker was
female. Was it her? The complicated, shy-yet-determined Cupcake? “Haley says
hi,” Cole said. “And wants to know if you have any clothes you’re angling to
give away.”

Haley
. Cole’s sister, not his
girlfriend.

Rachel laughed, in relief and in humor. Last year, when Haley
had stopped by for a visit, she’d raided Rachel’s closet, oohing and ahing at
the designer labels. She’d been so excited, Rachel had given her a boxful of
outfits: dresses, shirts, pants and a couple of jackets.

Rachel didn’t need them. Her mother shopped to show her
love...and she shopped a lot. Which, Rachel supposed, said something. “Tell
Haley to stop by whenever,” she said. “My closet is her closet.”

Cole relayed the information. Haley squealed and jabbered
something else. Rachel smiled even broader. She adored Cole’s family. For a long
while, when she was younger, she’d pretend they were her family.
Her
parents, her brothers, her sister.

Well, except for Cole. She’d never thought of him as her
brother.

“Believe it or not, the reason for my call has nothing to do
with my sister’s fetish for clothes,” Cole said, returning his attention to
Rachel. “If you’re available—and I’ll understand if you’re not, seeing this is
last minute—I thought we could meet up for lunch.”

“Lunch? Today?” Andrew, she saw, had found the flour and sugar.
She pointed toward the cupboard that held the mixing bowls. “As in, you and I?
Or will your significant other be joining us?” No way, no how would she resort
to calling a stranger “Cupcake.”

“I believe she will be present, yes.”

“Really? That fast? I thought you said it would take some time
to convince her to meet me. Since she’s so shy and all. Or did I misunderstand
you?”

“What can I say? Women are a mystery. Just when I think I have
one figured out, they veer off course and I have to start from scratch.”
Exhaling a short, noisy sigh, Cole continued, “I gotta say, Rachel, you females
are a confusing lot. Say one thing when you mean another. Speak in code half the
damn time, and usually, we poor men are left in the dark.”

“Uh-huh. You ‘poor men’ rule the world, rarely call a girl when
you say you’re going to, and usually, leave us poor women wondering what we did
wrong to elicit such behavior...and scrambling to figure out what we can do to
fix it.”

“Sweetheart,” Cole said in that drawling way of his, “the
perception might be that men rule the world, but the facts are that women rule
the men. Your team has the upper hand in every negotiation with my team. Ask
Andrew if you don’t believe me.”

“I’ll do that.” Huh. If that were the case, then why did Rachel
forever feel as if she were on the losing team? “Later. But only if you ask your
sister.”

“Deal. I’ll be interested in hearing his take,” Cole said with
a chuckle. “About lunch?”

“Well...” Rachel stalled, unsure if
she
was prepared to meet Cole’s Cupcake just yet. “Andrew and I are
baking cookies and we might...um...bake a lot. So not really sure if today—”

“Go, Rachel,” Andrew said, pausing his search of her cupboards.
“I’ll probably be tied up soon enough with work, anyway. I’m sure we can get at
least one batch of cookies baked first.”

“One sec,” she said to Cole. Then, covering the phone with her
hand, said to Andrew, “Are you sure? I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.”

“Lunch with Cole
and
his
girlfriend, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’m sure.” He opened a drawer and discovered the
measuring spoons. “You can get out of the house for a bit and I can focus on my
job without feeling guilty. Seems like a win-win situation. On all
accounts.”

“Right. Win-win.” Discouraged and, not that she’d admit it,
somewhat annoyed, Rachel nodded and put the phone next to her ear. “Lunch is
fine, Cole. When and where? Foster’s?” she asked, referring to the family-owned
restaurant and pub. Where else would they go?

“No,” Cole said after the briefest of pauses. “Let’s go to
Dee’s Deli. Say one o’clock?”

“Um. Sure. I’ll see you then.” Hanging up, Rachel smiled
absently at Andrew, who was now organizing the items he’d placed on the counter.
It was cute. And...homey. “All set.”

“Good. Are you excited to meet Cole’s better half?”

“I’m more interested than excited. As far as her being his
better half? I’d say that remains to be seen.” Her irrational irritation at the
whole mess broke free with, “He calls her Cupcake. Cupcake! Isn’t that
ridiculous? She isn’t a toy poodle, for crying out loud.”

“Perhaps she resembles a toy poodle, hence the nickname?”

“What?” Rachel tried to picture that possibility and came up
blank. “You mean if she’s petite and has curly hair? Or...I don’t know, Andrew.
How can a woman resemble a poodle?”

“I was joking, Rachel.” Andrew looked at her curiously, the
concern in his gray eyes evident. “It’s a term of endearment. Why are you upset?
Does it matter what he calls her?”

“I’m not upset...I’m—” She stopped, sighed. “No, it doesn’t
matter in the slightest. I guess I’m used to these visits going a certain way,
and this time, everything is different.”

