CHAPTER 1 - SOLE

The last few years have brought a lot of firsts for me. First time looking into a camera and saying a line. First time kissing a man I hated. First time falling in love with a man I hated. First time leaving my hometown. First time at Cannes. First time house-hunting. First time . . . well. If I list them all here you’ll fall asleep from the boredom. I’ll skip to today. First time I kill my husband. 

Easy there. I can feel you getting all stiff in your seat. You don’t need to point out that I’m married to the Sexiest Man in America, according to People Magazine. Or that my husband and I are “just made for each other” according to Mama. Or that the man takes my breath away by just smiling at me and makes my skin heat with need by frowning. I know all of that. But the man . . . oh, I want to kill him right now. 

“Cole Masten, you’ve got three minutes to get that damn bird out of our pool!” I stand on the pool deck, the pavers warm beneath my bare feet, and yell loud enough that a gardener pokes his head up and over a bush. 

Cole ignores me, pushing out of the water and perching on the edge of the pool, watching proudly as Cocky swims in a half circle. Swims. I lived in the country over two decades, and I have never seen a chicken swim, not once my entire life. The first time Cole put him in the pool, I bolted out of my chair and was across half the yard, diving in fully clothed only to find out the damn bird paddled around like a duck. 

“Cole.” I growl his name and he lifts his head, resting his palms on the edge of the pool and squinting up at me. Shirtless and squinting. I feel my heartbeat increase despite myself. 

“Summer,” he counters.

“You got fifteen kids who are gonna be here before we know it, and I’m not having them swimming around in chicken poo water.” 

“Fifteen? Who invites fifteen kids to a three-year-old’s party?”

“Get. Him. Out.”

“Shh . . .” he gently lifts Cocky out of the water and holds him to his chest. “You’re hurting his feelings.” 

I’m telling you, I am going to kill him. I watch Cocky lift his tail and know, my lips not moving fast enough, what is about to happen. “Cole!” I shout, pointing my hand.... 

***Want more? SOLE is an extended HEA from Hollywood Dirt and is part of the For the First Time Anthology, which releases on the 12th! Preorder now for only 99 cents! 
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