Chapter 7
T he jet landed in Houston at four-twenty-seven in the afternoon.
She made her way to the door.
Cole followed.
Paul had the door open. Stairs had been rolled to the plane so they could disembark.
Ava said goodbye and then went back to the kitchen.
The first thing that hit her was the heat.
Houston was hotter and more humid than Denver.
The humidity was something else. The air felt heavy, almost like after a good rain, when she felt like she was breathing in more oxygen than usual.
She stood at the top, looking around for anything or anyone who could be a threat.
Not seeing anything, she went down the stairs first.
At the bottom was a handsome, dark-haired man in a black suit and tie. He smiled and held out his hand. “Ms. Phillips, I’m Sean Brannon. I’ll be your driver while you’re here in Houston.”
Regan shook it. “Call me Regan.”
He smiled, and he was even easier to look at.
Cole walked forward. “Sean. Good to see you.” He held out his hand.
Sean shook it.
“We’ll head to the penthouse first and get cleaned up. Then we’ll be wanting to go to dinner.” Cole looked at the waiting SUV.
“Yes, sir. T.J.’s Steakhouse?”
Cole nodded. “I’ve been wanting a really good steak for a while, and you can’t get any better than T.J.’s.”
Paul walked over with both Cole’s and Regan’s luggage. “Here you go, Cole. Will there be anything else?”
“No. We’ll be back in a few days, maybe as soon as tomorrow, to return to Denver.”
“I’ll make sure the plane is ready.”
“Thanks.” Cole turned back to Sean. “Let’s go. I’m hungry.” He looked at Regan. “I bet you are, too.”
“I’m starved. Steak will definitely hit the spot.”
Sean opened the back driver’s side door.
Regan waited for Cole to climb in before sliding into the car beside him.
Sean picked up the luggage and placed it in the back before sliding behind the steering wheel.
She buckled up.
Cole did the same.
Sean drove them to downtown Houston. He entered a parking garage under one of the tall skyscrapers.
He stopped at the gate, entered a code and then drove until he reached a bank of elevators.
After stopping next to them, he killed the engine and exited the vehicle.
He opened the door for her to exit the SUV.
Regan unfastened her seatbelt and got out.
Standing next to the door, she glanced around to check the safety level.
She could count on her hands the number of parking spaces.
Each was very wide and long, as though they had been made specifically for limos.
In fact, two of the spaces were taken up by limos—one was a standard white model and one was a black SUV style.
For just a moment, she wondered why Cole hadn’t had a limo, but then, she realized that Cole probably didn’t see the need for one. They’d taken a limo the night at the theater, but then it was expected for the event. She remembered many others had arrived in limos that night, too.
She walked around the back, just as Cole did the same, arriving when he did.
Sean pulled the bags from the rear hatch and handed them to Cole. “I’ll park and wait for you.”
“Sounds good. We should be back in about thirty minutes.”
“Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.” Sean closed the hatch and climbed back into the driver’s seat.
Cole walked over to her. “Let’s get refreshed and go get dinner.”
“Sounds good.” Regan glanced around the garage again and, seeing no threats, she pressed the call button for the elevator. She tensed when the doors opened, but the car was empty. She stood so Cole could enter, and then she walked in.
He pressed the button for the thirtieth floor and entered a code before moving back to stand beside her.
“I noticed that you had the penthouse in Denver too. Is that because of the view? I’m assuming that would be the same reason here.”
Cole chuckled. “That’s one perk of having money. You don’t have to put up with noisy upstairs neighbors. I don’t have to look at most other buildings this way. There is one that is taller than mine in close proximity, but that’s not bad considering we are in downtown Houston.”
Regan thought they reached the top floor rather quickly, but then she was used to the ancient elevator in her apartment building.
When the doors opened, Cole held them while she exited.
She saw only one set of double doors, just like in Denver.
Cole walked toward them and punched in the security code.
Regan was glad to see that he had more than just a key to get in. That meant it was harder, but not impossible, for anyone else to enter the apartment. If attacked, the apartment would be the safest place to hole up until help arrived.
He held the door.
As she entered, she glanced around. The foyer opened into a living room with a cathedral ceiling.
