Yearning Absolution (Yearning Series) (4 page)

“And finally, you will all find
your next assignments in your emails with your deadlines. I will be making
appointments with each of you over the next week or two so we can talk about
what you have in mind for the shows.” Cole continued after giving them a moment
to quiet down. “That is all. I’ll be seeing each of you soon.”

Gwen watched as Cole made his way
back out the door. He didn’t stop to socialize or even acknowledge anyone
specifically before the door closed behind him. Everyone started to slowly
disperse after he was gone. Harry stayed at the front of the room talking to
those who’d been near the front that had questions. Gwen was just starting to
stand when she was embraced roughly from the side.

“I knew it! Congratulations!”
Victoria excitedly said as she squeezed Gwen.

Gwen spent a few moments catching
up with Victoria before Coral came by and they all made their way back to the
elevator together. When they got to their floor, Gwen and Coral went one way
and Victoria went to her own office. Gwen sat at the table towards the back
that had her work computer set up. She logged in with the codes that Rebecca
from Human Resources had given her. She had only one lonely email. It was from
Cole. She opened it to see that all it contained was the fact that she needed
to have ten evening gown dresses designed in six months. It was now March and
the show would be in September. The designs wouldn’t be sold for at least a
month after the show so they would need to be all cold weather dresses.

Pushing back from the desk, Gwen
went over and pulled out her bag from the drawer she’d put it in earlier. Coral
Lyn came over to look at what she was pulling out. “What’s all this?”

“These are some of the designs I’ve
put together. I figured it’d help me get started today once I figured out what
type designs I needed.” Gwen picked up one book and handed it to Coral Lyn.
“Look through that one. There is a blue dress in there that I think would be
great. Let me know when you find it. They want ten designs and I think I have enough
in here that we can use so that will help speed things along.”

Coral Lyn and Gwen worked smoothly together
and the next thing Gwen knew her stomach was growling at her. She looked up at
the plain white and black clock on the wall to see that it was already past two
in the afternoon. She’d been so busy looking for the exact material she wanted
to use for one of the dresses that she’d lost track of time. She stood and
stretched out the kinks from sitting for so long. She looked over at Coral Lyn,
who was working on the computer. Coral was putting some of Gwen’s images into
the computer system so they could play with the design. Gwen could already see the
one dress completely in her mind so she didn’t need it digitized. The program
would help them play with colors and materials for the other designs.  

“Are you hungry?” Gwen asked. Coral
Lyn looked to the clock quickly and smiled.

“Dang boss lady, you are a slave
driver. I didn’t realize how late it was. Yea, I’m hungry. Want me to go get us
some food?” Coral Lyn stood and stretched just as Gwen had. It made Gwen smile.
The two of them were oddly quite similar.

“No, you go ahead and finish what
you are doing and then we can take a break when I get back with food.” Gwen
grabbed her purse. She wrote down the sandwich order Coral Lyn wanted before
making her way out to the street. She quickly walked the couple of blocks to
the sub shop and picked up their food. On her way back, someone bumped into her
harder than normal and she stumbled back a step. Whoever it was had just kept
going.
Jerk
. Gwen thought. Finally, she made her way back up to her
office. “Food is here.”

“Oh, good. I’m so starving. I
haven’t eaten for hours.” Coral Lyn said quickly rushing over to grab her
sandwich. “Let’s go to the break room so we don’t make a mess in here.”

“Here, take mine. I’ll meet you
there. I’m going to get some change for a drink.” Gwen handed off her sandwich
to Coral Lyn. She made sure Gwen knew where to go and then left. Gwen tossed
her purse on the counter and started digging in the bottom for change that she
knew she’d thrown in here just minutes ago after buying the sandwiches. She dug
for a few minutes but couldn’t find it. That jerk that bumped into her on the
street must’ve grabbed it. Everything else appeared to be there though.
Strange.

“You coming? I have some change if
you need some.” Coral Lyn was standing in the doorway again. Gwen dug out her wallet
and found a dollar before putting her purse back in the drawer.

“No, no I got it.” Gwen said waving
the dollar in the air.  

