Unlike the other two women who had been dressed in classic gowns that like Lauren’s were tasteful while still sexy, this woman had on a dress that barely covered her generous curves. Her makeup was amply applied, making her look like a girl who had gotten into her mother’s makeup.
“Mandy.” Cole said, not getting up or looking at her. In fact his face had turned stormy, the anger clear to her from where she sat.
“Why haven’t you returned any of my phone calls? Is this the reason?” She said, pointing a finger at Lauren.
“I haven’t returned you calls because I have no reason to talk to you.” He said, through clenched teeth.
“Well, that’s no way to treat someone who sacrificed so much for you.” She said, adopting a wounded look.
Cole knew she was just baiting him, but couldn’t resist commenting. “I don’t seem to remember you giving up much for me.”
“You don’t remember forcing me to sit around that horrible house just waiting for you to give me a second of your time? I remember it well.” She said, then turned her attention to Lauren. “I don’t know who you are, but let me warn you, this man cares more about his work than anything else. Well, except his family. Work first then family and if you’re lucky then you might get a little of his time.”
Cole started to reply, but Lauren cut him off. “That’s fine with me, I have plenty of things in my life to keep me from sitting around the house waiting for Cole to entertain me.” Lauren said, flashing Mandy a big smile.
Mandy started to reply, but their main course arrived and she was forced to move away from the table while they were served. “If you’ll excuse us, I’d like to eat my food while it’s still hot. Go back to your table Mandy.” Cole said.
Clearly insulted, Mandy turned on her heel and crossed the room and sat down with her date again, shooting Lauren dirty looks from her table. Lauren took a deep breath suddenly very tired. When Cole had warned her that they might run into an old girlfriend she’d though that it was no big deal, but now having met three of them, she found herself doubting their relationship.
It wasn’t that she needed to be entertained or monopolize his time, but it seemed there was a theme running through all those failed relationships. Cole obviously spent more time at work then he’d led her to believe. For the first time she began to doubt the wisdom of becoming involved with Cole, she was quickly falling in love with him and the last thing she wanted was to be in love with a man who cared more about his work than he did about her.
They finished their meal, making small talk, but the magical feeling had disappeared. She wanted him to explain why they all seemed to have the same complaint about dating Cole, but he was avoiding the topic. Not a good sign, she decided.
In the limo on the way back to their room Cole pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, I knew it might be bad, but I didn’t think it would be that bad. You have to understand that I do work a lot, but those women don’t have much in their life to keep them happy, so they expected me to make them happy. It’s a problem with people who don’t have to work for a living.”
“Well, I certain have no experience with not needing to work. But even if I didn’t, I can’t imagine not having some kind of passion in my life.” Lauren said, glad to finally be getting some kind of an explanation.
“I probably do work too much, but I started that company from nothing, it’s been my life’s work. The thing I discovered is that it’s a bit like a child. The bigger it gets, the more attention it needs and like any parent I feel like I’m the only one who can take care of it.”
“But maybe it’s time to let someone else help you take care of it. When our kids get bigger they go to school and someone else helps raise them. They also learn to solve some problems on their own, don’t tell me you don’t have systems in place to handle issues that come up.”
Cole thought about what she’d said, it made some sense to him, but he wasn’t sure he was capable of letting go of that much control. Lauren interrupted his thoughts, asking, “When was the last time you were away from the shop, and I mean away, no texts, no email, and no phone calls.”
“Umm, I don’t know. Maybe a couple of years ago.” He said, realizing how bad it sounded. “But I do get to travel quite a bit, I’ve been to lots of places around the world.”
“That doesn’t count. You took those trips for business so I bet you were always thinking about the job.” Lauren said.
Cole knew that some of what Lauren had said was right, but he couldn’t admit to himself that his company had become larger than he alone could handle. He was quickly approaching a crossroads in his life and he’d have to choose which path to take. If he ever wanted to have a life outside of work, a wife and family, he’d have no choice but to hand over some of the control.
As much as he wanted that, he wasn’t sure he was ready to relinquish his hold on the company he’d worked so hard to build. But this conversation was quickly beginning to feel like so many he’d had before. He’d though Lauren was different, that she’d understand the passion he felt for his work.
“Cole, maybe I’m not the best person to be giving you advice, after all I live for my work too. But, I do know that up until a few weeks ago my whole life seemed like it was over, but now look where I am. My whole life has changed.” She said, gesturing to the limo they were riding in.
“I don’t understand.” He said.
“Cole do you know how difficult it was for me to see everything I worked so hard for disappear basically overnight. All you have to do is make a choice to share some of the responsibility, you don’t have to give it up. From what I can see you’re a very lucky man.” She said, fighting back tears.
Cole suddenly realized that as happy as they were to have her writing the blog for them, it meant that she wasn’t doing what she really loved, traveling and writing about it. All the anger that had begun to build suddenly disappeared when he realized that he was lucky, it was his choice and his choice alone to work as hard as he had been.
