Page 11 of Beginnings By the Sea

He smiled. “I hope so.”

He waited for me to hop inside my car and then shut the door. I watched as he got into a shiny silver Bentley that had to be worth a full year of my salary.

Was Cohen too good to be true?

In comparison to Miles, they were like night and day. Miles was a firefighter, handsome in every rugged way possible, not afraid to get his hands dirty, and not rich by any means. We lived comfortably when we were together, and the passion was off the charts.

Cohen was good-looking and polished, a businessman who obviously always gets what he wants. Maybe that was what I needed, someone completely different who wouldn’t remind me of the only man I’d ever loved.

6

NYLA

“Thank you for letting me use your freezer!” Autumn yelled, her words bouncing off the walls in the garage. “I knew I should’ve bought a new refrigerator when mine started having issues.”

I smiled and shook my head, setting my purse on one of the bar stools. It was almost time for me to meet Cohen and my friends for dinner at The Beachcomber.

“Well, now you have to!” I hollered back, leaning against the kitchen counter.

Autumn scoffed. “I know, it sucks. Good refrigerators are so expensive.”

It just so happened that when she’d arrived home from work today, she opened her refrigerator to find out it had died. Luckily, it hadn’t been out long because her food was still cold. She took all her refrigerated stuff to her parents’ house since they lived closer to her, but they didn’t have the freezer space. Since I had an extra freezer in the garage that Jensen had left when he sold me the house, I told her to bring her stuff over.

Autumn appeared in the doorway, and she whistled when she saw me. “Wow. You look great in those tight jeans and cute little top.”

The Beachcomber was casual, so I opted for jeans, strappy brown sandals, and a light green, sleeveless top. I smiled at Autumn.

“Thank you. I hope everyone gets along with Cohen tonight. He doesn’t act high maintenance, but you can tell he’s big money. When they’re joking around, Jensen and the guys can be a little crude at times.”

Autumn snickered. “If Cohen can’t handle that, then he’s got issues. We’re not stuffy suit people down here.”

That was the truth. She crossed her arms over her chest, her expression concerned as if something was on her mind.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked her.

She bit her lip sheepishly and waved me off. “It’s none of my business. I mean, I know you’re my boss, and we’re also friends, but I don’t want to overstep. I can get kind of nosy at times.”

That made me laugh. “Which means you’ve already put your nose in something,” I replied, giggling even harder.

Still looking sheepish, she quickly reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. “Okay, fine, I have.” She moved closer and I watched her type Cohen’s name into the search engine. “So, your new boyfriend is kind of a big thing in New York, right?”

I wasn’t surprised to see a gazillion pictures and articles pop up about Cohen. Autumn handed me her phone so I could get a better look. She clicked on the pictures and there were so many of Cohen being followed around by the paparazzi; it was as if he was a celebrity. My mouth gaped in shock at all the images.

Autumn bumped me with her elbow. “He’s literally treated like royalty, Nyla. The guy is seriously connected. If you wanted to get front-row tickets to any concert, he could get them with a snap of his fingers.” She tapped her phone at a picture of Cohen with his arm around the shoulders of a famous actress. “Looks like he probably got the media’s attention after dating that one. She’s uber popular.” Her name was Anne Hatfield and I’d seen several of her movies. She was the epitome of gorgeous with her sleek blonde hair and slender frame. Not to mention she was amazing on screen.

I scrolled through more of the images at ones that were more recent; there were none of him with Anne. However, there was an article about their breakup. It just so happened it was dated over a year ago. At least, it meant I probably wasn’t his rebound.

Autumn tapped her phone screen. “If the paparazzi follow him in New York, who’s to say they won’t come here? You’ll be all over the internet if they see you with him.”

My stomach dropped. I couldn’t imagine being followed by cameras constantly; I loved my privacy. I’ve read the tabloids and they could be brutal. I could only imagine what they’d say about me. The headline would probably read: Sexy Bachelor Slums it with Small-Town Doctor who is no Runway Model.

“Hopefully, they don’t know he’s here,” I said, remembering what Cohen said last night. He wasn’t all that happy about the article in the local newspaper. The good thing about that was the newspaper was only in print and not digital. No one would be able to look it up online.

Autumn grabbed her phone and tapped around on it before handing it back to me. “Yeah, they don’t know he’s here . . . yet,” she said, sighing with concern. “But read that article. It was posted just this morning.”

I focused on her phone and groaned when I read the headline. Cohen Sumner has Disappeared from the Social Scene. Where did he go? It talked about how he was right in the thick of things in New York, going to all the hot parties and clubs, but then, he upped and left. No one knew where he was.

“Great,” I grumbled, handing over Autumn’s phone. “It’s probably a game now on who can find him first.”

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