Love Over Lattes

by Diana A. Hicks

  “Would you be able to give me her number?” My heart pounded.

  Em didn’t hesitate. “Of course, dear. Just a sec. I’ll have to check the security logs.”

  Did I really have the guts to call Nikki and confront her? I had to do it.

  For Cole.

  For us.

  ****

  This was a colossal mistake.

  Earlier at Mom’s house, I’d been on a let’s-get-Cole-back high. Truth was, I didn’t even know if he loved me enough to want me back. I was insane to think Nikki could help. What could she possibly do to change things? Confess to stealing the divorce papers and possibly go to jail? Not freaking likely.

  I couldn’t go through with this. Standing, I grabbed my purse and turned to leave. Too late. She was already here.

  And Cole was with her.

  I stood frozen by the condiment bar. My hands, my whole body ached to hold him, to plead with him. It wasn’t me. I wanted to scream at him. Our eyes met. He stared at me for what felt like hours. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could utter a single word, Cole turned his attention to Nikki and the barista. Nikki leaned on the counter and ordered their drinks, shooting glances at me. Did she not recognize me? Of course she did. Her wicked smile said it all. Why did she bring him here?

  Run.

  My legs wouldn’t move. I squeezed my hands into fists and wished Cole would turn to me and tell me that he believed me, that he was sorry.

  “Is the restroom this way?” Nikki pointed to the back of the coffee shop.

  The barista, who couldn’t stop ogling them, nodded. Yeah, they were an impressive couple. Maybe all this was for the best.

  “Grab a seat, darling,” she said to Cole. “I’ll be just a minute.”

  “I’m not staying,” he growled.

  Like a statue, an idiot, I stayed put and gripped the bar behind me to keep myself from crumpling to the floor. The barista handed Cole their drinks. He thanked her and walked toward me. Hot blood rushed to my feet, and every breath cut me, as if I’d inhaled tiny knives into my lungs instead of air.

  “Excuse me,” he said.

  “Sorry.” I moved over, slanting a glance at him.

  His chest rose and fell, and his cheeks were red. If he was angry with me, he didn’t show it. In fact, he didn’t even acknowledge he recognized me. Anyone who saw us standing here would never guess Cole and I had history. That we spent an entire night making love and early mornings drinking coffee. That he knew all my secrets, and I knew his.

  He set down the drinks, opened Nikki’s mocha, and poured half the container of sugar into it. The hot liquid slapped out of the cup when he stabbed the coffee with a stirring stick and mixed. Like before, we were strangers again. As if I hadn’t broken down over my latte a month ago when he’d offered me his cottage.

  My stomach clenched as I realized this was what we would be if he hadn’t come back to the coffee shop that day. If he hadn’t given me a bunch of paper napkins and asked me what’d happened. If I hadn’t opened up to him. But all that did happen. We couldn’t undo it, just as I couldn’t undo my feelings for him.

  I love you, Cole.

  “Fuck.” The stirring stick snapped in his hand, and he tossed it in the garbage. And with that he darted out, leaving both drinks behind.

  Nikki came out of the bathroom and made a beeline for the condiment bar. Hands on her hips, she scanned the room before she turned to me. “Well, that went well.”

  “I’m Valentina.” It sounded like a confession.

  “I know who you are.” The blonde bombshell grabbed her mocha and sauntered toward my table while everyone ogled her. “We met last week at the benefit. I never forget a face. Nikki Swift.” She offered me a slender hand.

  “Oh” was all I could say. I shook her hand and lowered myself slowly into the chair across from her. Yeah, I was way out of my league here.

  She reached in her bag and took out an elastic hair band. People around us stared as she put her shiny hair up into a high ponytail. She gave me a kind smile. If she was trying to ease my nerves, it worked. How did she do that?

  Biting her lip for a moment, she grabbed a napkin off the table and pressed her lips against it. “You’re here to talk about Cole.”

  “Yes.”

  “Shit hit the fan last night, I know.” Her frank words startled me.

