Authors: Michelle Love
Sabine Karlsson stared at Cole Trent in disbelief. ‘Cole…what the fuck are you talking about?’
Cole ran a hand through his short red hair. ‘Sabine…we never said we were exclusive. How could we be when you were still fucking Arlo right up to the moment he found out about us?’
Sabine got up and crossed to the window. ‘What difference does that make? I was never going to marry Arlo…but, in less than three months, you decided you wanted to marry this other woman?’
Cole looked tired. ‘Sabine…I love Lana. She knows all about you and me and has from the start.’
Sabine stared out over the Bay. The fog was rolling in, obscuring her view of Alcatraz.
Shit,
she thought,
everything’s turning to shit. First Arlo, now this.
She had counted on Cole being her fall back, the other billionaire on her string. But Cole’s guilt over the affair, over betraying his oldest friend, had done for them, she knew that. Still, he’d been the net to the tightrope walk she’d been doing for the last five years and now
…
‘So she gave you an ultimatum: her or me?’
‘No.’
‘
Of course
she did. Is she knocked up?’
Cole gave a frustrated hiss. ‘Believe it or not, not everyone operates on the same moral code as you, Sabine. No, she’s not pregnant, nor did she give me an ultimatum. I love her. That is all.’
Sabine gazed at her reflection in the window. The clear glass gave her a much kinder, softer face than the one she saw in the mirror.
Nearly forty and alone. Damn you, Cole. Damn you, Arlo. Damn you all.
She turned back to Cole with a chilly smile. ‘Then I guess this is goodbye.’
Cole got up and walked to the door, turning back to her before opening it. ‘Sabine
…we
had a good time, we did. But I’ll never forgive myself for what I did to Arlo. In the end, both of us lost. I’m going to try to make up for that mistake for the rest of my life. I suggest you do the same.’
And he was gone. Sabine flipped her middle finger up at the closing door. ‘Damn patronizing moralizing asshole.’
Fuck. What now?
Then she smirked to herself and looked back out of the window, over the city she’d come to as a teenager from Stockholm, all those years ago.
Well, Cole, I might just take that advice of yours. I might try to redeem
myself,
and as far as I can see, there’s only one way to do that. Arlo Forrester.
Sabine smiled to herself. ‘I’m going to get you back, baby.’
Cosima sat opposite Arlo in the small bar. The room was
semi-crowded,
but thankfully, the noise wasn’t overwhelming. Cosima sipped the cocktail Arlo had ordered for her.
‘That good?’
‘Yes, thank you.’
Arlo grinned at her. ‘So…hello.’
‘Hi.’ She gave him a half-smile. Arlo nodded, reading her expression.
‘Sorry for blind-siding you but…I had to see you.’
Cosima drew in a deep breath. ‘So you hunted me down? That’s not what we agreed.’
Arlo nodded, his smile fading. ‘I
know,
and I’m sorry. I wouldn’t use the word ‘hunted’, more ‘searched for’.
Cosima nodded, her
expression
tight. Arlo sighed. ‘Look, Cosima…I did my due diligence. I know your story. Believe
me; I
took every precaution to protect the information I found, to protect you.’
‘Arlo…why didn’t you come to me directly? Why get involved with my work? I guess I’m wondering if you think you were
doing me a favor
by hiring my firm. That smacks of control and I’m
really
not up for that. My life
is already regulated
enough by other people…my sister, my mother, the FBI. My work is mine, do you understand?’
Arlo nodded. ‘I
do,
and I have no answer for that other than I thought it would be a good way to contact you. I thought turning up at your door might scare you.’
Cosima stared out of the window at the crowds of people milling around the Quarter. ‘Was I easy to find?’
Arlo smiled. ‘No. I covered the tracks too, so you’ll be even less visible. Like I said, I know your story.’
‘And yet I know so little about yours,’ she sighed and rubbed her eyes. ‘Look, Arlo, the time we spent in The Maldives was
incredible,
but if we’re going to work together, we can’t just pick up where we left off. I take my job very seriously.’
