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Lucy puts up her hands. “Hey, now. Savannah didn’t have to force me. I brought Charlie here because it sounded fun.”
I suck in a breath, and smile brightly. “And as you can see, Charlie’s having the time of his life. He’s finding out early that he loves the stage.”
“If you are expecting me to say thanks for including him, you can forget it. There’s a reason why I want him to play outside instead of playing pretend. His mom is an actress. Or she was. She had a recurring role on a daytime soap opera.”
“I’m afraid I’m not seeing the problem.” I have to work to maintain my smile.
“His mom loves the attention. But she’s also vain, and vapid, and she failed all her school classes that didn’t revolve around acting. I want Charlie to grow up knowing how to balance an equation, read more than gossip websites, and name all the planets in the solar system. His mom can’t do any of that. I want him to thrive even when the spotlight isn’t on him.”
“You can act and still do all those things, Cole. But to be fair, I didn’t know that there was an actor in the family.” I scrunch up my face. “Somehow, I don’t think you’ll let him get away with that kind of behavior. And the kid clearly loves playing pretend, Cole.”
His jaw clenches. “You don’t make decisions for my family.”
“I’m not trying to. Not one, but two of your sisters are sitting in the auditorium right now. I just sent out a mass text and invited them to come.”
That’s not the entire truth, per se. But it’s all Cole really needs to know.
He pushes out his cheek with his tongue and looks exasperated. “When we get to the car, I will have a word with them. Be sure of that.”
I smile at the threat in his tone. Somehow, I don’t think that either of his sisters will be fazed.
He continues to glower at me, but his gaze wanders down to the little bit of skin I’m showing at my cleavage. He yanks his gaze away, but it’s too late.
I saw Cole looking.
Apparently, the two hours I spent picking out this short dress with pink hearts in anticipation of this moment was time well spent.
Not that I’m into Cole. Not at all.
But it’s nice to be appreciated, nonetheless. Tossing my hair, I toy with a strand and give him a flirtatious smile.
“I don’t suppose you saw the CSAT post about the two of us this morning?”
Whoever CSAT is, they managed to get a great picture of me and Cole at the Red Rice Revel. I’m standing by the jelly booth, clutching Cole’s arm and looking at him with a seemingly adoring gaze. It’s so dumb that someone thinks by shipping us like we’re anime characters, they will convince us that we want each other.
Because we do not.
Cole clenches his teeth. “No, I haven’t seen the post. And I don’t want you to show me, either.”
I shrug innocently. “Sure.”
“Listen, about us working together–.”
I cut him off. “I’ve had a thought about that. I know that you like this building’s footprint for the hotel. But I was thinking that I could put together a packet of alternate sites. There are a few that you haven’t even laid eyes on yet.”
This gets his attention. “Oh?”
“Mhm. If you haven’t at least looked at all the locations, how will you know that you’ve chosen the best one?”
I’m trying to appeal to the practical side of Cole Bennett.
And unsurprisingly, it works.
He nods slowly, then agrees.
“All right. I’ll look at all the properties first.” He gives me a hard stare. “But if I don’t like what I see, you’ll have to sit back and let me make inquiries about buying this property.”
I lift a shoulder and give Cole a coy smile.
