“Not only am I sure, but I can’t wait to get in here,” I said, shoulder bumping his arm.
“Just don’t become all nutrition conscious, shoving kale in my face.”
“Nope, there is no way I can give up ice-cream.”
After adding a small fortune to my credit card, I was all signed up and ready to start my first class early the following morning. I tucked my contract in my purse and walked out the front door as Ben held it open for me.
“Where to now?”
My legs trembled as I pushed open the doors to the main lobby of Cole’s office building. The sweet scent of citrus hit me and reminded me of him. I reached into my purse, grasping my phone as I stepped inside. My heart raced. Each beat felt like it pushed against my chest cavity. I wanted to see him; I missed his golden eyes.
I looked at the directory in the lobby locating his office number. I didn’t want to call his cell phone in the event he was in a meeting. My hand reached over to Ben for support as I dialed. I hit the send button on my phone and brought it up to my ear. My hands shook with fear, my foot tapped with jitters.
It rang twice before a perky voice answered, “Thank you for calling CH Esquire. Melissa speaking. How may I direct your call?”
Oxygen. I needed it.
I dragged in a deep breath, filling my lungs with more than enough air before I spoke. “Hi, Melissa, it’s Katherine.” I held my eyes shut, holding the breath trapped in my lungs. ”Is he in a meeting?” I asked, finally exhaling.
“Oh, hi! No, he’s not. Do you want me to transfer you?”
“Uh … I’m downstairs. Can I come up?”
“Of course. I’m sending you the elevator.”
“And Melissa?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t tell him I’m here.”
“Sure, no problem.”
I pulled my phone away from my ear and smiled. I hadn’t known her long, or well, but I liked her.
A big goofy smile appeared on Ben’s face. “That man does things to you doesn’t he?”
If he only knew the things Cole did to me, emotionally and sexually. My hand reached across and slapped him in the chest. “Shut it.”
He pressed the call button for the elevator, and the polished steel doors slid open. I gazed at him, my eyes asking the question my mouth couldn’t form. Ben reached across and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be right here, baby girl.”
I turned towards the elevator, my feet finding the strength to push forward. “Oh, Katherine?” Ben shouted.
“Yeah?” I twirled around to face him.
“Cole has no idea you’re home. He thinks you’ll be home late Sunday.”
“Why?”
“We didn’t know if you wanted to see him or not, so we figured it would be best to give you the option.”
I nodded at the tenderness in his brown chocolate eyes and smiled. Always looking out for me.
I took one last deep breath before the doors closed.
23
Cole
My fingertips strummed across my dark mahogany desk. I waited patiently as my baby brother continued on with his story. It wasn’t the first time he’d shown up, ranting about his most recent relationship problem.
“I think I’m just going to pull the plug and marry her,” he said cracking his knuckles. “She’s beautiful, and I’m going to work for her father, so it makes sense.”
Theo sat across from me, his arms crossed at his chest, and his mouth running a mile a minute as he told me about a girl he met. He had taken a job with her father three months ago and was now contemplating marrying her.
I attempted to keep my focus on him, but my eyes watched my screen on my laptop and my phone for any alerts. Katherine was being released from rehab this weekend, and I was awaiting any information from Lila or Ben.
“Cole?” my brother said snapping me from my daze. “Are you even listening to a word I’m fucking saying?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. “Theo. If you love her, marry her. Don’t let her slip away.” I blurted out, but my head snapped away from him. My eyes had to be playing games with me. From my peripheral, I saw a blonde approach Melissa and smile.
It was her.
Katherine.
Here. In my office.
My palms planted on the desktop. My focus was no longer on Theo. My undivided attention was solely on Katherine as she chatted with Melissa before turning towards my office—towards me. Melissa followed behind her, but my eyes were glued on Katherine. Was I dreaming this? When her eyes met mine, I knew it wasn’t a dream. She seemed uncomfortable, though. Her eyes skittered away from mine, and she bowed her head.
