Winner Takes All (25 page)

“It’s not important,” she told him, when he asked what her honors thesis was on.

“Of course it’s important.”

By the time Eva got off the phone, it was after six o’clock. She stared at the clock for a moment, wondering if she’d read it wrong. How could it be 6:11 already?

She sat in the living room, watching the lights from the apartments across the street, and wondered what she should do now. There was still enough time to catch an hour of shut-eye but that seemed unlikely. Her mind was reeling, and she was too wired to lie down on a bed and go to sleep. It would hit her later, she knew. No doubt she’d crash in the office. At around two o’clock, she’d be sitting at her computer struggling to keep her eyes open.

But there was nothing she could do about that now. Besides, she was too excited and happy to care. To think that he’d called just to talk. From six thousand miles away, he’d called to chat about her day—like he was sitting across from her at the dinner table.

Eva knew this was heavy stuff. A two-hour telephone conversation was somehow very intimate, perhaps because it was something you did only with your mother or your best friend. With other people you conducted your business—set up a date or passed along vital information—and disconnected. This was how it had always been. Boyfriends had occasionally called from the road to check in or check up but never to linger. They always accepted her short answers—my day was fine, thank you—and never dug deeper. Cole was the first man she’d dated who wanted backstory.

It can’t last, she thought, her negative side asserting itself like a reflex. It never does.

But that wasn’t exactly true. Past experience had no bearing on her relationship with Cole because he was so different from any other man she’d ever known. He wasn’t like her father. She knew that now and clung to it. He wasn’t like Joseph, her first serious boyfriend, who treated her more like a trophy than a person. Nor did he show any resemblance to Michael or Samuel or Rob, who, in retrospect, all seemed like more evolved clones of Joe than actual men. No, Cole was an original.

This would only make it worse when their relationship was all over. She knew her recovery time was much shorter when one can alphabetically list the negative qualities of an ex.

Stop assuming the worst, Eva told herself as she went into the bedroom to change. If she couldn’t sleep, then she’d go to the gym. She needed to expend this energy somehow and getting her heart rate up seemed like as good a way as any.

But assuming the worst was something Eva did very well, and as she hit the street, she was wondering how long her relationship with Cole would realistically last. It was obvious from their phone conversation that it wouldn’t end right away. He was fond of her and perhaps a little besotted.

Not as besotted as she, of course. Eva wasn’t the sort to fall for a man at the drop of a hat—she had rebuffed many handsome, urbane men whose eye she’d caught—but Cole had given her more encouragement than most. If the circumstances had been different, she might have been able to resist a little bit longer. If he hadn’t phoned, she might have been able to hold Cole off for a few more weeks, but this early-morning conversation changed everything. When she’d picked up the phone at 3:56 in the morning, she had been smitten and infatuated and keenly interested in getting to know him better. Now her fate was sealed. She
did
know him better. And everything she knew she loved.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Cole climbed into
the car that was waiting for him at Kennedy Airport and told his driver, James, to take him home. He had been away for more than two weeks—a trip to China had been tacked on to his Japanese adventure, since he was so near—and he wanted familiar things around him. The Beijing hotel room had been luxurious, with all the amenities of home but none of the comforts, and he was eager to return to his Tribeca loft. He wanted to sit on his own couch and sleep in his own bed. Traveling was part of his job and he didn’t mind doing it, but it wasn’t something he relished. He preferred traveling for pleasure. Cole Reed Hammond was a man who knew how to relax and have fun, and he always enjoyed taking a break. He just wished he could do it more often.

The black car zipped across the Williamsburg Bridge. Since it was after eleven at night, there was very little traffic on the roads. Cole was reviewing the calls Mrs. Hemingway had fielded that day and noting which ones he’d return when the car stopped at a light at the corner of Delancey and Bowery. James was in the left lane and was about to turn when Cole said, “Make a right.”

James looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Excuse me, sir?”

“Make a right, James, and then a left on Houston.” He rattled off Eva’s address.

