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Bridget speaks softly, low enough that only I can hear her. “Whatever's going on between you and Cole, don’t get sucked into the toxic dynamic between him and his dad. Those old wounds bring out the worst in Cole.” She catches my eye. “But what do I know? Maybe he’s ready to finally stop poking at them.”
“Maybe,” I say.
Apparently, she doesn’t knowwhyCole and I are faking an engagement.
“Time to go, Kiera,” Bridget calls. Kiera does one last flip, hugs Cole, and runs over to Bridget.
Bridget helps Kiera tie her shoes as Cole ambles over to us.
“I see you two met each other,” Cole says, but his eyes are on me as he says it. Like he cares a lot more about what Bridget might have said to me, then I what I might have said to her.
Cole and Bridget make small talk for a few more minutes, confirming Kiera’s schedule for the upcoming week.
Watching the two of them together is like watching distant family members who only see each other a few times a year. There’s some affection there, but any chemistry or romantic interest they shared is long gone.
They summon the elevator. Cole kisses Kiera on the top of her head. “Love you, bug.”
“Love you, too,” Kiera says. And then she’s skipping onto the elevator, babbling to Bridget about the new dinosaur book she checked out from the school library.
The door closes behind them, leaving me alone with Cole.
Without the buffer of a cute, curious kid, I’m hyper aware of everything about Cole. The gray T-shirt stretched tight across his shoulders. The dark jeans that look even better on him than his normal designer suit. He must not have shaved today, because there’s dark stubble along his jaw.
It should all make him look morenormal.Instead, he looks sinfully sexy.
I think of my dream about him bending me over the desk, and blush.
“So,” I croak. “Um. Show me around?”
“Sure,” Cole says. He lifts my suitcase like it weighs nothing. “You already saw Kiera’s room. I’m that way, in the master suite.” He points past the living room to another hallway I didn’t even notice.
He starts climbing the stairs. “You’ll be upstairs, just off the kitchen.”
The upstairs features an ornate dining room, and another sitting room. This one’s surrounded by giant windows that look out over the Manhattan skyline. I can see the Empire State Building, sparkling against the twilight sky.
Cole takes me in the opposite direction, through a surprisingly cozy kitchen that feels like something out of a French chateau, and into a smaller room with a bathroom attached. The walls are painted a light green sage, and the furniture is light, fluffy, and white.
It all looks incredibly soothing.
“You said there was a mini fridge?” I tease.
He opens something I thought was a dark wood cabinet to reveal a discreet mini fridge. Then he opens another cabinet door to reveal a flat screen TV I can watch from my bed.
I kick off my shoes and flop back on my bed. It might be the softest thing I’ve ever felt.
“I may never leave this room,” I say.
“Unfortunately, you’re going to have to,” Cole says. “It’s time for you to earn your keep.”
“What do you mean?” I sit up, having visions of Cole sending me to wash a mound of dishes, or whatever else Cinderella had to do when she moved in with the prince.
“We have dinner with my dad in about...” He checks his watch, “forty-five minutes.”
“What?” I yelp.
I knew something like this was coming. But I didn’t expect it to come so fast. “Shouldn’t we warm up with an easier audience?” I say. “Maybe dinner with a neighbor you don’t care about?”
Cole ignores my nerves. “I didn’t know what you packed, so I had my mother’s personal shopper select some outfits. They’re in your closet. Oh! That reminds me.”
