by Kira Archer
“Sure.” He smiled, though it must not have reached his eyes, because she didn’t buy it. But he didn’t want to start an issue where there probably wasn’t one by telling her he didn’t find that comment remotely funny. He’d been used enough in the past by women who didn’t see him. What he had to offer. Who only saw his bank account. She knew that.
He took a deep breath and let it out. Being overly sensitive to something that wasn’t her fault wasn’t fair to her. She seemed to genuinely care for him. But it was hard to get over years’ worth of relationship issues. Impossible probably in just one weekend.
How could he ever know if she was sincere?
“I’m going to go freshen up,” she said, giving him a quick kiss.
He caught her and pulled her back for another one. “Hurry back.”
She bounced out of bed, and he smiled after her. Whatever their issues, he was sure they could work them out. The alternative wasn’t something he wanted to contemplate. His phone beeped. Voicemail.
Cole sighed. It was never ending. He got up and went to his briefcase, flipping through a few papers that he needed to send off before they got back. In the back of his case was a copy of the mock-up prenup he’d shown to his last girlfriend, stating she would get nothing, no matter the cause of marriage dissolution. He pulled it out, looked it over, and imagined giving it to Kiersten.
He knew how she’d react. The same way anyone would react. It was designed to protect his interests and his alone, and he’d never give it to Kiersten. No matter what happened between them.
He hadn’t realized it until that moment, until the image of her storming out for good trampled through his brain. He didn’t care if she was only in it for the money. She could have it all. If it made her happy, he’d give it to her, gladly. He didn’t trust her completely yet, but he no longer cared. He wanted to be with her, whether it was for a day or twenty years. He’d take her as long as he could have her. Whatever the cost. She was priceless.
He crumpled the paper up and threw it into the fire. He took a deep breath while he watched it burn, taking all his inhibitions with it. It had been a long time since he’d felt so free. Maybe he’d join Kiersten in the bath. He hadn’t been able to join her the last time he’d caught her in the tub. Definitely time to remedy that.
He walked around the table and tripped over Kiersten’s satchel, scattering several papers.
“Shit,” he muttered, bending to pick them up.
Lawyer contracts? Was she having legal problems? He knew it was none of his business, but if he could help… He took a quick glance through the paperwork, his eyes growing wider with every word. What. The. Fuck.
“Cole, I’ve got the tub filled…” Kiersten said, popping her head out of the bathroom door. She stopped short when she saw what he was reading. “What are you doing?”
“I tripped over your bag and the papers fell out. Sorry. I saw they were from a lawyer and thought maybe I could help. Kiersten…” he said, holding them up with a huge grin. “You won the fucking lottery?”
She came toward him and took the papers, sliding them back into the manila envelope and putting them back in her bag. “Yes. With Izzy and Cass.”
He ran his hands down her arms from behind and wrapped his arms around her waist, giving her a squeeze. “That is incredible. Ah. So this is why you were leaving me.”
She turned and pulled away from him. “I won’t really need to work anymore.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. He could guess the answer. He drew her into his arms again. “Well, I guess we’re on more even footing than I thought. Not that it mattered to me. I’d already decided I wanted you regardless. Wanted this. Us.” He kissed her forehead. “But I guess it does give me some peace of mind that you aren’t with me just for my money.”
He smiled down at her, but she pulled away again. “You think I’d do that? Only be with you because you’re rich?”
He frowned slightly, not liking where this was going. “No, but it’s been an issue with other women…”
“I’m not other women, Cole. I thought you knew me better than that.”
His frown deepened. “I said that it didn’t matter to me. Whether you have money or not doesn’t have any relevance here.”
“I guess the timing seems a little odd, because you weren’t talking about anything lasting past this weekend until after you found out about the money. So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t quite believe that you would have been offering a relationship if you hadn’t just found out I’d won the lotto.”
Cole’s eyes narrowed, anger burning away the happiness he’d never thought he’d find. Maybe he hadn’t found it after all. “No. I’m not sure I can forgive that. I’ve told you that it doesn’t matter, that I’d made my decision before I found out. You should trust that I’m telling you the truth. In fact, you should have trusted me with this in the first place,” he said, pointing at her bag. “Instead of telling me and quitting your job like a normal person, you decided to carry out some weird revenge plot against me. I’ll admit, I was amused by it. But now…even if you were set on revenge, why didn’t you tell me after things had changed between us?”
“I would have told you,” she said, folding her arms. “But it’s not like I’ve really had a chance. You whisked me off onto a plane and brought me here, and we’ve been a bit…occupied since then. What should I have done? Rolled over right after we made love and said, oh hey, by the way, I won the lotto?”
“You should have—”
His phone rang again, and he closed his eyes with a groan. “Goddamn it.” He grabbed his phone, frowning when he saw the caller ID. “I have to take this.”
She threw her hands up and turned to go back to the bathroom.
“Just…hang on,” he said, not wanting her to storm off. But he had to take this call.
