Loving War (20 page)

I’m not sure what just happened, but I’m fairly positive Tria Noles just imprinted herself deep inside me.

Chapter 20

TRIA

Kode is grinning as he shows me into the hotel room. It’s a small, cozy room. Not a suite that would impress a girl, and I laugh while following him in.

“Figured we’d be low-maintenance this weekend,” he says while winking, waving his hand around at the small sitting area that shares the room with a king-size bed. The small bathroom off to the side brings back memories of our night in Vegas.

He comes to press a soft kiss to my lips, making me revisit the events of last night when he completely shifted the dynamic between us. Everything that has slowly been building between us exploded in a way that I saw coming, but had been denying.

Kode Sterling has taken me in ways that would have some people running to a confession box. But last night was the first time he has ever made love to me. It wasn’t intentional for him to make me admit to myself what I was feeling, but he did it. As much as I wish I could, there’s no way I can tell Kode that I’ve managed to already fall in love with him.

“Get changed. We’re going out.”

His announcement has me snapping my head up. It’s still really early, barely after lunch time.

“Where are we going?” I ask while going to open my suitcase.

“Anywhere. Everywhere. My hands are going to be all over you in front of every-damn-body out there. No reason to keep us a secret here.”

I grin stupidly while picking out a pair of jeans and flats to wear. If he wants to make a day out of this, I should be comfortable.

It’s amazing how sexy he looks in just his jeans and a white T-shirt with some blue logo on the front. His backwards hat suits him. He doesn’t look like an overachieving business guru. He looks like a young, sexy bad boy.

His blonde hair just peeks out under the front rim, and it makes him even more appealing. I know women would kill to be in my spot right now. I’m not about to mess it up with a foolish confession of love.

The swelling on his face has gone down, but the bruise and small cut is still there, reminding me he’s hurt. Under his shirt hides the bruises, but he swears he’s not hurting.

Even with the bruise and cut on his face, he’s still the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen. There’s nothing that can mar his beauty, which is a little depressing. Maybe I’m even more in love than I realized.

He grins over at me when he catches me checking him out, and those grayish-blue, almost silver eyes sparkle with playful mockery as he arches a light brow.

“Keep looking at me like that, and I won’t get us out of here.”

I laugh while shaking my head, and I move to the bathroom to change. Getting naked in front of him would lead to being thrown on the bed—or against the wall. As appealing as that sounds, I’m also excited to go out in public and let everyone see this incredible man wrapped around me.

By the time I’m finished, Kode is waiting by the door, his eyes greedily raking over me like I’m wearing a sheet instead of modest clothing.

“We should hurry,” he says, shifting as though he’s aroused.

I giggle like an idiot while nodding. It’s like we’re a normal couple here. Nothing is barring us from getting closer, and it feels good—freeing.

His arm immediately goes around my shoulders as we head out, and it doesn’t move. When we reach the elevator, he has me pressed against him and kissing me hard, not giving a damn that we’re not alone, and I carefully maneuver my body so that it doesn’t hurt the bruises hidden beneath his shirt.

Ignoring the disapproving throat-clearings, Kode kisses me like he’s flipping the world off, and I kiss him back with the same intentions. This is going to be a good day.

***

TRIA

“I’m too full to eat another bite,” I groan.

Kode laughs while taking a small bite of the third piece of chocolate cake he has ordered. He might have a badass personal trainer to keep him from feeling guilty for eating so much, but I don’t.

“Just one more bite, Tria, and I swear I’ll leave you alone.”

He’s enjoying feeding me apparently. I’m fairly positive every woman in the restaurant is officially green with envy, because Kode has been against my side since we got here, and he has been feeding me dessert like it’s his mission to make me fat.

Opening my mouth, I let him slide the forked bite inside, and I close my lips over it. As he pulls the fork back through my lips, he smiles down at me, looking boyishly adorable and excited. I suppose going into a sugar coma or getting sick from a sugar high is completely worth that look.

He wipes the corner of my lip with his thumb before leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to my lips. Yeah… there’s not a woman in here that doesn’t hate me right now. And I love it.

“What time is your meeting in the morning?” I ask as he pays the waiter, reluctantly. I think he wants to keep me in the public eye at his side for as long as he can before we have to go back to covert lovers.

“Nine. Let’s head back. There’s something I sort of need to discuss with you.”

The frown that replaces his smile has me worried. It’s barely eight at night right now, and I expected us to stay out a little later. Not here, but somewhere.

“You look worried about something.”

He’d better not be breaking up with me. That look is filling me with too many insecure thoughts.

“I am, but I hope you’ll see things my way. Come on. I’ll explain everything at the hotel.”

I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, but it fills me with dread. He helps me out of the small, curved booth of the intimate, underappreciated restaurant that definitely surprised me with its food.

Deciding not to dwell on the fact he suddenly seems uncomfortable, I try to shift the subject. Maybe I’m overreacting.

“That was a nice place. How’d you find it?” I ask as we reach the sidewalk, leaving the hidden gem behind. The hotel is just a couple of blocks from here, so Kode wraps his arm around me and steers me in the direction.

If he’s still holding me like this, then it can’t be anything too bad.

“I go there every time I come to New York. I found it by accident. I was starving one day, and staying… close by.” He seems hesitant about that last part, but I know why. He always stayed with Rain when he came to New York. He continues, not noting my tension. “I stumbled upon it, and decided it was a better option than waiting forever on a table or eating something from a hotdog stand. Obviously I was shocked at what I found. I would have overlooked it if it hadn’t pretty much landed in my lap. It seemed like a fitting place to take you on our first real date.”