“I’m sorry Lauren, I know you mean well. It’s just that my business is such a big part of my life, sometimes it’s hard to think about letting it go.” He said, pulling her close. “But I am a lucky man and I promise to never forget that.”
Lauren understood that he was talking about more than just his business and felt a warming deep in her chest. “Cole, let me ask you something. Why did you open your business?”
“That’s easy, because I love what I do. Creating gadgets and systems that will help keep people safe. When I was just a kid I read a spy novel that I found in the library. It was full of all these cool gadgets that the spy’s would use to help them beat the bad guy. I started designing after that and never stopped.” He said, looking out the car window at the passing city.
“And how much designing have you been doing lately?” Lauren asked, from what she’d seen he spent most of his time on administrative duties.
“Not much anymore, there’s always so much else to do. The ideas are mine but I always have the team do the actual design work.” Cole said, what she was getting at suddenly becoming clear to him.
They’d arrived at the hotel so Lauren said nothing else. Cole was quiet as well, clearly thinking about what Lauren had said. He really didn’t spend much time doing what he loved best. No one had ever pointed that out before, no one had been perceptive enough to see what the problem really was. He needed to hire someone to run the company, someone he could trust to maintain the high standards he wanted.
Once they were in the room, Cole pulled Lauren into his arms and kissed her. Then he said, “Thank you.”
“I was afraid you might be mad. I’m only trying to help you know.” Lauren said, relived that he didn’t seem mad.
“I know and I appreciate it. I’m going to think about what you said, maybe it’s time to change things a little.” He said, pulling her into the living room and down onto the couch.
&nb
sp; “Well, I’ve had a lot of experience lately with making changes.” Lauren said, laughing. “And I have a feeling that the changes are going to continue.”
“But I hope one thing hasn’t changed.” Cole said, standing up and pulling her to her feet.
He ran his hands down her arms and back up to her shoulders. Lauren shivered a little at his touch and immediately forgot anything but the feeling of his hands caressing her bare skin. Bringing his mouth down on hers, he kissed her until her knees began to go weak, then scooped her up in his arms and walked back to the bedroom.
“I’ve been wanting to get you out of this dress all night. As wonderful as you look in it, I’d much rather have you out of it.” He said, sliding the spaghetti straps down her arms. The dress slid off and landed in a puddle at her feet.
Cole’s eyes widened when he saw that all she wore was a pair of silk thong panties. With a look of pure desire, he tumbled them to the bed and said, “If this is representative of how things are going to change, I’m on board.”
Lauren couldn’t reply because his hand was busy pulling her panties aside so that his finger could delve into her wetness. “Hmm, I think I might like change too.” She finally managed to say.
Chapter 9
When Lauren pulled her truck into the alley behind her apartment, she was surprised to see a group of people waiting for her and Cole. He’d followed her from Seattle, his car packed to the hilt with last minute purchases they’d made on the way out of town. The wicker furniture was in the back of the truck, covered securely with a tarp in case it rained.
Cole had arranged for the delivery truck to arrive the next day, but there was still plenty of stuff to unload today. Lauren hadn’t figured out yet what she was going to do with the furniture but Sadie was standing in the group, bouncing up and down on her toes, clearly impatient to see Lauren’s treasure.
She recognized several faces in the crowd including Cole’s sister. She was suddenly very aware of being the center of attention, not liking it one little bit. Just as she was beginning to panic, Cole came up behind her and took her hand and she relaxed.
“Looks like we have some help.” He said, leading her over to the group.
“Did you set this up?” She asked.
“Nope, my guess would be that Sadie and Rebecca are the planners in this case.”
“Sadie’s probably dying to get her hands on my new living room furniture. She’s crazy about antiques, I’m hoping she’ll know someone who can do the repairs.” Lauren said, as Sadie came forward to meet them.
“Hey, we though you might need some help unloading everything. Where’s the furniture?”
“It’s nice to see you too Sadie and the trip was fine. Thanks for asking.” Lauren said, rolling her eyes at Cole who laughed as Sadie made a bee line for the tarp and started to unhook it.
“Sorry, but you know me. Forget the people, give me antiques any day.” Sadie said, pausing long enough to wave over a couple Lauren didn’t recognize, who immediately came over.
The man put his hand out and said, “I’m Hector and this is my wife, Marlene. We specialize in antique wicker furniture and from what I understand you have quite the find here.”
“Sadie taught me well.” Lauren said, helping to get the tarp off.
When the furniture was finally exposed, there was a gasp from the man and woman. “This is very old, at least from the 1920’s. Cleaned up, it’s going to be worth a lot more than you paid for it. I don’t suppose you’d consider selling it to us, for a profit of course.”
“No, I’m pretty set on keeping it. But will you do the work on it for me?”
“We’d love to, but it’s not going to be cheap.” Hector said, still hoping she’d change her mind.
“Do what you have to, it will be worth it in the end.” Cole said, stepping up to help get the furniture out of Lauren’s truck and into Hector’s.
“Oh, this is going to be fun.” Marlene said. “Lauren what were you thinking about as far as colors?”
“Why don’t you come look at the apartment and help me decide, I’m new to this decorating thing.” Lauren said, heading for the apartment.