She plopped into a chair and crossed her legs, the movement causing her robe to fall open. The sight of her bare legs, her foot bouncing in agitation, was almost enough to make him chuck the phone through the window so he could drag her back to bed and make love to her until all their petty squabbles meant nothing.
But it was his party planner. It must be about Piper’s House. He had to take it. He answered it. “Yeah,” he said, forgoing his usual greeting, which was probably just as well, because on the other end of the line was his extremely agitated party planner, insisting that the permits she’d been waiting on for the opening night gala for Piper’s House had somehow never been filed.
“Calm down,” he said, yanking on some pants. “What do you mean the permits aren’t there? I had all the paperwork drawn up and signed and had them sent over…” His gaze met Kiersten’s and his voice trailed off. “Calm down,” he said again, his eyes never leaving hers. “I’ll get it handled. You keep getting everything ready. I’ll get this cleared up.”
He hung up and stared at Kiersten. “Did you do this?”
“Do what?”
“Some paperwork for one of my projects never made it to the permit office. Piper’s House. I put them on your desk to send over to Legal. They were urgent. Apparently, they never made it in, and now the opening is at a standstill until we can get everything ironed out. What happened to them?”
She frowned. “I’m not sure.”
“What do you mean, you’re not sure? You are the most efficient, competent person I know. Or at least you used to be. This is inexcusable.”
She glared at him. “I’m sorry, sir. But I’m sure we can get the permits handled in time for your party. I doubt it’ll be delayed. And if it is, I’m sure whoever Piper is can wait a couple of weeks to throw a party for her new house.”
Cole stared at her, his brain taking a second to realize what she’d said. She didn’t know what Piper’s House was.
“You think I’m throwing a housewarming party for some old girlfriend? Did you even read
the papers before you decided to send them off into no-man’s-land?”
She started to shake her head and then stopped, like she suddenly remembered something. Or decided to confess. “Oh my God. I…I didn’t purposely do anything, I swear. And no, I didn’t have time to read the papers because you interrupted me. It’s called Piper’s House. What else would it be?”
He rubbed his hand over his face. “It really shouldn’t matter what it is. Fucking hell,” he said, turning to pace to the opposite side of the room and back. “Damn it, Kiersten. I can’t believe you took it that far. I know you’ve had your little vendetta against me going on, but I didn’t think you’d purposely sabotage a project. People’s jobs are on the line. Invitations have already gone out.”
She was already shaking her head. “This wasn’t part of some vendetta. It was a stupid, but unintentional, accident. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“Well, intentional or not, whatever you did with those forms means all my guests will be standing in the parking lot until the permits clear instead of being lodged in their rooms, which those forms would have taken care of. We have a tight schedule. The date for the welcoming party has already been set and people have been notified. Some of them have had to make extensive arrangements. Those permits must be filed. What did you do with those papers?”
“I didn’t do anything with them.”
“It had to have been you. I had the paperwork drawn up, ready to go, they just needed to be mailed out. I put them right on top of the pile with all the interoffice mail so you’d be sure to see it.”
“I did see them,” she said, her face contorting like guilt was swimming through her. “Look, I didn’t mean for anything to happen to them. I had them in my hand and then you came in the office and I put them down on the stack. Whoever picked up the mail must have picked them up also.”
“Yes, well from what I heard, that paperwork went a little haywire.”
She sighed. “Yeah. Look, I thought it might be a little funny to send a few memos and files to the wrong recipients. I didn’t see anything that was urgent, nothing that would get completely messed up if something went wrong. I was trying to be a nuisance, not cause any actual problems. I had started looking through those papers when you came in and put them in the pile with the rest. I didn’t purposely send them bouncing all over the office.”
“Maybe not, but you had important papers in your hand and it didn’t occur to you after we were done talking to get back and make sure you have them?”
“Sure, it would have if I’d known they were important. I’d looked at them for maybe ten seconds before you came in and wanted me to plan your poker retreat.”
“So, you got so busy ruining an important weekend for me that you failed to file even more important project papers?”
“Important weekend? Are you serious? Four rich playboys going off to lie around and play poker all weekend? Give me a break. It’s not like you’re curing cancer or anything. Although, with the combined bank accounts of the four of you, you probably could. But by all means, spending your time getting drunk and trading your money back and forth sounds like a much worthier use of your time. And ruined is a bit strong. You helped some good people build a schoolhouse for their children and got some fresh air. I don’t think any permanent damage was done. Regardless, with respect to the project, it was a complete accident.”
Cole breathed deep, trying to control his temper. This weekend had turned out so perfect. But nothing was ever perfect. He should have known it would never last. “Even if it was, it doesn’t change that fact that we’ll be delayed weeks now until everything gets sorted. Delays are unacceptable.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Looks like he wasn’t the only one trying not to let the situation devolve into a shouting match. “Cole, I’m sorry, I truly am. I will do whatever I can to make sure the permits are found and filed as quickly as possible. But is this worth getting this upset over?” she asked, her voice getting that tone that she got when she was truly pissed. Well, he definitely knew that feeling.
