“I guess you’re counting on the fact that someone doesn’t take your dry humor the wrong way and throw you overboard.” His eyebrows raised at my comment and looked at me over his glass as he took a sip.
“I’m not entirely sure what has put a bee in your bonnet but I assure you, this someone would have to be exceedingly strong and quite clever to pull a fast one over on me.”
“A bee in my bonnet? What are you, like 80?”
His smile was broad this time.”
“Not quite 80. Closer to 29. Just a cultured 29. Again, I thought we covered this last night.” The way he said it, almost snooty made me roll my eyes.
“Tell me about you Cole. Why are you so cultured?”
“Well, Olivia, we don’t have all night but I have been raised that way. I am my own boss and I have learned how to be successful. My mother raised me to treat ladies with respect. Although she never taught me what to do in the case of an unruly female. I am well traveled, I’m well educated. I know what I am worth Olivia, and I take no less than that from people.”
Well that explained part of his bubble of overbearingness.
“Now that you’ve heard way more than I am accustomed to revealing, I want to hear about you Olivia.” His gaze was on me and I felt almost nervous. He was intense to say the least.
“Well I am not nearly as interesting and you heard a lot last night. I’m an art history major. I am currently going for my Master’s degree in Boston. Originally from Ohio, but I’ve been in Boston since I graduated high school. I was raised by my mother who still lives in Ohio. I don’t really know my father. This is the furthest I’ve ever been from home. We come every year for a month.”
“You’re here for a whole month?” He sounded surprised.
“Yes. We come every year for the month of June. Charlotte’s parents own a condo and let us stay there at the resort.”
His eyes glanced to his pocket and checked his phone which was lit up. He hit a button and the screen went dark.
“I thought my two week stay was long. I can only imagine what trouble you ladies can get into in 30 days. I am scared how to survive the next ten.” That number became ingrained in my mind. Ten days. “The group of us are going to go on a little adventure tomorrow. I’d love it if you joined me.” His gaze was focused on the glass in his hand.
“You’re not going to tell me what this adventure is?”
“I didn’t need to explain. I knew you’d ask. We’re taking a short drive just outside of town. Nice hiking trail. You may invite your friends if you’d like. I assure you my intentions are innocent, I’d just like to spend time with you.”
I didn’t know how I felt about that. I knew I felt a certain way about him, though I was still not sure what that was. I was mildly disappointed by the thought that he had only innocent intentions. Not that I was looking for anything else but I couldn’t help but go there for a second.
“Count me in.” Again, his smile was broad and it made me forget about my uneasiness.
“You place an awful lot of trust in me.”
“Should I reconsider?”
“No, I am just not used to you coming so quietly. I was all set for a battle of the wits. I feel kind of let down.”
“I wouldn’t want to disappoint you so early in the evening. Here’s another one: hot or cold?”
Cole smiled at me as he took a sip of his drink.
“Are you sure you are not a psychiatrist? I believe these questions of yours are some kind of symbol of some deep unrest I have. But I choose hot.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“No.”
“No? Come on.”
“Not until I hear your choice.”
“Cold.”
“Interesting. Hot symbolizes passion. I am passionate about many things. Hot also has a better connotation.” His explanation did nothing for my thoughts that I was trying to return to the land of the innocent but fair was fair and I had to provide my own answer.
“When you’re cold you can warm up. You can put on layers, get under a blanket. Cold is comfort.”
“Ok, I have one for you Mrs. Freud. Dreams or reality?”
“Hands down dreams. Anything can happen.”
“What you’re forgetting Olivia is that if you play your hand correctly, the same is true of reality.” He nodded in my direction and took a sip from his glass. His tone, the look on his face and the nearness of him made my jaw feel like it was dying to unhinge. There was just something about him I couldn’t quite place but found exceedingly attractive.
“Is that what you’ve done Cole, made your dreams a reality?”
