Cole finished his beer and then went back in the house to find Sierra in the same spot, only this time there were more patterns and swatches spread out before her.
“Luke wants us to come down to the club for dinner. You up for it?”
Sierra stopped what she was doing and looked up at him for the first time. He knew instantly that this wasn’t going to go the way he had hoped it would.
“I can’t. I really need to get this together. I’ve got a meeting first thing in the morning, and I need to have the design laid out.”
Cole nodded his head, pretending to understand. Once again, life was getting in the way, but there wasn’t anything he could do to change it. Figuring he had nothing better to do, and Sierra would be working for at least a couple of hours, he decided to go down to Club Destiny to see Luke by himself.
Before he left, he kissed her on the cheek, once again not getting a response from her, but he tried his best not to think about it.
Oh hell, who was he kidding? He didn’t think about anything else.
~~*~~
When Cole walked through the door at Club Destiny a half hour later, something deep inside of Luke loosened. Just seeing him calmed the frayed edges of his nerves. Too bad he was currently in the middle of a dramatic conversation with Mistress Serena, which meant he couldn’t go downstairs to greet him.
“Give me a sec,” Luke stated to the woman pacing the floor in front of his desk. He needed to let Cole know that he’d just be a few more minutes.
Shooting off a quick text, he continued to watch Cole through the window, noticing the moment he received the message. Rather than going to the stairs, Cole turned and headed to the bar and Luke couldn’t help but notice the way Cole’s shoulders appeared to deflate instantly.
“Sorry,” Luke turned his attention back to Serena and waited for her to continue. She’d spent the better part of the last half hour giving him a piece of her mind. Apparently she didn’t take too kindly to Trent Ramsey sticking his nose in her club, which, much to Luke’s surprise, he’d been doing as of late.
Not that Luke cared that Trent was suddenly taking an interest in the club, but he’d have preferred the man talk to him first. As for Serena, well, she was being just a little dramatic. At least in his opinion.
“I don’t want him there,” she stated adamantly, turning to face him with her hands on her hips.
Luke stared back at the woman, forcing himself not to smile. He had a pretty decent idea that there was something going on between her and Trent, although she might not even be aware of it. It seemed that the man was sparking a reaction in her and based on what he knew of Trent, he was probably doing it on purpose. He got the impression the two of them didn’t care much for one another. Not that it surprised him. There was no way in hell that the two of them would make a good pair because they were both the dominant, type-A personalities that would absolutely clash if they were to go head to head. Sort of like now.
“I’ll talk to him,” Luke told her. “I can’t make any promises though. You know as well as I do that he’s a member of the club as well as an owner. If he wants to weigh in, you’re just going to have to humor him for now.”
Serena’s incredulous laugh made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Quite frankly, Luke wasn’t sure why Trent would be trying to piss her off, unless of course, he just wanted to see her like this. Luke, on the other hand, did not want to have to have these conversations on a daily basis. Considering the club was closed for the time being, he wasn’t even sure how the two of them were even having this type of contact.
“I will. I’ll talk to him,” Luke reassured her, moving toward the door, hoping to give her a hint.
Serena followed him, but she didn’t say another word. A single grunt was all he got as she made her way through the doorway and toward the doors that would lead down to the bar. Grabbing his phone, Luke quickly sent Cole another text.
Figuring he probably had a couple of minutes, Luke took a seat at his desk and pulled up his email. By the time Cole finally arrived, he was in the middle of sending a response to one of the reports Kane had provided on a recent application.
“Give me just a minute,” he told Cole when he walked in the door. “I’ve got food being sent up in a few minutes.”
Cole didn’t respond, and Luke didn’t look up. He finished typing his email and hit send before turning in his chair to face the one man who had the ability to distract Luke like no one else.
He still remembered the days when he tried to convince himself otherwise. The times when he managed to suppress the deep rooted desire that sparked inside of him whenever Cole was near. He much preferred the way things were between them now, the way just seeing Cole, being in the same room with him even, managed to shift his seemingly sideways world back on an even keel.