‘Good,’ Arlo sat back, ‘Because I’m serious about wanting the best for this new hotel. Cosima, your reputation precedes you; your artistic flair, your commitment.’
She studied him. ‘Then…’
‘Then we’ll be colleagues, and maybe friends. For now.
Eventually,
you’ll be mine, Cosima Bedi. I fully intend on marrying you.’
She gave disbelieving snort. ‘Oh really?’
‘Absolutely. I knew the moment I touched you, the moment I ran my fingers over that glorious, soft skin of yours, kissed those rosebud lips.’
Cosima felt her body
react
to
his words, a burning longing for him, but she pushed those feelings down.
‘Mr. Forrester…I don’t know what
you’re used
to,
but here in the twenty-first century, women aren’t so easily acquired. Just because we fucked,’ she spat the words to illustrate her annoyance, ‘does not give you the right to lay claim to me.’
‘I’m doing nothing of the sort. I would never coerce you into something you didn’t want; that idea is abhorrent to me. I just know, with every cell in my body, that we belong together. I’ll wait, Cosima. Forever if necessary.’
She was staring at him now. ‘You don’t know me.’ Her voice was a whisper.
Arlo inclined his head in agreement. ‘No, I don’t know all of you. And maybe I’ll be proved wrong – but I don’t think so. I spent fifteen years with a woman who, it turns out, I didn’t know at all. I learned more about what it means to love someone in five days with you than I ever did with her.’
Cosima couldn’t help but smile at
that,
and Arlo chuckled. ‘I know what you’re thinking; pretty words.’
She shook her head. ‘No, I
was thinking
that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.’
‘I’m glad.’
‘But we live in the real world, Arlo. I mean it about my job; I love it, I earned it, I worked my butt off to get here. If you know anything about my family
history,
then you know that I got here the hard way.’
‘I do know
that,
and as I say, I’ll wait. While you’re working with me on the hotel, nothing should happen. But when it’s over…’
Cosima, her cheeks a deep scarlet –
God,
she wanted to touch him so badly – nodded. ‘When it’s over, we’ll see.’
He walked her back to her car. ‘I guess I’ll see you in the morning.’
She nodded. ‘I guess so.’ He gazed down at her, stroking her cheeks with his fingers.
‘Cosima…’ He was going to kiss
her,
and she couldn’t bear it knowing that if he did, all her words would mean nothing and she would beg him to screw her right here, right now.
No – she
was being
adult and professional about this – but, damn, if the scent of his cologne wasn’t driving her crazy. She fumbled behind her and opened her car door. ‘Well, goodnight.’
Arlo smiled. ‘Goodnight Cosima.’
Driving home, she glanced in the rearview mirror, checking behind her to see if she
was followed
– it had become second nature since they’d gone into hiding but now she wasn’t looking for potential assassins, now she was looking for
him.
And was disappointed that the road behind her was empty.
When she got home, Harpa was sitting on the couch painting her toenails. She looked up and
grinned,
and Cosima was relieved that her sister seemed to be in good mood.
She had been so angry lately, about everyone and everything.
A delicious smell permeated from the small kitchen, spicy, rich.
‘Hey, sis. Before I forget, Handsome Jack called. He needs to
see
us tomorrow. I said you’d call him back and arrange a time because I’m free all
day,
but I didn’t know what your schedule was. You hungry?’
‘Starved.’ And she was all of a sudden. ‘Let me
change
first – what did you make?’
Harpa was a fantastic cook, especially when it came to Indian food. ‘Prawn and cod
biryani
with paratha nan,’ she said, ‘And I made way too much as usual.’
Cosima grinned. ‘Good, bet you I can finish the lot.’
Harpa laughed. ‘I’ll take that
bet; you
always think you can eat more than you
actually
do.’
Cosima went into her bedroom to
change,
and as she changed into her sweats, she called Jack Hampton, their FBI liaison. Harpa had a huge crush on the man – hence the ‘Handsome Jack’ – but Cosima couldn’t see it. He was tall, blonde, rangy and was an efficient and friendly liaison. He worked tirelessly to protect the two Bedi women and when they were forced to leave New York, his intervention and friendship had made the change less unbearable.
