Page 111 of Dirty Rich Cinderella Story

He strokes hair from my eyes. “I don’t want your thanks. I don’t need it. What I need is for you to stop putting limits on us.”

“If that was easy for me, I’d be someone else and maybe you wouldn’t want me here with you.”

“Good point, counselor,” he says, “You do know how to make your case.”

He pulls me to his chest, under his arm, and I whisper, “So do you, counselor,” before I fall asleep.

The next morning, I take a car service home again, and when I get to work Cole and I dive into the research to defend our new client. That becomes our new routine. I stay with Cole nightly and I’m home with my mother each morning. By mid-week, Cole has our new client out on bail, and the war with the ADA on the case has begun. The good news is that Ashley’s visa release is looking promising even if we can’t get any real answers on what she is accused of doing.

Come Friday, I have yet to have coffee with Cat, and she takes the situation into her own hands, showing up at the office with coffee.

My door is shut, and she says, “Talk.”

“He’s my boss and I’m falling in love with him,” I blurt, “and I’m too busy to even freak out about it.”

“Holy wow,” Cat says. “Tell me more.”

“I really can’t. I have paperwork to file on the case I’m working with Cole, a paper I’m working on for school, and Cole’s temporary secretary is failing to the point that I’m going to have to replace her.”

“That sounds like too much. We can fix that.”

“There is nothing to fix. I’m terrific. I love this. It’s an adrenaline rush. I’m finally here doing this. This is my dream.”

She laughs. “Okay. I’ll leave now and do so knowing that I need to bring you coffee more often if I’m going to actually see you the during next six months.” She hugs me and leaves and I get back to work.

It’s seven when Cole and I leave separately, and seven-thirty when I walk into his apartment to have him greet me at the door. I’m naked in three minutes. And in another fifteen, I’m moaning Cole’s name, before we end up sated and pressed close on the couch. His kisses me and stands up, pulling on his pants while I put on his shirt. He walks to the bar and returns with champagne and two glasses.

“To celebrate,” he says.

“Celebrate what?”

“Only six months to hide like this, not nine. I got your program changed and your pay spread adjusted as well.”

I remember Cat’s comment about six months now. She knew, she let him tell me. “Oh my God. Are you sure?”

“HR is editing your paperwork on Monday.”

I can get my mother moved out of that rat trap sooner. I can pay off bills and I will have my degree three months sooner. I can—I’m going to cry. I throw my arms around him. “Thank you, Cole.”

He wraps me in his arms, and I have my Cinderella moment for real this time, but it’s kind of terrifying. I’ve been here before, in some way. A perfect mom and dad. Top of my class at Stanford. On my way to success. Then the ball dropped. The rope snapped. The blade cut. I hold Cole just a little tighter, afraid something is going to go wrong, but soon I’m back to sipping champagne with Cole, debating our new case, and I forget to worry.

Nothing is going to go wrong.

I won’t let it.

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