“Any reason you’re sitting in the staff room?” His voice dipped. “In the dark?”
“The colors give me a headache,” she admitted. “And I’m miserable enough without having to deal with a jackhammer inside my head.”
“Nik, you really need to see a doctor if you’re getting headaches.”
“Everyone gets headaches.” She shrugged. “So, what’s going on?”
“I think I broke Brant.”
“Are you going to break out in song and dance? Because you sound downright thrilled.”
“I enrolled him in the Zen program.”
Nikki gasped. “Cole!”
“What?”
She covered her face with her hands and groaned. “You know that program is only exclusively for people going into meditation training, yoga—hell we had two monks cry last week in the hot yoga tent!”
“Jackasses always survive things like that. He’ll be fine, plus it will teach him a lesson.”
She groaned. “That’s not your job.”
“The hell it isn’t!”
“Cole!”
“What?”
She sunk back in her chair. “I don’t want to fight.”
“I thought you’d be happy?”
“I should be,” she admitted. Happy that Brant was going to spend the next three days getting tortured, but instead the whole revenge plot Cole was spinning left her empty.
She just wanted Brant.
To talk to him.
Punch him in the face.
Touch him.
Then punch him again.
Her feelings weren’t any clearer now than they were earlier. How could he touch her the way he did last night? And then act the way he did this morning? And why was it bothering her so much?
He’d used her!
And she’d let him. Then used him right back.
She let out a sigh as the realization sunk in that maybe she had something to say to him too, something like Sorry, even if she didn’t fully mean it.
Sorry meant she’d made a mistake.
And as much as she wanted to prove that it was, the memory of his touch reminded her that it wasn’t.
“There you are!” Annie’s voice sounded perkier than usual. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Brant needs to see you.”
She could feel Cole tense next to her.
“He’s in the lobby restaurant having lunch with two of the hottest guys I’ve ever seen—no offense, Cole—and by the looks of it Nadine Titus has discovered the fountain of youth. I’m totally going to ask her about it once she’s done groping the old man.”
“Annie?” Cole interrupted.
“Yeah?”
“Less detail next time.”
“Sorry.” She laughed “So, you want me to take you over there?”
No. In fact she wanted to run in the opposite direction.
“Oh, and Cole, Brant said something about needing to interview staff members to see if they’re best at home within the company.”
That was it, she thought. Either get fired or meet with Brant. At least that was what it felt like.
Better get it over with now. Even though facing his family sounded about as fun as swimming with sharks. His grandfather hadn’t approved of their relationship, their early marriage. That was why they had initially kept the pregnancy a secret.
Everyone said they would fail. And it killed her that they had turned out to be right.
Maybe they’d been too young, but they were madly in love—and after all, didn’t love conquer everything?
It was a lie. A fantasy.
With a groan she stood. “Sure, take me over.”
“Wait.” Cole grabbed her hand.
“Cole, not now—”
“Shh.” He ran his fingers through her hair and then pulled a rubber band away from her wrist. He collected her hair in a low ponytail and then very slowly ran his hands down her shoulders. “Make him painfully aware of what he lost the minute he sent you into that elevator alone, then you give him hell.”
Tears filled her eyes. She gave a jerky nod and was met with a soft hand. Annie’s perfume was always spicy with a hint of lemon; it reminded her of fresh starts.
And how she wished it wasn’t just a fantasy. But reality. Fresh starts, just like love, didn’t really exist anymore, at least not in her world.
They walked down the long corridor, only to come to a sudden stop.
“Where’s your lipstick?” Annie whispered.
“In my purse, but it’s back in the staff lockers.”
“Hold still.”
A berry-tasting gloss was spread across Nikki’s mouth before she could protest.
“Now blot.”
She rolled her eyes and followed Annie’s instructions.
“You look pale.” Annie pinched her cheeks—hard.