The Rules In Paradise (Playing By The Rules) (34 page)

             
"What don't you like?" I asked, very interested in this particular question.

             
"Well, like I said she is spoiled. I think I also reserve the right to feel like she is backstabbing. She had her father fight her battle for her, and she turned things around on me to make herself look good. She is very egocentric. She likes to make everything about her. She loves attention of anyone around her. That got us into many fights. We would go out, and she would do some questionable things and I would get upset. I didn't particularly trust her because of this. She liked to flirt with men, even if they were my clients. She knew she was attractive and she played that up. Which privately I could enjoy, but in front of business partners or in public it rubbed me the wrong way. I can look back now and say that she is not the smartest woman I've known. She's no you." He stopped talking and concentrated again on the trail.

             
"Why were you going to marry her then?"

             
"Good question. In hindsight, I don't know. Then I probably was marrying her because it was easy. I don't profess to be a long term relationship kind of person. I am not afraid of commitment, but the reality is I can get bored easily. I felt ok with her, never bored, but never overly excited. She was satisfactory."

             
"You didn't love her?"

             
"I thought I did. Now I disagree with that statement," he said, clearing thinking.

             
"Why?" I asked.

             
"Because it didn't feel the same as it does with you. I never felt even half the spark and fulfillment I feel from you. Once I felt what I felt with you, I realized that what I had with her wasn't love. I told her I loved her, yes. I think that was a lie though."

             
The thought of him saying he loved her, even before he knew me, made my chest hurt a little bit. The ugly jealousy monster was rearing his head, I tried to keep him suppressed. Out of my peripheral vision I saw his face turn towards me.

             
"Full disclosure Olivia. Don't ask what you don't want to know," he said.

             
"I know." I took a deep breath.

             
"We're almost there," he said excitedly as he picked up the pace.

             
I tried my best to keep up with his pace. In the distance a strange sound was growing. I couldn't quite place it, but it seemed familiar. We kept walking and the sound got louder and louder. Finally we reached the source of the sound. It was a huge waterfall that spread out into a huge body of water. Cole was still walking towards it. I was awed at its beauty. The water that flowed at the bottom was clear, and I could feel that it was cooler than the air. The waterfall itself was huge and beautiful. It created so many ripples in the water below. Cole finally turned around, and saw I was far behind him.

             
"Do you know where you are?" He called to me as I walked toward him.

             
"At a waterfall?" I asked, confused.

             
"Look," he pointed upward. I watched his hand travel along an imaginary line in the air. I finally stood next to him.

             
"Sky?" I said. I was still confused.

             
"You've been here, see the black line? This is the water from the zipline," he said excitedly.

             
I finally saw the light line of black traveling across the sky. I couldn't help but smile at being here. That day, like many others spent with Cole, was ingrained in my head. It was clear as day.
             

             
"I mean truly, this is amazing," I said, still awed.

             
"Come on, come with me," he said as he took off his shirt, and threw his sunglasses and objects from his pocket on top of it. Could I say no to following a shirtless Cole? Probably not.

             
I pulled my dress over my head and followed him. I met him out in the water which had reached his waist. He smiled and held his hand out for me as I climbed in and walked over to him. He took me by the hand under the waterfall. I closed my eyes until the water stopped. They opened again and we were behind the waterfall. He pulled himself up onto a rock and sat. He motioned for the smaller one next to him and I pulled myself up there and sat. The water was comfortable and the roaring of the falling water was relaxing.

             
"This is beautiful," I said, looking around.

             
"I thought so too. I was so excited to bring you here." He smiled at me, and I felt kind of melty. I admired the almost cave.

             
"I am humbled by your generosity of time Olivia. Every second you allow me to spend in your presence makes me happy, but reminds me that I don't deserve any of it. I'll never tell you I'm sorry enough, but this is an honor." He looked down at his hands. It was moments like this where I saw him truly down to earth that made me want to cry. I have always had him on a pedestal, yet here he was, pining after my forgiveness. He had done wrong, but I was also lucky.

             
"Why did you go back to her?" I asked. He looked up and shrugged.

             
"I needed to buy some time. I figured if I was with her, I could find a way out. It didn't happen so I left for good."

             
"You didn't have to sleep with her," I said. This was really an issue for me.

             
"Yes, ultimately you are correct."

             
"Ultimately, implying there is another side to that."

             
"She was upset, she was distraught because I had said I was leaving her. It was a way for me to convince her that I was back."

             
"You used sex to lie to her," I said very bluntly.

             
He thought for a second and then looked at his hands.

             
"I didn't see it that way then, but yes, you're right." We both sat in silence, deep in our own thoughts.

             
"Number three," I said, breaking the silence. He looked up and nodded.

