Risking the Crown

by Violet Paige

  “Are you going to give me a private fashion show later?” His eyes were all mischief.

  I stepped closer to him, reveling in the heat building between us. “Maybe.” I winked before ducking under his arm and into my room.

  “I left a cup of coffee for you on the desk,” Cole called through the door. “See ya.”

  “Thanks.” I hugged the bags against me.

  I had been nervous about seeing him after the night we spent together. This was my first official fling and I didn’t know how we were supposed to act around each other. The whole point of a fling is not having to think about it, but there was no way I would stop thinking about the line Cole and I had crossed.

  It had been at least six hours since Cole had dropped off coffee in my room. I had worked straight through lunch and my stomach was growling. I stretched my legs and reached my fingertips toward the ceiling, easing the cramp that had started to form in my right shoulder.

  There were twenty-four rooms at the Dune Scape, and there were twenty-two pending reservations that all started this weekend. I had placed calls to all twenty-two of them and confirmed each one was planning on a three o’clock check-in Friday. Cole needed the reservations, but I wasn’t sure the Dune would be ready or that he could handle the onslaught of visitors.

  The receipts had all been tallied, and I made a spreadsheet with the past two years’ expenses along with a projected forecast for the rest of this year. I was impressed that my applied business skills were coming in handy.

  I heard the familiar ring of my phone, and smiled when I saw Mary Ellen’s picture flash on the screen. “Hey.”

  “Hey, girl, you haven’t called to give me the scoop,” Mary Ellen shouted into the phone. It was doubtful she was alone. “Are you ok?”

  “I know. I know. It’s just been so crazy here. How are things in Myrtle Beach?” I leaned back in the office chair, happy to have a break from the numbers.

  “Awesome. There is a swim-up bar. You should see it.”

  “Sounds cool.” I looked at the freshly printed spreadsheet. Mary Ellen and I could not be having more opposite types of spring breaks.

  “Ok, so are you going to tell me about what’s going on with Cole?”

  I spotted Cole walking across the parking lot toward the office. “I can’t. He’s on his way in. I’ll call you later—promise.”

  She sighed. “All right, but I want to know what’s going on with you. I miss you.”

  “I miss you too. We can talk later when he’s not around. Ok?”

  “Ok, but you better call.” Mary Ellen sounded like she was pouting.

  “I will. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  I slid the phone in my back pocket as Cole entered the room. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to share my Cole story with Mary Ellen. I told her absolutely everything, but my North Carolina life seemed so far away right now. How could I explain Cole to her? In only five days, I felt like I had a whole new life, with new friends and the man I’d always crushed on.

  I adjusted the new tank top I had bought this morning at Tassels, and brushed my bangs to the side. It would be nice to go to lunch together at Peabody’s. I was willing to risk Hank’s nosey questions to have a few minutes with Cole.

  “Damn it,” he muttered. The doorknob had broken off in his hand.

  “Too bad there’s not someone around here who could fix that,” I joked. I walked around the side of the desk to greet him with a kiss.

  He threw the metal handle in a nearby trash can. “I have to run to the mainland for more supplies. I’ll be back later.” He brushed past me, grabbed a clipboard from behind my shoulder, and slammed the door behind him.

  What just happened? I shook my head and fumbled with the doorknob to follow Cole. Something was bothering him—that I could tell. As annoyed as I was, I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to figure out what was upsetting him. Maybe he just needed to talk about it. I chased him down the sidewalk. He was several paces ahead of me.

  “You want me to go with you? I can ride with, help you load up the cart? Maybe we could grab lunch. I’m starving.” I smiled, trying to sort through his mood and find the guy who had flirted with me this morning about a sneak peek fashion show.

  Cole didn’t slow down. He climbed into his truck and started the ignition. “No, I don’t have time to play around, Kaitlyn. Just go to the beach or pool or something.” He slammed the door, and I stared in disbelief as he careened the truck onto Gulf Boulevard.

  “That little shit,” I uttered the words into the Padre breeze.