The driver nodded and as the light changed, negotiated his way into the right lane. Cole watched, both annoyed and amused with himself. He had known this was exactly what he was going to do from the moment he’d boarded the plane yesterday in Beijing, but he hadn’t been able to admit it to himself. He had pretended the entire time—while the flight attendants served him cocktails, while he was collecting luggage at baggage claim—that he would go home, take a shower, have a glass of wine and then fall asleep in his comfortable bed. He’d planned to call Eva in the morning or perhaps early afternoon and ask her out to dinner. But a part of him had known all along that this plan would never work. He was impatient to see her. Just the thought of her dark green eyes glowing with desire was enough to set his heart racing.

This hadn’t ever happened before. He’d had relationships with women, some of them even quasi-serious, but after a long business trip he had never preferred the comfort of their arms to those of home. In all his years, he hadn’t once been tempted to stray from the routine—go home, unwind, call in the morning or perhaps early afternoon—and he was so excited by the prospect of seeing Eva that he didn’t even wonder at the implications.

She wasn’t expecting him, that he knew. The last time they’d talked—almost three days ago now—he’d hoped to return by the end of the week, but it was only Wednesday and he was back on American soil. He probably should have stayed to tie up a few loose ends, but he had competent people working for him and there was very little they couldn’t handle. And he was eager to get back to the New York office.

James pulled up in front of Eva’s apartment and opened the door for Cole. The driver had never been in this situation before—either they went from the airport to the apartment or from the airport to the office—and he wasn’t quite sure what to do next. “Shall I wait, sir?”

Cole grabbed his briefcase and his carry-on bag. “No, James, take my stuff home and then consider yourself off-duty.”

“Very good, sir.” Still, this didn’t clear up all his confusion. “And what time shall I come by in the morning?”

Cole laughed. “Don’t worry about it, James. I’ll figure something out in the morning. Good night.”

James bowed slightly and got back into the car just as a cab pulled behind the double-parked black vehicle and started honking. Cole watched him drive away before entering the building and pressing the buzzer. He didn’t know if Eva would be home—she should be, since it was already 11:30—and his heart was pounding from anticipation and excitement as he waited for her to respond. He was about to press the button again when he heard her voice.

“Yes?” she said, somewhat suspiciously.

He smiled. It was precisely the tone she used the first time he showed up at her doorstep unannounced. “Eva, it’s me.”

“Cole?” Even though the intercom system was more than thirty years old and the sound was full of static, he could hear the pleasure in her voice.

“Yes.”

She buzzed him in and he climbed the five flights to her apartment quickly, surprised yet again by his eagerness. Taking the stairs two at a time meant he’d see her only five seconds sooner. Surely five seconds wouldn’t make that much of a difference?

But apparently they did, he thought, only partially amused, since he was unable to restrain himself.

Eva was waiting for him on the landing. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing boxers and a T-shirt. “Hi, I thought you wouldn’t be back until—”

She never got to the finish her thought. Before she knew it—indeed, before
he
knew it—she was being devoured by a jetlagged billionaire playboy who hadn’t even gone home to shower first.

The kiss lasted several minutes and when he released her lips, she tried again to speak. “That was some welc—”

But Cole didn’t want to talk. Not now. Not while the blood was pounding through his veins and he could hardly form a coherent thought beyond how wonderful she felt. They could talk later or tomorrow or, hell, even next week. Right now he had to have her.

Without breaking contact with her lips, he picked her up, carried her over the threshold and slammed the door shut with his foot. He brought her into the bedroom and laid her down on the comforter.

Eva sighed as he pulled off her T-shirt. “I’ve missed you too,” she said, before he smothered her again.

It wasn’t until two hours later that he realized he’d left his briefcase and carry-on in the hallway.

The next morning, at around eight o’clock, Eva looked at a sleeping Cole and wondered if she should wake him. He was obviously exhausted from too many days working around the clock and the long flight home. Their conversation last night had been feverish and garbled and consisted of little more than observations of how good the other felt, but she concluded from his suitcase that he’d come there straight from the airport.

