Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Cole
I hardly slept last night, thinking about this weekend, the conference, winning the promotion, and how fucking good Paige looks in her skirt and blouse yesterday. My dick kept growing every time I was around her, I had to hide it so many times I lost count. And my god, I hope she didn’t notice.
I arrive at the airport thirty minutes before our flight is supposed to take off, and I see Paige pacing back and and forth through the metal detectors.
Her eyes land on mine as she lets out a breath she was obviously holding in for a few minutes.
“Where the hell have you been?” She voices a little too loudly. People turn and stare at us for a brief second.
“Oh, you know me…I was just banging some broad behind a dumpster.” I roll my eyes at her drama.
“You almost missed our flight!”
“Keyword Pages, almost.”
“Don’t call me that, it’s annoying.” She remarks with some sass.
“This is going to be a long weekend.” I mumble under my breath, but not enough so she didn’t hear me.
“Come on, let’s go.” Paige waves for me to follow her, but I just stand there and laugh.
“Uh, I need to go through the metal detector first, Pages.”
“Oh, right…” She utters, looking super embarrassed. But I think it’s adorable. We are going to have so much fun for the next three days.
After going through the metal detector, we still have fifteen minutes until our flight is called. I head to the starbucks and get two iced cherry chai lattes for Pages and I.
Not sure how or why, but I just came up with that nickname for her on the way to the airport. I knew she would hate it, and that’s absolutely perfect.
“Here, a peace offering for being a little late. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“Thanks. It’s fine…” She trails off, but clears her throat to speak again. “I’m a nervous flyer. My little dad died in a plane crash. He was a pilot.” Paige shrugs her shoulders and sips from her cup.
“I’m really sorry to hear that, Paige. I had no idea.” I reply, not sure what to say. As much as I want to be my cocky self right now, I can’t bring myself to be. Losing a parent is tough, and having to be reminded of that every day is even tougher.
“Flight 127 is ready to board.” The lady says through the intercom speaker.
We grab our suitcases, and head toward the gate with our tickets in hand.
The flight attendant takes our tickets, gesturing us to walk on through.
Paige looks even more pale than normal, and nervous as all hell.
The only thing I can think to do is grab her hand, so I do just that.
Squeezing it softly, I give Paige a reassuring smile.
I know I’m the last person on Earth she wants to be comforted by right now, but I’m the only one here. It’s either me, or no one.
I know she chooses me.
We get situated on the plane, tossing our suitcases above us and sitting in our seats. I order Paige and I both a cocktail to calm her nerves. And it works like a charm. Two drinks in and she’s chatting my ear off like we’ve been best friends for years.
This weekend she will forget all about her hate for me.
The flight is just over 2 hours, and the entire time Paige talked. I figured we would sit there in awkward silence, do our own thing. But apparently not. Maybe it’s the alcohol, maybe it’s because it’s only us two around. But either way, the sound of her voice is beautiful.
As much as I’m a complete asshole, I do have a soft spot for Paige. She is the most stunning woman I have ever laid eyes on, but due to working together, and my track record…it will never ever happen. She hates me, and that’s all there is to it.
The flight lands, and we stumble off a little tipsy.
“I’m hungry.” Paige whines, and I chuckle quietly.
“Let’s get you some food.” I grin at her, and grab her hand like we’re a couple.
“What are you doing?” She says, jolting her hand back to her side.
“Uh, nothing…was just going to drag you over to the food court.” I reply, trying to save myself.
“Oh, okay! Let’s go!” Paige sprints to the food court at the bottom of the escalators.
There’s so many different options – pizza, burgers, Chinese, sushi, chicken, Indian, Mexican, anything you could ever want is in this airport food court.
“Oh my god, how do I pick?” Paige squeals, looking at each menu from each place.
“I think I’m going to go with Sushi!”
“Me too!” I agree. Sushi isn’t my favourite, but if Paige likes it, I do too.
We each order two platters of sushi – California rolls, pineapple & mango, seaweed salad, and spicy tuna. It was the best sushi I have ever had.
We chatted a bit, but mostly ate. Now that Paige isn’t drunk, she’s back to hating my guts. Which is okay with me. She may be hot, but hell she pisses me off half the time.
After eating, we exit the front doors of the airport towards our rental vehicle for the weekend. I get in the drivers, Paige is in the passenger. GSPing the hotel we are staying at, I back out of the parking lot, hitting the road.
The drive is silent except the calm music and occasional digital assistant telling us directions. When we arrive at the hotel, it’s ten in the morning, the parking lot is packed, and we’re both exhausted.
Our conference doesn’t start till tomorrow morning, but we have a small dinner to attend tonight to meet the board members. I will be having a small nap before then, I could hardly keep my eyes open driving here.
I finally found a good spot to park, close to the entrance. We go inside to check in before bringing in our suitcases. There’s no one at the front desk, so we go up.
“Reservation for Paige Foster and Cole Donovan with Boundless Ink.” I say politely to the front desk associate named Jan.
“Let me pull up your names here, hold on.” She smiles at her, then clicks away at the keyboard.
“Here you are. Room 208. Second floor, on the left hand side.” Jan replies, giving us both a keycard each, and wristbands to the pool area.
“Excuse me…aren’t we supposed to be in two separate rooms?” Paige asks, confused.
“I’m sorry no. Your boss Alex Sinclair specifically stated you were to share a room.”
“We’re co-workers, we can’t share a tiny hotel room.” Paige states, starting to panic.
“I’m sorry ma’am. There’s nothing we can do.” Jan calmly replies with a sympathetic smile.