  I stormed into the office, banging the door behind me. My beautifully color-coordinated spreadsheets stared me in the face. I had just spent six hours organizing his numbers and making forecasts, and he treated me like that. He couldn’t spare thirty seconds to attempt basic manners? I shoved all the reports into the top drawer of the desk and marched into the afternoon heat. I was done helping him today.

  I didn’t want to lie out at the pool or on the beach, and I didn’t want Cole to treat me like some kind of child that had gotten underfoot. He didn’t see me that way last night—at least it didn’t feel like he did. All I felt when he looked at me and kissed me was that, without him, I would probably lose all ability to breathe in and breathe out. I just didn’t realize how true that was until I saw him spin out of the Dunes’s parking lot. I was in deep—Texas-size deep.

  18

  Cole

  How was I supposed to tell Kaitlyn I had an email from her brother? That the world we thought we lived in together was filled with consequences. There was a good chance I was going to lose my best friend when he got home.

  And what came with that? What else did I lose because I couldn’t resist what I shouldn’t want? The Sinclair family? The only people who had accepted me like a son. I’d done an amazing job repaying them. I’d fucked their precious Kaitlyn every way I could come up with.

  Welcome home, brother. I’ve defiled your sister.

  I hit my hand on the steering wheel.

  That’s exactly what he’d think. He knew my reputation. He knew I’d slept my way through college.

  But this? I had no one to blame but myself. Yeah she thought I was a dick right now, but that was my thing. I shut down. It was better than blowing up at her. She hadn’t figured that out yet.

  Ryan had apologized for being out of touch, but he had been out in the field. I didn’t think I could feel this guilty. I was a grown man. I should be able to sleep with the woman I wanted to be with. But everything about this situation went against the code I stood for.

  Ryan hoped to be home in two months. I wrote a few lines back. I hadn’t mentioned Kaitlyn. Maybe that’s why the guilt felt stronger. I was breaking code and lying. Fuck.

  I looked down when my phone rang. It was Amber.

  “Hey. What’s going on? Grayson ok?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. He’s good. Where are you? You sound like you’re in your truck.”

  I crossed over the bridge. “Headed to the hardware store on the mainland. Are you sure everything is ok with Grayson?”

  “Well, actually I was hoping we could talk.”

  I slowed the truck at a stoplight. “Amber. What is it?”

  “Maybe it would be better if we met in person. Grab some drinks or something.”

  “Can’t we do it over the phone?” I asked.

  I wasn’t interested in spending any time with her.

  “Come on, Cole. Less than an hour. I promise. It’s important for Grayson that we can work these things out. Don’t you think?”

  “Of course that’s important. You know he means everything to me.”

  “Ok good. So. Peabody’s?”

  I looked at the clock on the dash. “I’ll text you when I’m headed back over to the island.”

  “Perfect. See you soon.”

  I hung up. I already had a feeling I wasn’t going to like one fucking thing about this conversation.

  19

  Kaitlyn
>
  I couldn’t keep pacing in my room. This wasn’t good for me. My heart was about to beat out of my chest. Cole had been gone for hours. I didn’t really know where he had to go on the mainland and I wasn’t exactly sure where that was. It was over the bridge, but other than that, it was like a big geographic black hole.

  I pulled open the drawer. Inside the bedside table was a yellow writing tablet. I scribbled a note and crossed the parking lot to shove it under Cole’s door. Everything had happened so quickly with us that it never occurred to me to swap phone numbers. This must have been what my parents felt like when they met. They loved to tell me stories about dating in the age before email, cell phones, and social media. How did anyone ever meet up or know where the other person was? I folded the note in half and slipped the corner under his door before tapping the rest under the threshold.

  If Cole made it back to the Dunes before I did, at least he would know I was at Peabody’s getting some dinner. I wasn’t sure why I bothered to tell him, but I wanted him to know I was worried—that it mattered, that he mattered.

  He had shown me that much when I went to Bottoms Up.

