Redeeming The Billionaire (The Sherbrookes of Newport Book 5) (23 page)

She wanted to ask more about Donna Sherbrooke. Other than the fact she’d liked flowers and died years earlier, she knew nothing about the woman. Granted, a search on the Internet would have provided plenty of information, but she resisted doing that. She wanted to learn about the woman from Trent, yet she didn’t want to pry if he found it too difficult to talk about her. Perhaps in time, he’d open up and tell her more.

“You’re right, I do like your family.” She opened her eyes again. “You guys sure like to give each other a hard time.” She thought back to the conversation when they’d first arrived. While she’d been joking about Jake calling her to give up Trent’s secrets, he’d immediately taken her number and then given her his. And while she was more than curious about Trent’s past, she knew she’d never call Jake and ask.

“They loved you.”

Much like all his answers since they’d come outside, his statement remained short. In fact, Trent had more or less only spoken when she asked him a direct question since lunch.

Addie turned so that she faced him, tucking on leg under her. “Are you okay?”

Trent looked at her. “Of course. Why?” He let his fingers brush against her shoulder.

“You’ve been quiet this afternoon.”

“I have a lot on my mind, including a new resort up in Vermont.” Trent fell silent again; the only sound was the rustling of leaves when the breeze blew. “You looked natural today holding James.”

She had enjoyed holding the newborn. “I did a lot of babysitting for my neighbors. They didn’t have any family in the area, so I’d often go babysit on Saturday nights so they could go out.” Addie did the math in her head. “The oldest is fifteen now and her sister is almost twelve.” Wow, time flew. “You looked comfortable yourself.” The sight of Trent with the infant had turned her heart into mush.

“I liked it.” Trent sounded surprised by the fact. “And it made me realize something.”

Did she dare ask? “What?” she asked with hesitation.

“Someday I’d like a family of my own.” The fingers on her shoulder stilled. “What about you?”

Sure she envisioned herself a mother at some point, but she’d never considered when. “A family would be nice.”

“Large or small?” he asked. “We both come from big families, and maybe you disagree, but I liked growing up with a lot of siblings. Yeah, they drove me nuts, hell, they still do, but there was always someone around. Callie was an only child growing up. She told me she always dreamed of a brother or sister.”

Addie could relate to Trent’s comments. Her brothers drove her insane, but she wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. “My cousin Chloe is an only child. I think that’s why she spent so much time at my house growing up. I’d want at least two children.”

“Two.” He considered her response. “I was thinking more like three or four, but if you want two I’d be happy with that.”

Addie said a silent thank you that her butt was already planted on the bench because if she’d been standing she’d be flat on her behind at the moment. “I thought you were talking in general terms,” she said when her brain began sending messages to her mouth again.

Trent sat up straight and looked at her. “I’m not saying we should get started now, but that’s how I see you. Where I want us to be someday.”

“Me, too,” Addie said around the lump in her throat. He hadn’t proposed or anything, but he’d made his intentions crystal clear.

The serious expression on his face faded. “Of course if you want to practice, I’m all for it. We could head upstairs right now.”

“You’re impossible,” she said tickling his side.

“What? It’s not like anyone would notice.”

She tickled him again. “We can start practicing all we want when we get home tomorrow. Believe it or not I’d like to spend more time with your family.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Trent asked as he added another undershirt to his suitcase.

“Positive. I’ll use the time to get some extra work done. Besides, you’ll only be away two nights. We’ll both survive.” Three weeks had passed since their weekend in Connecticut and in that time they’d not spent a night apart.

After adding some underwear and socks to the bag, he zipped it up. “If you say so.”

“Just think how happy I’ll be to see you when you get back.” The security panel near the bedroom door beeped and Addie hopped off the bed to answer it. “I bet that’s Chloe. She’d said she’d stop by.” Pushing the answer button on the panel, she greeted the doorman downstairs. As she suspected, her cousin had arrived. “Please send her up.”

