Page 16 of The Rebel Heir

He felt like a fool.

Cole walked back into the suite to pour himself two fingers of whiskey from the crystal decanter on the bar in the sitting area’s corner. With a sip, he made his way back onto the terrace. In truth, he avoided slumber because she conquered his sleeping hours—through dreams and nightmares.

Had he known the first time he’d laid eyes on the beauty that it would end the way it had, he never would have made the first move that day...

Cole and his brothers were in the movie room on the second floor of the five-story townhouse. It was a rare night that they all were home, and when the youngest Cress family member requested that they watch her favorite animated movie,Moana, her wishes were the command of the family. She was everyone’s soft spot as the inner struggle to be named heir to the Cress, INC. throne reigned.

Cole had been the last to come down from his bedroom suite on the fourth floor. Everyone was seated in one of the twenty leather recliners that faced the movie screen. Collette sat front and center, her cup-holders filled with snacks—a treat because her mother always plied her with healthy alternatives.

“Hurry, Uncle Cole,” she urged, her cheeks stuffed with candy.

Cole moved to the fully stocked snack station along the far wall, next to the entry to the wrought-iron staircase. It was completely stocked with a variety of boxed candy, a popcorn maker, a soda fountain and an ice cream machine. He selected a box of Goobers from the stack on the glass shelves. “Where’s Mom?” he asked before opening the box and tossing a few of the treats into his mouth.

“She’s interviewing the new chef,” Phillip Senior said, kicking the recliner back and elevating his feet.

“Oh yeah?” Cole said. “Franco will be hard to top.”

Their chef of the last ten years had retired with plans to return to his native Brazil. His traditional dishes had impressed the family of chefs. Even Phillip Senior had begrudgingly admitted that Franco’sfeijoada—a Brazilian beef, pork and bean stew—was better than his own.

Who would top that? he wondered.

Curious, Cole moved to the tablet on the wood-paneled wall and accessed the house’s security system. Every room of the townhouse was under surveillance. Except, of course, his parents’ suite, which took up the entire third floor and the six personal bedroom suites on the fourth and fifth floors.

He found his mother in the living room, seated on the light gray velvet sofa across from a young woman on the other.

She sat with poise and confidence in a stylish black pantsuit, her ankles crossed as she looked his motherdirectly in the eye. Her curly hair had been pulled into a topknot and her spectacles were perched on her nose. With her plump lips covered in red lipstick, he couldn’t help but think she had the air of a naughty librarian waiting to be untamed.

“Cole, close the curtains and kill the lights,” Lucas called over to him.

Cole forced his eyes away from the woman’s face to look over at the second half of the spacious floor that made up the library with its floor-to-ceiling shelves lined with books. Like the other four floors of the townhouse, the entire rear wall was glass. He used the button on the light switch by the stairwell to close the soft gray velvet curtains. He dimmed the lights as well, just as the movie started. Although night and its darkness reigned, his actions would ensure a better movie-watching experience.

Instead of claiming a seat, however, he used the darkness to descend the wrought-iron staircase. It opened directly into the first-floor living room, but he paused, crossed his arms and leaned against the railing to watch the stranger from across the room.

She was beautiful. Her voice husky. Her confidence clear.

“I’ll be honest, Jillian, I am very impressed by your previous employers,” Nicolette said.

Jillian.

“I am very interested in someone used to decorum and discretion,” his mother continued.

“Of course,” Jillian agreed with a nod just before she glanced past his mother’s shoulder to look at him. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise.

He gave her his best smile—the one that had wooed many a woman over the years. Nice, easy, and charming, with the right amount of wile.

Jillian shifted her eyes back to his mother, but he saw the spark of interest before she did.

It made his pulse race, and he felt excited in a way that surprised him. He decided right then that he wanted Jillian, and he would charm the beauty right into his bed...

And he had.

And it had been glorious. Never had he had so much fun in a pantry.

Cole pushed away the hot memory. As he stood on the terrace of his suite in Monte Carlo, nursing her betrayal and his drink, he understood the chorus from the songI Wishby Carl Thomas because he wished he’d never met Jillian Rossi at all.

He felt used by her.

True, their relationship had been casual, but he’d still thought it had meant more to her than something to toss away without a second thought after more than a year of sharing time.

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