  “Cole thinks it’s my fault. But I know it was you.” I didn’t know for sure it was her, but I wanted to see her reaction.

  A dashing smile covered her face. “You can’t prove that.”

  Translation: It was me.

  “No.” I ducked my gaze.

  “You and Cole.” She sipped her coffee. “Hmmm.” She pursed her lips and spit the coffee back into the cup. “What did he do to my coffee?”

  I shook my head. “Sugar.”

  “I hate sugar. He knows that.” She laughed. “I’m always amazed how love can turn a normal and intelligent person into a pathetic sap.”

  “Excuse me.” This was not how I thought the conversation would go. I had a list of things I wanted to say to her, questions I was going to make her answer.

  “Yeah, you and Cole with your sad puppy eyes.” She turned to the barista and mouthed, Can I get another one? The barista nodded and got to work on her coffee. “I need a mocha in the worst way. Cole kept me up all night.”

  I winced. Her words exploded in my head and repeated over and over again. She spent the night with Cole? Darting my eyes to the window, I sat perfectly still and pretended that whatever they did last night didn’t affect me.

  She cocked her head, the way Cole used to do. “Relax. He just needed a bit of company. We spent all night not talking about you. Though he wanted to. Mostly, he drank and cursed. And I listened.” She winked. “I’m a good listener.”

  A bubble rose in my chest. They didn’t have sex. “Why did you do it? You ruined his life.”

  “Money.”

  “Wait. Someone paid you to do this? It wasn’t your idea?”

  She shook her head once. “Bridget. It was a dick move. Yes. And I deeply regret it. Cole didn’t deserve that, but I need the money, and he has lots of it.”

  Of course, it was Bridget. Now it all made sense to me. She must’ve realized I wasn’t playing her stupid game, so she decided to send Nikki to steal the signed divorce papers instead. That had to be it. When she saw our picture in the social section of the paper, she must’ve assumed Cole and I were sort of together. At the very least, she knew I had access to his house. I’d bet it didn’t take much for her to figure out a way to blame it all on me. And Cole bought it. Certainly, Alex’s visit didn’t help my case.

  I buried my face in my hands. “Sorry is not going to get his company back. And now he hates me.”

  She adjusted her weight on the chair. “He still has more money than he knows what to do with. Let me give you some free advice.”

  “Why the free advice?”

  “Cole’s a good guy. He deserves to be happy.” Turning her attention to the barista, she got up and fetched her new coffee. She sat down. “Go see him. And this time, try to make more of an effort to talk to him. I all but served him to you on a silver platter just now, and you blew your chance.”

  “You brought him here on purpose.”

  “Yeah, I brought him here on purpose. God, you’re hopeless.” She sat back on her chair, bracing an arm on the table.

  “Why?”

  “This time Bridget won. And believe me—she won. More than you know.” Her cheeks turned red. “But you two can still make this work.”

  I raised an eyebrow and shook my head. She hadn’t been there yesterday when he’d kicked me out of his house. When his eyes showed me how much he hated me. Or here five minutes ago. He could barely stand being close to me long enough to put sugar in her cup.

  In one blow, Nikki ruined Cole’s life and broke my heart.

  “Are you always this clueless? He loves you.”

  “You don’t kno
w that.”

  “He didn’t sleep with me. That should be your first clue.”

  I shut my eyes. Stop picturing them together. It hurt too much. Jealousy aside, I wanted to help Cole. There had to be something we could do. I regarded Nikki as she sipped her mocha. This was one of the girls Cole kept on rotation. The one who broke us up. But Cole needed her. I bit my lip, swallowing my pride.

  “You seem like a decent person. Help him,” I said.

  “I’m not a decent person. And it’s not that easy. You don’t want to mess with Bridget.” She considered something for a moment. “Let me think on it. Maybe I’ll come up with something before I leave.” She stood and headed for the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  She paused at the door. “Home. It’s long overdue.” Her smile made her look younger. “Ciao.”

  “Wait. Are you going to help or not?”