“Are you serious? Is it worth getting upset over? Of course it is. No matter what kind of project it is, it would be important to me, and because of you the whole thing is in jeopardy. But this project…this one especially has my heart.”
She jerked back like he’d struck her, an expression of hurt she couldn’t quite hide creasing the corners of her eyes. “Well, that would have been nice to know before this weekend. If this Piper is so important to you, what the hell are you doing here with me?” The pain in her voice tempered his anger. He didn’t want to hurt her, but she had no idea what she’d done. He didn’t know how much longer he could keep his rapidly fraying emotions in check.
“Piper,” he said, trying to keep his voice low and even, “was my sister. She died a few years ago, from scleroderma, a miserable disease that has no cure and wreaks painful havoc on your body. Piper’s House…” He had to clench his jaw to keep the emotion from seeping into his voice. “Piper’s House is for people like her. A place for them to get treatment. A retreat. Invitations for the opening gala have already gone out. It was planned with plenty of time to have everything ready to go, and the first group of patients will be on their way in a matter of days. But now…”
Kiersten stared back at him, her face stricken, eyes wide and shiny. “Oh, Cole, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know about your sister.”
He turned his back. He didn’t talk about his sister for a reason.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the party? I always plan this stuff for you, or at least consult with the party planner on it.”
“I wanted to do it myself this time…” He stopped and cleared his throat. “I wanted it to be perfect. I knew what Piper would have liked, and I did entrust the most important part to you. Something I hesitated on with all your odd behavior. But even with your obvious attempts to get fired, you never messed with my clients. I assumed I could trust you with this. Apparently, I was wrong.”
She flinched. And then she walked over to the closet and went inside, coming back out a few moments later in fresh clothes, her shoes in her hands. She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled them on.
“What are you doing?” he asked. He was still pissed, but he didn’t want her leaving with things between them the way they were. Then again, he had no idea what else to say at that moment. He was still far too angry over the current fiasco to have a reasonable conversation about it. Maybe it was better if they tabled things for later.
“I’m going back to the office. There are only a few places those papers could be. It’ll be faster locating them if I just go myself.”
“It won’t matter. The permit offices are closed, and they have to be filed a week in advance.”
“I’ll fix it.”
“Kiersten…”
She held up her hand. “You don’t need to say anything.” She grabbed her phone from the bedside table and slipped it into her pocket. She paused for a second then looked up at him. “I truly am sorry, Cole. I know I’ve been a little…unreliable lately. But I wouldn’t have purposely sabotaged your project, no matter what it was. I hope you know that.”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t know that. The only thing he did know was that a few minutes ago his life had been perfect. He’d actually thought he had a shot at a real relationship with the woman of his dreams. And true to form, it had gotten screwed all to hell.
The door closed quietly and he let his head hang. It didn’t matter anyway.
She was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kiersten moved a stack of manila envelopes out of the way and started on another bin. The sheer number of them that were left to go through was daunting, but there was no way in hell she was going to give up until she found those permits.
She yawned, her jaw cracking with the force of it. She’d gotten one of the chateau staff to drive her to the airport, where she’d been able to catch a last-minute flight home. She h
ad no idea if, when, or how Cole had gotten home.
Cass shoved her stack aside and stretched her back. “Kiers, it’s five in the morning. We’ve been looking all night. I hate to say it, but…”
“Don’t even,” she said, grabbing another stack to flip through. “We are finding those damn papers.”
“How do you know they are even down here?”
“I checked all the departments they could have gone to. Nowhere. They’ve got to still be in here. I didn’t put them in an envelope, so either they are floating around or got shoved in another envelope. So keep looking for anything that came from Cole’s office. They’ve got to be here somewhere.”
“Wait!” Izzy’s head popped up from behind the stacks she had going on the mail room floor. “I got ’em!”
Kiersten jumped up and rushed over, grabbing them from Izzy’s hand. She did a quick flip through. “Yes!” She grabbed Izzy’s face and planted a kiss full on her lips. “I so owe you one.”
Izzy laughed and pushed her away. “Well, now you’ve got them, what are you going to do with them?”
“I’m going to walk them down to the permit office and sit there until their doors open so I can be first in line. And I’m not leaving until everything is completely ready to go.”
“Then what?” Cass asked.
“Then I’m going to make sure the opening gala goes off without a hitch.”
“And then?” Izzy asked.
Kiersten sighed. “I’m going to walk away, claim my money. Get the hell out of this town. Maybe travel around the world. Anything that’s far away from this place. And him.”
Her friends exchanged a glance, but she wasn’t in the mood to discuss it.
“Thank you for helping me find them,” she said, waving the papers a little.
“Our pleasure,” Cass said, though her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.
Kiersten took the papers and gathered her things, leaving without saying anything else. She knew her friends worried, but she couldn’t talk about what she didn’t understand, either. For a moment, all had been right in her world. Cole was aggravating, infuriating. Sexy as hell. And so much a part of her life she didn’t know what to do with it without him there.