This would only make it worse when their relationship was all over. She knew her recovery time was much shorter when one can alphabetically list the negative qualities of an ex.
Stop assuming the worst, Eva told herself as she went into the bedroom to change. If she couldn’t sleep, then she’d go to the gym. She needed to expend this energy somehow and getting her heart rate up seemed like as good a way as any.
But assuming the worst was something Eva did very well, and as she hit the street, she was wondering how long her relationship with Cole would realistically last. It was obvious from their phone conversation that it wouldn’t end right away. He was fond of her and perhaps a little besotted.
Not as besotted as she, of course. Eva wasn’t the sort to fall for a man at the drop of a hat—she had rebuffed many handsome, urbane men whose eye she’d caught—but Cole had given her more encouragement than most. If the circumstances had been different, she might have been able to resist a little bit longer. If he hadn’t phoned, she might have been able to hold Cole off for a few more weeks, but this early-morning conversation changed everything. When she’d picked up the phone at 3:56 in the morning, she had been smitten and infatuated and keenly interested in getting to know him better. Now her fate was sealed. She did know him better. And everything she knew she loved.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Cole climbed into the car that was waiting for him at Kennedy Airport and told his driver, James, to take him home. He had been away for more than two weeks—a trip to China had been tacked on to his Japanese adventure, since he was so near—and he wanted familiar things around him. The Beijing hotel room had been luxurious, with all the amenities of home but none of the comforts, and he was eager to return to his Tribeca loft. He wanted to sit on his own couch and sleep in his own bed. Traveling was part of his job and he didn’t mind doing it, but it wasn’t something he relished. He preferred traveling for pleasure. Cole Reed Hammond was a man who knew how to relax and have fun, and he always enjoyed taking a break. He just wished he could do it more often.
The black car zipped across the Williamsburg Bridge. Since it was after eleven at night, there was very little traffic on the roads. Cole was reviewing the calls Mrs. Hemingway had fielded that day and noting which ones he’d return when the car stopped at a light at the corner of Delancey and Bowery. James was in the left lane and was about to turn when Cole said, “Make a right.”
James looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Excuse me, sir?”
“Make a right, James, and then a left on Houston.” He rattled off Eva’s address.
The driver nodded and as the light changed, negotiated his way into the right lane. Cole watched, both annoyed and amused with himself. He had known this was exactly what he was going to do from the moment he’d boarded the plane yesterday in Beijing, but he hadn’t been able to admit it to himself. He had pretended the entire time—while the flight attendants served him cocktails, while he was collecting luggage at baggage claim—that he would go home, take a shower, have a glass of wine and then fall asleep in his comfortable bed. He’d planned to call Eva in the morning or perhaps early afternoon and ask her out to dinner. But a part of him had known all along that this plan would never work. He was impatient to see her. Just the thought of her dark green eyes glowing with desire was enough to set his heart racing.
This hadn’t ever happened before. He’d had relationships with women, some of them even quasi-serious, but after a long business trip he had never preferred the comfort of their arms to those of home. In all his years, he hadn’t once been tempted to stray from the routine—go home, unwind, call in the morning or perhaps early afternoon—and he was so excited by the prospect of seeing Eva that he didn’t even wonder at the implications.
She wasn’t expecting him, that he knew. The last time they’d talked—almost three days ago now—he’d hoped to return by the end of the week, but it was only Wednesday and he was back on American soil. He probably should have stayed to tie up a few loose ends, but he had competent people working for him and there was very little they couldn’t handle. And he was eager to get back to the New York office.
James pulled up in front of Eva’s apartment and opened the door for Cole. The driver had never been in this situation before—either they went from the airport to the apartment or from the airport to the office—and he wasn’t quite sure what to do next. “Shall I wait, sir?”
Cole grabbed his briefcase and his carry-on bag. “No, James, take my stuff home and then consider yourself off-duty.”
“Very good, sir.” Still, this didn’t clear up all his confusion. “And what time shall I come by in the morning?”
Cole laughed. “Don’t worry about it, James. I’ll figure something out in the morning. Good night.”
James bowed slightly and got back into the car just as a cab pulled behind the double-parked black vehicle and started honking. Cole watched him drive away before entering the building and pressing the buzzer. He didn’t know if Eva would be home—she should be, since it was already 11:30—and his heart was pounding from anticipation and excitement as he waited for her to respond. He was about to press the button again when he heard her voice.
“Yes?” she said, somewhat suspiciously.
He smiled. It was precisely the tone she used the first time he showed up at her doorstep unannounced. “Eva, it’s me.”
“Cole?” Even though the intercom system was more than thirty years old and the sound was full of static, he could hear the pleasure in her voice.
“Yes.”
She buzzed him in and he climbed the five flights to her apartment quickly, surprised yet again by his eagerness. Taking the stairs two at a time meant he’d see her only five seconds sooner. Surely five seconds wouldn’t make that much of a difference?
But apparently they did, he thought, only partially amused, since he was unable to restrain himself.
