32. Sunny

And make me pay,he did, as soon as he walked in the door.

Actually, before.

A message arrived with the whistle I"d assigned to Cole"s name shortly after Agnes called to thank me for covertly getting her time off for her husband Steve"s birthday weekend.

"We haven"t spent an entire weekend together in years!"she gushed."Honestly, Sunny, you"re the best thing that ever happened to Mr. Benton—and to my relationship. I can"t believe we"re actually going to get three whole days to ourselves in Los Angeles!"

"You totally deserve it,"I gushed back."You"ve done so much for me. Trust, I"m way too happy to pay you back in any way I can."

"You don"t know how much this means to me. As Steve and I get older, I"m beginning to realize that time together is more precious than any paycheck. Keeping Mr. Benton to regular hours and the occasional afternoon off? That"s the kind of work-life balance I haven"t been able to enjoy in years."

No, I hadn"t come with my own designer wardrobe, but suffice it to say that of all the women Cole had "contracted," I was definitely Agnes"s favorite.

"I"m so happy he"s marrying you. By the way, have you thought about dates yet now that the paperwork"s all done? There are still a couple of days left in June at the Benton Chapel. And Steve and I have been eyeing some summer cruises."

"I"ll have to get back to you on that,"I answered, my voice going a little weak. I ended the call with a guilty stomach. Part of the reason I had talked Cole into this two-day goodbye was because I knew she"d be returning to her previously grueling schedule come Monday, when our relationship contract expired.

But my guilt morphed into something else when I saw Cole"s text.

THE HOUSE:On the plane. Consent Addendum Request: Impact Play.

This wasn"t the first consent addendum I"d received since Cole coolly asked for my phone the morning after our big talk, then just as coolly passed it back with his personal contact info entered under THE HOUSE.

"This way, you don"t have to go through Agnes to ask me for permission."

Cole liked being asked for permission. He also liked sending his consent requests in writing.

However, this was the first consent addendum I"d had to look up.

My cheeks burned when I read the answer to the question I typed into Google. Then I started to type back another question.

THE HOUSE:Only green zones. For now.

Cole answered my question before I was even done typing.

Then another message appeared right after that.

THE HOUSE:You"ll like it, and remember, we always have the safe word.

As I typed back. I couldn"t help but laugh at Cole"s one-of-a-kind tendency to command and reassure me at the same time.

Consent granted.

Even though I"m sure Cole had a keycard to the suite, he knocked on the door less than a half hour later for reasons I could only describe as"need the drama of crashing into you like a bull"as his hands found the front of my romper and split it in two.

Sorry, sorry, I mentally apologized to theirreparably torn piece of silk fabric as it landed less than two feet from the suite's front entrance.

Then Cole saw the cotton panties I was wearing underneath.

Suddenly, I found myself strewn across his lap. Coleyanked the panties down, but not off—just to right underneath my butt cheeks—as he made me pay for teasing The House, right there in the suite"s outer room.

"This is for wearing panties without permission."

Smack!Stinging pain radiated across my bottom.

"This is for teasing me and forcing me to arrive in Palm Springs early."

Smack!

"I didn"t force you to do anything!"I protested, squirming on his lap. Big mistake. My button rubbed into the knob of his knee, making the confusing sensations even worse.

My protest earned me another cheek-quaking smack."That"s for denying the charges."

"But—"

His hand came down before I could protest again.

Smack!

"That"s for colluding with Agnes to make sure she got to leave work early."

How did he know?

Cole laid a heavy hand on my hot bottom, kneading as he answered my unspoken question."You think I don"t know when you"ve beenbad?"

Not knowing earned me another smack. And another.

Until, I moaned, "Cole, please stop" with tears in my eyes.

Not because it hurt—though, to be clear, it did.

The button between my folds had become engorged. It throbbed with another kind of pain—one that had me balancing precariously on the cliff of my sanity. It seriously felt like I would die if he didn't stop already and…

"I need….please…Cole…Cole!" I babbled urgently, unable to put into words what I wanted.

"Come here, Sunny." With gentle movements, he pulled my panties the rest of the way down my legs and hefted me up so that my legs were straddling his lap.

Then he firmly set me down on his long, straining erection.

"Ohhh!" Cole began guiding my hips in a dark, knowing cadence, and my head fell back as the sweetest relief I'd ever known rushed through my body.

It felt so good. Too good.

"I'm sorry." Tears filled then spilled from my eyes. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Ssh, it's okay." Cole drew me to him, cupping a hand behind my head.

"You liked the pain," he murmured, translating my chaotic emotions for me. His voice had taken on a new quality. Soothing, patient as a professor teaching a dancer about physics. "But you also like the relief. You ready to get your reward for taking your punishment like a good girl, Sunny?"

