“Can I have another cookie?” he asked after a while. He’d already forgotten about the trip. I wished I could do the same.
“You’ve had enough cookies for one day. Why don’t you go brush your teeth and get into your PJs? I’ll come upstairs and tuck you in when you’re ready.”
“Okay.” Max jumped to his feet and hugged my neck tight. Derek practically melted when Max spun around and threw his small arms around him too. “Come on, Pirate. It’s bedtime.” He walked off back into the house.
“And don’t go in the kitchen to ask Em for more cookies.”
“What?” His eyes went wide, as if he’d been caught in a lie. “I wasn’t gonna do that.”
“Just making sure.” I raised an eyebrow at him. One of Mom’s signature moves.
“We totally have this parenting thing down pat.” Derek rubbed the side of his face.
“You think? I never know when something is going to be a mountain or a lump of dirt with him.” I shook my head, relieved Max didn’t think I was abandoning him to please Derek, which was true. I was really going to miss him. In all the years he’d lived with my parents, I never got used to him being gone. But I really wanted to make sure I could handle Atlanta before I made Max do the same. It wasn’t fair for us to yank him out of his routine and all the things that made him feel safe.
If only this trip to Atlanta was as uneventful as Max thought it was. But Derek’s tense body language said otherwise. To him, thirty days at home with his family was everything. He wanted his family to accept me the way Max had accepted him. What would he do if that didn’t happen? Would he give up on us?
6
No and Yes
Valentina
The nightmare was always the same. In my dream, I knew it wasn’t real, but there was nothing I could do to stop it other than wait for it to pass. Alex’s fingers wrapped around my neck and cut all oxygen to my lungs. His smirk was always the same, as his stale beer breath puffed out against my face. It would be over soon. The display never lasted too long. Max’s dad only meant to put me in my place quickly.
He was always careful not to leave any marks. I gasped for air, staring down at his hands. When I glanced up, his angry eyes widened, and then he vanished. Nothing more than white smoke in the dead of night.
“You did this to yourself.” His words trailed behind his dark gaze.
I sat up in the bed with the usual ache in my chest, as if I’d actually stopped breathing outside of my dream. Smoothing the hair away from my face, I shifted to my left to curl up next to Derek. Instead, my body fell on empty sheets. Where had he gone? I rolled to my right and grabbed my phone off the nightstand. Four in the morning. Had he come to bed at all? I threw my legs over the side of the bed and headed for the door. When I reached it, I turned back.
I didn’t need Derek to chase my bad dreams away. So instead, I did what I always did whenever Max’s dad showed up in a nightmare. Thanks to Em, all my clothes for the next month were neatly packed in five different suitcases with outfits for pretty much every occasion. We weren’t leaving for another two hours for the Tucson airport, where our flight was scheduled to depart around six thirty this morning. I had time for a quick kickboxing session. The idea immediately improved my mood. I rushed to my closet and changed into my workout clothes before heading upstairs to the gym.
By now, I was used to Derek’s insane house and all its amenities, which included a bowling alley, a soccer field, an infinity pool, and a fully equipped gym. The floor-to-ceiling windows offered a grand view of the Catalina mountains. Before sunrise, the tiny lights of the city of Tucson provided a quiet backdrop for the room. I pulled up the app on my phone and started my playlist. With my boxing gloves on, I started a warm-up drill on the one-hundred-fifty-pound, six-foot punching bag. Roughly the size of a grown man.
Dad had shown me how to throw a punch when I was a freshman in college. The one lesson he forgot was when to do it. I wasn’t a fighter. I’d spent months in a toxic relationship with Max’s dad, and not once had it ever occurred to me to hit back. Alex had a way of twisting the truth to make me think I was overreacting, oversensitive, or over-imaginative, seeing things that were simply not there. My two regrets were not leaving sooner and never finding the courage to stand up for myself.