As hours passed, Gwen checked to
see if Cole had sent her a message about what time he wanted to leave for the
day, but there wasn’t one. After lunch, she talked briefly with McKayla about
how her day was going. Then she and Coral jumped back into work. Coral had been
gone for over an hour when Gwen heard a knock on the open door to her design
studio.

 “You ready to leave?” Cole asked
leaning against the door frame, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Well, hello there. Give me just a
minute.” Gwen smiled up at him. She cleaned up a bit but left most of it out
since she would be jumping back into it in the morning. She grabbed her purse
and bag with all her designs in it. Since she’d picked out the ones she planned
on using, she wouldn’t need the rest of them here. Plus she didn’t want them to
possibly get stolen, you never knew. Some designers weren’t afraid to steal
other people’s work. It only took her a few minutes then she walked to the door
with keys in her hand, “Ready.”

“I could stand here and watch you
work for hours.” Cole stepped back so she could close and lock the door. They
walked side by side to the elevator. “Did you have a good day?”

“Yes. It went very well. I love
being here. I love working on my designs, working on in my own space with my
own assistant.” Gwen let out a dreamy sigh before turning to look up at him
with a huge smile on her face. “It’s a bit surreal. It’s like having my dreams
come true. Happy doesn’t come close to describing how I feel.”

“That’s what I like to hear. I
wanted to make it down to check in with you today but I had some other business
to take care of.” Cole ran a hand through his hair before blowing out a breath.
“This is hard.”

“What is hard?” Gwen looked over at
him.

“Standing here and not being able
to touch you.” Cole spoke softly. Gwen looked over her shoulder and sure enough
there were at least five other people still in the area walking around that she
could see. She frowned. She hadn’t even noticed them before. She had been so
focused on her work and then on Cole.

“There is always the elevator.”
Gwen wiggled her eyebrows at him and smiled. Cole let out a little chuckle.

“Yes, there is always the elevator.
Speaking of.” Cole held out his arm for her to enter the elevator as the doors
slid open. There were two other people in the elevator. Gwen stepped between
them so she could stand at the back of the elevator. She didn’t like having her
back to anyone if she could help it. Cole moved to stand next to her. He
resumed his standard pose of leaning back, arms crossed over his chest, feet
crossed at the ankles.  

Gwen found herself looking at the
white cuffs of his shirt that stuck out from under his suit jacket. Even his
wrists and hands looked sexy when he stood like that. It made his jacket strain
against his thick biceps and forearms while accentuating his broad chest. Gwen
shook her head, no man should be that sexy. Cole looked at her and a slow sexy
half smile slid onto his face, like he knew what Gwen was thinking. She let her
eyes roam over his profile when he turned to look forward again. She felt like
the room got a few degrees hotter. Just staring at him, she was getting turned
on. Thankfully, the two other people got off at the lobby. As soon as the doors
slid shut and the elevator started moving towards the garage, Gwen was on Cole.
She grabbed the lapels of his jacked, pulling him hard against her. She pushed
up on her toes to slam her mouth to his. Her tongue snaked into his hot mouth
and slid against his.  

“God, I hate how fucking sexy you
look. All you have to do is just stand there and I’m panting for you.” Gwen
said before smashing her lips to his again. He gently placed his hands on her
hips but kissed her back with the same raging need. The elevator dinged and
Gwen jumped back from him in case someone was waiting to get on. There wasn’t. It
would’ve been obvious what they’d been doing anyway.

Cole yanked down on his jacket to
straighten it before grabbing Gwen’s hand and pulling her quickly to the car.
They both slipped into the back. As soon as the car door was closed, he pulled
her into his lap, his hands in her hair as he kissed her hard.

“I’ve wanted to do that all day.”
Cole pulled her back to his lips so he could kiss her again. Their tongues
mingled and danced as Doug drove them back to Cole’s apartment. Cole pulled
back when both of them were breathing hard. He gently cupped her face and
rested his forehead against hers, his eyes closed. “We can’t keep kissing. I’m
already struggling to wait and this really isn’t helping.”

Gwen gritted her teeth. She was so
hot. Her panties were soaked and she wanted him so badly. But she could tell he
really was trying to control himself and wait till their third date. “You know,
this should count as our second date.”