  A Jeep full of grads passed before I crossed the street and trekked through Peabody’s parking lot.

  I pushed open the door to my new hangout. There was something comforting about one of the bar’s cheeseburgers. I had skipped lunch altogether, but there was no way I was going to skip dinner too. Comfort food was exactly what I needed.

  “Look who’s here.” Hank smiled sheepishly from behind the counter. He fidgeted with the towel over his shoulder. He seemed uncomfortable to see me, but I brushed it off, knowing I was hypersensitive at the moment.

  “Hey, Hank. I could really go for a margarita and one of those burgers that are so good.” I slid into the first open seat.

  The cowboy next to me smiled. Unlike Bottoms Up, I felt comfortable here. I knew I didn’t have to worry about assholes trying to paw at me. I would not be going back to the club scene the rest of the week.

  “Sure thing, Kaitlyn.” Hank looked over my shoulder. Something was off with the bartender. I was certain.

  He typed in the order for my cheeseburger and reached for the tequila. I watched as he rimmed the glass with lime then a heavy dose of thick salt.

  “Here you go. That burger will be right up.” There it was again. Hank was focused on something or someone behind me.

  I took a full sip of the drink before spinning on the stool. The end of Peabody’s was an open wall, completely exposed to the sound and marsh sprawling along the island’s west side. The sunset was blinding, but I squinted through the orange rays until my eyes landed on two figures at a far table. What in the hell? Was this really happening to me again? Clearly, I must be a magnet for guys who have no problem hopping from one girl to the next.

  I picked up my margarita and began the painful walk to the patio tables. I sidestepped the waitress whose arms were loaded with beer mugs. I stopped in front of the table closest to the water. The one with arguable the prettiest and most romantic view on the entire island. Sunset lovers camped out all afternoon just to get that table.

  “I thought you were out getting supplies.” I was trying not to grit my teeth, but holding back wasn’t my best trait.

  A strange territorial nature came over me.

  “Oh, hey. I didn’t see you come in.” Cole smiled.

  He seemed more relaxed than the last time I had seen him, only last time he wasn’t sitting with a cute brunette, in a short dress and five-inch-heels.

  “Oh, hey?”

  I pushed down the queasy feeling in my stomach. Was this the part of the fling where I was supposed to play it cool, like we didn’t actually know each other and hadn’t spent all night skin to skin? I didn’t think I could do it, especially not now with Cole sitting so close to someone else.

  She was holding out her phone and they were looking through pictures. I wasn’t close enough to see what made them so happy.

  “Kaitlyn, this is Amber. Amber, Kaitlyn.” He glanced between the two of us before tipping his beer bottle back.

  “Amber?” I could feel the trembling in my ankles. Oh my God. How was this happening? This was Amber. As in, mother of his child, Amber.

  She looked nothing like her brother, Lance, other than the fact that she was thin, perfect super-model thin. We could not be more different. Her long pink nails clutched a glass of white wine. She took a deliberate sip and smiled at me.

  “So nice to meet you, Kaitlyn.” She even had a sweet Texas accent. She fluttered her eyes back to Cole and looked at him with consuming intensity. I thought I was going to be sick right there on Peabody’s patio.

  She knew the same things about him I did. He’d slept with her. They had a child together. I took a step back.

  Maybe the history I thought we shared wasn’t as strong and unbreakable as I thought. What was I doing? Was I getting in the way of a child’s happiness? Was I interfering with Cole’s priorities? I needed to leave. I needed to think.

  “Kaitlyn, are you ok?” Cole stood from the table. His voice was deeper than usual and he stepped closer to me. He blocked Amber from my view.

  Everything happened so fast, I whirled to leave Peabody’s when Cole grabbed my arm. My drink slipped from my landing against his chest.

  The lime drink streamed down his chiseled jaw as he wiped the slush from his cheek.

  “Oh my God, Cole!” Amber jumped from her seat with a stack of napkins.