My tension is replaced by excited butterflies. That last piece had meaning behind it. He would have overlooked me, too, if he hadn’t accidentally hit on me in a bar where he never thought he’d run into me.

“My turn to ask you a question,” he says when I become too stupidly happy to respond. “Why’d you decide to get into cosmetics? It seems a little random, but I’ve seen you be passionate about making this work.”

He looks down as I snuggle in closer to his side. When he tightens his hold, my worry of what’s to come dissipates. He’s not leaving me, or he wouldn’t be acting like he’s scared to let me go.

“I graduated college with no major in anything, no real idea of what to do with my life, and no direction to go. Everyone else seemed to know exactly what they wanted to do. Finally, I started to look into different investments, and stumbled across Leo’s work. He needed an investor, and I needed someone to invest in.

“As we’ve discussed, his name isn’t a big name that people know, so he had no one interested in his work. But I was fascinated for some reason. And when I spoke to him, it was impossible not to find his passion contagious. So I funded the rest of his work, and from there, we’ve been trying to break into the unbreakable.”

Kode grins as though he enjoys hearing that, and he pulls me closer, making walking a little difficult, but I’m not complaining.

We remain in comfortable silence the rest of the way to the hotel, and his body remains glued to mine the whole way back.

New York is definitely the place to be for business, and it’s definitely my favorite place to be with Kode since we don’t have to hide from anyone. But there are still… questions.

“When you were chasing Rain, why didn’t you just move to New York? You have business here, and it would have been easier for you to get her while being so close.”

He tenses beside me, and I hold my breath. I don’t know why I have to ask questions like these, but I do. I need to know that what he felt for her is nothing like what he feels for me.

“Because I didn’t… want to?” he says, though it sounds like a question he’s thinking over. “I don’t know. I guess I never thought of leaving Sterling Shore as an option, and Rain… Well, she wasn’t enough incentive for me to leave my home.”

That has me grinning and relaxing. If he didn’t care enough to move, even though he had other reasons to do so, then he didn’t love her. Couldn’t have.

As we load the elevator, I notice him still being stiff. Asking about Rain was a stupid thing to do. I should be able to just let it go.

“How can you just pick up and go from place to place while having a life with all the things you own and dabble in?”

He grins, his body relaxing, and I mentally pat myself on the back for ridding the atmosphere of the awkward tension. Just as the elevator lands on our floor, he guides me off while answering.

“Because I don’t actually run anything. I’m only in on the business changing conversations. I own a lot, but I have people that run things—good people that enjoy my trust in their abilities. I’m not a workaholic because I want to live life while there’s a life to live. It’s a Sterling thing in case you haven’t noticed. We own a lot, and only work a little.”

That’s not completely true. They all work a good bit, but they live life in equal parts.

He continues as we reach our room. “I make a lot of money by finding the right people who are workaholics to run things—something I learned from my dad. They put their hearts into their work, and I reap the benefits alongside them. It’s a win-win situation. Something I hope you are open to doing as well, because when your business takes off, I don’t want to lose you to your corporate love.”

My heart speeds up as we head inside, and I look at him, trying to decipher what he’s saying. He wants this thing between us to continue, that much is certain.

“Well, I would definitely trust your advice. But I don’t see that being a cause for concern any time soon.”

His lips thin, and he takes a deep breath before looking truly worried about something.

“Tria, I need you to listen to me about something, and I want you to seriously digest the words I’m saying without freaking out.”

I’m already freaking out.

“Kode, you’re starting to—”

“The meeting at nine in the morning isn’t mine; it’s yours.”

I’m torn between being confused and surprised, because that’s not what I was expecting him to say, and it doesn’t make a damn bit of sense.

“What are you talking about?”

***

KODE

I’ve been dreading this conversation since we got here, but I know how to sell something. Right now it’s time I put on my game face and sell this to her.

Her eyes look confused more than angry, so obviously she’s waiting on an explanation and not an excuse as to why I’ve meddled when she told me not to.

“Five of the leading cosmetic lines in the industry are based here in New York. Tomorrow all five will be in a conference room in one of the businesses I co-own here. You’ll be giving your presentation to them. That umbrella company is a possibility, and your line will stand a chance of being seen. I brought your samples, your binders, and your presentation notes.”

Silence. Her face is expressionless, and the room in encased in agonizing silence. Am I breathing? I don’t think I am.

“Kode,” she finally groans, gripping her head. “Have you lost your damn mind?”

At least she’s speaking, and she doesn’t seem particularly pissed. But before I can speak, she continues.

“I told you that I have to do this on my own. I don’t want something I didn’t earn, because where is the pride in that?”

Now I know she’s getting under my skin, because I respect the hell out of that. Just the promise of bringing Paul Colton’s stores into business with a cosmetic line would have sealed her this deal a long time ago, but she didn’t want to use her family for professional gain.

“Tria, I didn’t get you a deal. I got you a meeting that you can’t get on your own. Number one lesson in business is having contacts. You have a contact. Now you have a very important meeting to prepare for. Which I’m going to help you do.”

She looks torn between confused and frustrated, but not angry. Thank fuck she’s not angry.

“No. I don’t have contacts.
You
have contacts, and I can’t use you like that. Sorry. But cancel this. I’ll find a way to do this on my own, I promise.”

Come on, Kode. Get to selling.