The room was informal and comfortable-looking with a sofa, an end table on each side, and then a recliner next to each of the end tables.
The coffee table was a dark cherry and matched the end tables, each of which held a beautiful Tiffany lamp.
Across from the seating area was a large screen TV that had to be a good ninety-inches in size. She’d never seen a bigger screen except in a stadium or sports arena.
“Let me show you your bedroom. You’ll only have it for one night, but I hope you find it comfortable.”
He walked down a long hall.
On the right side, they passed a formal dining room.
A glance in told her the table matched the wood of those in the living room and it looked to be set for ten people.
They came to a second door on the right, which proved to be a bathroom.
On the left, a door opened into an office.
At the end of the hall were two doors across from one another.
“My room is on the right and yours is on the left.” He opened the left side door and held it for her to enter.
The room was beautifully decorated with dark forest-green carpet and walls a yellow so pale they almost looked white.
Curtains in a green, white, and yellow geometric pattern framed the floor-to-ceiling windows, with horizontal blinds behind them pulled halfway up to let in some light, but not too much.
The bedspread matched the curtains. Across from the king-size bed was a TV that was half the size of the one in the living room and still bigger than any she’d seen in the homes she’d visited.
She walked to the door to their left and found a walk-in closet the size of her living room. Regan couldn’t imagine ever having enough clothes to fill a closet of that size. Directly across from the closet was another door. She strode over to it and opened it to see a five-piece bathroom.
The she moved over to the step-in shower and found that it had two shower heads.
The door opened rather than slid and the glass was sparkling clear, making it easy to see who was in the shower.
For a moment, she pictured Cole with her in the shower.
She blinked rapidly, and the image cleared, though she felt the heat in her cheeks.
What the heck was the matter with her? Cole was her boss, not her lover.
Based on how well he moved when they fought in his office, she bet he was good in bed, too.
She shook her head. She had to stop having these daydreams… it could cost lives…hers and Cole’s.
The bathtub was next to the shower but up two steps. It was round and big enough to be a Jacuzzi for four people, and with the jets, she could picture it full of bubbles. The thought made her smile. A skylight was over the tub.
To the left of the door were double sinks in a rose marble counter which coordinated with the deep rose color of the tub and matched the marble of the shower stall.
To the right of the door was another door. It opened to the commode that matched the tub and a single sink, again in the rose-colored marble.
She’d never been in a private residence where the commode had its own room. She looked back at Cole, who was leaning against the bedroom door jamb with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Well? Do you think you can stay here for one night? We’ll be leaving for the platform tomorrow morning by helicopter.”
Regan chuckled. “Yeah, I think I can stand it for one night.”
Grinning, Cole straightened. “Good. I’ll wash up and see you in the living room in twenty minutes. Then we can go to dinner.”
“Sounds good. Is this place fancy, or can I get by with jeans and a polo?”
“It’s not fancy. I’m not changing my clothes, so you’ll be fine.”
“Great. See you in twenty.”
Cole left with his bag.
She picked up her go bag and set it on the bed.
Opening it, she took out her bath supplies, lip gloss and brush, and put them in the bathroom.
Then she found a washcloth and washed her face before applying a fresh coat of lip gloss.
She took her hair out of the ponytail she’d put it in that morning and brushed out the long blonde waves, deciding to leave it down for dinner.
Regan walked into the living room and found Cole gazing out the window at the skyline. “How is it that no matter how fast I am, you always beat me?”
He turned, a grin on his face. “I’m just fast. When you have five siblings, one of them a girl, and only one bathroom, you learn to be fast. The hot water only lasted so long, and I hated cold showers.”
“Well, you have an advantage over me. I was always the first into the bathroom, but I was a good sister and tried not to take all the hot water.”
Cole stepped toward the door. “Are you ready to eat? I’m starving. Ava would have prepared us something to eat if we asked.”
She walked to the door in front of him. “I wasn’t hungry then, but I could eat an entire cow right now. If I’d thought about it, I always have a couple of MREs in my go bag.”
He wrinkled his nose and pursed his lips. “I’d rather starve than eat those things again.”
Regan laughed. “Maybe that’s why I forgot they were there. I didn’t want them either.” She walked to the elevator and pressed the button.