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“Don’t hang up,” he interrupted, sounding angry. “Where are you?”
I stopped walking. “Hold on.” I found an empty room off the hall, a study lined with books and leather chairs, and closed the door behind me. “What do you want?”
“I want to know where you are.”
“In Wyoming. At a resort with James and Audrey.” My mouth was dry, my head pounding.
“I meantwhereat the resort,” Lewis spat.
I looked around, suddenly afraid that he would jump out at me. “Why?”
“Because I have a deal that’s falling apart. My son isn’t answering his phone, and he’s on a very short leash.” He paused. “I’m rethinking our agreement. Cole hasn’t been as responsive asI’d hoped. You were supposed to help me, but you’re only being a distraction.”
“What do you mean? We went away for a couple of days, that’s all. He’s not avoiding you. I already told you about that whole conversation between him and Ramos,” I said. More than anything, I wanted to protect Cole.
“I don’t need you speaking on my son’s behalf,” Lewis seethed. “That’s not part of our agreement. I need you to get him to help me, Jennifer. I have a significant client who is about to bail on our business arrangement if Cole doesn’t come through for me this morning. So you will guide him, or I will lend your aunt my helicopter and drop her off in Wyoming at your resort.
“I know she went to see you at Fifty Liberty,” he continued. “That was also outside of our agreement. You are bringing trash into my son’s life, Jennifer. That’s not allowed. I can see I’ve made a mistake by letting you return.”
“What do you want for me? I don’t even know anything about Cole’s business. I can’t make him do anything for you,” I sputtered. “This isn’t fair. You said I could come back, and you might ask me for information. Here’s the information: my aunt showed up and surprised me, and it wasn’t a welcome surprise. You asked me to listen in on Cole’s call and tell you what he said, and I did. And then we went on this trip. There’s nothing else going on, and there’s nothing I can do.”
“That’s not true,” Cole’s father said. “I want you to tell my son to help me. Tell him you’ve been thinking about it, and you’re worried you’re distracting him from his work. Say something, anything, to get him to focus on this. I don’t care if he has to pay Ramos off; I’ll fix it all later. I need my approvals today. Otherwise, all hell is going to break loose.”
He hung up.
Fuck.I stared at the walls of the library, unseeing. I felt trapped. I didn’t know what Cole’s father would do to me if Iignored him—aside from sending Auntie Theresa to Wyoming to ruin my life. He might have some other tricks up his sleeve, too.
I shot Audrey a quick text.I had to run back to the room. Meet you at the stables, okay?
I ran for my suite.
And although I had no idea what I would do once I got there, I felt like I might be running for my life.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
cole
“Babe.”Jenny was nudging me. “Babe, wake up. You need to get ready to go fly-fishing.”
I opened one eye and stared at her. “Aren’t you supposed to be riding a horse and petting a buffalo or something?”
“Yeah, I’m meeting Audrey in a minute.” She sank onto the bed next to me. “But I got to thinking, so I came back to the suite. I was feeling guilty.”
My other eye snapped open. “Guilty about what?”
“About you taking me on vacation and missing work.” She tossed her curls and smiled at me. “You’ve been too good to me, Cole. I don’t want you to resent me because you’ve taken another trip.”
“It’s fine. And I appreciate the concern, but…” I sat up, confused. “Where is this coming from? I thought you were all excited about the horses and the buffalo. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“I woke up thinking about it,” Jenny said. “We had so much fun yesterday that I almost forgot you were supposed to work on your deal.”
“Me too.” I grinned at her.
“But then I remembered yesterday,” she continued. “When we got to the airport, you seemed upset, so I was just concerned. Is everything okay?”
“Of course, everything’s okay. Why wouldn’t it be?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I was just worried.” She sat there, an atypical frown on her face. A little crease appeared between her eyes. “I don’t want you to get behind, is all. I feel guilty that I’m taking you away from your business.”
