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At this declaration, Cole had to laugh. “That’s all it takes? A solid-to-excellent brush-off?”
“Not all.” She set her glass on one of the tiny tables ringing the room. Then she flung her arms around Ryan’s neck and planted her mouth on his.
The stuntman rocked back on his heels, but then he got with the program and set about kissing Tasha back. Really, really kissing Tasha back.
Cole locked eyes with Maggie. Her smile was wry ... and maybe a little bit jealous.
If that’s what she wanted, he’d be more than happy to oblige.
But before he could raise his brows in a question, Tasha broke from the kiss and asked Ryan, “Do you want to get out of here?”
“Hell yes.”
Taking Ryan’s hand, Tasha gave Cole a brief glance. “Make my apologies to Zoya.”
“Will do.”
For Cole’s ears only, Ryan said, “I’ll take care of her.”
“I know you will.”
After tonight, Cole hoped that the job would belong permanently to Ryan. Cole would always be there for Tasha, but he’d happily take the demotion if it meant she finally had a partner who was worthy of her.
They left, and Maggie turned to take in the rest of the party. Conversations were getting started again, but everyone was still agog, staring at the space where Tasha, Vincent, and Beth had been a few minutes before. It was going to beextremelyhard to keep a lid on this. Libby was going to have to get her story finished soon if she wanted to break the news about Vincent.
And the cat had not just escaped the bag on the Tasha-and-Ryan stuff—it had vaporized the bag for good measure. Everyone on earth was going to know they were together by tomorrow. But he suspected Tasha had been aware of that when she’d kissed Ryan. No one was more aware of being watched at all times than Tasha.
“I honestly can’t believe that happened,” Maggie said. “I can’t believe Vincent had the nerve to show up here. And with her own mother? Horrific.”
Since Cole had previously met both Vincent Minna and Beth Russell, he was less surprised. “Beth Russell is one of the most selfish human beings on earth. And Vincent Minna? He might not even be human.” But Cole didn’t want to talk about them, not right now. “I’m going to check with Zoya, make sure she has everything under control, and then I’m going to head out.”
He probably ought to chat with some more folks and distribute more thanks, but after that scene, any possibility of having a normal night had vanished. All anyone was going to want to talk about was Tasha, and Cole had no intention of gossiping about his best friend.
The only conversation he wanted to have was with Maggie.
She looked wistful. “Sure. Of course. It’s been a long four months.”
“Ride back with me.”
Okay, so he hadn’t been as direct as Tasha with Ryan. He hadn’t kissed Maggie, but that was mostly because when he finally got his hands and his mouth on her, he wasn’t going to take them off for a long,long time. And while Tasha might be ready to take things with Ryan public, he doubted Maggie was.
Maggie watched him, weighing what he was offering. They both knew it wouldn’t be just a car ride if she said yes.
After what felt like an eternity, she whispered, “Sure.”
At that, Cole could breathe again. “Give me two minutes.”
Cole touched base with Zoya and Esme, and once he was certain they were good, he headed to a side door. He locked eyes with Maggie and tipped his head. Maggie had said she couldn’t get involved with someone she was working with. He didn’t want to cross that boundary by leading her out of the party by the hand. Not until she was ready for that.
Maggie met him in the dark, quiet hallway a minute later.
“I texted Phil. He’ll meet us out back.”
They didn’t talk while they waited in the alley. What kind of small talk could they have made? The words they needed to say to each other, they weren’t light.
When the town car arrived, Cole opened the door for Maggie, and inside, he pushed the button to put up the divider between Phil and them. With the tinting on the windows, it felt as if they were in their own private bubble.
Maggie looked at him quizzically. “Another secret?”