“Now I get it. While I’m gone you two are going to party,” Trent said, his lips turned downward in a frown as he took her into his arms.

She pasted on her best guilty look. “You guessed it. While you’re up in Vermont, we’re going to prowl the city for men.”

Trent’s eyes grew wide. “I thought you just had a big house party planned. But if that’s the case you’re definitely coming with me.” They both knew full well she had eyes only for him. “I might even handcuff you to my side.”

“If anyone should be worried, it’s me,” Addie said. “With all those beautiful, rich women running around.” The purpose of Trent’s trip was to meet with the managers of an exclusive ski resort and spa that Sherbrooke Enterprises had just acquired. The resort, located on Stratton Mountain, had been visited by big name celebrities and an heiress. From the little she’d read about it, the resort wasn’t the type of place you took the family for a ski trip unless your yearly income included seven figures or more.

Trent’s expression became serious, his eyebrows coming together and he gripped her shoulders. “You have nothing to worry about. I love you.” From the hallway the doorbell rang, but he kept his hands on her shoulders. “Addison.”

“I was teasing, Trent. I’m not worried.” She didn’t lie. Thus far he’d given her no reason not to trust him and believe that he loved her. “And I love you.” The bell rang again. “Come on, let’s go downstairs.”

Before he released her, he kissed her. “Go ahead. I’ll be right down.”

Chloe looked poised to ring the bell again when Addie pulled open the door. Still dressed in the clothes she’d worn to the bakery, she had a large canvas bag slung over one shoulder and held a pastry box in her hands. “You did say to come over after work, right?” She followed Addie into the living room. “I can come by tomorrow otherwise.”

“I was upstairs helping Trent pack.” She accepted the box and turned, intent on going to the kitchen.

“Actually, I brought those for Trent,” Chloe said before Addie moved another inch.

“Brought what for me?” Trent entered the room, his leather jacket on and his suitcase in hand.

“Uh, some cannoli. Addie told me how much you like them.” She toyed with her gold hoop earring as she spoke.

Trent didn’t hesitate. He moved in and removed the pastry box from Addie’s hands. “Fantastic. These babies are coming with me.” He dropped his suitcase and opened the box. “I don’t know if these will last the whole ride up.” He looked in Chloe’s direction. “Thank you, Chloe,” he said before he turned back to Addison. “I need to go. I’ll call you tonight.” He kissed her as if her cousin didn’t stand just feet away. “I love you.”

Despite all the kisses they’d shared, he still somehow managed to take her breath away. “Love you, too. Have a safe trip.” She watched him leave before collapsing into a chair. It was going to be a long two nights.

“Oh, my god! How do you live with him and get anything done?” Chloe said, her voice animated and full of excitement. “I’d sit around here all the time and just look at him.”

Addie laughed and tossed a pillow at her cousin. “You’re nuts, you know that.”

In return Chloe tossed the pillow back, aiming for Addie’s head, but she ducked and it sailed right over the chair. “It’s true. The guy is crazy hot.”

Rather than admit she did find herself just staring at him from time to time, she jumped to her feet. “How about a tour before we look at those paint samples you brought?”

Ready for a place of her own, Chloe decided to move out of the apartment she shared with two roommates and rent Addie’s place with the plan to buy at some point.

“Please. I’ve been dying to see this place.”

Like a perfect host, Addie gave her cousin the grand tour of the two-floor penthouse. In each room Chloe gushed over something whether it be the furniture or the view. It reminded Addie of her internal thoughts the first time she walked in. Even now, a few months since her first visit, the place overwhelmed her sometimes. On more than one occasion she’d come home and stared, amazed that she now lived here.

“This place is incredible,” Chloe gushed as she retrieved her bag with the paint samples. “I bet you’re not mad that I sent that picture into the paper now.”

Chloe’s words drifted into the kitchen where Addie stood getting drinks from the refrigerator.
Maybe I misheard. Maybe she said, “you’re not mad about the picture.”
“What did you say?” She gripped the two bottles of flavored water, the plastic cold against her skin.

