Chapter Seventeen

Dana tried desperately to pretend that everything was okay as they left the cruise ship. Lee waited for them outside the docks, and her heart was breaking. The dream was over, and reality was about to set in. She knew that when she got in that car, she’d lose the Cole Parker that she’d grown to know over the past seven days. He’d go back to being the cold and steely-eyed man who’d hired her.

Once again, she’d chosen the wrong man to love.

“Mr. Parker. Ms. Coulson!” Lee greeted them with a large smile as he loaded their luggage. “I trust your vacation was relaxing.”

“Yes. Thank you, Lee,” she said politely as she got into the car. When Cole didn’t immediately follow, she leaned over the seat and looked up. “Are you coming?”

He stared intently at something across the parking lot. She turned her head to look out the window, but there were a ton of people milling around. “Yeah,” he muttered as he slid inside next to her.

“Who were you looking at?”

“It looks like Kathryn’s father is here to pick her up.” His voice was ice-cold, and she shivered.

“I heard some not so great things about him.” Dana craned her neck to try and catch a glimpse of the man. Finally, she saw Kathryn arguing with an older man. She wanted to go out there and hug her new friend, and remind her that she needed to stick to her guns.

“What did you hear?”

She didn’t want to break Kathryn’s trust. “It’s nothing. I’m sure they can work it out.”

As the car pulled away, Cole leaned forward and tapped on the partition. “Lee. Do you have the envelope that I requested?”

“Yes, sir.” Using one hand to steer, Lee passed an envelope back.

Cole handed it to Dana, but as she tried to take it, he didn’t let go. “This is the payment that I promised you,” he said in a low voice. “We have two choices. You can take this check, end our arrangement, and I’ll drop you back off at your apartment. Everything that I’ve bought you over the past few weeks will remain yours.”

It was like a knife to the heart. She hadn’t expected to get to this part of the conversation so soon, and she almost couldn’t breathe. “Or?” she whispered.

“Or I can drop you off at my place. The check is still yours. You’ve fulfilled the original contract.”

Dana tried to choose her words carefully. “I’m not sure that I understand. You want me to still spend time with you?”

“I’ve been happy with your service. I wouldn’t mind starting a new transaction with you. Same agreement but for a longer period of time.”

Immediately, she dropped her hand. Suddenly, that check seemed like it was on fire. She swallowed hard and willed herself not to cry. “You’re happy because I slept with you?” she asked in a strangled voice.

“What? Christ, no.” He reached over and grabbed her hand. “Dana, look at me. This has nothing to do with sex. I need you to know that. I’ve never looked at you as a woman who could be bought.”

There was a strange look on his face, like a man about ready to confess his feelings for a woman, and now was the time for Dana to speak up. Now was the time to admit that she loved him and ask him if maybe they could actually try dating. No more roleplaying. No more scripts. Just the two of them, cuddled up on the couch in their sweats, and watching some terrible B-rated horror flick.

“Okay,” she whispered.

Satisfied, he let go and settled back on the seat. Feeling her self-esteem plummet, she stared at the window. Why couldn’t she tell the truth? Was she really going to go through another tumultuous couple of weeks just to be near him again?

The thought made her miserable, but imagining her moving on without him in her life? Unthinkable.

She opted to go to her apartment. Cole almost refused her request, but she pointed out that she needed to collect her mail and pay some bills. After getting her to agree to come back in the morning, he relented. He hated the thought of spending another night without her, but he was just glad that she’d agreed to extend their contract. For a moment, he thought that she’d decline his offer.

It turned out that it was a good thing that she wasn’t at the penthouse with him. He’d only been home for an hour when there was a knock at the door. An angry Dan Wellington stood on the other side. “I assumed that you two would be leaving the cruise hand in hand, but instead, you drove off with the redhead and I had to endure a public argument with my daughter,” he snarled.

Cole sighed. “You thought I was going to abandon my pretend girlfriend for your daughter on the cruise? I can’t imagine that would go well with the press. I still have my own reputation to protect.”

“Just tell me what the hell happened. Kathryn told me that her vacation has made her realize more than ever how well off she is without a man. It was the opposite of what I wanted!”

