30. Cole
COLE
The next morning, Jenny was in the shower, singing an upbeat Taylor Swift song. I took it as a good sign. We’d enjoyed the rest of the day yesterday. Jenny had still seemed slightly off, but she was mostly fine.
Until we’d gone to bed that night. She hadn’t been one hundred percent her usual self. We’d made love. I’d still orgasmed, she’d still orgasmed, but… She hadn’t done that thing with my balls. And she always did it. She knew I loved it. Maybe she just wanted to mix things up…?
But if it wasn’t broke, why fix it? Our sex made me feel that I was correct, that Jenny was not being herself.
Still, as the new day dawned, I felt less worried about my sack and more optimistic about our proposed arrangement. The fact that she was singing a happy pop song helped. Not to mention that a South End condo and a Range Rover were objectively a pretty sweet deal. Not that I cared about the material components—I cared about her and keeping her safe. Our tentative agreement would do that and more.
It would also keep her in my life until I found a way to…keep her in my life.
My phone pinged with two texts from Kevin. I didn’t mean to read them, but the words caught my eye, delivering the blow of bad news.
He’s hired a private detective to investigate the girl.
I’ll probably get fired for telling you that.
Fuck. Nice move, Dad.
I deleted the messages. There was nothing I could do while we were away. But then I sat there, ruminating, wondering how the hell I would handle this situation. Because it was a situation, now. My father was like a dog with a bone. Once he got his teeth into something, he wouldn’t stop until he ripped it to shreds.
I argued with myself, examining both sides. On the one hand, he was threatening Jenny by hiring someone to look into her. There was no outright danger at the moment, but that could change at any time. I needed to protect her from his ire. Hopefully, getting her out of the business would help shield her. If she were holed up in her South End condo, she would be that much more removed from the heat of any fires he started.
On the other hand, I wondered if I was overthinking the whole thing. So what if my father hired an investigator? Jenny was an escort. I knew that, my father knew that, and Jenny knew that. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, trying to dig up more dirt.
If this was more ammunition for him to threaten me about my inheritance, so be it. My father was an ass, but he was also proud. Surely he wouldn’t squander his vast fortune. He’d spent a lifetime amassing his wealth. He wouldn’t actually disinherit me and give the money to strangers who also happened to be low-lying fruit enemies of mine.
He was vindictive, but he wasn’t reckless.
I decided, once again, that all of this was his problem. Not mine. And I refused to think about my father or the private investigator for another minute while on vacation. There was nothing I could do from the island except let it be. In fact, we were heading out on a snorkeling excursion with Todd, Evie, James, Audrey, and some of the others; I would be happy to put some distance between myself and my phone right now.
Jenny looked super-hot in yet another thong bikini and a sexy cover-up. She grinned at me when I said, “I’m going to have to give Shirley a raise.”
“You totally should,” she agreed. “Wait till I show you the lingerie she bought me!”
I felt relieved—Jenny seemed much more like herself. We packed sunscreen, water, and mango for her new iguana BFF, then headed down to the beach. Jenny put me at ease, chatting and ooh-ing and aah-ing over the resort and the island. She was like a kid at Disneyland, happy and carefree. What had I been so worried about?
When we reached the dock, she made a beeline for Audrey. James took the opportunity to pull me aside. “How’s it going with Jenny?”
“Awesome. She’s incredible. I’ve never met anyone like her,” I said.
James raised his eyebrows. “Are you talking about her in a sexual way? Or as a person?”
I gave him a long look. “I didn’t realize it was necessary to parse this out,” I said. “But I meant both.”
“What’s going to happen after this trip?” he asked.
“What’s going to happen with you and Audrey?” I countered. “I asked you first, if you’ll remember. Back in Boston.”
“I asked her to move to California with me,” he said. “I love her.”
I almost fell off the dock. “To borrow Jenny’s phrase: Ho my frickin’ God, James. I’m so proud of you.” I clapped him on the back and grinned. “I knew it.”
“Well, you were right,” he said, grinning back. “Now I want to know if I’m right about you.”
“Huh,” I said. “This should be interesting.” I was half-excited, half-dreading his assessment.
“I think you have real feelings for this girl,” James said. “I think you might just have an emotional boner for her.”
I sighed. Then I nodded. “It’s obvious, right? It’s big .”
“It’s not as big as mine, but you can still see it,” he joked.
“Ha,” I said. I watched Jenny as she laughed and talked to Audrey.
“I think I might be in love with her,” I admitted. My jaw clenched as I said it—maybe I was trying to keep the words from getting out. Because once they were out, they were real.
