Silent As A Stone: Heart of Stone Series #10

by K. M. Scott

  Clearly relieved, Summer smiled. “Okay. Maybe next time we’ll head up to that boutique in Chelsea. For today, let’s stick to the bridal shop on Thirty-Seventh.”

  We headed toward our destination, but we didn’t get far before I saw Cole walking in our direction. Instantly, my stomach began to do flips. I quickly adjusted my hair so it hung down along the sides of my face and covered the scars on my cheek and neck just before he reached us.

  What was he doing there? In all the times Summer and I had gone out, I’d never seen him.

  He looked as good as he had at my parents’ house the other day, except now he wore jeans and a T-shirt instead of a suit. As handsome as always, he smiled as he approached where we stood on the sidewalk, his eyes lighting up as he spoke.

  “Fancy meeting the future Mrs. Ethan Stone out on this fine day,” he said with a chuckle before bowing in front of Summer.

  “Ethan told you already?” she asked with surprise.

  Smugly, Cole said, “He told me before he even asked you. I knew before anyone else, I’m proud to say. Unless he told you first, Diana. I know how close you two are.”

  Remembering my promise to my brother, I shook my head. “Nope. I’m like everyone else and heard about it after the fact.”

  “Well, no matter when you hear the news, it’s still all good,” he said, his charm evident by the way he practically flirted with Summer.

  She sensed it too because she waved away his effort to be nice and said, “I know you, Cole Knight. What’s with all this today? You’re the same guy who probably told Ethan that getting married would be the death of him or something like that.”

  He pretended to be hurt by her accusation, raising his eyebrows far up into his forehead in shock. “Me? I’d never say that. I knew the minute he started talking about how much he smiled when he was with you that our guy was a goner. It was just a matter of time before he asked you to marry him. In fact, I’m a little surprised he waited this long since he’s been off the market for the past two years.”

  “Why don’t I believe you, Cole?” she asked, grinning as she nudged my arm.

  Shrugging, he simply smiled in that charming way that never failed to make me weak in the knees years ago, and before I knew it, I said, “So no new girlfriend to replace the one from the party?”

  I couldn’t believe of all the things I could have said, those were the words that came out of my mouth! I’d been curious since I watched Rachel walk out of Tressa’s engagement party, leaving Cole to spend his time talking to the likes of me, but it was so out of character for me to actually ask that question that I didn’t know how to act after I said it.

  Looking away to avoid facing him, I heard Cole say, “I’m officially single again, sadly.”

  Sadly? Why would he say that? Unlike Ethan, I had a hard time imagining Cole Knight ever settling down.

  I lowered my head but snuck a look at him and saw he didn’t look like he’d been trying to be sarcastic. Summer seemed surprised by his comment, too, but unlike me, she knew how to handle social situations instead of blurting out what was secretly uppermost in her mind.

  “You’re never anything but single, Cole,” she said. “Women come, but they always go.”

  With a sideways glance, I watched his expression turn to surprise for a moment before he merely shrugged and said, “And with that, I think it’s time for me to go. It’s nice to see you again, Diana. Summer, as always, a pleasure. I think I’ll go work on that best man toast so I can make sure it’s just right for your reception.”

  As he walked away, Summer groaned. “I can’t decide if I like him or hate him, you know that? One minute he’s nice, and then the next he’s issuing that veiled threat about the best man toast, which you know will include every salacious thing your brother has ever done since grade school. I swear if he ruins my wedding, I’m going to kill Cole Knight.”

  “He’ll be fine. I wouldn’t worry.”

  My voice sounded strangely distant as I watched him walk away, and I didn’t notice Summer staring at me until she pushed me on the arm. Caught checking him out, I didn’t know what to say to her look of suspicion.

  “What’s going on here?” she asked, making me nervous and wishing she knew about my past with Cole.

  “Nothing,” I answered, feeling my cheeks heat up with a blush that probably told her everything about what I felt at that moment without my saying a word.