“You have to leave.” I turned to face Theo, as I pushed against my desk to stand. My leather chair wheeled back behind me.
“What? Come on, you don’t understand. Dad is telling me it’s time to make a name for myself. If I marry Clarice, I can take over her father’s company. I figured you could give me some advice here,” Theo pleaded. Any other time I would drop everything for my baby brother. My siblings were important to me, but not when Katherine was walking towards me.
“Theo,” I snapped back at him. “You’re a grown man. You’re still living at home, and honestly, it’s embarrassing. Get your shit together and get out of my office.”
His eyes followed mine. “Is that her?” he asked, a smirk appearing on his face.
“Fuck off,” I spoke from between clenched teeth.
He stood and strolled to the closed glass door. “Reagan said you were whipped.” He cocked his head back at me. “Fuck, bro, I don’t blame you. She is smoking hot. Is she the one from the club that night?”
“Out! Now!”
Theo rushed to the door as Melissa pushed it open. “Come on, Theodore,” she said, looping her arm through his elbow. He tugged at her, pulling her along with him, and stepped in front of Katherine.
She smiled and blushed as my dickwad little brother took her hand in his. He bowed in front of her and kissed the back of her hand before he spoke. “Katherine, what a pleasure to finally meet you. Theodore Rhodes.”
Her smile grew wider. “What a gentleman,” she said, looking back at Melissa.
“Out you go, lover boy.” Melissa yanked on Theo’s elbow. He complained for a quick second before Melissa said something underneath her breath and Theo walked away with a smile.
Katherine followed them with her eyes until we could no longer see them. My eyes were glued on her. She had gained back most of the weight she had lost. Her skin was flushed, and her hair shone against the sunlight. “I thought you didn’t get out … I thought you didn’t come home until this weekend.” I struggled to fix my comment.
She walked to the chair that had been recently occupied by Theo and sat. “Lila and Ben had the date wrong.” She crossed her legs, and her attention was drawn to the city view behind my chair.
“How are you?” I asked, rounding the table. I pulled my chair closer to her and sat.
“I’m good,” She nodded slowly and swallowed.
“Katherine?” She kept her eyes directed away from me. Her eyelids were closed to half-mast.
“Yes?” She looked down at her hands.
“Let me see your eyes?” She took a deep breath before her head slowly rose. “There you are.” I felt the sides of my lips curl up into a smile.
“Hi,” she whispered, her eyes glassed over and shone at me.
“You look beautiful. Rested.”
She gave me the smile I’d been yearning for as she ran her delicate fingers through her hair. “Yeah, it’s funny what four months of sleep will do for you.”
“I’ve missed you.” The words spilled out of my mouth before I could stop them. This thing called love made me think like a fool, and act like a teenage boy, but I didn’t give a rat’s ass. She was here, beautiful, and healthy. I didn’t give a fuck how pussy-whipped I was.
Her face crimsoned, and I grinned. “Cole…”
“Don’t. D
on’t push me away, Katherine. I’m not leaving you.” I reached for her hand and laced it through mine. “Ever.”
“It’s easier said than done.” She pushed her hair behind her ear. But there wasn’t a thing she could do to push me away. Not now.
I studied her for a minute. “We’ll start slow. I’m in no rush.” I had no indication of what happened in rehab, but I didn’t want to press her to tell me about it until she was ready. “I’ve waited four months for you. I can wait longer.”
She pushed forward on the chair and leaned closer to my desk. “About that.” She reached inside her purse and pulled out a white bank envelope. “This is the money you spent on my rehab.” She slid it across the width of my desk. I glanced at her hands, holding the packet that I assumed held money, and then back into her dark, hunter-green eyes.
“Kat—”
“No, take it.” She didn’t let me finish. “You’ve done so much for me. I’ll have the rest of it for you as soon as I can.” My jaw clenched. I didn’t want to argue with her, but this money wasn’t mine. I would have my financial advisor Charles put it back in her accounts by the end of the day. I took the envelope and pushed it to the side.