My heart rate shot up to my target threshold immediately, but that had nothing to do with my body being ready to go full speed on the synthetic leather. Thinking of Alex, the nightmares, and everything he did put me on edge. The anger and the blame were always there. I gave myself another ten minutes before I attempted my first roundhouse kick. When my shin connected with the canvas, the sting on my skin sent a shot of adrenaline through my body.
I threw my first jab-cross combo, then unpacked all my frustration on the bag. I kept going until my chest compressed and blocked the air to my lungs. Shooting stars flashed in my line of vision while I caught my breath. If I sat down, I might not get up again. I braced my hands on my knees and breathed in through my nose, willing the oxygen through every fiber of me, every part screaming in pain for the lack of air.
When I glanced up, Derek’s reflection appeared on the window against the silhouette of the city lights, his arms across his chest and a broody look about him. How long had he been standing there? I turned around to meet his gaze. He reached for a bottle of water from the small fridge by the entrance and offered it to me.
“You have good form. When did you learn to do that?”
“A long time ago.” I didn’t feel like getting into it with him. The look on his face showed how left out he felt. But nowhere was it written that I had to tell him about every single one of my shortcomings. “It’s just to blow off steam.” I shook my head in dismissal, taking my gloves off.
He regarded me for a long time as if trying to decide if he should be mad at me or just let it go. Let it go. “You’ve been living in this house for a month, and this is the first time I see you in here. I’m so sorry I took off for so long. What’s wrong with me?” He shook his head, offering me a warm smile. “Here, drink. Maybe we can train together sometime.”
“That would be fun.” I took a long swig of water, thinking about a sweaty boxing session with Derek. I could definitely get used to that.
He glanced upward and blew out air. “I love it when you look at me like that.” He reached for my hand and kissed it.
His hot gaze unlocked something inside me. Like Alex’s dark form vanishing in my dream, my anger dissipated too. “Like what?” I wiped the sweat off my brow, acutely aware that I was all sticky from the workout and probably looked like a hot mess.
Derek didn’t seem to notice. He cradled my cheek and kissed me. An intense and searing kiss that made me regret leaving the bedroom so early this morning. We could be there right now. I pulled back first. “Where did you go this morning?”
He shook his head. “No. You first. Do you always workout at four in the morning? Or was there a specific reason for it today?”
I swore the man could see right through me. He knew about Alex. If I hadn’t told him, he would have found out anyway when Alex came looking for Derek to ask for money a few weeks back. Money in return for renouncing all paternity rights. Alex got paid, and I got peace of mind, though I had to go through the extreme shame of having to explain to Derek my fucked-up relationship with Max’s dad.
“No. And yes.”
He ran a finger down my warm cheek. “I know you have nightmares sometimes. Is that why you’re up so early?”
I nodded. “I woke up and you weren’t there. I decided to come here instead.”
Derek slow-blinked. “I’m sorry I had to leave you this morning. I got a work call early. Afterward, I decided to go for a bike ride.” He chuckled, bracing his hands on his hips. “To blow off steam. I can’t wait to get you to Atlanta and just be with you.”
“You mean for a month, right?”
“Yes. That’s what I meant.” He wrapped his arms around me, kissing my neck. “Do you need
help getting out of these sweaty clothes?”
I giggled. I loved that he wanted me even when I looked like this. “We don’t have time for that. I need to shower and do everything I can to look presentable when I meet your parents.”
“Come on. They don’t care.”
After my conversation with Em last night before dinner, I knew Lilly Cole would most definitely care if I showed up in short shorts and a sweaty tank top. I pushed him away from me, ignoring the slow burn growing between my legs. Maybe Derek was right. We needed a few days to get away from everything and spend some time together. I, for one, was ready to not have this “meet the parents” thing hanging over my head.
“I’m going upstairs to shower. I’ll see you in an hour.”
He groaned when I walked past him toward the door. “You’re killing me, Valentina. But don’t think this is over. I’ll have you all to myself for four hours. On a plane with nowhere to go.”