Eva was waiting for him on the landing. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing boxers and a T-shirt. “Hi, I thought you wouldn’t be back until—”
She never got to the finish her thought. Before she knew it—indeed, before he knew it—she was being devoured by a jetlagged billionaire playboy who hadn’t even gone home to shower first.
The kiss lasted several minutes and when he released her lips, she tried again to speak. “That was some welc—”
But Cole didn’t want to talk. Not now. Not while the blood was pounding through his veins and he could hardly form a coherent thought beyond how wonderful she felt. They could talk later or tomorrow or, hell, even next week. Right now he had to have her.
Without breaking contact with her lips, he picked her up, carried her over the threshold and slammed the door shut with his foot. He brought her into the bedroom and laid her down on the comforter.
Eva sighed as he pulled off her T-shirt. “I’ve missed you too,” she said, before he smothered her again.
It wasn’t until two hours later that he realized he’d left his briefcase and carry-on in the hallway.
The next morning, at around eight o’clock, Eva looked at a sleeping Cole and wondered if she should wake him. He was obviously exhausted from too many days working around the clock and the long flight home. Their conversation last night had been feverish and garbled and consisted of little more than observations of how good the other felt, but she concluded from his suitcase that he’d come there straight from the airport.
Eva felt her heart flutter, which wasn’t extraordinary: It had been in a constant flutter since the moment she’d heard his voice on the intercom.
There’s nothing to do but admit it, kid. You are in deep. She pressed her lips against his warm back. Definitively deep. Irretrievably deep. Sunken-treasure deep.
Cole stirred from her touch and turned over slowly with a lazy, seductive smile on his face. “Good morning,” he murmured.
Yes, it is, she thought. “Hi.”
He opened his eyes, looked at her a moment and frowned. �
��Why are you dressed?”
“Because I have to leave for the office in a half hour,” she explained reasonably, although she felt the way he did. She didn’t want to be the responsible adult all dressed for work in her conservative suit. She wanted to be naked in bed like he was.
Cole was surprised by the lateness of the hour, but he didn’t respond with hurried movements. He sat up in bed and pulled her into his arms. The contact gave her shivers as always, but there was something oddly chaste about the hug. “God, it’s good to be back.”
Eva sighed again, like a foolish schoolgirl. But she didn’t care. She was in love.
“Do you have to go to work today?” she asked, as he loosened his grip.
He raised an eyebrow. “Why? Do you have something better in mind?”
Eva laughed. “I wish but your mother has made sure that I don’t have a free minute until July of next year.”
“I’ve got some pull with her,” he said, carelessly running his fingers though her hair, “so maybe I can arrange something.”
“Yeah, like what?”
“Dinner tonight.”
“Hmm. I have to check my calendar, of course, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Are you sure you can do it? You’ve been gone for ages, haven’t you? There must be a pile of work as high as the Empire State Building sitting on your desk,” she said, irrationally hoping that he would choose work over spending time with her. That was what most men would do. But Cole had a way of making her feel important, as if she were as vital to him as he was to her, and that made her nervous. Cole wasn’t in love with her. He couldn’t be.
Cole shrugged. “I might have to put in a few extra hours, but there’s nothing pressing that can’t be finished tomorrow or the next day. Come over for dinner. We’ll order in some food, sit on the couch and catch up.”
This plan sounded lovely to her. “All right.”
“Good,” he said, letting her go. “Let me jump into the shower and then we’ll share a cab uptown.”
Eva watched him thoughtfully as he dug clothing out of his bag. She really didn’t know what she was doing—getting involved with one of those billionaire playboys!—or how she would pull herself together when it was all over, but right now those things didn’t worry her. He had come. From the airport with his carry-on luggage and his five-o’clock shadow, he’d come straight there. Nothing else mattered.
***
The next day Eva was sitting at her desk going through the messages in her inbox when Ruth called.
“What are you doing?” her friend asked by way of greeting.
Eva smiled. It was just like Ruth to ask such a silly question. “Let’s see: It’s Friday morning at 10 A.M. I’m at my desk in front of the computer, reading emails and drinking coffee. I’m not sure, but I believe it’s called working,” she said.
“Screw that.”
“Excuse me?” Eva asked, as her eyes scanned an email from Ben regarding expense accounts.
“I said screw work. You’re coming downtown to the Municipal Building with us.”
Eva reread the message, trying to understand what Ben meant by “two records of account.” In response to Ruth’s comment she said, “Why would I do that?”
“Because we need another witness.”
Maybe he means credit card slip and restaurant receipt? “Witness to what?”
“Our vows.”
But sometimes the restaurant doesn’t let you keep—
Then Ruth’s words hit her. “Holy shit,” Eva said, “you’re getting married?”
“In a half hour,” Ruth confirmed, “so you better get your ass down here, guapa.”
“Oh, my God, Ruth!” she said, incapable of forming a more coherent sentence.
Her friend laughed. “I know.”
“All right, all right. I can do this,” she said, shutting down her computer and grabbing her bag. “I’ll be right there. Just don’t get married without me.”
“Not in a million years.”