I nodded against his shoulder, weak with emotion.

Then exploded, bright as fireworks over the desert, when he whispered for me to come.

The spanking was finished, but not the punishment.

After dinner, which he had fully clothed while I sat across from him in nothing except for what he"d begun to refer to as my "punishment panties," he made me pay for"distracting him from his work" with thoughts of methe entire time he"d been away.

Then, for the rest of the night, he made me pay and pay again for the ultimate crime of"making him take a vacation."

When I woke up the next morning, it was to the feel of his mouth on my now very tender sex, bringing me to completion with long, wet strokes of his tongue over my naked core. I came yet again, with my fingers threaded through his hair, fully awakened as I arched off the bed. Cole, I decided, right then and there, was much better than a morning cup of coffee.

"What was that payback for?"I asked when he came back up to lie down beside me.

"For looking so beautiful when I woke up,"he answered with an affectionate smile.

He'd been smiling at me more and more lately, and it was its own kind of punishment. A total heart-stopper that made me feel all goopy inside.

"Kiss me,"he commanded.

I did, pulling his tongue into my mouth as I fused my lips over his. I didn't stop until I felt his length harden against my stomach.

"Very good,"he said when I finished. He moved against me, and the bottom of his shaft rubbed along my slit in a way that made me whimper. But then he shook his head."Not yet. Not until you've had a bath. We went too hard last night to do it again this morning."

What he was saying made total sense.

However, I had obviously stopped prescribing to total sense when I agreed to this arrangement in the first place.

"But I want you now,"I whined. Then I said the one bratty, button-pushing thing that had yet to fail to push Cole over the edge."You can"t make me be good."

"Sunny, stop,"he bit out,parting my folds with his long, thick length."Haven"t I punished you enough? You want more?"

He pushed into me with a slow, careful thrust.

Too careful.

I had to say some truly bratty things to get him moving the way I wanted, hard and rough inside my aching sex until we exploded at the same time, both lying on our sides, chests pressed together as my core drank in his spasming cock.

"You're definitely not a doormat,"Cole said when the orgasm finally let us go and he pulled out of me.

I knew that. This fling, affair, arrangement—whatever we wanted to call it—had taught me there were ways to give over control without being a doormat. Really fun ways.

I laughed and sighed with total contentment."I love you."

Cole went completely still."What?"

That was when I realized I might not have only thought that to myself, as I'd promised myself I would when I realized a few days ago that my feelings for Cole extended beyond good sex and pretend dates.

"Nothing. Where do you want to go for breakfast?"I tried to sit up to climb out of bed. Tried to get away.

Cole caught me around the waist, keeping me there in bed with him."You think you're in love with me?"

Of all the ways I'd been embarrassed in front of Cole, this was easily the worst."I don't want to talk about it."

"Sunny, I thought the arrangement was clear,"he said."Rule number fifteen states?—"

"I know. No admissions of love. I get it. I"m in violation of the rules."

"But you think you love me?"

"IknowI love you,"I answered."But it's fine. I know where you stand on…feelings. I'm sure I'll get over this love thing after Monday. Whatever. It'll take me a few weeks—a couple of months, tops."

Probably years,I edited inside my head.

"Sunny..."

"What?" Since he wouldn"t let me go, I sat there, calling myself ten types of stupid as I waited for him to tell me all the reasons he didn"t feel the same way.

But then, suddenly, he did let me go. "I"ll shower first," he said, releasing my arm. He stood up from the bed. "Then, after your shower, you can join me in the outer room. We need to talk."

One shower, a sad repacking of my new suitcase, and an outfit change into my dance leggings and Benton Girls sweatshirt later, I shuffled into the suite"s Spanish-style outer room to get my marching orders.

Cole wasn"t wearing a full suit, but he looked just as Ice King-ish as usual, dressed in a crisp linen shirt and a pair of ice-blue, flat-front pants that looked like they would pair perfectly with a light blazer.

I lingered behind him at the perimeter of the outer room. Until he said,"Come, sit down, Sunny"without looking up.

I miserably took the command, perching on the farthest edge of the couch.

"Look, I"m sorry I made you uncomfortable with my admission of love, but—"I cut off when I saw the sheath of papers on the coffee table in front of Cole. Blinked. "What…what is this?"

"An offer. I had papers drawn up to extend our relationship into the foreseeable future, provided you agree to a certain set of parameters. I"m eager to get this settled before Monday"s board meeting, but before I can let you look at it, you"ll have to sign another non-disclosure form."

He pushed a single sheet of paper toward me, filled with legalese. The only thing I truly understood was, "I can"t tell Nora about this new contract or testify against you in any upcoming trials? Seriously, Cole, what is this? It"s like you"re speaking another language and then handing me a bunch of papers, also written in thatlanguage I don"t know, and asking me to sign."