His voice was laced with all kinds of promises. When the door to the gym closed behind me, I turned around and placed my hand on the handle. No, I couldn’t stay. I had to use all the time I had to get ready to meet his family. With all my senses screaming at me to go back, I trudged back downstairs to our bedroom.
When I walked in, Max sat on the bed with Pirate on his lap. As soon as he spotted me, he pushed the cat off the bed. He knew I wasn’t a huge fan of pets in my bed. “Can I stay with you while you get ready?”
“Sure.” Now that he had his own room, I missed our morning routine of getting ready together, brushing our teeth and picking out clothes.
“I’m going to miss you, buddy.” I hugged him.
“Me too. But it’ll be like when I lived with abuelo and abuela, right?”
“It’ll be exactly like that. I’ll see you in five sleeps, okay?”
“Okay, Mom.”
The trip out East was filled with a lot of firsts for me. Of course, Derek had a private jet waiting for us at the airport. The inside was bigger than I’d expected with two rows of plush leather seats facing each other. We even had a flight attendant, who knew my favorite adult drink and the fact that I didn’t like flying.
“Here you go, Mrs. Cole.” She set a glass of champagne in front of me.
“Thank you.” I went with it because at this point it was more effort to explain that Derek and I were only engaged, and I had done absolutely nothing to organize a wedding that was happening in less than two short months.
“I like the sound of that.” Derek sat across from me, flashing me one of his panty-dropping smiles. The second he clicked his seatbelt, the flight attendant set a glass of bourbon on his side.
“It’s like you said. It takes too long to explain that whole fiancée status.”
“I told you.” He leaned in to speak into my ear. “There’s a bedroom in the back.” Warm and soft, his voice was barely a whisper that caressed every inch of my body. “Maybe I can show it to you after we reach the required altitude.”
The blast of testosterone coming from him left me breathless and put all kinds of very bad ideas in my head. As it were, I had to spend my post workout kicking myself for not letting Derek help me out of my dirty clothes. It’d been too long since he’d been inside me. I squirmed in my seat and smoothed out my dress.
“I’d like to see it.” My tone was breathy and so not sexy. I was out of my league when Derek turned up his seduction game. All I could do was try and keep up.
He reached over to run the back of his hand over my hot cheeks. “I should’ve brought you on a trip before now. No more wasting time. I promise.”
He winked, then sat back when the flight attendant came by to ask if we were ready for another refill. I muttered a “no, thank you,” but Derek overruled me. “She’ll have one more. It’ll help with your flying jitters.” He glanced at me, thoroughly amused to see me utterly undone and in full state of arousal.
“Tell me about the house. Or mansion.”
He chuckled, looking all satisfied with himself. Was this retaliation for leaving him hanging back at the house?
“Estate.” He raised an eyebrow, with a small and proud smirk pulling at his lips. I’d seen him spend thousands of dollars on a single bottle of wine without batting an eyelash. He didn’t put a lot of stock in money and all the things he had. But it was obvious he was proud of this newly acquired estate that he apparently bought and meant for us to use for visits.
“Wow, estate. What made you want to buy it?”
“It was about to be condemned.”
“Oh.” That didn’t sound so bad. My mind had already conjured one of those plantation-type homes with acres and acres of gardens and really green trees. “That’s amazing. You saved the property.”
“I did. We’ve been working on renovations for two years now. My great-grandfather landed the property in the late forties. New built, only ten years old. It was never really updated since then, so you can imagine the kind of shape it was in when Grams passed away. On top of that, the house sat empty for many years.”
The pilot left the cockpit and came over to shake Derek’s hand. I sat back and went through the motions as Derek introduced me. He assured us the flight would be a smooth one and that we would be there in three hours and fifty minutes. When he left, the flight attendant returned with fresh drinks and a readout of the menu for our trip.