             
"What would you do if you were me?" He took a breath and exhaled forcefully.

             
"Honestly? I'd have never seen you again. I committed the absolute crime of destruction. I destroyed what you and I had. I destroyed your feelings for me, I ruined your view of me. If you had done all of that I don't think I'd be able to ever see you again. I'd be so angry and hurt. I was angry and hurt the night at the beach, and truthfully we are nothing to each other. You owe me nothing, but I felt such a strong stirring that night. I told you I lost my mind. I hated every second. Olivia, I don't know how to explain this well which kind of speaks for itself. You make me lost for words. I rely on words to survive daily, I consider myself a master of words. You render me speechless. There has never in my life been someone who has created such a need for new vocabulary. I don't have the words to express how you make me feel. One moment I am completely captivated by your beauty. The next moment I am spellbound by your humor and how you make me fight for an inch. I'm shocked about how you can make me so terribly weak. I literally feel like I should fall down at your feet. You truly bring me to my knees. You strip me of all of my power, but in the best way. I don't feel like I need to be anything with you. There's a difference there. I felt like I had to prove that I was perpetually the man with Vanessa. You are so strong willed I don't need to exert that energy with you."

             
"Thank you, I think." He smiled at me.

             
"You have all the power, I am but your humble servant." He bowed dramatically.

             
"Somehow I doubt that," I laughed at him.

             
We sat and talked for awhile more about nothing specific before we decided to head back. I had taken a towel from his backpack before I slide my dress back on. Cole slid on his shirt while checking his phone. I watched his face change to a concerned look.

             
"What's wrong?" I asked kind of nervously.

             
"I have over ten texts from Jason. I don't know if you'll care for the news." He looked at me.

             
"Ok?"

             
"Apparently our topic of today has arrived in town for some reason," he said, watching my reaction.

             
"She's here?" I asked loudly. He simply nodded his head.

Chapter 27

             
"Why is she here?" I asked we drove back.

             
"I'm not sure," Cole replied.

             
"How did she know you were here?"

             
"I'm not sure."

             
"Why aren't you freaking out about this?"

             
"Because you seem to be doing that enough for the both of us," he said with a small smile.

             
"Well the women who we've been talking about all day, and who was quite the topic of conversation almost this time last year is a big deal to me," I said getting annoyed. How could he not care about this?

             
His hand moved from the gear shifter to my hand. "I need you to not worry about this. I don't care about her, and that's a fact. I don't know why she's here, or how she knew I was here. The only thing I know is that she is already annoying me by upsetting you. That is the only emotion I feel for her at this moment. So please Olivia, relax." He put his hand back on the shifter knob as we pulled into parking lot. Cole's phone chirped as he pulled into a parking space.

             
"Yes....well that's excellent, let's list every detail of my life for all to see...I know... not yet....yes, right here....concerned," Cole looked at me as he spoke on the phone. I assumed he was talking about me. "I haven't the slightest as to why...I'll handle it as well as possible, but you know her...I'd make sure everything is drawn up anyway, we don't know if he was behind this...I will after I've spoken to her...yes...bye," Cole hung up and slid his phone in his pocket and hopped out of the car. I followed suit and met him at the back.

             
I eyed him carefully, watching him take his stuff from the back.

             
"Jason," he said without looking up, "apparently my secretary had sent a reschedule email to some people that I would be away in Mexico, and we needed to reschedule. Well, good news travels fast, I guess. I would like to use some questions from my unlimited bank of them, let's go to my room. If you are comfortable with that?" He said the last part as a question. I nodded and followed him to the lobby and the elevator.

             
"I would like to change, get out of my wet bathing suit if possible." He touched the number for my floor and we rode in silence. The door opened, and he waited for me to exit first.

             
"Is it safe for me to come in," he asked with a smile as he pushed his sunglasses up onto his head. I smiled back at him, walking down the hall.

             
"If Charlotte's not here, yes. Otherwise you might want to run for the hills. She's pretty pissed at you," I said, putting my key to the lock.

             
"Where the hell have you been hiding? I've been looking for you all day." A voice came from further down the hall. We both turned in the direction it came from. I heard Cole mutter a string of curse words under his breath.

             
"Such a pleasant greeting from such a pleasant individual. Vanessa, you look downright outraged as per usual," he said in his normal cool voice.

             
I felt my eyes widen and I quickly tried to pull my expression back to neutral. Black hair fell neatly down to her mid-back. She was wearing impossibly tight leggings under an over-sized strappy tank top which allowed anyone interested to see her black lace bra underneath. I supposed if my body was as perfect as hers I would show it off too, but maybe with more class. She was wearing high wedges, and she was walking towards us at an alarming pace. As she got closer I noticed that she was unfortunately extremely pretty.