An apology.
I had just gotten an apology from Cole Benton.
That also had not been on my bingo card.
I didn't know what to say.
So, I dropped my robe and walked over to the clawfoot tub, challenging him with, "You seriously don't expect sex? Or a reversal of my decision to move out in exchange for your apology? And the CalPresso coffee machine?"
Cole swallowed but answered, "No. Both are yours to do with whatever you wish."
I lowered myself into the bath. Slowly. Giving him time to show the true colors of his thoughtful gesture.
Cole's eyes stayed on me. Burning with the usual hunger—but also something else. Something that looked painful.
But he averted them when he noticed me watching him watch me.
“I’ll just go...um...take a shower of my own before I get back to work. Call Agnes if you need anything.”
I did need something, I admitted to myself. Something Agnes couldn't provide. Answers.
"Cole, wait,"I said when he was almost to the door.
His shoulders tensed. As if he was afraid. Of me. Of what I'd say next. But eventually, he turned back around.
“You were serious this morning when you made Tomas drive me to your grandmother’s house, weren’t you? All that stuff you were saying about control. You weren’t joking. You really were trying to punish me for making you lose control at the Benton Girls show. It was about control, wasn't it? All of it.”
To his credit, Cole didn't hit me with several moments of weaponized silence before he answered. With a nod.
“And the things you said to me during that fight were about control, too. You were trying to prove you controlled me, right?”
"Not you." He shook his head.“Not you. Me. I was trying to prove I could control myself. That you didn’t have me wrapped around your finger.
He averted his eyes. "Again, I know I went too far, and I...”He took a deep breath.“I’m giving you all the control. Whatever you want me to do right now to make this up to you, I’ll do.”
“You’re not serious.”I shook my head, unable to fathom the Ruthless CEO giving me, the lowly showgirl, control over our entire relationship.
But he finally re-met my eyes and said,“I’m always serious.”
“So if I asked you to take the rest of the day off from work and stay here and talk this out with me?—”
He came all the way back into the bathroom and stood at the end of the clawfoot tub as he pulled his GoNoTo phone out of his pocket and instructed it to“Call Agnes.”
"Calling Agnes..."the phone's clipped AI voice answered.
“Hello, Mr. Benton. What can I do for you?”came Agnes’s efficient voice over the speaker.
“I’m not coming into the office today.”
Holy Cow, he’s actually doing it!Giving me control of his schedule.
A wicked smile lifted my lips, and an even more wicked thought popped into my mind. I shifted to my knees and moved through the water toward the side of the tub where he stood.
Meanwhile, Agnes sounded genuinely confused.“What? I mean, certainly, Mr. Benton, but you took a half day yesterday, too. Are you okay? Are you sick? Should I send a doctor up?”
I could hear the sincere worry in Agnes’s voice as I rose to my knees to unzip Cole's pants and pull him out.
But, of course, Cole wasn’t sick. I doubted he ever got sick. And even if he didn't feel well, he'd still come back to work.