Eva hung up the phone, giddy and excited and scarcely able to believe that in thirty-five minutes Ruth and Mark would be husband and wife. Oh, my God!
As she packed up her stuff, she could feel David’s eyes on her.
“What’s up?” he asked, curious.
“A wedding,” she said, with an excited smile. “My two best friends’ wedding.” She walked to the elevator and pressed the button before she realized that she should probably tell someone important, like Ben, that she was ditching work for a few hours. She tried to find him in his office, but he wasn’t there.
“He’s in a meeting on the fourteenth floor,” said Devorah with little enthusiasm.
“All right, please let him know that I had to leave.”
Devorah looked her up and down. “Why?”
Eva sighed and considered coughing feebly and inventing a scary-sounding illness. Then she thought, Screw that. Ruth and Mark were getting married. “My two best friends are getting hitched downtown in twenty-five minutes, and I’m not going to miss it.”
Devorah looked as though she wanted to argue with this statement, but Eva walked away. She didn’t have time for cardboard box threats now.
Once outside, Eva flagged down a cab and told the driver to take her to the Municipal Building on Centre Street. She looked at her phone. She’d get there in plenty of time, barring horrendous traffic or some other unforeseen disaster. But when they passed a flower shop on the corner of Fifth and Thirteenth, she insisted he stop, despite the fact that it meant she’d lose precious minutes.
“Wait here,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”
Eva ran into the store, and glancing around at the vibrant colors, felt herself growing overwhelmed by all the choices. What did she know about picking flowers for a wedding? She spotted a flower professional and walked over to her. “I need a bouquet.”
The saleswoman, who was in the process of arranging daffodils and baby’s breath, looked up and smiled. “All right.”
“It’s for a wedding at the Municipal Building,” she explained in a rush, “and I have no idea what the bride is wearing.”
Unhurried, the woman stepped away from the counter and approached Eva. “Then perhaps we should go with something very safe and traditional. Red roses?”
Eva knew there would be very little that was safe and traditional at a wedding for Ruth Haysbert and decided that it would be a nice touch. “Sure. Let’s do red roses.”
Luckily, the woman had twenty perfect buds on hand and she wasted no time cutting and wrapping the stems in a silver length of ribbon. She handed the arrangement to Eva.
“Thank you,” Eva said, pulling out her credit card.
The woman didn’t take it. “And what about you?”
“Me?”
“Yes, aren’t you a bridesmaid?”
Eva had only thought of herself in terms of being a witness. “I suppose I am.”
“Good, so what type of bouquet would you like?”
Eva had no ready answer. She looked down at her boring, conservative navy-blue suit and wished she were wearing something festive. “A colorful one.”
The woman nodded slowly and stared at her collection of flowers before settling on a bouquet of bright yellow, pink and orange gerbera daisies.
“They’re darling,” Eva said as she took the flowers. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” she said, accepting Eva’s credit card and running it through the machine. “I’ve never been to a wedding at City Hall, but I think it’s a lovely idea. So many couples come into my shop and spend hours and hours obsessing over floral arrangements. Not that I don’t appreciate the business, of course, but it does seem sometimes like it’s beside the point.”
“I can imagine,” Eva said as she looked at her watch. Only thirteen minutes left, but she didn’t panic. They wouldn’t start without her. Ruth had promised.
She signed the credit card slip and carried the bouquets to the cab, which was parked illegally in front of a fire hydra
nt. “All right, I’m back,” she said, climbing into the car. He dropped her off in front of the Municipal Building ten minutes later. Ruth was waiting in front of the building under the arch. She was dressed in white, in a simple sheath dress with pearls and a pillbox hat.
She enveloped her friend in a hug. “You look beautiful.”
“I should hope so. I spent a small fortune on this dress.”
“What?” Eva raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. “You couldn’t finagle a designer original from one of your clients?”
“Not to get all traditional and everything, but I thought I should at least own my wedding dress.”
Eva laughed. “Speaking of tradition.…” She held out the bouquet of red roses.
Ruth shrieked in delight. “I knew I forgot something! You are so my fairy godmother.” She took the roses, held them up to her nose and inhaled deeply. “They’re gorgeous. Thank you.”
“And I got one for myself. Or rather, for the maid of honor, which I assume is me.” She gave her friend a comical, concerned look. “It is me, isn’t it?”
Ruth grabbed her friend’s hand and started walking up the steps. “Yes.”
“Good, I’d hate to get into a brawl with one of your other friends on your wedding day, but nobody but me is preceding you down the aisle. I brought you two together.”
“Rather proud of yourself, aren’t you?”
Eva looked at her friend’s glowing smile and felt tears start to form at the back of her throat. “Yes, I am,” she said softly.
They entered the building. Mark was waiting in the hallway with his brother, and Eva threw herself into his arms. “Oh, you foolish, ridiculous man, it is so about time.”
Mark held her tightly. “I know. I know.”
Eva pulled back. “I can’t tell you how happy I am, for the both of you.”
He smiled. “You don’t have to.”
His brother came over. “We’re next, so we should probably go in now.”
Winner Takes All Page 20