“I see.” Andrew crossed the distance between them and kissed
her on her forehead. “Forget about Cole and his Cupcake. We have cookies to
bake,” he said with a grin. “I haven’t made Christmas cutouts since I was a
child. Maybe this is the start of a tradition for us.”

“That’s a sweet thought...and a nice one.”

“I like it, too. I’m sorry about work butting in today,” he
said, his voice and his expression earnest. “And for my attitude with Cole last
night at the Beanery. Forgive me?”

“Of course,” she murmured. “Nothing to forgive.”

Pivoting, unable to handle his scrutiny or his sweetness, she
located the cookie cutters and dumped them on the counter before grabbing the
cookbook. “Let’s make a tradition.”

Andrew’s gaze still held concern, but he didn’t push the topic.
Just nodded and joined her at the counter. Rachel tried—oh, how she tried—to
stay in the present, to enjoy this time with Andrew, but her mind kept traveling
down other paths.

Yes, darn it, what Cole called his girlfriend mattered. Why
hadn’t he mentioned her real name? And really, using only a term of endearment
when talking
about
someone else was odd. Also, and
even more telling, Rachel mused as she measured flour into the mixing bowl, was
that he’d suggested Dee’s over the family restaurant.

Maybe Cole’s family didn’t approve of the relationship? Oh,
wow. That would mean...

Anxiety pooled in Rachel’s stomach and pinpoints of pain jabbed
at her temples. If so...then yes, Cole truly loved this woman. His family and
their opinions were too important, too valuable to him to remain involved with a
woman he didn’t have real feelings for.

“Darling?” Andrew’s amused tenor broke into Rachel’s thoughts.
“I think you went a tad overboard on the flour. We’re not opening up a bakery,
are we?”

Rachel stared into the mixing bowl, now almost
filled-to-the-brim with flour. About, she guessed, four times the amount
necessary.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, not sure if she meant her mistake
or the fact she’d been thinking about another man when she should be focused on
Andrew. On finding her own slice of happiness. “I...don’t know what
happened.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Andrew started scooping flour back
into the storage container. “See? Easy enough problem to fix.”

Right. Easy as pie. Too bad she couldn’t say the same about
cupcakes.

Well...one particular cupcake. Rachel sighed and attempted to
push what didn’t concern her out of her mind. Her goal should be to surround
herself with the present, with Andrew. If she were very fortunate, perhaps she’d
soon be taking a leap of her own.

Into Andrew’s arms.

* * *

Cole stood outside of Dee’s Deli with a to-go box in his
hands, waiting for Rachel to arrive. It might be a little—or by some folks’
perspectives, a lot—cold for a picnic, but he’d heard Rachel’s surprise at the
fact he’d chosen Dee’s over Foster’s for lunch.

He couldn’t take her there until he’d had a chance to talk to
his family. His convoluted plan would go up in flames the second Rachel asked
any one of them about his girlfriend. In the light of day, he wasn’t so sure he
could pull this off anyway, but he knew he couldn’t if his family refused to get
on board. Tonight, Cole decided, he’d see what they had to say.

Until then, he figured a winter picnic would suffice well
enough as an explanation for that particular decision. Explaining why his
Cupcake was absent from the picnic was another story, but he thought he could
deal with that little issue on the fly. Hoped so, anyway.

Thankfully, the snow had lightened considerably in the past
hour, and Haley had readily agreed to watch over the store solo for the
afternoon. Mostly because he’d asked her to do so last year during Rachel’s
visit, so in her mind, this wasn’t any different.

For the next five minutes, Cole went over his plan and the
words he intended to use. A tight rope, for sure, portraying a man in love with
a made-up woman to the real woman he was actually in love with. There were holes
in his plan. Big, gaping holes that he hadn’t quite worked out how to fill. If
he played his part too strong, Rachel—assuming she still had feelings for
him—might keep those feelings to herself, in the name of his happiness.

Conversely, if Cole didn’t play the part with enough realism,
she—again, assuming she even had those feelings—might not be propelled to unbury
them, or, hell, to even recognize they existed. Cole’s goal, therefore, was to
strive for a balance.

Of course, determining where the line was between “too far” and
“not enough” could prove problematic. He’d have to play it by ear, be ready to
make adjustments at a second’s notice and hope he achieved the right balance at
the right time.

He’d given some thought to just telling Rachel what his
feelings were, which had been his original plan before he’d learned about
Andrew. Now, after going down that road for all of thirty seconds, Cole had
dismissed it outright. The humiliating truth of the matter was that he didn’t
think he could take being shot down while another man was in the picture.

This way, at the very least, he retained some control. Some
dignity. If Rachel didn’t bite, he’d have his answer soon enough without handing
her his heart to decimate. Later, after she’d returned to New York, he’d simply
tell her his relationship with Cupcake had come to an end.