  Before I witnessed one more nauseating exchange between the two, my legs carried me out of Peabody’s faster than I had ever run in flip-flops. Hank might have been calling my name or maybe it was Cole.

  I didn’t know how long it took me to walk back three blocks from the bar, because everything was a blur. I had just lost it—completely lost it in front of Cole, Amber, Hank, and anyone else who was at Peabody’s. I tried to take a deep breath. I didn’t want to cry, but the more I forced the tears to stay away, the more my chest hurt.

  “Darlin’, let me in.” Cole pounded on my door with heavy-fisted thuds.

  I sat on the bed, reaching for a tissue to blot at my face.

  “Are you in there?” He sounded worried.

  “I’m fine.” I didn’t expect him to follow me, and I wasn’t prepared to see him—not like this anyway. I hadn’t had ten minutes to think anything through yet.

  I needed time. I needed perspective.

  “I don’t know what’s going on, but please open the damn door.” The pounding stopped.

  I moved closer to the door. The pain in my chest had subsided a little and the queasiness was gone. “I think I’ll hang out in here.” I spoke through the barrier that was between us.

  “Well, that’s interesting, but not really the point, I guess. Please just let me in.”

  “Why?” I blew my nose into the tissue and sank to the floor, resting my shoulder against the door.

  “Because I know I was a total dick when I left here this afternoon and I want to apologize. I think we should talk.”

  The tears in my eyes had slowed. What could he say that would make me feel like any less of an idiot? How could he explain drinks with Amber? What’s worse was that he didn’t need to. I knew I had no right to barge in on him. She had a claim on him that I couldn’t come close to.

  “And I need to talk to you about why I had to meet with Amber at Peabody’s.” He paused for a few seconds. I thought he might have left. “Let me in. How am I supposed to fix any of this if I can’t see you? Come on, Kaitlyn.”

  I pushed myself up from the floor and released the chain from the latch. I opened the door.

  “Thank God. I thought you weren’t going to let me in.” Cole forced the door open all the way, until he was standing in front of me. His shirt was wet and he reeked of tequila.

  I looked out into the corridor. It was empty.

  “Are you expecting someone else?” Cole asked.

  “Where did Amber go?” My eyes dropped to the flo
or. I didn’t want to be jealous.

  “Home. To pick up Grayson. We had a lot to discuss.” He watched me. “She called when I was out.”

  Now that Cole was standing in front of me, in my room, all my emotions were stronger, and being so near to him heightened everything.

  I walked toward the dresser. “Maybe I should go. I could make this easier.” I started opening drawers and stuffing my new purchases back in their bags. The drawers slammed shut in my wake.

  “What are you doing?” Cole followed me as I collected everything I had in the room.

  “Am I in the way? Am I keeping you from Grayson?” I tossed a handful of shirts on the bed.

  “Stop. Just stop.” Cole spun me around until his hands clutched my wrists. “You’re not leaving. And not like this.”

  It was happening again—the air was charged and even though there were only inches between us, all I wanted was to erase them.

  “Let me go, Cole.” I didn’t want to look at him. I knew he could melt any resistance I had, and the way he was holding me, he knew it too.

  “I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours, but you’re not interfering with Grayson. Amber has made a huge decision and she wanted to talk to me about it.”

  I let me eyes travel from the floor to his face.

  “What did she say?”

  He rubbed the scruff on his chin. “She wants to take a residency in London and write poetry.”

  My mouth dropped. “What?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Yeah. She’s unpredictable that one. As far as I know, she’s never written more than a text.”

  “And Grayson?” I was almost afraid to ask.

  He looked at me. “I’m going to have full legal custody.”

  “You are? Oh my God, Cole. That’s amazing. That’s what you wanted.”

  He nodded, hiding a smile. “Yeah. It’s exactly what I wanted. And I have to get the documents drawn up before she leaves. Her classes start in the fall. That gives me about two months to get the Dunes set up and a real place for Grayson to live. It’s one thing for him to spend some time at the motel, but I need to find something permanent.”