“I’m sitting here with you with a plan to see you tomorrow aren’t I?” I blushed a deep scarlet. I felt the heat radiating off my face.
“Oh good heaven, Eric get the girl a drink. Ms. Smartass has been outwitted into a scarlet oblivion. I feel like this is a victory for me. Shall we celebrate?” Cole raised his glass waiting for me to clink it against mine. Instead I steadied myself and drank the fresh drink down in a sip. As I drank I watched his face go from overjoyed to disbelief with each bit of liquid that disappeared. “I suppose not, touche Olivia.” His smile was present just enough so his dimples were present as he took a sip from his glass.
“I’d like to show you something. Put your glass down and follow me.” He took off toward the front of the boat. He took my hand as he led me down a short flight of stairs onto a lower deck of the ship. He didn’t let go of my and as we walked a few more feet to the steel railing.
“Take off your shoes,” He said as he slipped off his flip flops and climbed over the steel railing. As he jumped I couldn’t help but reach from him, thinking he had fallen. “There’s a small dock right here. Come on.” He stood below me on the platform and reached out. I climbed on the railing, as he did and he grabbed my hand and my waist as I lowered myself down. He sat on the platform, letting his legs dip into the water. I followed his lead and sat next to him. I hesitantly put a few inches of one foot in.
“It’s quite warm you know.”
“It’s not the temperature I’m worried about.”
“Well then?”
“Sharks, fish, propellers.”
He laughed one of his loud laughs again and smiled at me.
“No propeller. Everything is pretty much underneath the boat and in the back. We are in the front of the boat. It’s pushing us forward. And no sharks or fish would dare come this close to a moving object of this size. You’re safe, trust me.”
I slowly sunk one leg into the water and then the other.
“See, no nibbles yet.”
We sat in silence for awhile. It was surprisingly not awkward. Behind us you could hear the music and chatter from the guests.
“I do believe Jason is smitten with your friend. It was about all I could bear on the walk back to the rooms.”
“She has that effect on men,” I said.
“You say that like you do not.”
“You’d be right. I don’t. Adrian is a free spirit. She has flocks of guys to be in her presence. I don’t begrudge her that, I don’t mean it meanly. It’s something you get used to.” Cole went quiet as if pondering my statement.
“For what it’s worth it is your presence that I have sought out tonight.”
I smiled at that but did not make eye contact.
“You know what I don’t understand about you Olivia?”
I looked at him and could barely make out his face in the night.
“You wear your heart on your sleeve. It is no secret what you are feeling, but I cannot ever make out why. To just spend a few minutes inside your head would be terribly insightful I think.”
“I’m not sure how to take that.”
“You’re perplexing. Like I said, it is my job to know people, what they are thinking and what they want. I have to know what someone wants before they do. It is very rare that I cannot get a read on someone.”
“You sound disturbed by this.” I saw
the flash of smile in the night.
“Not disturbed, no. More like captivated.”
I was thankful that it was dark as I knew my cheeks were flushed again.
“Night or day?” Cole asked after a few minutes.
“Night.”
“Why?”
I shook my head even though I knew we were both staring out onto the water. “You first.”
“Night also.”
“Anything can happen at night,” I started. “Things change into other things at night. It’s like anything is possible at night, and then the sun comes out and shows you what it really is,” I said kind of wistfully.
“Night makes us feel safer because we get to hide under darkness. Like you said, in the light we have to take a true form.”
“That’s very mysterious and cryptic of you Cole.”
“Well it’s about damn time. I was beginning to feel like I was losing my edge.” His smile was slight but made me smile myself.
“It’s beautiful out here. I’ve never been on a boat like this,” I said. I felt the need to break the silence even thought it wasn’t awkward. I knew I wanted to hear him talk more. What he said was interesting but how he said it fascinated me.
