"But don't be upset with me, I've got a surprise to make it up to...”
She trailed off, the "you" dying in her throat when she saw Cole standing fully dressed in the kitchen. With me.
I stared at her.
And she stared back at me, her willowy body as bare as the day she was born save the coat and a pair of strappy heels. "Oh, Cole..."
Her perfectly painted red lips broke into a wide smile. "I can't believe you remembered it was my birthday! I love her. She's perfect for tonight's playdate!"
CHAPTER9
Cole
Shit.
Shit. Goddamnit. Fuck.
I'd almost had Sunny. I could tell she was seriously considering my sex-contract offer after I pulled her out of that rat trap of an apartment.
Not going to lie. The possibility of taking her to bed had erased most of my second thoughts about my unprecedented invitation to let a woman live with me, and my mouth had watered with images of me stripping her out of that tank top and sweatshirt combo after she named her terms and conditions. I could already see myself sucking, tasting,touchingher everywhere. The promise of getting my good deed rewarded had dangled like a carrot between us—only to get yanked away with Juliet's arrival.
I cursed myself three different ways for completely forgetting about the standing date with my latest agreement, Juliet Davies, a Vegas heiress who was biding her time as an event coordinator while she waited for her real estate billionaire father to kick the bucket. Then I cursed Juliet for walking into my home unannounced.
"Who gave you the code to my penthouse?" I demanded, stepping forward to block Sunny from her view.
Juliet's wide smile became confused. "Oh, I... I'd been up here with you so often that I guess I memorized the code when I saw you punching it in."
She just happened to memorize my 12-digit password after a handful of visits?Yeah, right.
I returned to business mode to deal with this uninvited guest problem so I could return to laying the side contract groundwork with Sunny.
"I am no longer in need of our arrangement," I informed Juliet, straightening to my full height. "You may go now."
"I maygo now?" Juliet repeated. "Six weeks, and you're just dismissing me like that? On my birthday?"
Now she was claiming it was her birthday?
Should I threaten to sic security on her? Or should I just covertly text my shadow cartel team to deal with her?
Pro for threatening: She might give up this charade and leave.
Con for threatening: In my experience, Vegas heiresses could be batshit crazy—a mix of entitlement and never quite feeling like they fit in anywhere else in the world outside the neon gild of Sin City. A threat might actually escalate the situation and end with me having to call in my special team anyway.
But even if they took her downstairs in my private elevator, having a hysterical real estate heiress dragged out of the Benton naked might cause a scene. The city hosted millions of tourists a year, but our Vegas society was small. Everyone knew and did business with everyone else. It would only take one employee seeing Juliet getting thrown out like a bag of garbage to start rumors that would make things awkward at tomorrow's CEO of the Year dinner.
"Who is she?" Juliet snarled, striding forward and craning her head to look around me. As if she were my longtime girlfriend, not a convenient arrangement we'd both agreed to fit into our busy schedules.
A moment ago, she'd been down for a threesome. Now her face was livid as she demanded to know, "Who is the man-stealingbitchyou've suddenly decided to replace me with?"
"Don't call her that." My hackles rose without warning on Sunny's behalf. "You will not call her that. Not unless you want to have every tourist in the lobby watch you be thrown out of the Benton in nothing but that coat."
My threat obviously hit its mark because Juliet backed down, holding up both hands.
"I wasn't trying to insult her, Cole. I was just trying to understand how you could replace me so easily and without a word of warning." Her voice became shaky with tears. "On my birthday!"
Jesus Christ.
“Either party may terminate this contract at any time with an oral or written announcement—that’s what the agreement we both signed said in clear terms. I don’t have to give you any warning before ending this arrang—" I started to point out.
