8. Sunny

To Cole"s credit,he didn"t rub it in, but when he turned his sleek Jaguar off Las Vegas Boulevard, I realized I could"ve taken the bus straight there.

"Wait, you live in the Benton Grand Las Vegas?"

"I have residences all over the world," he answered, pulling up to a private garage entrance I"d never seen before. It had a black iron gate that lifted with a metal groan as soon as the Jaguar got near it. "Including a penthouse at the Benton."

I looked to both sides and had to ask, "If you live in a hotel, couldn"t you just put me in an empty room instead of arranging an apartment?" An expensive one, if Cole"s luxury sedan—which he was parking in a row of various cars that cost more than I made in an entire year as a Benton Girl—was any indication.

Cole gritted his jaw as he pushed the off button on his car. "This is better."

I opened my mouth to ask more questions, but then I closed it again when I realized how ungrateful I would sound if I insisted he put me and my trash bag—I had been pitifully right about maybe needing only one—in a hotel room.

So, I kept my mouth clamped shut and my hand wrapped tight around my trash bag as we took a small private elevator up, up, and up some more, higher than I"d ever been in the Benton Grand. Until we finally arrived on a floor with a single hallway that led to a single door with a keypad on it.

Cole punched in a code, then...

"Wow!" I said as I walked into his home at the top of the Benton Grand. "I mean, wow! Wow! Wow!"

It was not exactly a stunning soliloquy, as the teacher who'd nearly failed me out of Acting for Dancers once said. But I had no better wordstodescribe or respond to the unexpected space laid out in front of me.

Expansive windows rose from the floor to the ceiling, offering an unobstructed view of the Strip"s iconic, vibrant neon lights and meandering boulevards of traffic. Dual spiral staircases crafted from black metal, twisted elegantly in opposite directions, let me know this penthouse somehow had three levels to it.

I could only assume the upper and lower suites that would have sat above and below had been renovated and merged into this floor"s suite to give the Benton CEO a home the size of a mansion inside his hotel.

Much like his office, Cole"s private space didn"t resemble the rest of the hotel"s Grecian marble and gilded aesthetic. Except for a single wall washed in a bold shade of red, his place had all-white floors and predominantly black furnishings and décor. Once again, I found myself thinking of a chessboard. An elegant and incredibly sophisticated chessboard.

I"d grown up in the shiny, flashy light show that is Las Vegas, but never...

Never in my life had I stayed somewhere this nice.

I set down my trash bag and looked all around, unable to believe that Cole was actually making—making me stay here.

I turned back to face him with an apologetic wince. "I"m sorry for questioning you about the hotel room downstairs. I get that you"re doing me a huge favor here, even if I haven"t been acting like it."

Silence. Then, instead of accepting my apology, Cole said, "If we are going to be living together for the next few months, there"s another contract I"d like you to consider. I had my lawyer draw it up, just in case."

"Another contract? Sure!" Iagreed, more than ready to promise not to give out the door code to strangers or whatever.

"Read it first. It"s right here on the counter." He headed toward a gigantic slab of sparkling white marble in an open kitchen with all-black appliances.

Honestly, I felt like a spot of color in a black-and-white movie as I walked over to join him at the counter and sign this other contract with even less questions asked than the NDA.

But then I actually read it.

"Oh, this is a contract for..." I couldn"t finish. My throat had gone too dry.

"Yes, this contract is much more intimate," Cole finished when my voice gave out.

If he was feeling as embarrassed as me about the sudden turn in our conversation, it didn"t show. His face remained its usual cold and completely impassive as he explained, "It states that we would also enjoy a sexual relationship during our time together. I"d...I"d, ah, like that."

Strangely, this was where his voice caught. Not while offering me a contract to have sex on what appeared to be designated days. "I-I find you attractive, and I believe we would be compatible—in bed."

He glanced at me, and our gazes caught. Snagged.

What would it be like to kiss him? That question appeared for the second time that day, along with a burning heat inside my chest, making my heart race even though I was standing still.

"Anyway..." He cleared his throat and looked away. "I"m willing to negotiate to make this contract happen. All you have to do is name your terms and conditions. I"m prepared to meet them."

Terms and conditions. My heart pounded. Not just because getting offered a contracted sexual relationship was a first, but because the "no, thank you" didn"t immediately spring to my mouth.

"Do you want to be intimate, Sunny?"

His question from this morning floated through my head, flushing my entire body with heat. It felt like I was on fire, burning alive with hypothetical questions. What would it be like to be in this man"s bed, to kiss him, to have the Ice King moving inside of me?

I opened my mouth, not sure of what I should say—what I would say....

Then the door noisily opened behind us.

"Hi, Cole, I"m so sorry I"m late. I know how much you hate that. You wouldn"t believe the traffic!"

We both turned around to see a gorgeous woman with a sleek black bob walk intoCole"s chessboard penthouse.

She wore a long, elegant, midnight-blue shearling coat.

And nothing else.

"But don"t be upset with me, I"ve got a surprise to make it up to..."

She trailed off, the "you" dying in her throat when she saw Cole standing fully dressed in the kitchen. With me.

I stared at her.

And she stared back at me, her willowy body as bare as the day she was born save the coat and a pair of strappy heels. "Oh, Cole..."

Her perfectly painted red lips broke into a wide smile. "I can"t believe you remembered it was my birthday! I love her. She"s perfect for tonight"s playdate!"