by Sonya Weiss
The amusement fled as he began reading one of the pages. His head snapped up, and he stared at her. “You’re giving me instructions on how to make love?”
Maddie nodded, keeping her face solemn at his insulted expression. “Some men are ready for the finish line before the woman’s engine has even turned over.”
Annoyance flashed across his handsome face. “I can assure you that if we—your ‘engine’ will be warmed up.”
“If we? Are you having second thoughts?”
“No.” He read further. “Never under any circumstances give you gifts of clothing, jewelry, or any other item of value?”
“The compensation for our agreement is the money upfront and the job. I don’t want anything other than that.” Maddie started to say more, but then her eyes caught the words in his contract. “Hold on a second. You want me to move into your house? Why?”
“Because there will be times I’ll have to entertain for business purposes and you’ll be needed as the hostess. It’s convenient for both of us.”
It seemed unnecessary to her, but moving in with Cole would help her financially, and then after they went their separate ways, she could find a cheaper apartment. “What would be the cost of my staying at your place?” she asked.
“Nothing, we’ll make it part of the deal.”
Maddie thought about that. If she could save the money she was currently paying out in rent, then she’d have more to help her sister. Plus, she’d be close at hand so she could discover whatever plot Cole had cooking to ruin her grandfather. “I’m good with that.” Maddie read over the rest of the contract. It was pretty much what she’d expected.
Don’t give interviews to the press, keep her hands out of the cookie jar, and don’t expect public displays of affection, declarations of love, or his wealthy hand in marriage.
Cole read aloud from her papers. “The term of the contract is for five months. No.” He shook his head and scratched through the line. “Six weeks.”
“But with the amount of money, I was guessing you’d want my…companionship for a while.”
He gave her a long, contemplative look. “Anything beyond six weeks sounds too much like a relationship.”
Maddie considered that. “A relationship can be as quick as a day. A week. Time is irrelevant when two people are meant to be.”
A definite expression of alarm crossed his face. “You think this is meant to be?”
“Of course not. I was speaking hypothetically.”
“I see.” He moved to one of the overstuffed chairs and sat on the edge of the cushion with his legs braced, the pose stretching his slacks tightly across his thighs.
Maddie had to force herself to look away. Last night, she’d gone over everything in her head, trying to justify the deal as some kind of noble endeavor, trying to find some kind of moral outrage at her audacity for suggesting she become a man’s mistress, but she wouldn’t lie to herself. She was a modern woman with needs, and she wasn’t going to pretend this agreement between them didn’t benefit her in a big way. True, her sister would be taken care of financially, but Maddie would get what she’d always wanted: Cole Mitchell.
She glanced back at him as he wrote something on the paper. “Is there another problem?”
“The money I advanced you is in exchange for your company. Should you choose to end the contract before the six weeks is up, you’ll have to pay it back. If you remain for the duration, consider the money repaid.”
She leaned forward, stretching the contract toward him, and pointed to a paragraph. She couldn’t help teasing, “Under expectations, does this mean you want a list of my pleasure likes and dislikes?”
“Only if you’re not one to speak up in bed.”
Maddie’s heart raced at the thought. “I assumed—”
“Don’t. I’m not a man who’s afraid to take sexual direction from a woman. You do know what pleases you, hmm? If you don’t, I guess you’ll have to trust that I do, quite capably, know how to get you there.”
“I…” Damn, it is hot in here. “I do know. My part, I mean…what I like.” Unable to withstand the heat from his gaze, Maddie quickly settled back, pulling away from him. She squeezed her legs together since her girlie parts were slobbering at the idea of Cole getting her there. She reached for a pen. “This all looks okay.”
“Hold on a minute.” He tapped a page with his finger. “Explain this pregnancy clause in yours.”
Maddie lowered the pen. “Though I’m extremely cautious and I know that you probably are as well, things don’t always go as planned. If I end up getting pregnant, you’re off the hook. No child support, no involvement. You’ll be free to go on your merry way.”
He almost looked offended. “I’m not the kind of man who’d abandon his responsibility.”
Needing a second to gather her thoughts, Maddie put the contract and pen on the coffee table and moved to the view the windows offered. Though her gut instinct told her she was doing the right thing, and the thought of being Cole’s lover was a mile beyond tempting, doubts still nagged at her. “You might not be, but it’s not like I could know that since we don’t know much about each other, right?”
Cole joined her at the window, and Maddie’s body instantly alerted to his nearness. If she took even a half step back, she’d bump right up against him.
“I am not father material—”
His voice was deep and close to her ear, his breath warm against her cheek. Maddie glanced at him, and his expression said he’d gone somewhere other than the present. “Which is why I put in the pregnancy clause,” she said softly.
“Let me finish.” He looked down at her. “However, I would find a way to be the man that I should be, because I would never make the mother of my child or my child pay for my shortcomings.”
His words made Maddie think that underneath his stony attitude beat the heart of a good man. Do. Not. Go. There. She couldn’t afford to think that way and have her heart get gooey toward him. “As long as it’s not shortcomings like you snore, hog the blankets, listen to awful music, or take the last of the coffee in the morning, we’re good.”