Cole watched as Lauren and Marlene climbing the stairs, a smile breaking out across his face. It seemed strange to feel so possessive of Lauren after only such a short time together, but as he watched her he thought, she’s mine for now and forever.
Rebecca was watching her brother and didn’t miss that smile, part of the reason she’d shown up here today was to get a feel for the woman his brother claimed was the one. So far nothing had set off alarm bells, in fact she got good vibes from Lauren. Her choice of taking worn out antiques and making them new again was a good sign. Now she just wanted to see what else Lauren had bought with the company’s money.
“So it looks like you had a good trip. What’s with the old truck, who’d you borrow that from?” She asked, looking closely at Cole.
“That’s Lauren’s. She's got some crazy plans to take it up into the mountains exploring.” He said, shaking his head. “I have a feeling I’m going to be learning to rough it.”
“So that’s how it is.”
“Yep, and I think you’re going to like her. She’s very different from the women I’ve been dating.” He said, pulling her up the stairs and into the apartment.
Hours later, the wicker furniture was on its way for a major makeover, everything had been unloaded out of Cole’s car and piled in the apartment. Lauren looked around her, dismayed at the mess, knowing that tomorrow it would be even worse.
It helped that they’d have the same group of helpers as today and the promise of more, but it would be a lot of work to get everything unpacked and in place. The piles would get bigger, but at least she wouldn’t have to face them alone. Cole came out of her bedroom, having just put the last pile of packages there.
“I notice you don’t have a bed yet. Do you want to come spend the night at my house?” Cole said, pulling her into his arms.
“I guess that would be okay.” Lauren said, feeling a little awkward, it was one thing to share a bed when they were out of town, an entirely different matter to stay with him in Prospect.
“You don’t sound very excited by the idea.” Cole said, looking into her eyes.
“It’s just that we’ve only know each other for so little time, I sometimes wonder if things are moving too fast.” She said, then added, “Not that I haven’t enjoyed our time together. Besides, I hate being the subject of gossip, and staying at your house will certainly make people talk.”
“Well, I hate to tell you this but people are already talking, have you forgotten what it’s like living in a small town? As to moving too fast, there’s plenty of room at my house, you can have your own bedroom. I can’t promise I won’t sleep walk though.”
Lauren knew when she’d been beat, “Fine, I’ll come stay at your house. There’s nothing to stop me since as you said the whole town probably already knows we’re sleeping together.” She said, blushing when the words came out of her mouth.
“It’s really cute when you blush like that.” Cole said, kissing her to remind her what lay in store for her later that night.
*****
Cole’s house was nothing like Lauren expected it to be, it wasn’t a huge mansion. In fact it was an old farmhouse that he’d lovingly restored to its former glory. The grounds were beautifully cared for and rivaled the house in their beauty. Lauren’s favorite room was the sun porch that offered a wonderful view of the mountains.
Cole took her to one of the bedrooms that he said would be hers for as long as she needed it, her bed wouldn’t arrive for another few days. It was located on the East side of the house with a view of the mountains. All the bedrooms were on the second floor, spaced along a corridor that ran the length of the house, but this one was of the larger rooms.
She was happy to see that his bedroom was directly across for hers, something she knew he’d done on purpos
e. “My sister’s room is at the end of the hall, but she won’t bother us.”
“Your sister lives here with you?” Lauren asked, surprised.
“Well, when we sold our parent’s house I asked her to move in here. It just made sense at the time. This is a huge house for just me, it’s not like I need six bedrooms. The truth is, we see more of each other at work than we do at home.”
“I think it’s nice that you’re all so close.” Lauren said, wishing for the first time in a long time that she wasn’t alone in the world.
“I’m glad you’re here, this house has seen a lot of happiness in its time and I think it’s going to see some more.” Cole said, pulling her over to the bed.
“Cole are you sure this is a good idea?”
“I think it’s an excellent idea. You just have to trust me on this.” He said, his words taking on a deeper meaning when she saw the look in his eyes.
It struck Lauren like a bolt of lightning that she did trust him, she trusted him more than she wanted to, but it was already too late to stop what was happening. Maybe it would be okay, maybe not, but she was invested now and would see this through to the end. An end that would hopefully be far in the future.
Lauren sat down on the bed and pulled Cole down next to her. She took his face in both of her hands and looked into his eyes before leaning in and kissing him. She kissed him until Cole was groaning with the effort to not take over, then said, “I trust you.”
*****
By the end of the next week, Lauren’s apartment was as put together as it would ever be. With all the help she’d had, including a lot of decorating advice from both Sadie and Rebecca, as well as another quick trip to Seattle, the apartment was ready. The only thing missing was the wicker furniture, which would be finished in just a few days.
With Beth’s help, she’d put together a video showing the apartment coming together piece by piece. Lauren had to admit that it was fun to watch the process at high speed, it made it look a lot easier than it had been. But she was over joyed at the final result, including the huge king sized bed, she indulged in.
An Unconditional Love (BWWM Romance Book 1) Page 9