  Summer studied my face for a long moment and wiggled her finger toward my nose. “There’s something going on with you. I’ve never seen you act this way. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you like him. Do you?”

  Unable to keep our secret any longer, I finally told someone how I felt. “I used to. I used to be crazy about him.”

  “Did he know? Let me guess. He knew, and then he made a jackass out of himself. I can see Cole being like that. No wonder he can’t keep a woman.”

  I couldn’t let Summer think that about him, so I shook my head and pleaded his case. “No, it wasn’t like that at all. We actually dated for a few months in senior year in high school. Nobody knew because if anyone found out, my father and Ethan would have killed him. We’d meet secretly at the back of the property at my parents’ house and hang out in the woods. I was crazy about him.”

  My future sister-in-law’s mouth dropped open in shock. She stood staring at me like what I’d said was utterly unbelievable. I understood why she might think that way. To see me now, no one would guess I could attract someone like Cole Knight, but at one time in my life, I hadn’t been such a mess and even a popular high school boy every girl wanted to have for her own was interested in me.

  Finally, she squeaked out, “You and Cole? Really? Was he like he is now back then? Because I have a hard time imagining you were anything like the kind of women he dates now.”

  I thought back to our time together and smiled. “Not really. He was different with me, though. I saw him with other girls all through high school, and it seemed superficial, like everyone knew it wouldn’t last. When he and I were alone, he didn’t seem fake, like all he wanted was to sleep with me. In fact, we never did. He never tried, and I was too shy to even make a move toward anything like that.”

  Her mouth dropped open again, but this time she was able to recover more quickly and she said in amazement, “He never even tried to make a move on you? That’s a side of him I’ve never seen. He’s always been a player in the time I’ve known him.”

  “Nope. Never once. We just spent time together and kissed, but no sex. He definitely wasn’t a virgin by senior year, but I still was, so maybe that’s why he didn’t want to.”

  Summer shook her head as her expression twisted into a grimace. “Trust me. It’s in men’s DNA. They always want virgins, especially the players. It’s like some kind of trophy. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I guess at one time Cole Knight wasn’t a dog with women. At least not with you.”

  “I don’t know. All I can tell you is he was sweet to me.”

  We began to walk, and Summer mumbled to herself about not believing the guy she always thought was a full-fledged player had once been a decent guy. I didn’t know why he hadn’t been interested in sleeping with me, and it didn’t really matter much anyway.

  Then a sudden flash of fear hit me. If Ethan found out, he’d have a conniption. I might have been a grown woman now, but back then I was his virginal sister and if he ever knew that Cole and I had snuck around behind everyone’s backs, he’d do just what he did the last time his best friend even mentioned liking me.

  He’d beat the hell out of him. I couldn’t be to blame for that.

  I stopped and grabbed Summer’s arm by the wrist. “Promise me you won’t tell Ethan about any of this. It was a long time ago, and none of it matters now anyway. I don’t want him to know, so please promise me this will be our secret. You’re the only other person on Earth besides Cole and me that knows we ever spent any time together. I need it to stay that way.”

  We
aring that same sympathetic look she often had when it came to me, she nodded. “Okay. It’s our secret. I won’t tell Ethan or anyone else. But I don’t think he would be that upset, Diana. That was ten years ago. I think he’d be okay with things, but I won’t tell him if you don’t want me to.”

  “Good. It’s our secret. Now let’s go to that bridal shop and find some dresses.”

  Summer seemed fine with keeping what I told her from Ethan, and as much I hated being the reason she kept anything from him, I didn’t want to dredge up the past. There was no reason. Ten years had gone by. Cole Knight was a different person as much as I was. What happened between us all those years ago should stay back there.

  We had no present or future, so why do anything to keep that past alive?

  Chapter Six

  Cole

  My mind practically buzzed with excitement from Diana’s question. Was she really interested in knowing if I had found someone new already?