A reluctant smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “None of the above.”
She smiled back. “Then I’m ready to sign if you are.”
…
Despite her smile, uncertainty clouded the brilliant blue of her eyes. Her voice, with its twang of Texas accent, stirred Cole, making him think of those hot days when he’d worked outside at her grandfather’s estate. He’d wipe the sweat from his brow, look up, and see her watching him from her upstairs bedroom window, her face filled with want. He’d wanted her, too, the elusive Russell princess.
His gaze slid over her, taking deep interest in the way her dress highlighted her curvy body and hinted at the fullness of her breasts. She eased by him, and Cole caught a whiff of a tantalizing scent that reminded him of the fragrant pikake flowers in a lei.
“You’re lost in thought,” she said when he didn’t make a move to sign the contract.
“You said that you had a reason for saying that my dirty, wrong side of the tracks hands would never touch you. I want to know what that reason is.”
She chewed her lower lip and regarded him steadily. “My father was watching and listening. I was protecting both of us.”
Cole doubted that was the truth. “Your father was that protective of you?”
Maddie’s smile was sad. “Not at all.”
“Why not?”
With a shrug, she returned to the contract and picked up the pen in a clear message that she didn’t want to talk about her family any more than he did. She signed her name across the last page and handed it to him.
He did the same to hers, and she took it and tucked it into her purse. “I’ll hold off on moving in with you until after my sister leaves. I don’t want her to ask too many questions since I haven’t told her the truth about the hotel.”
“What about the rest of your family? What’ll you say once
word gets back to them?”
Unhappiness flitted across her face before it disappeared under the cover of another one of her bright smiles. “I doubt I’ll have to explain. My mom and I don’t talk that often.”
“What about your grandfather? Where’s he?”
“I don’t know.”
He suspected she was being cagey but didn’t call her on it. When she moved in with him, he’d have time to get the answers he sought. “When you’re ready, I have people who can help you pack up the things you need from your apartment.”
“You and I should do it together. It’ll give us a chance to spend time together before the bow-chicka-wow-wow.”
She uses humor to deflect. “Whatever helps you feel comfortable.” He stuck his hands in his pockets to keep from smoothing back a strand of her hair. She’d worn it loose, and it flowed around her shoulders, and despite his hands-off plan, he was having the damnedest time not imagining it spread across his pillow. “Have dinner with me tonight.”
“I can’t. My sister and I have plans. There’s a Chinese Sky Lantern release at the lake at eight. There are food displays and games. The event is a celebration done in memory of—”
“Lost loved ones,” Cole said. “I’m familiar with it.” Not even Mason or Jake knew that he’d gone faithfully to renew his promise that he’d do everything in his power to avenge his friend’s death. Every year, a trip to the lake to release a lantern had underscored his aloneness, but he’d squashed that feeling. He didn’t have the right to live a life free of that when he’d failed Adam so miserably.
“If you’d like to go, we can all ride together,” Maddie said.
Cole was attending anyway just like he always had. It made sense for them to go in one vehicle. “I’ll pick you and your sister up.”
Maddie bent slightly to retrieve her purse. “Sounds good. I’ll meet you at my place.” She rattled off the directions.
Cole thought she’d head out after that, but she moved toward him with purposeful steps. She put her hand flat against the front of his shirt. “This is harder than I thought it would be.” Her soft laugh was self-conscious.
Despite not wanting it to, Cole’s heart stirred for her discomfort. “It’ll get better once you get used to me being around.”
She searched his eyes with hers, then nodded as if she’d made a decision. Pushing up on her tiptoes, she pressed her lips against the side of his face and said huskily, “I’ll see you later.”
Caught off guard by her sudden move, he didn’t respond, and then she was gone.
What have I gotten myself into?
Chapter Six
She shouldn’t have kissed Cole on the cheek, but she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the events that had forged him into the man he was today. She admired him, even as she wished things were different. Because of her father, she’d learned rather painfully how bitterness and the need for revenge could affect others. Cole was clearly on the same road.
Maddie took a strapless black dress, with its fine thread of silver sparkles throughout, off a hanger. She’d bought the dress to wear on the night she was sure her ex-boyfriend Scott was ready to take their relationship to the next level. Instead, he’d told her he’d leveled up with someone else, but hey, it didn’t have to change things between them. He still wanted to date her if she was open to him seeing other women as well.
She’d dumped the over-priced food into his lap to the cheers of the women at the next table who’d overheard and swept from the restaurant. The dress was her decision dress. She’d decided on a no-nonsense approach to dating. No more hopes. No more disappointments.
Which was yet another reason she’d been able to enter into the deal with Cole. With him, she had absolutely nothing at risk. She didn’t hope for more, so she’d never be disappointed. And she couldn’t imagine falling in love with him. He’d never be the right guy, but he’d be a hell of an in-the-meantime one.
She stripped down and shimmied into the dress.
“Maddie?” Dani wheeled to the bedroom door. Her sister had backed out of attending the lantern event. She knew it was because Dani wasn’t up to dealing with the emotional punch it would pack. The one-year anniversary of the accident was coming up, and Dani had mentioned the closer the day drew, the more difficult it was to deal with the grief. She’d offered to stay in tonight, but Dani hadn’t wanted that.
