Page 107 of Dirty Rich Cinderella Story

“I’m ready,” she says. “Can we look at the outline now?” She reaches for her MacBook.

“Now is how I like to work.” I say, reaching for my MacBook as well.

We start dissecting her requirements and since the flight attendant doesn’t force us to store our MacBooks, an interesting thing happens. Lori forgets about take-off. She’s that absorbed in the conversation about graduating early. And that tells me that control is what she’s missing. She needs to feel in control of her own destiny. I’m back to the dilemma that hasn’t changed. I can’t just save her and not lose her, which is going to kill me.

***

Lori

“You’re coming home with me,” is the first thing Cole says when the plane’s wheels touch ground.

I don’t argue. I want to go home with Cole. “I need to go home and check on things there, and grab a few extra items,” I say.

“We’ll swing by there on the way to my place.”

“No,” I say, turning to look at him. “I’ll go on my own.”

He cups my face and kisses me. “I’m taking you by your place.”

I’m coming to know him and there’s no arguing. If I go by my place, he’s taking me. “I don’t need to go. Let’s just go to your apartment.”

An hour later, the car Cole has hired stops in front of my apartment, because that’s Cole. Stubborn. Stubborn. Stubborn. And as I’d feared when I get out of the car, Cole gets out. I meet him at the rear of the vehicle. “I’m not letting you go up there.”

“I don’t care what your apartment looks like, Lori.”

“I do. And you will. You’ll do the bleeding-heart thing because as tough as you act, and are, you have a soft spot, which I love, I do, but it will work against our relationship. And this place is a big gossip hotel. My mother will find out you were here, and I told you I don’t want her to stress out.”

“We’re sharing a life now.”

“I’m also sharing a life with my mother.”

A muscle in his jaw ticks. “Which is why I should meet your mother.”

“Not yet. Please, Cole. Please just—”

He kisses me. “Don’t pack for one night. I’m not standing outside your apartment if we have to do this again tomorrow night.”

I press to my toes and kiss him again before I turn and run for the apartment when it hits me that maybe, I think, probably Cole just basically asked me to move in with him. Or more like, told me I am, but I can’t. He’s my boss, and my mother is here, and I won’t leave my mother behind. Cole won’t expect that. I know that. I quickly pack, and text my mother to let her know I’m back in town. Her reply: Tell me all about it over coffee in the morning.

I finish packing and then realize I have to be here when my mother gets home tomorrow. I leave behind my work clothes. I’ll change here in the morning. With that in mind, I hurry downstairs to find Cole leaning on the car. “I have to leave your place at six in the morning. I need to be here when my mother gets home from work. Any night I stay with you, I have to do that.”

He straightens and pulls me close. “If it means you stay with me, we’ll make it work.”

***

Twenty minutes later, we stop at the security desk of Cole’s place, and he registers me to be able come and go as I please. Another five minutes, and we walk into his apartment. The instant we’re in the foyer, he kisses me, but this time it’s not about lust and passion, and shoving me against the wall. There is tenderness in his eyes, in his voice. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” I whisper, amazed how true those words are when months ago, when I met him, I was certain that I couldn’t be with him and not lose me.

“Let’s put our bags upstairs and we can order dinner,” he suggests. “I’m starving. Are you starving?”

Starving for you, I think. “Yes,” I say. “That sounds nice.”

An hour later, we’re sitting on his living room floor, laughing and talking, waiting on news from Ashley that doesn’t arrive. Another hour later, we’re in his bed. Two hours later, I’m lying on his chest, listening to his heart beat, his fingers stroking my hair. “This is where I want you every night,” he says. “Here with me.”

I don’t reply. I can’t reply. I’m caught between two worlds. I love my mother. I belong with her, taking care of her, but on the other hand, here with Cole feels better than anything I’ve ever experienced in my life. I’m in love with this man. He wants me with him. He’s not the obstacle. The rest of the world is the obstacle.

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