AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Nineteen
Sophie
“Hey, sleeping beauty, time to wake up.”
Feeling lost for a moment, I looked up to sense wetness on the side of my face. Cole’s deep root beer eyes looked so captivating. “You’re drinkable,” my voice was phasing as I felt drunk.
He smiled, and his cheeks went a shade of pink. My hand reached up to touch his face, and he inclined into it. My hand cupped his jawline, and he leaned forward within inches of me. After a few blinks I started coming back to reality, he softly whispered, “You’re drooling.” Embarrassed, I darted up my head and quickly dabbed off my face. After eighteen hours, the landing gear opened, and I was so happy to be on the ground again and able to use my phone but most of all get off that dreadful plane.
Cole didn’t say much the entire trip and made friends with the local guy sitting next to him. They both checked in on me while I was passed out. Getting up from my seat, Cole helped me up and, without missing a beat, turned to the beautiful flight attendant. “Thank you for your service.” He kissed her hand and followed behind me.
My feet hit the tarmac, and the air felt amazing. It was a crisp seventy-two degrees with sunshine, the perfect weather. Cole attempted to grab my bag, but I wouldn’t let him. Finally, we made it past all of the people and into the car park in which a dark green jeep wrangler was flicking its lights. He put the top down as I waited. Meanwhile, I typed out a quick message to Miles that I landed safely. Cole put his bag in the back seat and leaned on the door.
“Are you here or not?” His tone was flat, almost mean.
“Do you not see me standing here?” I snapped back.
He shook his head, pissed off, and walked around to grab my bag. Snatching it back, he didn’t let go, and it turned into a full-on ‘tug of war’ in the middle of the parking lot.
“Let go of my bag,” I yelled as I pulled as hard as I could on the handle.
“No, you went from Billionaire Babe to Billionaire… Bitch.”
“You’re a lying cheat, and I want nothing more than to…” Before I could finish my sentence, we both fell on the ground, my bag busting open, and clothes flying around in every direction.
“Oh F…” I yelled as I went to stand up, and saw Cole lying in the parking lot roaring with laughter. A wad of pink panties landed on his chest. Horrified, I started picking up the items that flew out.
“Stop laughing and help.” I snapped at him.
This was the worst trip I had ever been on. He continued to laugh as he sat there on concrete, picking up items around his area. Without notion, my body started to shake, and anger turned quickly. “That’s it. This is done.”
His grin disappeared. I was embarrassed and I didn’t want to be there. Every emotion ripped through me as I held the random clothes in my arms and started to call Jessica.
Before the first ring, Cole’s large, warm hands embraced mine and he ripped the phone from my hands. “Look at me,” he said softly. I didn’t comply, mostly because I didn’t want him to see me emotional. “Soph.”
My eyes widened, “don’t fucking call me that.”
He paused tilting his head to face mine. His eyes could read me. “Listen, I’m sorry this didn’t start out great. I didn’t bring you here to sleep with you, lie, or cheat. My family is awesome, and I thought it would be nice to give you a chance to meet people who didn’t see you for power or money. They truly see people for people.”
My face warmed, and I was captivated by every word. My eyes were welled with tears, my cheeks a deep shade of pink, when I finally saw some sense and sighed, “I’m sorry, the past few weeks, I have been going crazy. I’m typically very emotionally put together, but something has been a bit off.”
He smiled at me and turned to finish collecting my items. Bending down to help, he opened another bag from the trunk of the jeep and placed my clothes in it.
“Whose Jeep is this?” I asked as he helped me in the passenger side.
He closed the door and jumped in the driver’s seat. “It’s my brother’s. He’s a pilot, and Mom picked him up yesterday, so he didn’t have to make the trip.”
Failing to remember our conversation in the cabin as I asked “Your brother is a pilot?”
“Yeah, does that shock you?”
“No, you just seem so carefree and go with the flow. I can’t imagine anyone in your family having structure.”
He let out a laugh and started the Jeep. Immediately I checked my calendar, canceled my meetings, put an out-of-office email, and looked through some of my text. After a few hours passed, I lost service and started looking out at the amazing coastline. The top was down, and my hair was in a mess, but it felt amazing. Cole was gleaming with excitement, and I could tell that this place made him feel at home. The Jeep turned onto a back road. After a few minutes, a ranch home with a wraparound porch and flowers blooming everywhere appeared. The driveway was circular, and it already had a few cars in it.
“Homecoming party?” I probed.
Cole opened my door replying flippantly, “No, just a typical Tuesday.”