“I’m sure you can get us two separate damn rooms. It’s a hotel for god sake.”
I have never seen this side of Paige before. Does she really hate me that much? She’s about to throw a whole tantrum in this lobby and get us kicked out.
“Paige…it’s fine. We will figure it out. It’s Alex’s fault, not Jan’s.” I put a hand on her back, which was apparently the wrong move.
“Don’t touch me. I’m sure this was your plan all along. I’m not fucking dumb.”
“I didn’t say you were…” I reply, not sure where this lashing out is even coming from.
“Come on Jan, there must be a room open. Even a janitor's closet. Anything so I don’t have to sleep in a room with this disgrace of a man.” Paige bellows.
“We’re fully booked, I’m really sorry.”
“Okay, fine.” Paige takes the key card, heading back outside. I follow, sending Jan an apologetic smile.
“What the hell was that about?” I ask Paige as I catch up to her by the SUV.
“We are not sharing a hotel room. I just can’t.” She shakes her head at me, grabbing her suitcase from the trunk.
“Why? Are you worried something will happen? Maybe you’ll fall in love?” I smirk, bringing my cockiness out again.
“No.” Paige replies flatly, but I know she’s lying. She doesn’t want to get attached, fall in love, and get heartbroken. I get it, I don’t have the best past with relationships.
Paige storms into the hotel lobby, straight to the elevator. She pressed the up button, tapping her foot impatiently until the doors swung open. She hops in, and I follow pressing number 2 on the elevator pad. The elevator goes up and before we know it, Paige is opening our hotel room.
She stops dead in her tracks, and I ran into her back, making her stumble forward.
“One fucking bed. Nuh-uh, no fucking way.” Paige rejects, spinning around to march back downstairs. I put both hands on her shoulder to stop her from doing or saying something crazy.
“Paige, let it go. I will sleep on the floor, I don’t mind.” I reassure her, hoping she will calm down.
“I’m going for a shower.” She states, backing away from me, and digging through her suitcase. She grabs her clean clothes and toiletries and struts to the bathroom, slamming the door in my face.
I sigh, walking over to the queen sized bed and plopping down. The spout turns on, and I hear the tub fill up with water. Instead of showering, I guess Paige decided a bath would be better. Closing my eyes, I doze off while Paige does her thing.
Two hours later, the blow dryer turns on waking me out of my nap. I sit up on the bed, adjusting my eyes in the bright light coming through the window.
I glance at the television noticing it’s been turning on to the playoff hockey game. I stare at the screen, seeing the players skating back and forth. I can’t hear the audio through Paige’s blow dryer, but even just watching it is entertaining.
Hockey is my favourite spot – I used to play it in high school and college.
Once in a while, I still play with my buddies when I’m not trying to screw Paige over on this promotion.
Not like it takes much, she doesn’t have it in her to oversee a team of people.
She’s a good editor, but that’s all she’s ever going to be.
The blow dryer turns off, and Paige comes walking out in an oversized t-shirt and a pair of grey sweats. Her hair is slightly curled, and a little damp still. But damn, she looks fucking good.
No, Cole. Don’t think like that. Paige is your rival, remember?
She plops down beside me on the bed, fiddling with her thumbs. This is so fucking awkward. We don’t like each other, but are forced to go on this business trip together. Forced to share a hotel room, and a queen sized bed. It’s a fucking nightmare and dream all in one.
“Want to go out and grab some food?” I ask her, trying to break the uncomfortable situation.
“Sure.” Paige replied nonchalantly with a shrug of her shoulder.
I can’t seem to figure her out – one moment she’s happy to be around me, the next she’s repulsed by me. I just don’t get it. Pick a goddamn mood!
We head downstairs to the lobby, finding a little cafe tucked away in the corner. Heading on over, we eyeball the menu.
I order the chicken bacon ranch wrap with fries, and Paige got the veggie delight salad which has a bunch of random vegetables in it, and no meat. We sit down with our food, eating in complete silence again.
Honestly, Paige and I have nothing in common except for work. We have no similar hobbies or interests…we just aren’t in sync. Reading and editing novels is the only thing we can talk about, and neither one of us want to due to the fact we are going after the same promotion.
After we finish eating, we go back to the hotel room and get ready for our dinner with the board members. Paige goes into her suitcase and pulls out a pretty green dress that goes down past her knees. She plugs in her straightener and turns it on.
I walk over to my suitcase, pulling out one of my most expensive suits.
I lay it on the bed so it doesn’t wrinkle, and head into the bathroom.
Paige is in there doing her makeup, but I don’t give a damn.
I need a shower. Turning on the tub tap, I strip to my boxers, and take off my shirt while I let the water heat up.
I notice Paige’s eyes widen in the mirror as she looks my body up and down.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” She snaps.
“Showering.” I shrug, pulling off my boxers.
My dick flies out, hard as a rock. There’s no point in trying to hide it, Paige has already seen the aftermath considering the look on her face.
I hop in the shower, without another word.
I wash my hair and body, then grab the towel hanging from the pole.
I get out, drying off every inch of me. Paige moved from the bathroom to the middle of the hotel room to finish her hair and makeup.
I walk out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around my waist. The more I tempt her, the easier it will be to get her in bed. And if I can get her in bed, I know she will get distracted, fall for me, and that promotion will be mine.
Paige’s eyes trail up and down once again, landing on the spot where my dick is. She licks her lips quickly, then turns back to straightening her hair. I pretend I don’t notice, but I did.
She wants me.
And she can have me anytime.