Page 75 of Mistletoe Mistake
We walked a few steps in silence before Holly looked back over at me, the amusement in her expression gone and her tone completely serious.
“Look, I can't pretend that I understand whatever deal it is that the two of you have worked out. but I do know that I haven't seen her this happy in a very long time. Hell, it might be the happiest I've ever seen her. So, if this really is just for a few more days, you better make damn sure it ends well, or I will haunt your nightmares, Cole Stamer. You got that?”
I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face, which only made Holly scowl.
“I'm serious. You mess with her, you're going to answer to me. Her father might not care enough to give you a talking to, but I do. Don't fuck it up.”
“I hear you loud and clear,” I assured her. “Nobody's going to get hurt. We're both completely clear on what's happening.”
She glared at me a little longer before her eyes softened. “Alright. But just remember, I'm decorating your hotels now, so if you do screw it up, I've got years of potential revenge in store for you.”
“Noted.”
To my relief, we arrived back at the hotel before she could threaten me further. That had to count as one of the strangest conversations I'd ever had, but it made me glad to know that Gemma had someone watching out for her, someone who would be there even after I was gone, even if the idea of not being there for her myself made me feel more uncomfortable with each passing day.
~Gemma~
Although Cole ordered the most expensive wine on the menu for our table at dinner, I had to tell him that I only wanted sparkling water. He didn’t seem to be getting suspicious that I kept choosing non-alcoholic drinks, but I didn't feel right about drinking until I knew for sure that I wasn't accidentally pregnant. I also didn't want to tell Cole the reason behind it, since I didn’t want him worrying unnecessarily. The odds of me being pregnant were very low, but better safe than sorry, I figured.
When Holly told me that she wanted to talk to Cole on the walk back to the hotel, it surprised me, but I figured he could handle himself. Besides, it gave me a chance to check in with Jackson. I asked him gently probing questions about him and Holly, and he didn't beat around the bush. He told me straight out that he liked her but that he wasn't interested in a short-term relationship and Holly wasn't looking for anything long-term. So, they had agreed between themselves to stay friends, with a lot of flirting thrown in. Neither of them seemed to be upset about it, at least.
He also asked me, equally gently, how I felt about Cole.
“I'm having a great time with him,” I answered honestly. “But there's an expiry date on it, so it is what it is. Besides, he lives in New York and I live here. That's not really conducive to a real relationship.”
“Cole can pretty much live wherever he wants,” Jackson pointed out. “He travels so much anyway and half our work is done virtually. Don't think of that as a deal breaker.”
“That doesn't change the fact that he only wants something with strict boundaries,” I reminded him. Jackson seemed to know as much about my arrangement with Cole as Holly did.
“And what do you want, Gemma?”
The question was kind and free of any judgement but even so, I couldn’t come up with an easy answer. What did I want? I didn't want to feel like I had with Edwin. I liked the way I felt with Cole, but I had agreed to the terms of our deal, and it didn't seem fair of me to try to change them so far into the game.
I stayed quiet for so long that Jackson took it as a sign that I didn’t want to answer. “Listen, you don't have to explain it to me, but you should think about it.Seriouslythink about it, and talk to Cole before we leave, because I can tell you that whatever boundaries he thinks he's put on this, they're paper thin. It wouldn't take much to knock them all down.”
Before I could ask him to explain exactly what he meant by that, we arrived back at the hotel, and Cole turned back to take my hand as we went inside. Over dinner, the conversation flowed just as easily as it had all day, and once we finished eating, Jackson and Holly took their leave. They were planning on going for a walk along the South Bank to visit the market and see the lights, but they didn't ask us to go with them. They must have known we would rather stay at the hotel instead.
As soon as they were gone, Cole made a stop at the front desk before leading me back to the lift.
“What did you need at the desk?” I asked.
“A few supplies for tonight.” His eyes glinted provocatively, suggesting the ‘supplies’ were of a personal nature.
“You didn't buy enough at the shop the other night?” I teased him.
“I had a new idea today. I can't help it if you keep inspiring me.”
Apparently, he had no intention of telling me what he had in mind, and I didn't really want him to. I was more than happy to put myself in his hands and let him do what he wanted.
When we got to the suite, Cole pulled me into his arms almost immediately, kissing me softly. His hands ran through my hair as I slid my own hands beneath his suit jacket, feeling his firm chest through his shirt. “Undress me,” he whispered against my lips.
That was new. He'd always taken his own clothes off, never really letting me have free rein to touch him as I wanted, and he never got naked first. Eagerly, I took him up on the offer before he changed his mind.
Since my hands were already beneath his jacket, I used them to slide the jacket up over his shoulders, down one arm and then the other. He tossed it away onto the floor as soon as he was free of it. Our lips never parted the whole time.
Moving on to his shirt, I unbuttoned it one button at a time, tugging the tucked bottom up from his trousers. When the buttons were all open, I finally broke our kiss, but only so I could move my lips to his chest instead, kissing and licking my way across it as I opened his shirt wider. My tongue flicked over his nipple before moving lower, tracing the hard edges of his abs and licking between each line that defined them.
Cole groaned as I got lower still, finding the trail of hair leading down into his trousers. The bulge in his trousers grew more prominent with each passing minute, so I quickly finished taking his shirt off and dropped to my knees in front of him. My fingers trembled as I undid his belt, remembering again what he'd done to me with it the day before. He made no move to stop me as I pulled it from the loops and put it aside, moving on to the button and zip of his trousers.