  “I’ll call you if I find something.”

  When she reached the curb, a cop had just finished writing her a parking ticket. She slowed her pace, a bright smile on. I couldn’t hear what she said to him. But he blushed, mouthing the word sorry a few times as he tore the ticket in half and opened the driver door for her. How did she do that? At least she was on our side now. She seemed genuine when she’d said she would help.

  My thumb hovered over Cole’s name on my mobile. He needed to know this. But I wasn’t sure if he’d listen.

  Get out.

  His words still rung in my head. I didn’t want to go through that again.

  I threw my phone on the table. Nikki was right. Bridget had won.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  A Woman’s Touch

  Cole

  Letting Nikki talk me into going out for a coffee was a bad idea. Even worse was agreeing to go to Cafe Triste of all places. Yeah, that was our place. But I had no idea Valentina would be there, wearing a pair of shorts that showcased her shapely legs. My knees had gone weak when I first saw her standing there, eyes red and swollen as if she’d been crying. Like the day my resolved to stay away from her crumbled and I talked to her.

  Why didn’t she run as she had that day? As she always did. Instead, she stood there. Why? So she could see what a mindless asshole I’ve become because of her. I’d wanted to hold her so badly, taste her lips, bury my hands in her hair and… Jesus. I’d come so close to telling her I didn’t care if she’d given away my company. I didn’t care about Alex or the money. I just wanted her back.

  My mobile rang. I answered without looking at the phone screen. My eyes were glued to Valentina’s face on the video feed on my laptop. “What?”

  “Dom, here.” He didn’t take offense to my tone.

  “What is it?”

  “More bad news, I’m afraid. I just got Valentina’s financials. She received an amount for one hundred fifty thousand dollars two weeks ago.”

  What the fuck do I say to that?

  I had nothing. Instead, I breathed loudly into the speakerphone.

  “The money’s still there, man.” He let out a long breath before he continued. “If she was in a hurry to pay off her debt, she sure is taking her time now. Don’t you think?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The amount, give or take a few pennies, is what she owes to the Tucson Regional Hospital.”

  I sat up in my chair. “You really need to figure out the difference between good news and bad news.”

  “You think this is good news?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. Can you send me everything you have? And let me know if she does anything with the money.”

  “Sure thing, man. Anything else?”

  “No. That’s it. Thanks.” I hit the End button.

  So Valentina did all this to pay off hospital bills? I knew about the debt. It’d been the reason she lost the lease on her other house…and the reason we met. If she had not broken down that day, we never would’ve found a reason to speak to each other. Some things were meant to be, I supposed. I wanted to believe that this thing with Valentina wasn’t over. More than anything, I didn’t want it to end like this.

  As neatly as all the evidence against her was stacked, something still didn’t add up. I’d come to know Valentina very well in the past few weeks. Her biggest flaw was the fucking plans she had for everything. Plans she stuck to with unholy resoluteness, no matter what. Wasn’t that why she’d come to live in the cottage? If she was doing this for Max, it just didn’t make sense.

  My computer chimed when Dom’s email came through. I clicked on the hospital invoice. It was a sucker punch to the gut. I had no idea Max had gone through surgery last year. And here I was only preoccupied with the state of my cock.

  God, I am an asshole.

  I buried my face in my hands. I couldn’t be wrong about her. Sitting up, I opened the payment history file Dom sent. She’d made a payment just this week for the same amount as the previous month. At this rate, she’d pay off the balance in about twenty years. I’d bet that was on her list somewhere.

  Why hadn’t she used the money to pay off the hospital bill? That was the one-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollar question. Dom was right. If she was in a hurry, her actions now didn’t make sense. Unless she didn’t know she had it. I, for one, never check the balances on my accounts. Okay, that was a fucking stretch, but it was something.

  Goddammit, I just wanted her home. I took in a long breath and released it. I thought of her calling out my name that first night we were together. She’d given herself completely and without reserve. Her face and the look in her eyes were so vivid in my mind. No one could fake that kind of passion. Raking my hands through my hair, I pulled at it to make myself snap out of it. Either Valentina was the greatest con artist of all time, or I was missing a big piece of this fucked-up puzzle.