“Indeed it is. Unlike you I’ve been on many boats like this.” He stopped and paused. I felt embarrassed. I had admitted that this wasn’t my normal life and he had nearly bragged that this was how he lived. “Admittedly this is the best time I’ve had.” His follow-up sentence made me feel nervous for an entirely different reason.
“How can you not have fun on something like this?” I asked.
“Simply. Usually I spend the evening entertaining people I don’t particularly like. I need them to like me though so I do it with a smile on my face. Inside though I’m usually cursing their names and wish I could roll my eyes.” He looked out over the water.
“Why do you need to get people to like you?”
He looked at me and gave me a small smile. “Olivia, nobody does business with someone they dislike. Because of this fact I enchant them and charm them mercilessly for the entire voyage.”
“Weren’t you lecturing me about passion? If you don’t have passion for it why are you doing it?”
He eyed me thoughtfully for a moment. “Don’t get it confused, I love my job. I truly enjoy what I do. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t a few things I dislike about it.” He paused and we sat in silence for a few minutes. “Come, we need to head back. We’ll be going back to the docks shortly.” He extended his hand to help me up. The air was cool against my wet legs and he helped me over the railing.”
We reached the top deck to see everyone still drinking, dancing and having fun. The DJ announced that we were approaching land and this was the last song. A ballad came on and I suddenly felt like an awkward freshman, waiting against the gym wall for one of the pimply boys to ask me to dance.
“I’l let you lead, come on.” Cole took my hand and we walked on the dance floor. I laughed nervously as he pulled me closer to him.
“I think you know better than to do that.” He chuckled low in his throat.
“Ye of little faith my dear.” I was extremely aware of how close his hand on my waist had pulled me to him. His other hand held mine out to the side as we danced.
The music quieted and finally came to a stop and the crowd erupted into applause. Charlotte and Adrian were waving over by the ramp that was being lowered.
“Well, I supposed that’s my cue to go.”
He gave a lazy kind of smile. “I hate that that news upsets me a little.”
I felt my cheek redden for the millionth time.
“You’ll still come tomorrow I hope?” He asked anxiously.
“Of course.”
I nodded as I started to walk away and waved.
“Goodnight Olivia.”
“Goodnight Cole.”
Chapter 4
I woke up the next morning and nearly jumped out of bed. I quickly showered and dressed. I wasn’t particularly an outdoors-y kind of girl so I didn’t know what to wear. I decided on a pair of khaki shorts and a green tank top. It seemed kind of earthy, that’s what hiking was about right? I padded down the hallway and was surprised to see Adrian up and around.
“For the record I am only doing this because Jason is completely hot and I really like him. What’s your excuse?” Adrian spoke in a low, monotone voice.
I opened my mouth to answer and then closed it. Did I have an excuse? Why was I going? That was simple. I was going because the mysterious Cole Cooper had asked me to and ‘no’ hadn’t even remotely crossed my mind.
“I guess I’m not really sure yet.” I shrugged. Honesty was the best policy and she was one of my best friends.
I grabbed an apple and Adrian and I headed down to meet our fellow hikers. Charlotte had told us she was not going to chance getting hurt, and we should meet her by the pool if we survived.
We reached the lobby and it was Jason who I saw first. He was carrying a cooler out to a Jeep that was parked in front of the lobby. Adrian’s face immediately lit up, and Jason’s did too. He hugged her tight and gave her a kiss that lingered for an awkwardly long time. They broke apart only at the sound of a clearing throat.
“I believe you both are moments from a room, if you’re feeling so inclined.” Cole’s voice carried as he walked through the automatic lobby doors. He spoke matter-of-factly, and had an eyebrow raised almost in challenge. I took mental inventory of myself. Was I drooling? Was my mouth hanging open? Luckily I could check no for both but he looked incredible. He had on black khaki shorts and a dark blue T-Shirt. It was utterly simple but he made it look almost sophisticated.