“Cole Mitchell is here,” Dani said.
“I guess without you, we’re going to the park together. As…friends,” Maddie clarified in case her sister started weaving it into something more. She grabbed the curling iron from the dresser and fixed it on a stubborn curl that wanted to poke out.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing. There’s nothing between me and Cole.”
“I don’t mean with him. I meant with Grandpa.” Dani swiped her finger across the face of her phone. “I tried to call to thank him for giving you that check for me, but he’s not answering.”
After Cole had given her the cashier’s check, she’d taken it to her bank, deposited it, and then pulled the money back out with a cashier’s check from her own account. That way Dani wouldn’t know where it came from and wouldn’t ask questions she couldn’t answer. “I’m sure he’s just busy,” Maddie said, shifting uncomfortably at the ruse.
“You’re probably right.” Dani watched Maddie check her makeup. “I’m glad that you’re going out with Cole.”
“Like I said. Friends. So don’t read anything into it,” she said quickly.
“Don’t write them all off just because Scott was a dirtbag of a boyfriend. I worry that once I leave, you’ll go back to spending all your evenings working at the hotel.”
If she only knew…
“There are a lot of perks working there.”
“Like hot naked men surprising you?”
Maddie laughed. “Something like that.”
Sam appeared in the doorway. “I’m hungry.”
“You can have an apple,” Dani said.
“I want cookies.” He rubbed the toe of his sneaker against the doorframe.
“An apple,” Dani said firmly.
“I’ll starve.” Sam pressed a hand against his stomach as if to demonstrate.
“Andrew is coming by to take us out for pizza,” Dani said.
“Yeah! Pizza!” Sam pumped his fist into the air, then just as quickly lowered it, his eyes suspicious when he looked at Maddie. “Where are you going?”
“On a date. Is that okay with you?” she asked.
Sam stared at her, then finally nodded. “As long as he doesn’t rub my hair and call me little man.”
“Yeah, I hate when guys do that to me, too,” she said with a straight face.
Sam rolled his eyes.
Maddie followed her nephew down the hallway to where Cole waited in the living room. He’d changed into a charcoal-gray suit and was studying a collage of photos on the wall. He turned when he heard her behind him.
Sam looked at Cole, his chin thrust out belligerently. “Are you Maddie’s dirtbag boyfriend, Scott?”
“No, I’m not,” Cole said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
“Remind me to tell your mom not to talk about certain things when you might be lurking,” Maddie muttered.
“I have good hearing.” Sammy pointed to his ears. “I’m Batman.”
Maddie transferred some things into a smaller purse. “I thought you were Superman.”
Sam shook his head. “Not today.” He eyed Cole again. “Are you Maddie’s camping friend?”
“I am.”
Maddie quickly bid her family goodbye, then picked up the bag containing the Chinese lanterns and left the apartment with Cole.
He didn’t speak until they were in the elevator. “What happened to your sister?”
“Car accident.” Maddie hated the painful memories that rushed back. “Sammy was hurt, too, and um…my brother-in-law, Brody, was killed.”
“I’m sorry,” h
e said gently. “I didn’t know. I assumed—”
“That my nephew’s father was another deadbeat dad. Nothing could be further from the truth. Brody doted on Sam.”
“Do your sister and nephew live here?”
Maddie shook her head as they walked to his car. “I wish they did. Dani still lives in Butler Field.”
Cole opened the passenger door of a black 911 Porsche convertible and helped her in. After he got behind the wheel and drove away from the apartment building, Maddie asked, “Do you ever go back there?”
“Occasionally, for business.”
“Is your family still in Texas?”
“I have no idea.” His voice had a “keep out” tone to it.
Maddie didn’t know a lot about Cole’s family. She’d never seen his mother, but she’d run into his dad a few times, and the man had always looked worn out as he’d stumbled along the sidewalks.
“What did you do after you got out of juvie?”
“Worked my ass off.”
Maddie sighed. She waited until the car slowed as he prepared to parallel park, then said, “I’m not trying to pry or stir anything up. I’m just trying to get to know you a little better.”
He parked, shut off the engine, and stared out through the windshield at a handful of people heading into the park. She expected him to put up another roadblock, but he asked quietly, “What do you want to know?”
What makes you tick? She was sure he wouldn’t answer that, though. She shifted in the seat to get a better view of his face. “First love?”
“None.”
Shocked, she asked, “You’ve never fallen in love?”
“No, and I have no intention of screwing up my perfect record, either.”
He checked for oncoming traffic, then pushed his door open and stepped out. Maddie joined him. “Don’t you want to fall in love, someday?”
“No, so like I put in the contract, don’t bother auditioning for that role in my life.” He reached into the car to retrieve the bag with the lanterns, then with his hand at the small of her back, led her toward the center of the park where a small crowd had gathered around the man-made lake.
Falling in love with him wasn’t on her to-do list. She’d had one emotionally distant man in her life, and that was enough. Because of the cruelty of her so-called father, she wanted a man who embraced love, not one who ran from it.