  Maybe instead of trying to prove her innocence, I should be looking for the real culprit. Last night I’d been so focused on what Valentina had done I hadn’t stopped to think about the other people in my life. Bridget was at the center of all this. The only one who stood to gain the most in the end.

  Dom’s words rang in my head. Since when does Bridget volunteer information that can incriminate her in a court of law?

  She’d been so quick to point a finger at Valentina. Was she behind all this? She had to be. As much as I hated to admit it, she was the only one who knew all my faults and weaknesses, especially when it came to women. Valentina didn’t fit the profile of someone I would fall for. When Valentina told me Bridget had ordered her to get me to sign the divorce papers, I knew she’d done it out of spite. No doubt she’d been pissed when she found out Valentina was living in the cottage. She’d done it to drive a wedge between us, to take away that last bit of happiness in my life. No, if Bridget had really wanted to hire someone to get me to turn over my company, she would’ve hired someone with a lot more skill than Valentina. Someone who, according to Bridget, was my type.

  Mother fucker.

  I picked up my mobile and called Dom.

  “Yeah,” he answered.

  “Did you check Nikki’s financials?”

  “No. I mean, I figured she wasn’t smart enough to orchestrate any of this.”

  I gripped my phone. “Dom, never underestimate a woman on a mission.”

  “Fuck. I’ll get on that.”

  “No,” I said. “Bring her in. I’m done fucking around with her and Bridget.”

  His laugh echoed on the other end of the line. “Welcome back, man. Give me an hour.”

  I’d envisioned Dom showing up with Nikki in handcuffs or some other kind of restraint. Instead, he strolled in with an idiot smile plastered on his face and Nikki, wearing a skintight black dress, a couple of steps in front of him.

  I waited in the living room, ready for a fight. Man, was I right before about never underestimating a woman with a plan. Now that she’d decided to drop the act, Nikki looked different, younger. The question was, what did she want now?

  She gave me a lopsided grin. “Don�
��t look so surprised, darling. I really do like you. I’m here to help.”

  “She was on her way here when I met up with her.” Dom leaned against the wall, looking at Nikki as if he’d just seen her for the first time.

  “Why the sudden change of heart?” I turned to him.

  Nikki didn’t wait for him to respond. “Your wife is a complete bitch, who decided to con me out of my two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But that aside, this morning someone showed me you have something real here. Valentina—” She put up her hands when I advanced on her. Valentina and Max were off limits. “See what I mean?”

  “You gave Bridget the signed divorce papers?”

  She gave me a half nod, meeting my gaze. “In exchange for you.” She smiled. “And two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But after she got what she wanted, she decided you were enough. And I would’ve agreed, except last night I realized how much you love Valentina.”

  I opened my mouth to deny my feelings for Valentina, but it was useless. I was in love with her. “What do you want?”

  “I need the money Bridget promised me…and one of your apartments outside of the country. Paris would be nice. In return, you’ll have my full cooperation.”

  “It’ll be tough to convince Bridget to give up CCI unless we have something to bargain with,” Dom said. “What can you give us?”

  “Frank, her boyfriend. He keeps records of all the money they’ve stolen. I heard him threatening her with it one time while we were having lunch. The jerk was asking her for more money. I’ve no idea what she sees in him.” She crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. “Love is for fools.”

  “I bet I can get to him.” Dom typed in his mobile. “If we can get our hands on those documents, we’ll have enough to send her to jail. It’ll be easier than proving she stole the divorce papers.”

  “Why did you do this to Valentina?” I asked.

  “First, you have to understand it wasn’t me.” She sat at the end of the sofa. “Bridget went off the rails when I told her you were in love with Valentina. The picture from the benefit didn’t help either. The look on your face, that mix of love and lust. Bridget was pissed. It was like you were no longer under her control.”