“Have you had lunch? We can go somewhere—”
“Ben is downstairs waiting for me.”
“Oh.”
“I actually came here for something else.” My eyebrows lift up. “I’m registering for the spring semester, and I’ll be taking the bar hopefully next June. I doubt Howard will ever hire me back given my actions.” She took a deep breath. “Now that I’m clean and sober, I wanted to ask if I could use you as a recommendation.”
I smirked. Pushing off the desk, I rose and extended my hand for her to take. She glanced at my hand and then back up at me. “Follow me.” I winked at her.
Though her eyes informed me that she wanted to say something, she bit the inside of her bottom lip and took my hand. The second her skin touched mine her breath caught in her throat. I hugged her close to me and kissed the side of her head. Her lavender-scented hair tickled my nose. “I love that your breath catches in your throat when I’m near you.”
Her elbow jammed into my ribs, and I chuckled. She crossed her arms across her chest but followed me towards an office I’d recently added. “Cole? Why is my name on the door?” She pointed to the engraved sign, her lips pouted.
I smiled and leaned back on the desk I’d picked out for her. “This is your office.”
“My office?” She grinned and walked inside.
“If you’d like it, of course.” I didn’t want to give her an opportunity to run again. “You can come here to study for the bar. You can be as hands-on as you like with the cases the firm is working on. You’d get more experience. And the main conference room has a massive bookshelf with every book you’d need. But if you don’t find something you want, let Melissa know, and she’ll get it for you.”
“You made me an office?” She trailed her fingertips along the edge of her high-backed leather chair. “That’s sweet.”
“I figured you wouldn’t be able to sit at home for long, and I’ve always admired how hard you work.” She nodded her head and took in the city view from the large window behind her desk. “Think about it. You don’t have to decide right now.”
“Thank you.” She pressed her hands to her chest and leaned forward placing a kiss on my cheek. “For everything.”
She turned on her heel, and I followed her out of her office and down the long hallway. I ignored Theo, who was still there, and walked Katherine to the elevator. She entered the car without a word. I wanted to stop her, to beg her to stay with me longer, but she had shown up unexpectedly, and I was caught off guard.
“Good-bye, Cole,” she said before the elevator doors slid closed. I turned to face my brother and Melissa, and Theo made a noise like the crack of a whip.
“Fuck you.”
The following morning, I walked into the office with a plan in my mind. I was going to sneak over to Katherine’s house and surprise her for lunch. It had taken a few hours in the gym to convince me not to do it yesterday, but I had to give her space. I couldn’t demand to be in her life again. Sleep was the enemy last night, so I walked into the office an hour late. Melissa had a bright smile on her face when she greeted me.
“Good morning, Mr. Rhodes.” It was as if she sang the words—loudly.
“Morning, Melissa.” I furrowed my brow at her extreme good humor and continued walking, “Any changes with my schedule today?” I asked as I strode down the hallway.
“Nothing major, sir.”
Her response seemed odd, but I ignored it and pushed my office door open. My chair, which stood directly across the room from the doorway, spun around behind the desk. Dark green eyes greeted me, and a smile spread across her face. My terrible mood vanished.
Strolling into my office, I stopped short of my desk. “I see someone is a little late to work this morning.” She twined her fingers behind her head and kicked her pumps onto the smooth mahogany desktop. “I don’t think the boss would appreciate his top attorney strolling in here an hour late.”
I walked around the desk, standing mere inches from her. I leaned down and kissed her forehead. I wanted her lips.
“Good morning.” I pushed a tendril that had slipped from her braided hair to behind her ear. “It won’t happen again. Especially if you’re here every morning.”
She wore long gray pants with a sweater the color of my mother’s pink teacup roses, and her makeup was applied lightly on her smooth skin. She was breathtaking. She straightened and moved over to the bar I kept stocked with scotch for those late nights when I needed a drink to relax. Holding the bottle and a glass tumbler, she walked them over to me, pushing the glass my way as she set it on the desk.