I drank more of the champagne and squeezed my eyes shut as the plane hurtled down the tarmac. We took off, and I sank into my seat and thought of Max and his happy face when he said goodbye this morning. He was happy he didn’t have to miss school and excited to meet us in a week.
During the flight, Derek took more calls from the bedroom in the back while I pushed chicken around a plate of couscous salad. The closer we got to Atlanta, the more distant Derek felt to me. I got that he was nervous too, but it’d be nice to be in his arms right about now. Or in that bed back there. I peeked around the seat at the flight attendant who was busy cleaning up the galley, opening and closing latches. I got up, and when she didn’t turn around, I scurried toward the back of the plane.
I gripped the handle and froze when Derek’s voice filtered through. “Bridget. Stop. I wasn’t asking. Back the hell down.” The sound of his phone flying across the small room made my heart race.
What the hell was going on now? And why was I running back to my seat like some scared kid? This was Derek. If something was the matter with his ex-wife, I should know about it. The door opened just as I plopped myself on the seat, heart drumming in my throat. Derek sauntered straight to the galley, poured himself a drink, and knocked it back. Yeah, Bridget had that effect on him.
“What’s going on?” My small voice was barely audible over the rumble of the engine.
“Work stuff.” He sat next to me with a smile plastered on his face. His body heat blasted off him and filled the cabin. He was about to combust from anger.
I could confront him about what I heard or let it be for now. I opted for the latter. He didn’t need me aggravating whatever situation was brewing with Bridget.
“Okay.” I reached for his hand, and he squeezed my fingers. “You know you can talk to me, right?”
After a few minutes, his tensed muscles relaxed, and his broody disposition faded. “I know that.”
He pulled me onto his lap. I curled up on top of him and rested my head on his shoulder, basking in his scent and the calming effect his arms had on me. No way was I going to let this Bridget thing go, but there was no harm in enjoying being like this with him.
“Everything will work itself out once we’re in Atlanta.”
7
Are You Kidding Me?
Derek
Nothing short of Valentina’s safety could have gotten me to leave Vail yesterday or Tucson this morning. Admittedly, the trouble we found ourselves in now was all my fault for being so lenient with Bridget. I should have sent her to jail when I had the chance.
Valentina sat in the car next to me, but she might as well be two
thousand miles away. I had hoped we’d spend the flight to Atlanta in the private bedroom on the plane finishing what we started in Vail. I had Valentina’s raspy voice asking me to touch her on repeat in my head. I’d become addicted to the bursts of raw charge I felt every time I pictured her standing on the sofa.
“Are you hungry?” I reached for her hand.
As if I’d woken her from a dream, her body jerked a bit before she faced me. “No. I ate on the plane.”
“I know you didn’t. What’s wrong?”
She shook her head, her lips slightly parted. “It’s beautiful here.”
“Yeah. The humidity is insane, but the views make up for it.”
August in Atlanta meant blooming trees and green everywhere. The daily afternoon showers meant sticky and muggy nights. She nodded in agreement and offered a pleasant smile. I hated not knowing what she was thinking.
“When we get home, maybe we can take a tour, and you can see if there are any changes you’d like to make to the house.”
“That’s not necessary.” She leaned forward to peek out the window. I surveyed the side of her face for any sign that she liked Atlanta, even just a little. I wanted her to love it here as much as I did.
“It is. I want you to think of this house as a second home for us.” I kissed the inside of her wrist, her arm, and then her neck. “Maybe later we can finish what we started in Vail,” I whispered in her ear.
She sighed, leaning into me. “What did Bridget want?”
I gritted my teeth. Lately, every time someone uttered Bridget’s name, bad shit happened. She’d already messed the plans I had for the flight over. I couldn’t let her also ruin tonight for us.
“I heard you on the phone. By accident. Why were you so mad?”
“You don’t have to worry about her.” I pressed my lips to her, but she pulled away.
Unravel You: A Hot Billionaire Romance (Cole Brothers Series Book 1) Page 6