“I see.” George chuckled. “Well, then.”
“What? What do you mean you see?”
George said nothing.
“George, I know you’re still there!”
“Right, I’m just choosing to ignore you. Don’t want to ruin the surprise, now that man is finally drinking to remember.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
He chuckled. “I’m old. I rarely make sense to anyone. Now, why don’t you finish off that beer before you tear that label to shreds?”
She did as George suggested and then, because she couldn’t get him to spill any more information about Brant, she wandered back into the hotel to find Cole.
And when she finally found him—in his office of all places, something that never occurred to her, since he was usually always on the move checking on the staff—he was laughing. “You bastard!”
“Cole?”
“Gotta go,” he shouted.
“Are you with someone?”
“Phone, er, there was a person on…the other end.”
“Typically how that specific technology works, Cole.”
“Did you need something?” He sounded like he was hiding something, and he was one of the worst liars in the world. “I have to go check on…Carol.”
“Carol?” she repeated. “What’s wrong with Carol?”
“Hair dye…emergency.” He coughed. “Apparently someone wanted green, they got red, didn’t ask how, but you know it’s my job to problem-solve.”
“Great.” She took a seat. “Exactly why I came looking for you.”
“Nik—”
“Cole.”
“Fine.” He sighed loudly. “What problem am I solving?”
“Brant invited me to his room tonight.”
Cole said nothing.
“Do I need to repeat myself?”
“I heard you.”
“And yet you aren’t throwing chairs and cursing. What gives?”
Cole shifted against his desk. The movement was slight, but it was enough for her to notice that he had moved. “He told me.”
“What, he called and asked permission or something?” She burst out laughing. “You can’t be serious!”
“Not permission, he just…had an idea that, shock of all shocks, wasn’t stupid, that’s all.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why discuss me with the enemy?”
“My enemy, not yours.”
“Still. You’re not making sense. Why are you even talking to each other? Aren’t you supposed to just fight with each other?”
Cole grabbed her hands, holding them between his. “Have you ever thought that maybe the universe is giving you a second chance?”
“And after everything that’s happened between me and Brant, you’re suddenly on the universe’s side?”
“You look at him differently,” Cole admitted, dropping her hands to her lap. “You look at me like a friend, you look at him like—” The air crackled with tension. “You look at him like you can actually see.”
Her mouth dropped open. She wanted to deny it, to tell him it was because he was familiar, because she’d never had closure, because he owned a part of her she’d never gotten back.
But she couldn’t deny it.
Her eyes, blind as they were, searched for him with an intensity she’d fought for the last four years—because even when he wasn’t physically there, she still searched.
That was all she’d been doing.
Searching. Waiting. Hoping. Praying he’d come back.
Did that make her pathetic? Or just hopelessly in love?
“Look, I’m not saying you can trust him, I’m not even saying this is going to end well. I saw what happened the day you came to work for me; you were a complete wreck. I never want you going back to that place, but the thing is…” Cole cursed. “I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but—he looks at you the same way. A man doesn’t stare at you the way Brant Wellington does without having his reasons. It’s something I’ve never experienced or even seen until now, which makes me think that even though I want to punch him in the face ninety percent of the time—he’s the better man for you. Because he looks at you like you’re the reason he’s alive. And you look at him like you’d rather die than live without him.”
She didn’t realize she was crying until Cole handed her a tissue and then pulled her into a tight hug. “Go tonight. Okay?”
Nikki didn’t trust herself to speak, just nodded her head and got her tears all over Cole’s perfect shirt. “Sorry for crying.”