“She told Audrey you offered to buy her a house when we get back,” James said.
“That’s right.” I nodded. “I asked her what she wanted, and she told me she wanted a South End condo and a Range Rover. So I said done and done.”
“What if that’s not all she wants?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.
“What if she wants you to be her boyfriend?”
“I frickin’ hope she wants me to be her boyfriend if I’m buying her a South End condo and a Range Rover.” I looked at him, still confused. “Is she upset or something? She wouldn’t even do that thing with my balls last night.”
“Cole, please?—”
“No, but she always does it. And I didn’t know what was wrong. She wouldn’t tell me. And she’s not usually like that. She’s always open with me. And I mean really open?—”
“Stop,” he said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “Please, please spare me the details. All I know is that she told Audrey what you offered her and that she wants more.”
“More than a condo and a car?”
“Yes, Cole.”
“Like what?” I asked, thoroughly perplexed.
“Like you . In the condo and in the car.”
“I was planning on being in the condo and in the car,” I said. “That’s sort of the point.”
“You should tell her,” he said. “Just be really clear. Sometimes they need to hear it with an exclamation point.”
“Sounds like you, bro.” I smiled at James.
Historically, James was even more emotionally unintelligent than me. But he seemed to be making a pretty decent point. Even though he was a prick, he was my best friend for a reason.
And that’s because he was, indeed, the best.
We snorkeled all morning, which was fun. Jenny went wild over all the colorful fish—she was the first one in the water and the last one out. Then, our party headed back to the beach for a break.
Jenny and I took the opportunity to go for a romantic walk. I’d learned she enjoyed walking the beach, picking up shells, and splashing in the water as we roamed. I could walk a thousand miles with her. She smiled at the water, the sun, and anyone we passed. She seemed happy and content—but after what James had told me, I wondered if that had to do more with our surroundings than with me.
I laced my fingers through hers and didn’t say anything for a few minutes. I’d had enough time for James’s words to sink in. I’d also had time to process that my father was on the warpath and that I’dhaveto deal with him when I got home. I didn’t want Jenny to be collateral damage in his game. I had to protect her. When we returned to Boston, I would have to face my father and have it out with him once and for all.
But that was then. This was now.
“Coley,” she said, “I feel like I need to talk to you about something.”
I nodded. “Me too.”
“Yeah? Okay…” She glanced at me. “Can you go first?”
I chuckled. “I guess so.”
I’d been a coward yesterday. Today, it was time to be a man.
The man she deserved.
“I agree—we should talk.” I stopped walking, but I didn’t stop holding her hand. “I need to tell you something.”
She perched her sunglasses on top of her head. The easy, sunny smile was gone, replaced by a worried expression. She straightened her shoulders and looked me in the eye. She took a deep breath, seeming to gather her courage. “S’okay, Cole. Go ahead. Just say it.”
“I love you.”
She blinked at me like maybe I hadn’t said it in English. An uncomfortable silence stretched between us, broken only by the surf crashing against the shore.
Jenny didn’t take her eyes off my face. “You… You love me?”
I nodded. Had there been some way to backtrack out of the statement, I surely would have. I had never said that to a woman in my life—except for my mom, of course, but that was different. It was also a lifetime ago. I felt petrified, standing there. Only fools put all their cards on the table and hoped for the best. I knew better.
I knew better, but I’d still done it.
Jenny clutched my hands. “Cole, I… I…”
My heart sank. “It’s okay, Jenny. Go ahead,” I said, taking a page from her playbook. “Just say it.”
“I love you, too.” Her eyes filled with tears.
“You do ?”
“’Course I do,” she said, blotting her eyes. “But I ain’t never said that to anybody before, and ho my God , I just said ‘ain’t’—that’s an old bad habit, and I never thought I would say it to anybody—I love you, not ain’t—and I never thought I would say it to you , or that you would say it to me ?—”
“Jenny,” I interrupted, “can I kiss you now? So maybe we can both stop talking?”
“Good idea.” She leaned forward and put her lips to mine, and the easy heat ignited between us. I delved my hands into her long, damp curls, and she collided with my chest. My hands were everywhere, her hands were everywhere, and we were inlove.
We broke apart, both breathing hard.
“Ho my frickin’ God,” I said, crying and laughing. “I love you.”
“That makes two of us, Coley.” Jenny beamed at me, even as her eyes shone with tears. “And I can’t believe it. I’m the luckiest girl in the whole world. I’m in the Caribbean and I’m in love. How lucky is that?”
“It’s lucky,” I agreed, holding her close. I inhaled her coconut-y scent. “It’s pretty freaking lucky.”