“Who…” she started. But then her face lit up. “Cole?! Is that you?”
“Good to see you too,” he said.
She pulled him into a big hug. It lasted a bit too long for my liking. Not that I was feeling threatened by her or anything.
Okay, fine. I was feeling very threatened. Because not only were her breasts spilling out of her inappropriately unzipped catsuit, but I was pretty sure she also owned this palace. For a second I thought that she was Cole’s sugar momma, but that wouldn’t really make sense with how excited she was to see him. If he had been her house boy, he would have been locked up in this palace and forced to wear shiny gold hot pants while hand-feeding her grapes. Not that that was what Nigel did with Tanner.
Because Tanner was straight. And even though Nigel did some odd things, I certainly hadn’t imagined him saying he wanted to fuck me. Nigel was as straight as an arrow.I think. It’s possible it was more like…straight as a squash. So like slightly curved. And now I was thinking about penises.Stupid orgasm and perverted brain!
“Who’s this?” she asked when their embrace finally ended.
“This,” began Cole. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side. “This is my girlfriend. Raven. Raven, this is Kat.”
“Pleasure to…”Wait…WHAT?!Did he just say I was his girlfriend?!
“The pleasure is all mine,” said Kat. “If you’ve been able to get Cole to settle down, then you must be truly special.”
“Yup,” was all I could think to say. I was still caught up on the whole girlfriend thing. Was that what he’d been discussing with me while I was asleep in his car? More importantly, if I had agreed to be his girlfriend, had I also agreed to a bunch of other crazy stuff?Damn it!Cole had an easy enough time tricking meinto things when I was awake. I could only imagine what he’d tricked me into while I was asleep!
Kat led us inside. The foyer was about ten times the size of my entire apartment. And it contained exactly twelve more masked partygoers than my entire apartment. Because, you know…my apartment was currently empty. Unless Homeless Rutherford had snuck into my apartment tonight and thrown a masquerade ball.
The music got louder as Kat took us down a huge hallway lined with framed 8-foot-tall photos of cats. The first few were adorable, but then it just got kind of weird. No one needed that many pictures of cats.
The hallway opened up into a grand ballroom, complete with a DJ, a fully stocked bar, and tons of dancing guests.
“What will you be drinking tonight?” asked Kat as we approached the bar.
“Nothing for me,” said Cole. “I’m driving.”
“Nonsense,” said Kat. She ran around behind the bar and then reappeared a second later with two identical room keys. Each was attached to a keychain with a little tag that said 236. She handed us each a key.
Cole pocketed his and I slipped mine into my clutch. Not that I’d be using it. I’d agreed to a date - not a sleepover.
“Well I guess that fixes that,” said Cole. “I’ll drink whatever Raven’s drinking.” He turned to me expectantly.
“Um…” I always hated ordering drinks. People were always so judgy about it. I mean, obviously I wanted something delicious and fruity. This party seemed fancy though, which meant there was likely an easy out. “Do you have a signature drink?”
“Sure do.” Kat tapped the bar to get the bartender’s attention. “Two Slippery Meows, please.”
She got us our drinks and then returned to her hostess duties.
“What’s up with that lady and cats?” I asked the second she was out of earshot.
Cole laughed. “Yeah, she’s always had a thing for them.”
Always?I took a long sip of my Slippery Meow. Other than flakes of 24-carat gold, I couldn’t tell what was in it. But it wasn’t half bad. Kind of bubbly but still smooth. “Is her name really Kat?”
“Katerina.”
“And you guys go way back, huh?”
“We grew up down the street from each other.”
“So she was your childhood sweetheart?”
Cole looked away. “Not quite.”
“You’ve gotta give me more details than that. I mean, as your girlfriend I think I have the right to know.”