“Good morning Olivia. Unfortunately the rest of our party has decided to abandon us for the salty seas today, so it will just be the four of us,” Cole said walking over to me and taking my bag. I followed him toward the Jeep as Adrian and Jason spoke in hushed tones. This information kind of made me nervous. Adrian had just admitted that she really liked Jason. While they had just met they clearly were into each other. I felt like this was going to be an awkward double date, but with half of us not really dating.
“So where exactly are we hiking? I’m not always the most coordinated person and I really would hate to break something, or make a fool of myself. I’m not quite sure which would be worse.” Cole smiled as I spoke.
“Do you trust me?” The question was simple, yet I was a little taken aback. Did I? The answer shocked me the most. I had heard those two words many times in the past couple of days.
“Yes, I do.” He smiled brightly at that and opened the door for me, helping me in the front seat of the Jeep.
“I will take good care of you, I assure you. Nothing bad will happen to you.” He closed my door gently and stopped to wave Jason and Adrian out as he walked around to the driver’s side, hopping in.
Cole drove in silence. I watched the city disappear as we headed out to what seemed like the jungle. I heard snippets of hushed conversations coming from the backseat. We drove for about twenty minutes before pulling off onto a dirt road. I grew more and more anxious the further away from civilization we drove. I had never been outside of the tourist area in all of the years we’ve been coming. Somehow Cole sensed my anxiety and gave me a reassuring smile. I felt my heart skip a beat.
We finally parked and we all got out of the car. Adrian and I just stood back and watched as Jason and Cole expertly packed two backpacks from supplies that were loaded in the Jeep. Both men put the packs on their backs and closed up the Jeep.
“Shall we?” Cole motioned for me to link my arm with his and so our hike began.
I spent much of that first half hour gawking at what I was seeing. Every tree was bright green. The forest floor was covered in moss and the sounds of birds and insects could be heard everywhere. It was a fascinating, green world. One minute we were walking uphill and saw bright red trees and plants and then hanging over us were palm leaves and beautiful butterflies. I felt
so small in the forest, and I felt like I had been missing out just staying on the beach.
“Cole, this is absolutely amazing. I’ve never seen anything more green or peaceful.”
He took a deep breath and looked around. “I’m not certain you ever get over the awe of this place. I’ve been coming here for years and every time I am taken back to the absolute beauty of how natural it is.”
Watching him speak made me smile not only outwardly, but internally. I imagined he could be intense even talking about cartoons, but here I felt like his intensity was perfect. I glanced around and saw Jason and Adrian ahead of us, heading down the hill we had spent much of our time walking up. I suddenly felt anxious. Being here alone with him made me feel awkward, like I should be saying something.
“Did you mean it?” His voice startled me. I was confused at what he was asking, though I couldn’t see his eyes through his sunglasses to gauge his emotion.
“Did I mean what?”
“That you trust me?”
“I do. I’m still alive aren’t I? If you wanted to take me and murder me I would imagine it would already be done.” I smiled at him, but his expression did not change. His face looked serious, but without seeing his eyes, I couldn’t tell.
Cole turned away from whatever he was staring at and came closer to me. I could feel the heat coming from his body. I still could not see his eyes, but I knew he was looking at me. I could feel his gaze on me. His hands went out and grabbed my waist, pulling me in to close the space between us. My breath was coming in shorter gasps and I knew for a fact my mouth was hanging open.
“I’m going to kiss you Olivia, and I need you to tell me right now if that is not something you want.” His voice was low and husky. My brain could not form words properly. I couldn’t even comprehend what he had said to me. He must have taken my silence as permission as his lips crashed down onto mine. His left hand left my waist only to go up and touch my cheek. It felt heavenly to have his lips on mine. He kiss was full of need, yet still surprisingly gentle. He pulled away after a few moments.
“I am sorry to spring that on you, but I have needed to kiss you, just once, since the day I saw you with your friends,” Cole said.
The Rules In Paradise (Playing By The Rules) Page 3