Cole rests his forehead against mine. “I have a meeting with my dad. I already put him off when I couldn’t get a hold of you.”
“I understand. Are you going to tell me what is going on?”
“Kate, I need you to trust me for now. How about if Luke takes you to get your phone and after I’ll have him bring you up to the offices and we can go grab a late dinner.”
“Cole, I do trust you. You need to learn to trust me, too.”
He sighs, “I do, you’re right. “It was probably your cousin, being mean. Luke’s going to see if he can trace the sale to make sure.”
“Or I could call and ask her.”
“Would she tell you the truth?”
“Probably, so she could gloat.”
“I’ll have Luke look into it, but you call Jill and ask her. I’ll call Luke and he can meet us downstairs.”
“No, it’s fine. I need to go back up.” I glance down at my feet. “No shoes.”
Cole presses the emergency button again, and the elevator continues its descent. “Cole?”
“What is it, baby?”
“I don’t have any money left in my checking account. I don’t know how I’m going to pay for a new phone.”
Cole holds me at arm’s length. “Kate, I don’t want to argue about this, so if you’re upset by what I’m about to say, can we hold off on this fight for another time?” I nod. “Use the credit cards I gave you. Tomorrow I’ll have money transferred into your account so you can pay your bills. Then, when we have time, we will sit down with my accountant and make arrangements for everything.”
I open my mouth automatically to protest. Those are my bills and my responsibility, but Cole silences my protest with a kiss.
“Fine,” I pout, “another time.” It’s a good thing I’m still feeling languid from our tryst, or I might not let this argument go.
The elevator doors swing open to the lobby. Cole moves to the keypad on the wall next to the floor numbers and punches in a code. The doors close and we start our ascent.
“Why don’t I ever have to type in the code?”
“The girls at the desk do it for you. Normally, they do it for me as well.”
When the doors open to the villa, Cole entwines our hands, pulling me out of the elevator.
I sense several pairs of eyes on me and can’t help the embarrassment I feel. For both stomping out of here like I did, and they probably all know what we did in the elevator. I feel heat crawl up my neck and face. I stand behind Cole, wishing I could disappear. Cole turns to me. “Go get your shoes and freshen up. I’ll let Luke know what the plan it.” I shake my head. “Are you okay?”
“I’m so embarrassed.”
“Oh, baby.” He kisses me, then ushers me down the stairs. When I turn towards the bedroom, he swats me playfully on the butt. “Love you, Cookie,” he says, with his ‘Hot Ferrari Guy’ smile. Cole’s going to be the death of me. There’s no middle ground with him.
When I come out of the bedroom, Cole and Luke are the only ones left. “Are you ready?” Cole asks.
“Yep.”
There are SUVs idling in the driveway. Cole walks me up to the first one. “Use the credit card. Got it?”
I roll my eyes. “Got it.”
He wraps me in a hug. “Love you, baby,” and gives my ass a nice squeeze.
“Cole, I love you too.” And I kiss him goodbye. Cole helps me into the back seat and Luke gets in the passenger side.
“Kate, this is Keaton,” Luke says, pointing to the tall, slim man in the driver’s seat.