Eva felt her heart flutter, which wasn’t extraordinary: It had been in a constant flutter since the moment she’d heard his voice on the intercom.

There’s nothing to do but admit it, kid. You are in deep.
She pressed her lips against his warm back. Definitively deep. Irretrievably deep. Sunken-treasure deep.

Cole stirred from her touch and turned over slowly with a lazy, seductive smile on his face. “Good morning,” he murmured.

Yes, it is, she thought. “Hi.”

He opened his eyes, looked at her a moment and frowned. “Why are you dressed?”

“Because I have to leave for the office in a half hour,” she explained reasonably, although she felt the way he did. She didn’t want to be the responsible adult all dressed for work in her conservative suit. She wanted to be naked in bed like he was.

Cole was surprised by the lateness of the hour, but he didn’t respond with hurried movements. He sat up in bed and pulled her into his arms. The contact gave her shivers as always, but there was something oddly chaste about the hug. “God, it’s good to be back.”

Eva sighed again, like a foolish schoolgirl. But she didn’t care. She was in love.

“Do you have to go to work today?” she asked, as he loosened his grip.

He raised an eyebrow. “Why? Do you have something better in mind?”

Eva laughed. “I wish but your mother has made sure that I don’t have a free minute until July of next year.”

“I’ve got some pull with her,” he said, carelessly running his fingers though her hair, “so maybe I can arrange something.”

“Yeah, like what?”

“Dinner tonight.”

“Hmm. I have to check my calendar, of course, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Are you sure you can do it? You’ve been gone for ages, haven’t you? There must be a pile of work as high as the Empire State Building sitting on your desk,” she said, irrationally hoping that he would choose work over spending time with her. That was what most men would do. But Cole had a way of making her feel important, as if she were as vital to him as he was to her, and that made her nervous. Cole wasn’t in love with her. He couldn’t be.

Cole shrugged. “I might have to put in a few extra hours, but there’s nothing pressing that can’t be finished tomorrow or the next day. Come over for dinner. We’ll order in some food, sit on the couch and catch up.”

This plan sounded lovely to her. “All right.”

“Good,” he said, letting her go. “Let me jump into the shower and then we’ll share a cab uptown.”

Eva watched him thoughtfully as he dug clothing out of his bag. She really didn’t know what she was doing—getting involved with one of those billionaire playboys!—or how she would pull herself together when it was all over, but right now those things didn’t worry her. He had come. From the airport with his carry-on luggage and his five-o’clock shadow, he’d come straight there. Nothing else mattered.

***

The next day Eva was sitting at her desk going through the messages in her inbox when Ruth called.

“What are you doing?” her friend asked by way of greeting.

Eva smiled. It was just like Ruth to ask such a silly question. “Let’s see: It’s Friday morning at 10
A.M.
I’m at my desk in front of the computer, reading emails and drinking coffee. I’m not sure, but I believe it’s called working,” she said.

“Screw that.”

“Excuse me?” Eva asked, as her eyes scanned an email from Ben regarding expense accounts.

“I said screw work. You’re coming downtown to the Municipal Building with us.”

Eva reread the message, trying to understand what Ben meant by “two records of account.” In response to Ruth’s comment she said, “Why would I do that?”

“Because we need another witness.”

Maybe he means credit card slip and restaurant receipt?
“Witness to what?”

“Our vows.”

But sometimes the restaurant doesn’t let you keep—

Then Ruth’s words hit her. “Holy shit,” Eva said, “you’re getting married?”

“In a half hour,” Ruth confirmed, “so you better get your ass down here,
guapa.
”

“Oh, my God, Ruth!” she said, incapable of forming a more coherent sentence.

Her friend laughed. “I know.”

“All right, all right. I can do this,” she said, shutting down her computer and grabbing her bag. “I’ll be right there. Just don’t get married without me.”

“Not in a million years.”

Eva hung up the phone, giddy and excited and scarcely able to believe that in thirty-five minutes Ruth and Mark would be husband and wife.
Oh, my God!