“That you’re not mad about the picture in the
Gazette
.” She placed the canvas bag with the paint cans and the unpainted wood blocks on the table. “You were furious when it came out.” Chloe began to spread newspaper on the kitchen table. “At first I thought maybe I’d made a mistake sending in the picture.”

Addie slammed the water bottles down onto the table. “You sent that in?” In the blink of an eye, her shock changed into anger. “Why would you do that?”

Her cousin looked down at the table and cleared her throat. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. I thought maybe it would help your business.” She raised her head and met Addie’s eyes, but her fingers fiddled with the edges of the newspaper. “I thought you’d figure it out after awhile.”

The last person she’d ever even consider was Chloe. There had been several customers in the bakery that day and she’d assumed it had been one of them. “I can’t believe you did that, Chloe. You should’ve told me sooner. For weeks it drove me nuts. Trent even had his campaign advisor look into it.”

Shit, Trent
. She’d have to tell him. How would he react? The picture itself hadn’t upset him much. At least it appeared that way then, but Chloe had violated his privacy, too.

“Come on, Addie. Please don’t be mad at me. Your business did improve, so did all the bakeries. Nothing bad happened.” Chloe pleaded in the same manner she had when they had been children and she’d done something wrong. “And it’s just a picture of you two drinking coffee.”

She fought down her anger. The picture wasn’t the issue. If her cousin had taken it and then just sent it to her she wouldn’t have cared. But that wasn’t the case. She’d gone behind her back and shared it with the world. Okay, maybe not the world, but the whole state. “I... you,” she struggled for the right words. “You had no right, Chloe. You never should have sent it.” She placed both hands on the table. In time she’d forgive her cousin, but right now she needed her to leave. “I can’t do this now, Chloe. Some other time maybe. I’d rather if you left for now.”

“Come on, Addie. It was just one picture. Besides, now look at the two of you. You’re living together and he loves you. Heck, I saw a picture of you on the cover of
The Star Report
leaving a Starbucks in Connecticut together.”

Addie began to fold up the newspaper when her cousin made no move to clean up. With her patience gone, she snapped at Chloe. “That’s different. My own cousin didn’t take that picture and send it in.”

Chloe snatched the newspaper from Addie’s hands. “Fine, be that way. Call me when you get over it.” After stuffing the paper back in her bag, Chloe spun on her heel and marched out.

Still in the kitchen long after her cousin left, Addie took another long sip from her flavored water. Every time she thought about what her cousin did, the urge to scream overwhelmed her. Everything her cousin said was true. No harm had been done. Regardless, Chloe had been way out of line. She’d made the situation even worse by not coming clean when Addie first admitted how much it bothered her.

Family. Maybe the makers of dictionaries should change the definition of the word. A more appropriate description than the one in current dictionaries would be “group of people whose sole purpose is to drive you crazy.”

Addie eyed the wine refrigerator built into the kitchen. Something a little stronger than water sounded like a good idea. If she had just one now, she’d relax a little and still be able to get some work done. Later before Trent called and she told him about Chloe, she’d have another one or two.

In the end she’d worried over nothing. When she told him about Chloe’s confession, he hadn’t raised his voice or shown any evidence that he cared who sent the picture in. He had used a few choice words in terms of what he thought of Chloe and her behavior toward Addie. Before then she’d never heard Trent swear like that, but during their conversation he’d sounded like her brothers when they got into heated arguments with each other and they knew their mother wasn’t around to hear.

Perhaps thanks to the way Trent handled the news, she climbed into their bed an hour after their phone conversation more at ease. Anger toward Chloe remained, but at least her worry about Trent’s reaction no longer ate away at her. Even so, she remained awake a long time tossing and turning. Without Trent’s six-foot-plus tall frame filling his side of the bed and his arms wrapped around her, the king size bed felt more like an empty abyss rather than a warm comfortable sanctuary. Sometime well after midnight Addie drifted off into a restless slumber.