I wanted to answer. I wanted to keep playing along for Nora's sake. But my heart shattered without warning.
“Excuse me,” I choked out, standing up.
I hated to be so abrupt with Nora, but I suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotion. Cole had no idea what I’d been through or how his words of acknowledgment, no matter how fake, would affect me.
I rushed blindly to the toilets, needing a moment to compose myself before I could face Cole and play my part again.
But instead of the bathroom door, I ran straight into someone’s chest. Someone’smuscularchest.
“Oh no…” I said, my face full of apologies as I looked up, way up, at one of the prettiest men I’d ever come across in real life.
Even if I hadn’t seen a picture of him on Nora's mantle, I would have recognized the man as Cole’s brother. His features were also chiseled, but in a way that brought to mind a Greek statue as opposed to a predatory bird.
The only thing keeping him from being too pretty was his rough stubble. Max hadn't bothered to shave like his older brother before coming out for this award ceremony. His hair was also longer and much darker than Cole’s, and he was wearing a lavender tuxedo jacket instead of the rigid blue, gray, or black standard. But his eyes were the same light green.
However, while Cole’s eyes were piercing, Max’s had a playfully wicked gleam that I suspected might be permanent.
“Hi, Max, I'm Sunny.” I grimaced at the brown smudge on his formerly crisp-white tuxedo shirt. “Sorry for getting makeup on your shirt.”
“So it’s true, you’re here with my brother.” He shook his head. “Just goes to prove what Grandpa used to say.‘Nora always gets her way.’”
“Ah, well…” I didn’t know how I felt about not only lying to Nora about the nature of my relationship with Cole, but also to his brother. “I’m just glad we could make her happy.”
I retrieved a makeup-remover wipe from my clutch. “Here, let me get that,” I said, wiping my foundation from his white shirt.
“Wow, that actually worked,” he said, looking down at his now makeup-free shirt.
“These wipes are absolute magic. I can’t tell you how many times they’ve saved me from a costume change.” I gave him an embarrassed smile. “I can be kind of clumsy sometimes.”
He smiled back at me, his eyes twinkling. “You’re pretty charming, sweetheart. In this case, I can see why my brother decided to roll over for Nora. But poor me, I would’ve flown back from Europe sooner if I’d met you before tonight. Cole beat me to the punch.”
I wrinkled my nose. There was something weird about how he talked about Cole’s and my relationship, almost like he knew it was fake. However, instead of being grateful we were honoring Nora’s last wishes, he seemed amused, like this was all some sort of game.
“What do you mean by Cole beat you to the punch?” I asked.
CHAPTER16
Cole
I walkedoff the stage having just received the highest non-monetary honor of my career. In fucking misery.
Nora jumped out of her seat as I stalked toward the Benton Worldwide table, completely contradicting the lie I'd told Sunny to get her to agree to my new plan.
"Coley, congratulations! And the last part of the speech! I nearly wept, I tell you. You're clearly infatuated with Sunny, just like I knew you'd?—"
"Where did Sunny go?" I demanded before my grandmother could finish gushing over the part of the acceptance speech I'd only improvised to further dupe her into actually believing I was going along with her scheme.
This was all a show to ensure that Nora had no reason to suspect my true intention of surprising her with a resolution to vote her out at the next Board of Directors meeting.
At least that was what I told myself, but I gripped the base of the statue tight, wishing it was Sunny's hand.
"Why did she run off like that? Is she okay?"
"Physically, yes," Nora answered after a careful beat. "But I don't think Sunny was quite prepared for the spotlight of true love. It can be quite overwhelming, you know. Why, when your grandfather?—"
I stalked toward the lobby before Nora could launch into yet another story about how she had my otherwise-sane grandfather completely wrapped around her finger.
I didn’t like this situation. I didn’t like it at all.
