Page 20 of To Have and To Hold

A look of surprise crossed her face, and she opened her mouth to say something but then looked like she thought better of it.

“I don’t know if my parents want to see you right now, especially my father. He got an earful from my grandmother when she heard from the woman that she buys her fish from about us being engaged.” Coco sighed. “That’s why we wanted to not tell anyone yet; she should have heard it from us.”

Colin winced. She was right and he needed to not be so hot-headed around her. But for some reason with her, he acted the fool sometimes.

He was known for his cutthroat ways in business with his brothers. He was calm under pressure when running his restaurant and cooking for the elite and his cool distance with the woman that had been in his life, but with Coco, he felt possessive and admitted to himself after the bathroom scene he wanted her again as his own.

He could keep fooling himself that after all this he could walk away but this time she was different and so was he and he didn’t think that would be possible now. Every minute in her presence exposed a new facet that he found endearing and fascinating, and he wanted her so bad he could taste it. The need to kiss those lips and enter her sweet body kept him up at night. Just the scent of her perfume or laugh had his body stirring.

His brothers would laugh and tease him if they saw him right now. He thought he had the game in the bag, but he was steadily losing.

Colin had a feeling that he was not going to let Coco go after all this and knew he was going to have a fight on his hands. He had a lot to make up for in the past and he wasn’t making a good impression on her with his heavy-handedness.

“Why are you looking at me that way?” Coco frowned.

“What way?”

“So intense.”

“Because you are beautiful and I like looking at you, always have.”

She got up and walked around him, then pinched his cheek, pulling the skin slightly away. “Okay, what did you do with the real Colin?”

He laughed and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and giving her a kiss. She leaned away in surprise. “Just in a good mood. Got you to finally talk to me.” He smirked.

She made a sound with her teeth and pulled out of his arms.

“What was that?” He laughed again.

“It is called steupsing. It’s a sound of extreme annoyance.” She gave him a look of warning.

He grinned. “Seriously, can you call your parents and see if they will go out with us for dinner and the mini golfing?”

“Us?” Coco lifted a brow as she sat back down.

“Yes, they will come if they know you have forgiven me, and this invitation comes from both of us. We don’t have time for your family and you to stay mad; my grandfather has requested to meet you all.”

She nodded and went to pick up her office phone.

“And after you are done, I made an appointment for us to look at rings.”

The phone hung in the air.

“We are engaged.” He pointed out.

“Yes, but we can just get bands, no need to spend money on a ring that I won’t wear after the annulment.”

“My grandfather would expect it.” He said as his stomach clenched from her mentioning the annulment.

“I—”

“You can keep or if you don’t want it, I can return it or give it to someone else.”

He stopped when she scowled, then quickly wiped the expression off her face.

Hmmm, didn’t like that part, did you?His mood lifted again.

“Okay, fine, it’s your money to burn. Let me speak to my parents. What time is the appointment?”

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