"You"re confused. That"s understandable."Cole"s voice took on a reasonable tone I could almost see him using for high-stakes boardroom conversations."The language for this agreement was especially hard to craft because my lawyer didn"t really have a precedent. But in layman"s terms, I"m offering you a prenup that would extend our relationship and this arrangement into the foreseeable future. However, I cannot let you see the contents of that prenup unless you sign a non-disclosure form."

"A prenup,"I repeated. A little of my confusion faded as I realized,"Wait, are you asking me to marry you? Is this..." I waved my hands at all the paper on the table."…your version of a marriage proposal?"

"Yes,"he answered with one precise nod."This is an offer of a relationship extension, with a signing of additional marriage contracts provided certain terms are agreed to?—"

"So..." I scrunched my forehead, still so confused. "You"re in love with me, too?"

He jolted a bit, as if that question was as confusing as his NDAfilled with legalese. "I"m offering you an opportunity to continue our relationship?—"

"So you"re not in love with me, then?"

"This isn"t about love,"he answered.

"Then what is it about?"

He regarded me for a blank moment in a way that made it obvious he believed I was being willfully obtuse."I"m offering you an opportunity?—"

Oh, my God.I decided to give Cole my own translation."You want me to sign a prenup and marry you without love?"

"Sunny, you said yourself earlier, I"m not about feelings. You"re aware I"m transactional. And I"m offering you the opportunity of a lifetime."

"Are you?"I asked, screwing up my face."Because from where I"m sitting, you"re saying, ‘Come on, let"s keep having sex and never go any deeper into the foreseeable future. This is an opportunity for you because you"re poor and I"m rich. C"mon, stop fighting it. Go ahead and fall into the same pattern of emotional unavailability that your mother had with your father. Maybe you can have a kid you never hug or nurture, too.'"

His face hardened. "Sunny. I am not your father. Do not compare me to him."

"You"re right,"I agreed."He lied to my mother about loving her. At least you"re keeping it real."

Cole shook his head. "Sunny, I can"t show you the prenup until you sign the NDA, but I"m offering you incredible terms. Access to any of my properties, a generous weekly allowance with bonuses for progeny. You"ll have enough money to buy whatever you want and refill that piddly Glo Johnson charity fund with millions."

"Allowance? Properties? Bonuses for living, breathing children? Can you even hear yourself?" I asked him. "I don"t want a position. I don"t want your money. I just want you to love me back. Especially if you want to bring children into this."

Cole stared at me. His expression confused to the point it was almost comical. But not really.

"I'm not trying to insult you."

"Yes, Cole." I rubbed at my temple. "I"m aware you"re trying to have a relationship with me scrubbed free of feelings. You"re offering me marriage so I"ll be okay with you being emotionally unavailable. And I can"t really blame you for this because you never pretended to be anyone but who you are. But I"m sorry..."

I stood up, tears welling in my eyes."What you"re offering isn"t enough. I need more than that. I deserve more than that."

Cole stood up, too, his expression firm and icy. The same way it got before he was about to issue some edict. "Sunny?—"

"I"m taking back control now."

I took the handle of the wheeled suitcase that had magically appeared on the main floor of the penthouse with a note that said,"Take this suitcase. That"s a command. —The House"

Had that only been a few days ago? I walked to the door, remembering how heartwarmed I"d felt when I saw his thoughtful gift.

But now all I felt was stupid.

"Where are you going?"Cole demanded behind me.

I didn't answer. Just grabbed my purse from where I"d left it on a chair near the front entrance.

"Tomas won't drive you anywhere without my permission."

"It's Palm Springs!"I informed him."I'm sure I can find a shuttle or something to take me back."

"What about Sunday night? The engagement party?"He sounded furious, and he was getting closer.

"Sunny!"

I turned on him before he could grab my arm.

"I'll come to the party on Sunday. For Nora. But only if you let me go now and don't try to follow me or get in contact with me or evict me or do any of the devious stuff you're always doing to get your way. Because this—"I waved my hands between the two of us."Whatever it is—has run its course."

"You really think that. You"d throw away?—"

"Either party has the option to terminate the relationship agreement with an oral announcement at whatever time they desire."I threw the line he gave Juliet back in his face before he could finish asking that question. "I"m exercising that option. Do not chase after me. Do not ruin my life. You got what you wanted for long enough. Just leave me alone."

Cole stared at me, his face ravaged with anger...and what looked like genuine pain.

Because he wasn"t getting his way, I reminded myself. Not because he"s truly upset over losing you.

"Bye, Cole,"I whispered.

Then I turned and walked out before I could convince myself otherwise.