  She had no idea, of course, that I hadn’t been able to think of anyone but her since we talked at Tressa’s engagement party. I had so many questions I needed answered about her. The problem was I couldn’t ask anyone a single one of them.

  I had a feeling that if we could spend some time together alone, without the specter of her family being nearby, that we would get reacquainted. I wanted that, but how I’d accomplish it was another story.

  For one thing, I didn’t even know where she lived. Also, I didn’t have her number. That put me at a distinct disadvantage, to say the least. All I knew was she lived at the Richmont Midtown, which was why I just happened to be strolling along the sidewalk and happened to run into her and Summer.

  I’d spent over an hour casually walking up and down that block. I was lucky the doorman didn’t get suspicious and call the cops.

  This whole thing felt ridiculous. A grown man practically stalking someone instead of coming right out and asking her for her number. I silently defended my actions as I stopped walking and tried to figure out my next move.

  I’d spied a coffee shop a little ways down the street from the Richmont, so I headed back there to find a seat by the window that would give me a good view, but not too close so anyone could see me. I figured I’d discreetly follow her and Summer back to the hotel and find out what room she was staying in that way.

  While I waited, I’d busy myself with a few phone calls I had to make about the club and kill two birds with one stone. By mid-afternoon, I’d have the information I needed.

  Leaning back in the very uncomfortable wooden seat I’d occupied for the past four hours at the coffee shop, I stretched my legs as I once again looked out the window for any sign of Diana and Summer. Like every other time, I saw dozens of other people walking by but not them.

  Had I missed them? No. There was no chance. I’d sat there for four hours focused on every soul who passed by, and I hadn’t seen either of them.

  I tilted the cup to my lips and downed the last drops of my sixth coffee. If I had to, I could probably levitate myself out the door and up to my Upper East Side apartment I had so much caffeine coursing through me.

  Maybe I should have grabbed something to eat with one of those cups of coffee. In hindsight, that would have been a good idea, but I didn’t want to be away from my seat that gave me such a great vantage point for long.

  So now I sat as a jittery fucker watching for two women in what could be described as stalking. I preferred to label it romantic reconnaissance. Yeah, I liked the way that sounded. At least I didn’t feel like a complete and utter creep when I thought of it that way.

  It wasn’t that I wanted this to be the way I got to meet with Diana again. Hell, I would have preferred doing it the normal way by calling her and going from there. I didn’t have that choice, though, so I had to get creative. Yes, it had the hint of stalker to it, but I’d known her since we were kids, for God’s sake. I dated her for a few months in high school and never even made a single move to have sex with her. If that didn’t prove I was at least in part a decent guy, I didn’t know what did.

  Why didn’t I sleep with her, I wondered as I watched some blond woman hobble past in heels too high for her to be anywhere close to comfortable. I’d been crazy about Diana, and she definitely had something that made me physically attracted to her. So why hadn’t I made a move on her back when we were together?

  My memories of that time struggled to be anything more than hazy, at best. I remembered spending time with her, but my reasons for why I did much of anything in those days escaped me now. Not surprising since that was around the time my father was being hauled off to jail and my brothers and I were hastily transplanted to my grandmother’s house.

  Not that my not sleeping with Diana mattered to my current situation with her. I slept with dozens of girls in high school and never spoke to them after graduation. Sex or the lack of it didn’t mean anything. I didn’t even remember most of them now as I sat twitching in my seat while I moved into my fifth hour of watching for her and Summer.

  But I never forgot how Diana made me feel when we were together. I had a sneaking suspicion that I’d secretly been chasing that feeling ever since with every woman I dated in the past decade. It had been a wholly unsuccessful effort, sadly. Not a single one of them had ever given me what she did.

  I didn’t know how to describe it, but as I sat there pondering what exactly it would be called, I had to say the closest I could come was peace. Diana was sweet and caring, but even more, in my world that had been turned upside down by my family’s nightmares, she offered me a peacefulness I found nowhere else at that time of my life.