‘Hampton.’
‘Hey dude, it’s Cosima.’
His tone changed from professional to warm in a second. ‘Hey you, how’s things in the Big Easy.’
‘Sweaty, sultry and wonderful. How’s the Apple?’
‘Sweaty, sultry and morose. Or that might be just me,’
he
chuckled. ‘Look, I need to come down and check in with you – I know it’s short
notice,
but my schedule got cleared for
tomorrow,
so I thought maybe…?’
Cosima chewed her lip. ‘I
do
have to
work,
but maybe I can skip off early. Do you want to come to the
apartment
and we’ll feed you? I know how little the FBI pays you.’
He laughed at her joke. One thing she knew about Jack Hampton was that he came from old New England money, had eschewed the family banking business and went to Quantico in the hope of making people’s lives better. It was one of the reasons he was more of a friend to them than a
protector,
but Cosima trusted him implicitly.
‘That sounds good…hell, I’m already drooling at the thought.’
‘You should be here now;
Harpa’s made
a curry that I’m about to demolish.’
Jack groaned. ‘Torturer. Look, good, I’ll fly down tomorrow and
be at
yours by…’
‘Eight? Is that too late?’
‘Not at all,’ he said, ‘I’ll be staying a couple of days.’
‘Good, see you then.’
Harpa was right – Cosima got through two plates of the curry then groaned, placing her hands on her belly. ‘God, so good, Harp. Tell me again why you’re not a professional chef?’
Harpa colored. ‘Funny you should ask that…’
Cosima’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Huh? What’s going on?’
Harpa shifted nervously in her seat. ‘Cos…since we’ve been here, I’ve not been able to pick up the kind of clientele I need for the styling business.’
It was Cosima’s turn to look uncomfortable. ‘I
know,
and I’m sorry about that. It doesn’t seem fair that I get to have my dream job and you…’
‘That’s just it. I don’t think
it
is
my dream job. I’ve been thinking it over more and
more,
and I’ve talked to Deacon…I’m going back to college, Cos. To become a chef, a professional chef.’
For a beat, Cosima was stunned then she grinned widely and leaped up to hug her sister. ‘Harp, that’s fantastic.’
She felt her sister relax in her arms. ‘Really, you don’t mind?’
‘Of course not – why would you think that?’
‘Because it’s a big change and because we’ll see each other even less than we do?’
Cosima didn’t understand. ‘Huh? Why?’
Harpa sucked in a deep lungful of air. ‘Because the college is in Seattle.’
‘Well, where is he?’
Sabine tapped her long fingernails on the glass
table; her
cell phone pressed to her ear. Margaret, Arlo’s fiercely loyal p.a. was telling her that Arlo was out of town.
‘I’m afraid I cannot tell you where, Ms. Karlsson.’
Margaret had always disliked
her,
but Arlo would never fire the woman. ‘She’s practically my mom,’ he told Sabine, ‘I’ve known her all my life.’
Now, Sabine narrowed her eyes. Margaret knew damn well where Arlo was. ‘Tell him to call me,’ she hissed and ended the call.
Fuck it,
she thought,
I wanted to get this done, tell him I wasn’t going anywhere, that I love him too much to take no for an answer.
She sat thinking about what to do next, pondering blackmail or trying to steal Arlo’s schedule from Margaret –
a nearly
impossible
feat,
but Sabine still had some friends within the company. Sam, that I.T. guy who never stopped gawping at her whenever he was fixing something in Arlo’s office. She was sure she could get to him – whatever it took. Sabine was a mastermind at turning her feelings off –
hell
; she’d done it for years with the various men in her life. Except Arlo. Arlo she had genuinely loved. Cole too, to a lesser degree but then she’d only begun the affair to get Arlo’s attention.
Yes, that’s what she’d do – get Sam to hack into Margaret’s online scheduler
…
Sabine grinned to herself and went to grab a shower.
I’ll find you, Arlo Forrester, and show you just what you’re missing.