33. Cole

Mr. Benton, what happened??? Just got a text message from Sunny asking me to pick an engagement party dress out for her and send it to a new address. Is everything okay? Is Sunny okay? Do you need me to cut my vacation short and come into the office?

I readAgnes's message while drinking straight from the special edition bottle of the Rustanov Vodka that Baer Rustanov himself had gifted me when we named his family"s line the official vodka brand for the Benton Grand.Part of a top-shelf initiative I"d spearheaded to assert that even as we ventured into the bargain hotel sector, Benton Grand remained synonymous with luxury, rivaling the Tourmaline brand.

I took a swig and started to type. No, everything is not okay.

I stopped. Took another swig. Backspaced over what I"d typed and tried again. She said no.

Another swig and delete job. Then I typed, the words raging inside my chest, What"s the address? Send it to me now.

But then Sunny"s last words came crashing back through my head.

"Either party has the option to terminate the relationship agreement with an oral announcement at whatever time they desire. 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."

Fuck.

Fuck.

"FUCK!" That final fuck, I roared out loud in my now Sunny-less apartment.

Before deleting the last message and simply typing…

No.

Agnes could do with that answer what she wanted.

I didn"t have the energy to CEO.

Or shave before the engagement party.

"Oh, no, Coley, what did you do?" Nora asked when she opened the door to her house in Summerlin.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Nora tilted her head at me, and her eyes flared with disbelief. "Where is Sunny? Why aren"t you holding on to her hand like a leprechaun protecting his gold? And what"s this mess on your face, then?"

Norareached up to cup her hand around the jaw I hadn"t shaved since Friday morning, when I sat down to have what I believed would be a reasonable last contract negotiation with Sunny. "As I told you the second time your grandfather had to pay off the coppers to cover up your arrest, you do not have what it takes to pull off a bad boy aesthetic. All this scruff looks adorable on Maxie, but you simply haven"t got the coloring for it. This will ruin the photos I had planned!"

"I"ve been busy at work," I answered dully. "Sunny"s meeting me here."

"You"re back to being too busy again?" A worried look replaced the censoring one in Nora"s darker-green eyes. "Seriously, Coley. What"s going on with you? You look a mess. Totally bad energy, as Cynthia Latham always says when I float the idea of the two of us having a threesome with her wife."

Three days. Three days of replaying that last argument over in my head.

Something bitter and cruel made me answer, "I"d tell you, but then, I"d probably have to put up with more threats about simply handing the business I worked so hard to turn around over to Max."

"Oh, Coley, I wouldn"t do that!" Nora splayed a hand across her chest."All that business before was simply me looking out for your best interest. If you need to talk, I can?—"

The pity was too much to bear, coming from the woman who"d put me in this position in the first place. This is why, I wanted to roar at her. This is why I don't do emotional relationships.

I"d had rules. Rules that kept me and everyone involved safe—before my grandmother blew my life up with her meddling and ultimatums.

But...ice. This would be over soon.

"I"m sure Sunny will be here any minute." I set my jaw and pushed past Nora into the house before she could ask any more questions about why I looked as unraveled as I felt on the inside.

The party was already going strong in the expansive backyard of the Spanish hacienda-style mansion. Every Vegas mover and shaker above the age of sixty appeared to be there, proving it had been a thinly veiled con job to show Sunny and me off to Nora"s friends all along.

I spotted most of the board members as I beelined toward the left-side pool bar. Apparently, even knowing they were all going to vote against her when I presented the resolution to remove her from the board wasn"t enough to quell their love of networking beside mansion pools with an open bar.

Speaking of which, I squinted at the little sign on the standing bar"s counter, listing the ingredients for the "Cole and Sunny Day," an engagement party cocktail exclusive:

Premium vodka

Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Simple syrup

A splash of sparkling water

Crushed ice

Optional garnish: bitter lemon slice

"Can I get you something to drink, Mr. Benton?" the bartender asked. Her voice sounded nervous for some reason.

I immediately found out why when I looked up to see a familiar woman with long dreadlocks—the same woman Sunny had called Carly—standing on the other side of the engagement cocktail sign.

"Yes." I grabbed the bottle of top-shelf Glendaver Bourbon by its neck and yanked out its pouring spigot.

"Does Lobo know you"re here?" I asked, tossing the pouring spigot back on the counter.

"No." Carly looked to both sides nervously. "Please don"t tell him, and please don"t tell Sunny about him and m?—"

She suddenly cut off and pasted a smile on her face. "Sunny, hiii!"

My heart stopped when Sunny appeared beside me, smiling in her usual—well, sunny—way at Carly.

But she looked all wrong.

Instead of the Benton Girls" signature neon red, coral pink, or some other bright color, she wore a sleek gray sundress with her hair pulled up in a high bun. She looked like my matching counterpart—an Ice Queen who"d somehow shown up at this party in the desert.

And the smile fell from her face when she turned to me. "Cole."

She never just said my name in greeting. That was a me thing.

"Sunny," I answered, nonetheless, matching her cool tones.

"She"ll take a chardonnay," I said at the same time Sunny said, "May I have a chardonnay?"

"Sure," Carly answered, her gaze shifting uncertainly between the two of us. "You don"t want to try the engagement drink?"

"No," we both answered with matching conviction. But for different reasons.

Then we awkwardly stood there while Carly poured.

Well, I stood there awkwardly.