“It’s a little early for a drink, don’t you think?”
“Have a seat.”
“What’s the matter, Kat?”
“In order for me to work here, and for you and me to ever have somewhat of a …whatever again, I need you to know why I spiraled out of control.”
“Oh.”
“I spoke to my therapist, and she advised me to tell you the truth.” She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes as a breath of air escaped her lungs. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but last night … last night I couldn't sleep because I didn’t know how I would ever have you look at me the way you used too.”
“Kat…”
She clutched at the bottle of scotch. “I … Fuck, this isn’t as easy as I hoped.”
“Do you need a drink?”
Her laughter filled the office. “Recovering addict over here, Cole. I don’t think alcohol is something my AA counselor or my therapist would agree on five days out of rehab.”
“Right. Sorry.” I pulled her closer to me. “You don't have to tell me anything. As long as you're okay now, that's all I need to know.”
“Remember the night Mackenzie came to the office to give her testimony, and I was texting you?”
I nodded remembering that night.
“When I got home, Gary was outside waiting for me.”
“You’re…“ My words failed me, and she nodded. “Did he hurt you?”
“No.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “He wanted to apologize for what he had done to me.” She swallowed. “He made it seem like it was an inconsequential thing—like I should’ve been able to easily forgive him.” Her eyes filled with tears, and I fought the urge to hold her in my arms.
“I don't know exactly where it happened, but I snapped. All of the hard work I’d done to put what he did behind me, came snowballing.” She shrugged. “I was swallowed entirely by the memories, and I couldn't pull myself out of that dark hole. I asked him to leave and ran inside the house.”
“You called me.” I pinched my eyebrows together remembering her phone call.
“I did.” She blinked, and a tear slid down her cheek. “I needed to talk myself off the ledge, but I was too far gone. Before I co
uld stop myself, I was back to my old ways.”
“If I would have answered the phone….”
She shook her head. “I don't want you to blame yourself. I needed to get professional help long before you ever came into the picture. And I never did.” She inhaled and wiped her tears away. “I simply put a Band-Aid over a bleeding wound. It was only a matter of time before I spiraled down again.”
“I could’ve done something.” I ran my hands through my hair as anger filled me.
“You saved me in more ways than you can imagine.” She took my hand in hers. “I want to thank you for all that you've done, and eventually, I will pay you back.”
I pulled her into me and kissed the top of her head. Slowly I inhaled her scent. “I don't want you to pay me back. All I've ever wanted was for you to be healthy and happy. There's no price tag on that.”
She looked up at me, and in her eyes, I saw her. Katherine. My Katherine was back. “Kat…” My hand moved to cup her cheek, my thumb wiping away her tear.
“I … I… ” She sobbed, and I wrapped my arms around her.
“Shh, I’m here, doll. No one will hurt you again. I promise.” My hands rubbed her shoulders. “What can I do to help?”
“If the offer still stands, I’d like to be here every day until I’m ready for the bar. In the meantime, though, I’d like to help out around the office.”
I nodded and kissed her forehead once more. I held her in my arms for a few more seconds. My gaze landed on the crystal decanter. “And the hard liquor at nine in the morning?”
“I didn’t know how you’d react. I figured the liquor would calm you. It’s what you’ve always done with me.” She smiled, her cheeks still rosy from the tears.
“Can I convince you to stay in my office?” I hugged her tightly. I should have thought of that before having the architect design hers.
“Nope. I have the biggest test of my life to study for, and I can’t have you distracting me all the time.”
Katherine pulled out of my arms, and I let her go. She stood and walked away towards her office, and I sank into my chair. Twisting the top off the liquor, I poured myself two fingers. It was easy to be sane in front of her. She needed my strength to be composed and to hold her. But when she wasn’t in sight, it was a different story.
Redemption (Savior Seires Book 2) Page 13