“Really?” Cole smirked at her as
she slipped off his lap to sit next to him. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, we left the house together.
We are coming back together. Both of us ate while we were gone. See, just like
a date.” Gwen smiled at him.

“Nice try.” Cole laughed. “We are
supposed to eat together at a restaurant, not floors apart.”

“Hey, we were in the same
building.” Gwen shrugged. “Oh come on… It should at least count as half a
date.”

“Well at that rate, we’ll be at 3
before Friday.” Cole figured each day they went to work would be half a date
and they worked five days a week.

“Yes, that would be the point. I
could have you all weekend.” Gwen gave him a wicked smile. Cole groaned and
adjusted himself in his pants. “See, I know you want it. I want it. Why are we
waiting? We both know how good it is.”

“Because the next time we are
together, it’ll be special. You’ll be my girlfriend and I’ll be the only man in
your life. You’ll be mine and McKayla’s only. You’ll know that I want you for
you. I promise you that waiting while we get our lives situated and our
relationship settled will be worth it.” Cole reached for her hand and laced his
fingers with hers. He brought it to his lips and kissed the back of her hand.

“I already am all of those things. And
since you want to wait then I will try to be good.” Gwen kissed the back of his
hand and smiled at him.

 Over the next couple days, Gwen
and Cole fell into a pattern but they were both so busy with work that they
left early in the morning and stayed late into the night, barely seeing each
other or McKayla. Finally the end of the week rolled around. Gwen was happy to
finally get some down time to relax and spend with McKayla. She tried to
alternate whose bed she ended up in each night or have all of them sleep
together. But there had been a couple nights she ended up falling asleep on the
couch. Cole would carry her to his bed when he turned in.

Gwen knew that McKayla was feeling
a bit left out since Cole at least got to spend the time with Gwen during their
commute. McKayla got very little time with her at all. Gwen made it her mission
to spend as much time as she could with McKayla on the weekend.

She asked Alina, Cole’s
Housekeeper, to make McKayla’s favorite breakfast of baked eggs with tomatoes.
She sat and watched as Alina cooked. Gwen and Alina found that they both
enjoyed reading and would sit and chat about books that they had read whenever
they were alone together. Once the meal was cooked, Gwen carried it on the tray
to McKayla’s room. She set it on the floor before climbing into bed next to
McKayla.

“Wake up, sleepy head.” Gwen
whispered as she used her finger tips to pull the hair off McKayla’s face.
McKayla rolled towards her but didn’t open her eyes or make any other movement
to show she was awake. Gwen carefully pulled the blankets down, exposing
McKayla’s tank top. Just the loss of the warm blanket, made McKayla stir. Her
eyes blinked a few time before focusing on Gwen. Gwen smiled, “Good morning.”

“Hi.” McKayla said before
stretching her arms over her head then smiling at Gwen. “What are you doing in
my bed so early in the morning
and
on the weekend?”

“I brought you breakfast.” Gwen
laid a soft kiss on McKayla’s lips before reaching down to pick up the tray and
place it over McKayla’s lap as she pushed up in the bed. McKayla ran her
fingers through her hair to tame her bedhead a bit then picked up the fork.

“Mmmm, my favorite!” McKayla smiled
warmly at Gwen as she dug in. She took a huge bite making Gwen smile. She liked
being able to surprise her. Knowing just what she would want made Gwen feel
more secure in their relationship. “And I was starving.”

The whole melding the new with the
old wasn’t easy. She knew there would be challenging times, but Gwen really was
trying to make it work. While she loved the relationship that she had with McKayla,
the relationship she was forming with Cole brought her a whole different
happiness and she wanted to have both in her life. Each person completed a
different part of her soul. Now she just needed to make sure she showed them
that.

“I have a whole day of plans for
us. Manicure, pedicure, massages, the works. Just you and me. All day.” Gwen smiled
tenderly at her. “I know it’s been a rough week, not only am I working long
hours, but we are no longer at our apartment and you have to share me even at
night. I just need some you and me time.”

“Sounds wonderful.” McKayla uttered
between bites. Once she was done, McKayla went to shower.

