Page 39 of The Billionaire and I

The last time we’d seen the sisters, we’d told them they were rude. Or they told uswewere rude? After so many glasses of wine, I couldn’t really remember. But I did remember them telling Cole they would try to get him kicked out of the building.

“Oh,hello,” Greta Windsor said, voice icy. “I’m surprised to see you, Cole.”

She lowered her trendy eyeglasses, all the better to look down on us. “I guess you haven’t received your eviction notice yet.”

Cole snorted. “Have you gotten yours?”

“No,” she sniffed, “and I don’t expect to. But then again, I’m not the one breaking the law and violating the co-op regulations.Youare.”

Cole arched his eyebrow. “Exactly how many Manhattans did you drink tonight, Greta? You’re drunk. Time to go night-night!”

“Har de har har. I’m not drunk, Cole. At least, not drunk enough to be mistaken aboutyou.” She smiled at him, the cat who relished its torture of the canary. “You’ve broken the law, and you can’t break the law and be an owner here. As I said, the Liberty is for upstanding citizens with flawless pedigrees. Not forpeople like you. So you won’t be living here much longer, I’m afraid.”

Florence cleared her throat, her cue to pipe in. “It’s too bad that we won’t have to listen to your endless late-night rooftop parties or tolerate your…um…friends.”

She eyed me up and down. “We’ll be returning to a higher-caliber clientele around here, just as the building was intended. We have to keep the riffraff out, you know? Otherwise, property values will plummet.”

“First of all, do not speak to Jenny like that.” Cole took a menacing step forward, and the sisters instinctively stepped back.

“Second of all, you are both talking out of your white, wrinkled asses,” he said. “I haven’t broken any laws. Unless you mean some global warming violation?” He grabbed my hand and pulled me next to him. “Jenny and Iareraising the temperature around here because we’re so hot.” He managed to look cocky and menacing all simultaneously, God bless him.

That made me laugh. The large, honking sound startled Florence and Greta, which suited me fine.

Cole pulled me closer and gave them a death stare. “As the saying goes, if you can’t take the heat, move the hell out. If anyone’s getting evicted, it’s you two.”

Greta lifted her chin. “We aren’t talking about any global-warming nonsense, andweare certainly not getting evicted. We haven’t broken any laws—but you have.”

The elevator dinged, and they climbed inside as if daring us to join them. We did not.

“We know all about Jenny, you see. Your ‘girlfriend’ is an illegal sex worker. We have all the proof we need, so we’re reporting you to the authorities.” Greta looked triumphant. “Sobye-bye, Bryson.”

My stomach sank, but Cole took her accusation in stride. “Bye-bye, Greta. And Florence,” he said. “Good luck taking the sticks out of your asses tonight. Better you than me with that job—they’re jammed in there pretty tight.” He smirked as the doors closed.

But as soon as we were alone in the lobby, he cursed. “Fuck! How did they find out about you?”

“I dunno, Coley.” But I got on my phone and started scrolling. Lo and behold, there were already pictures of us online, most of them from the previous party. I hadn’t worried about it, because we’d been having so much fun. But there had been photographers at all the events, and Cole and I had posed for multiple shots.

I showed him a picture of us from theHerald’s gossip column. We were smiling, Cole’s arm thrown around me:Boston mogul Cole Bryson and his date.

“They don’t even have your name in there,” Cole said. “How the heck did the Windsors track you?”

“Like you said, they’re wicked rich. And bored. They probably hired somebody to dig me up on the Internet andboom. They linked me back to the agency.” My shoulders slumped. “I’m real sorry. I hope you don’t get evicted ’cause of me.”

“I’m not getting evicted, and you don’t have to apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong.” But his face had that dark and stormy look again.

“I’m still sorry.” I tentatively reached over and held his hand.

He didn’t pull away from me, which was a good thing.

But I didn’t know how long I had before that happened. If his nosy neighbors knew I was a hooker, the news could spread and fast. Cole might think it wasn’t a big deal, but I knew how this worked. He was worth billions. I was worth less than nothing. Billionaires and call-girls did not compute, not in any math I ever saw.

I felt like Cinderella when her chariot turned back into a pumpkin and all the pretty horses returned to being mice. It was only a matter of time before it turned to midnight, and the full spell was broken.

And what the hell was I going to do after that?

CHAPTER 19

Cole

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