  Of course, since I was a teenage boy, I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have. That goes without saying. Teenage boys weren’t very thoughtful in any respect, for the most part. Like most, I was all testosterone packaged in a growing body with a mind that didn’t know how to handle either very well.

  As I thought about those days, I finally spied my first sighting of Diana and Summer coming down the sidewalk. My mind racing—mostly from the coffee—I wondered what the hell they’d been doing for the past five hours. No one walked around Manhattan for that long. Not even those fitness freaks who seemed to be always running or walking somewhere. How the hell did those people live like that? Always rushing around to stay fit? Buy a goddamned treadmill, people.

  We aren’t fucking animals. How much do those running shoes cost? They’ve got to go at least five hundred bucks.

  Focus, for fuck’s sake, Cole! You just spent hours sitting here waiting for exactly this. Focus!

  I shook my head to clear it of the caffeine induced rambling that had started to take over my brain and shrank down in my chair as they passed directly in front of the coffee shop where I sat. The two of them were smiling, and then Diana laughed and threw her head back like she always did when her giggles grew into something more. She used to do that when I told her stories about what we did on long trips on the bus when I was a baseball player.

  When they had walked ahead far enough to not notice me leave the café, I hurried out to follow them, concealing myself behind a big guy wearing a cowboy hat. He walked like he’d just gotten off a horse and feared kicking his calves with nonexistent spurs on the back of his boots. I probably should have chosen someone less obvious since he stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of Manhattan, but I had to think fast and nobody around him looked big enough to hide behind.

  Looking around Tex in the City, I saw Summer and Diana walk into the Richmont. I made a dash to catch up with them, hoping that I could just see the room number so I could take it from there. Not that I had the faintest idea what I planned to do once I had it, but without knowing that basic information, the future of my talking to Diana consisted of me spending hours at that coffee shop drinking gallons of coffee and hoping on the off chance that she passed by that I could happen to run into her.

  Not exactly the best plan for getting to know her again.

  The doorman at the Rich
mont held the door for me as I stopped sprinting and attempted to casually enter the hotel. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I saw him look at me side eye with more than a hint of suspicion.

  No matter. I had more important things to focus on at the moment. Hurrying through the lobby, I saw the back of Summer’s head just as she turned the corner near the elevators. I needed to keep my distance so they didn’t notice me, but if I didn’t know where they were going, all of this would be for nothing, so I raced to catch up to them.

  But I was too late. By the time I entered the hallway, neither of them were there.

  Quickly, I looked at the hotel room doors. It had to be one of these since they didn’t have enough time to walk the full length of the hallway past twenty or so doors. But which one?

  Fuck. I’d spent the last five hours wasting my time and had nothing to show for it except the caffeine shakes from way too much coffee.

  You’re better than this, man. Seriously. Better than this.

  My mind raced to figure out what to do next. Ask the desk clerk? Unlikely she’d just give up the room number of one of the owner’s kids. Pretend to be a delivery man? They probably would just take the package and handle it themselves instead of giving out a guest’s room number.

  True, but I could follow the clerk to the room and then I’d know where Diana lived.

  Pleased with myself that I’d been clever enough to think of that, I headed back toward the lobby to go buy something to give to her. She always liked elephants, didn’t she? I vaguely remembered her having a necklace with a little elephant charm on it. I could get her a gift that had to do with elephants.

  Even more pleased with that idea, I strode into the lobby and nearly ran headlong into none other than Tristan Stone himself. Christ, did the entire Stone clan hang out in this place? Next thing I knew, I’d be seeing Ethan, his sister, or his mother.

  Scrambling behind a large black marble pillar, I watched as the owner of the Richmont walked in the direction of the hallway where I suspected Diana’s room was. For a split second, I considered following him to see where he went, but then my common sense kicked in and I cancelled that idea immediately. The last thing I needed was to have Ethan’s father see me and ask what I was doing loitering in his hotel since there was no way I could lie and claim to be a guest there as that could be easily proven to be a lie. Never a huge fan of mine, Tristan Stone would likely be suspicious.