Gwen made her way back to Cole’s
room to see if he was awake yet. She had showered and changed into jeans when
she woke before asking Alina to make breakfast. Cole had still been sleeping
and she didn’t want to wake him. But when she pushed open the door to the room,
she found the bed empty. She checked the bathroom and closet but he was nowhere
to be found in the suite of rooms that made up the master bedroom. Gwen
wandered out to the kitchen hoping to find him there.

“Good Morning.” Cole spoke from the
breakfast bar where he was sitting as she walked into the room.

“Just the person I was looking
for.” Gwen beamed at him. She sat on the stool next to him and turned to face
him.

“What are your plans for today?”
Cole put his fork down on his plate, turned towards her.

“I was thinking I’d spend the day
with McKayla. I haven’t gotten to spend much time with her since we moved here.
I hope that’s okay.” Gwen smiled apologetically at him.

“You don’t have to explain yourself
to me. I know that you are here temporarily and it is a big change both of you.
I’ll just do some other stuff I’ve needed to get done.” Cole brushed her cheek
with his thumb. “I will miss you though.”

Gwen clasped his face between her
hands and softly kissed his lips. He grabbed her hips and pulled her between
his knees, forcing her to stand from her stool.

“Promise me you’ll be careful while
you are out.” Cole spoke softly as he drug his nose up her neck before nipping
on her earlobe.

“I was hoping we could take the car
so we wouldn’t have to use the subway and cabs. Other than that we won’t be
going anywhere dangerous or that leaves us anywhere too dangerous.” Gwen ran
her fingers through Cole’s hair while he still nuzzled her neck. His hands
wrapped tightly around her waist. “I doubt he would know to look at a spa
anyway.”

“Of course. It’s yours as long as
you need it. I’ll be staying in the apartment all day anyway.” Cole answered
without hesitation. Plus, this way his driver, Doug, would be around them. Doug
was trained in personal security, so he would help keep them safe.

“Ready?” McKayla asked from the
door way. Gwen looked up to see that she was dressed similarly in jeans and a
plain t-shirt. Her long hair hung wet around her shoulders but her make-up was
perfectly applied.

“Whenever you are.” Gwen smiled at
McKayla. She gave Cole a soft kiss before stepping from his embrace. “I’ll talk
to you later.”

After spending hours getting
pampered at a local spa, Gwen and McKayla sat at a little pizzeria waiting for
their food to arrive. They were holding hands, leaning close across the table.  

“This was really nice. Just getting
you all to myself for a while. Oh and being massaged, lotioned, painted and
made to feel like a million bucks wasn’t half bad either.” McKayla smiled as
she ran her thumb over Gwen’s knuckles. “I almost don’t want to go back to
normal life.”

“Oh, it’s not over yet. Once we are
done with dinner I want to take you somewhere else. It’s kind of fancy so we
will have to run home to change first.” Gwen beamed at McKayla. She had put a
lot of thought into this date.

“Really? I can’t wait to find out
what else you have planned.” McKayla squeezed her hand then took back her hand
as the waiter set down a huge pizza on the table.

“Looks like there will be left
overs.” Gwen laughed seeing the size of the pizza. They each took a piece and
dug in. “So, how do you feel about moving in with Cole? I know it’s temporary
but I’m sure you have some thoughts on it.”

“It’s okay. You know, I thought I
would be against having my own room. But I kind of like being able to get away
from everything in my own space. And I know you aren’t stealing all my clothes
since most of yours are in his room.” McKayla winked and smiled. “I miss having
you around all the time. But the space is kind of nice at times too. At the
same time, I can’t wait to move back to our place too. I know that it will be
another change for you since you will have to live apart from Cole, making you
really split your time between us. I guess we will have to talk about when you
will be ready, if and when, to move in with him for the long term or if he
would consider moving in with us or what the plan would be.”

“Yeah. I don’t really want to think
about it. I don’t know what I will do once the brother is caught and out of our
lives again. But I don’t want to dwell on it. I don’t want to stress about
anything else. I don’t even want to talk about that man. I know he is still out
there, somewhere. But I can’t do anything until he makes a move again. So,
until then I am just going to try to make the best of things and keep my eye
out for anything out of place or any sign that he is up to something.” Gwen
grimaced. This wasn’t how she wanted the night to go. “But let’s not talk about
the unhappy things. Let’s talk about happy and fun things. Speaking of… if you
are done eating, let’s get going.”