Stepping back, Cole let Dan in. It looked like Dana might have encouraged Kathryn’s no-men policy. “My plan was to spend time with your daughter on the cruise, but it didn’t quite happen that way. Frank Dawson was on that cruise too, and he had some interesting things to say to me.”

“Like what?” Dan snapped. Walking into the office, he opened the liquor cabinet and poured them two drinks.

“It’s really none of your concern, but it did get me thinking. I’m not sure that my plan is the best way to go about things,” Cole said carefully. He wanted to tell Dan that he had no intention of dating his daughter, but he still needed that merger. He needed to word it in a way to make Dan realize that Kathryn would be happier not dating Cole.

Dan drained the drink. “My daughter is about to turn twenty-eight in a couple of months. Twenty-eight! I thought I would have grandkids by now. I won’t even mind if they’re your little bastards. The plan was for you to fake a girlfriend to get close to Kathryn and then woo her. Do you want this merger or not?”

“Oh my God.”

The sound of Dana's voice stopped him cold. Wide-eyed, he whipped his head around and saw her weaving back and forth at the doorway. “Dana, what are you doing here?”

There was nothing but horror in her eyes as she stared at him. “I came to tell you that I loved you.” Her confession was a punch to the gut, but she wasn’t done. “That beneath the cold exterior was a good and warm man, but I guess that I was wrong. Again. Wow, I have such terrible intuition when it comes to men.”

“Dana, we can talk about this later.”

Her brows snapped together, and her eyes narrowed as they focused on him. “No, I think we’re going to talk about it now. I just want to make sure that I have this straight. I thought that you’re the kind of man who hides behind a shell because he doesn’t want to seem vulnerable, but you’re not. You’re the kind of man who would do anything to win. Like seduce a woman knowing full well that you’re planning on breaking her heart just to get ahead in the business world.”

“You already knew—”

“I’m not talking about me,” Dana snapped. “I’m talking about Kathryn. I’m talking about the woman who you were using me to get to. And you? Her father? The one who planned the whole thing? How could you?”

Dan rose to his full height. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, young lady. My daughter has a broken heart, and I just want her to be happy.”

“A broken heart?” Dana threw back her head and laughed. “She’s right. You don’t know her at all. The only person breaking her heart is you! You throw her to powerful men in hopes of combining two families, and you don’t see how much that’s killing her. She went all the way to accepting the last guy’s proposal in hopes that, for once, you’d finally put her needs before those of your business associates, but you didn’t. She didn’t love him. She hasn’t loved any of them! She’s just telling people that she’s done with men so that you’ll quit trying to use her like some prize! Her fiancé was a womanizer! It meant certain misery for the rest of her life, but you didn’t care about that!”

Dan gasped, and Cole could see the merger slipping through his fingers. “Dana!”

“And you! How heartless do you have to be to do that to someone who you don’t even know. You lied to me. You used me to further your nefarious plan. You seduced me because, what? Because you couldn’t sleep with anyone else while you were supposed to be with me?” She put a hand to her stomach. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

Cole couldn’t take much more. Taking two steps toward her, he balled his fists up. “You knew what you were getting into when I offered you the money. You knew that I was paying you when you got into bed with me. What does that make you?”

“I guess your brother was right,” she said bitterly as her hand dropped away. “You really did hire a whore. Fuck you, Cole. I don't want your goddamn money. I don’t want jack shit from you. You’re a bastard, and I don’t want you near me ever again. Don’t contact me. Don’t even think about me.”

The more she spoke, the lower he felt. “Dana,” he muttered softly. He hadn’t just hurt her. He’d broken her.

Pulling out the check he’d given her, she ripped it up and let the pieces fall to the ground. “Shouldn’t be too hard. After all, no one remembers the help.”

Rooted in place, Cole could only stare as she whirled around and stormed out of the office. The sound of the slamming door echoed throughout the office, and it was all he could do to reach out and grip the desk.

Somehow, he’d taken the most beautiful and innocent woman in his life and broken her down until she was just another scorned woman in his past.

He really was a heartless bastard, and she was the mirror showing him just how tainted he’d become.