Page 44 of The Plus One Professional

“Yeah, she is. It’s a tradition in the Bliss family. My dad was William Martin Bliss IV, and everyone called him Will. My Grandpa Bill, whom Mr. Reynolds knew, was the firstborn, and he was William Martin Bliss III. His dad was the firstborn, and he was a junior. I think my parents thought about waiting to see if they had a son, but my dad decided to name Billie, Billie.”

“Are you close to your dad?”

“Um.” I never really talked about my dad. Usually, only to my sisters, and only if they brought it up. But for some reason, talking to Cole was easy. I felt like I could tell him anything. “Growing up, he lived in New York, so we only saw him in the summers. He always said that he was going to have us move there with him, but he died before that happened.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. It was a long time ago. I was fourteen.”

“What about your mom?”

“She died from complications while giving birth to Birdie.”

“Wow, that’s awful. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. My Grandma Betty and Grandpa Bill were seriously the best. I had a really happy childhood. What about you?” I glanced over at him and noticed his jaw twitched. His very square jaw that was covered with stubble.

I’d never been a huge fan of facial hair. I’d always thought that I preferred a clean-shaven man, but on Cole, it worked. Everything about him just worked.

“It was… not great,” he finally said. “My parents had issues with drugs. I was in foster care before my sister Sara got custody of me when I was twelve.”

“I’m sorry. And I can say that because you said you were sorry twice when I told you about my parents.”

He grinned as he glanced over at me. “Are you keeping score?”

“No. But if I was, you would be losing by one point.”

He chuckled, and the sound simultaneously wrapped around me like a hug and had my lady parts tingling. How could something be both comforting and arousing? How could it feel safe like home and dangerous at the same time?

I didn’t know the answer, but I really hoped I got a lot more chances to find out this weekend.

18

COLE

“You have arrived at your destination,”the robotic navigation voice announced as I turned into the winery's entrance.

I checked the dash clock and saw that close to four hours had passed since we left San Francisco. We’d left at ten in the morning, and it was a quarter to two. The traffic had been stop-and-go for the first forty miles of the trip, but I’d barely noticed. The time had flown by. Before we left, I’d been worried about there being lulls in the conversation or awkward moments, but there hadn’t been any of that. We’d talked nonstop about everything, anything, and nothing.

“I can’t believe we’re already here,” Bailey observed as she reached down and grabbed her bag.

That’s a good sign, I thought as I pulled into the turnaround at the entrance. If she thought the time had flown by quickly, that must have meant she was also enjoying herself.

When we came to a stop, I was out the door and heading around to her side, but a valet beat me to it. I popped the liftgate and was grabbing her suitcase from the back when a porter approached me with a rolling luggage cart.

“I can take those, sir.”

My shoulders tensed. I didn’t think any amount of money would make me comfortable with people waiting on me. Some people might see it as a perk, but it just made me uncomfortable. This weekend wasn’t about me, though. It was about Bailey.

“Thanks.” I nodded, and he loaded her suitcase, my duffle, and our garment bags onto the luggage cart.

I joined Bailey, and we walked through automatic sliding doors that opened to a large lobby with elevated rustic charm. My phone vibrated, and I pulled it out of my pocket. Carly was calling me. She should still have been at school, so I immediately knew something was wrong.

“Um, it’s my niece. I need to take this.”

“Sure, yeah, I’ll go check us in.”

I walked back outside and answered. “Hey, Carles Barkley is everything?—”

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