A cater waiter swooped in with another, "Sunny, hiii!"

"Hey, Stella!" The smiled immediately returned to Sunny"s face as the cater waiter extended the tray she was carrying so they could exchange a warm, one-sided hug.

"Thanks so much for getting Carly and me this gig after how things ended at the Tourmaline." Stella offered Sunnya selection from a tray with a card that read Lobster and Avocado Tartlets. "I was talking to the manager, and he said they do all the Summerlin parties and also the ones in Centennial Hills and Tournament Hills and Country Club Hills—basically, all the Hills where rich people live. This flexible gig work is going to be a lifesaver for Carly and me. Thank you so much."

Why would the woman Lobo called his "special pet" need money? Or be bartending at one of my grandmother"s parties?I squinted at Carly. Who kept her eyes doggedly trained on Sunny as she handed her the glass of chardonnay. "Yeah, thanks, Sunny. We really appreciate it."

"No problem!" Sunny insisted. She took the drink and started to extend a couple of bills toward the slot of a plastic tip box.

But Carly slapped a hand over the slot while Stella said, "C"mon, girl, don"t even try it. Your money"s no good here."

Sunny laughed. "Are you two at least coming over to Tony"s place next weekend so we can plan the quote-unquote surprise bachelorduetto party he and Cherenity are demanding?"

Was that where she"d been staying? With her fake ex and his real drag queen partner?

We were done. I knew that. But jealousy insisted on doing another pitiful lap around my chest.

"I mean, I"ll definitely be there," Stella assured her."But is bachelorduetto, like,new slang? Did they make it up?"

"I think they did, but I"m afraid to ask!"Sunny admitted with a laugh before turning back to Lobo"s pet. "How about you, Carly?"

"I can"t make it. Sorry," Carly answered with a hasty glance toward me.

"Do you have work?" Sunny asked. "Maybe we can change it."

"Something like that," Carly answered. "I"m so busy these days. I just can"t. But I"ll go along with whatever you all decide."

Sunny opened her mouth, but before she could make Carly another offer, the younger woman said, "Um, I thought I heard Nora Benton say earlier that she wanted you two to stand under that balloon arch over there. Something about photo opportunities?"

She pointed toward an over-the-top white and gold balloon arch in the far corner of the backyard with an Engaged sign hanging from it in neon lights.

Nora was technically born and raised in Ireland, but she remained Vegas through and through.

Sunny and I walked toward the balloon arch with the enthusiasm of casino customers signing over their car deeds to cover the gambling debts they"d incurred overnight.

And I wished...

I wished this party held even a modicum of truth.

I wished Sunny was planning a bachelorduetto party for us.

"Where have you been sleeping the last few days?" I asked, barely managing to keep my tone detached. "At Tony and Cherenity"s place?"

Sunny gave me a sharp warning look."Why are you asking?"

"I"m just..." I pushed a hand through the hair I hadn"t bothered to gel before coming here. "I"m just making sure you"re safe. You didn"t let Agnes arrange a room for you at the hotel."

Silence. And it felt intentional—like Sunny was using my preferred conversational tactic against me.

Eventually, she replied, "We"re just here to play nice for Nora"s sake.We don"t have to pretend like we actually care about each other." In a voice so cold, they could have called her Quadruple Ice.

Was this what it felt like for her when I purposefully switched off my emotions?

An apology rose in my throat. "I"m sorry."

"About what?" She turned her head to blink at me. "Not loving me back or expecting me to jump for joy because you offered me a "foreseeable future" of not loving me back?"

That I let it catch me so off guard when you said you loved me, I answered silently.

I"d known on a surface level that Sunny had a different relationship with that word. She didn"t see love as a toxic red flag or prefer the superiority of carefully worded agreements that clearly spelled out what each of us wanted out of a partner deal.

But I'd been unprepared for the shock of her words—and the way they made me feel. Honored, at first. Like having her fall in love with me was the best thing that had ever happened to me, even better than getting named CEO of Benton Worldwide.

Then, fucking terrified.

Sunny was a pawn. A beautiful, funny, sexy pawn, who I couldn't imagine ever getting sick of, as she'd insinuated I would, but a pawn, nonetheless.

But I didn't want to end up like my grandfather, so besotted I'd give a woman who knew nothing about business a position of control in my company. Or my heart.

Because this relationship—this undefinable, all-too-fragile thing I"d developed with Sunny—was how people got hurt. Love was what made my father leave. Love was what made my mother abandon me by killing herself. How could I make Sunny understand?

"You know what? We don"t have to do this." Sunny abruptly stopped walking before I could come up with a reply to her question. "Nora"s not even out here yet. I"ll find you and we"ll finish playing happy couple when she joins the party."

"Sunny, hold on," I started to say, reaching out to take her hand. "Just let me..."

"What? Cole, what?" Sunny balled her hand in a fist and pressed it into her shoulder, keeping it away from me like I was the rat in her apartment, trying to touch her. "What do you want to say?"

"Trouble in paradise?" Max swooped in from out of nowhere before I could answer and snatched the bottle of Glendaver from my hand.

"Let me guess," he said, pouring the bourbon into an empty tumbler he just so happened to be carrying in his other hand. "Sunny just told you she"s headed to New York as soon as this fake engagement of yours is over."

"Why would you say that?" I asked him at the same time Sunny asked, "How did you know?"