“Yes, I don’t think I can fit more
than one piece of this huge pizza in my belly.” McKayla laughed as she patted
her stomach. She’d eaten her piece quicker than she had meant to, but it had
been her only meal all day.

Once their waiter boxed up the rest
of the pizza and they paid, they made their way out of the restaurant to let
Drew drive them back to Cole’s so they could change. When they arrived, the
apartment was dark and quite. McKayla went to her room while Gwen went to
Cole’s closet.

Gwen pulled her hair up leaving
little pieces falling down around her face. She put on a little black strapless
dress that fell to her mid-thigh paired with a little lacy cap sleeve top that
only covered her shoulders and wrapped around her back. She finished the outfit
with a pair of black four inch heels.

Gwen walked out of Cole’s room but
McKayla wasn’t ready yet. She decided to get a glass of water from the kitchen
while she waited. As she poured water into her glass, she heard the low rumble
of Cole’s voice. Carrying her glass of water with her, Gwen made her way to his
office. She smiled as she leaned against the door frame before taking a sip of
her water. Her eyes ran over his muscular frame as he paced in his office and
talked rapidly to someone on the phone. He quickly hung up the phone when he
noticed her.  

“Well, now.” Cole took off his blue
tooth earpiece and tossed it on the desk once he ended his call. He leaned back
against his desk with his hands braced on either side of his hips. “I didn’t
expect you back so early.”

“We are just here for a quick
wardrobe change and then we will be leaving again. I figured you were busy but
wanted to come say hi since I could hear your voice in the kitchen.” Gwen walked
to him before leaning in to give him a kiss. His arms wrapped loosely around
her hips. Her arms wrapped around his back, careful to not drop her glass.

“You look damn good in that dress.
She’s a lucky girl to get to take you out looking like that.” Cole ran his
finger over her skin, following the edge of the top she had on. His finger
followed the top from her shoulder to the swell of her breast where it met her
dress.  “I would love to lick every inch of your skin. You look so yummy.”

“Don’t start with all that. You’ll
make me drop my glass.” Gwen licked her lips slowly as she set her glass down
on the desk behind him. “Plus, you’ll just get me all hot… and wet. Just
touching me like that with those dark sexy eyes on me. Your rough sexy voice
saying dirty things to me. You’ll get me all… turned on. Then, poof, you’ll
turn away, leaving me wanting. And that wouldn’t be fair.” Gwen rotated her
hips against Cole’s as she spoke. She could feel his erection pressing into
her, growing larger as she spoke softly into his ear.

“Gwen?” McKayla’s voice came from
the hall.

“Be right there.” Gwen called out. Cole
growled low and pulled Gwen to him for a hot hard kiss. His tongue slid into
her mouth as his hands grabbed her ass hard, holding her tight against him. He
pulled back from her.

“I will pay you back for that.”
Cole slapped her ass hard once before releasing her. Gwen fanned her face with
her hand and smiled.

“Oh but I think it was worth it. I
love getting you all hot. It’s so sexy.” Gwen winked and waved before walking
out of the room. She walked back in a minute later to pick up her glass from
his desk. “Oops forgot this.” She gave him a soft kiss and nipped his bottom
lip before jumping out of his reach when he growled again at her.

She took the glass back to the
kitchen. Then walked to the main hallway to greet McKayla. “I was just telling
Cole we were leaving. Well, that we were here and then leaving again.”

“Okay. Are you ready?” McKayla let
her eyes travel over Gwen’s body in appreciation. Gwen nodded.

“Are you?” Gwen let her eyes run
over McKayla too. McKayla had put on a flowing mid-thigh heart neckline dress
that was bright yellow with nude heels.

“Absolutely. We are gonna stop
traffic.” McKayla laughed as they made their way to the elevators. “So, are you
going to tell me where we are going now? And is this dress appropriate?”

“No and yes.” Gwen gave her a
cheesy grin. “You just have to wait and see.”

They took the elevator down to the
garage then climbed in the car. Doug already knew where to take them so Gwen
just sat back and let McKayla ponder their destination.