How Many Chances (10 page)

Ally looked at him in silence for a moment. Every time she th
ought her heart couldn’t possibly love him anymore. He says something that makes her fall in love with him all over again.

She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips.

“I love you Cole bloody Thomas,” she smiled brightly at him.

“Then marry me,” Cole said suddenly looking Ally in the eyes. Ally stared back at him in complete and utter shock. She was speechless. “Please say yes,”

“Yes,” she breathed out.

“Yes?” he asked excitedly.

“YES!” she laughed. “Yes I will marry you.”

Ally sat next to Cole in the back of his Range Rover and held his hand tightly. She wasn’t really sure how she should be feeling right now. She was still in a spin from Cole’s proposal the night before.

She thought she would have freaked out and changed her mind a
bout agreeing to marry Cole by now, but she didn’t. She knew it was very soon and she knew her grandparents were probably going to freak out. But she loved him, of that she was sure.

She looked down at their intertwined hands rest
ing on Cole’s knee and she felt happy. But then she thought about where they were headed and her heart sank a little.

She had promised Cole she would go with him to see Ben the night before. To show a united front to Steph. But as she sat there next to Cole and stared at their hands, she could feel her determination begin
ning to fade fast.

Ally hated to admit it, but she felt intimidated by Steph. She had done the one thing Ally could never compete with. She gave Cole his first child, his first son.

“Are you okay?” Cole asked Ally, sensing she was once again over thinking things in her head.

She nodded her head and smiled but he wasn’t buying it.

“Look, I know you are nervous,” Cole sighed. “I am nervous too, but everything will be okay. I promise.”

Ally smiled at Cole reassuringly but the knot in her stomach tightened. She looked forward towards Nick, who was driving and caught him steal
ing a glance at her in the rear-view mirror. He quickly turned his attention back to the road and Ally frowned. She had no idea why this guy had taken such an instant dislike to her. But it was clear he had.

Screw him
!
Ally thought to herself.
Once we go back to Dublin, I won’t have to deal with this asshole anymore.

Five minutes later the
y pulled up outside a quaint little mews house tucked in to the corner of a quiet little Cul-de-sac. Everything about the house was picture perfect, from the white sash windows to the picturesque cobbled ground outside the house.

Cole had told Ally that he had in fact bought this house for Steph while she was pregnant with Ben, of course putting the house in his name, to be given to him on his twenty first birthday.

Ally was floored when he told her he had paid over three million for the house. But he wanted somewhere nice and safe for his son to be raised. Also there were some very good schools in walking distance from the house and he wanted nothing but the best for Ben.

He said it was the only way he knew how to compensate for him not being in his life every day.

Ally understood, but couldn’t help but think just how well this Steph had landed on her feet when she climbed into Cole’s bed.

As Cole undid his seat belt he turned to Ally and his heart sank a little. She looked terrified and he knew he could not force her to do this. He wanted her to be part of Ben’s life, but she needed to do it at her own pace.

“Ally, sweetheart,” he said reaching over and taking her hand. “Talk to me,”

“I can’t do this,” she replied in
barely a whisper. “I am so sorry Cole. I wish I could be strong enough to be the person you need me to be. The girl you think I am. But I’m not. I am not strong enough. You are asking too much from me. Cole it’s too soon. I am so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he replied as he lifted her hand and brought it to his mouth. “I have all the time in the world to wait for you to be ready.
”

“I’m sorry,” she said
once again, softly.

“Don’t be,” Cole said with a big smile. “I have to go in and see Steph, I have some papers I need her to sign about Ben. You can wait here in the car. Or I can have Nick drive you back to the apartment. I will be back to you within the hour

“I will wait for you at the apartment,” Ally nodded. “But I can walk back. I don’t want to be a bot…”

Cole kissed his lips against her to stop her talking. He slowly pulled his lips from
Ally’s, his eyes never leaving hers.

“You are never a bother to me,” he said bef
ore he kissed her one more time. He climbed out the car and spoke quietly to Nick before he leaned back into the car.  “I won’t be long.”

He closed the door and
stood and watched as Nick climbed back into the car and drove away.

Ally looked back over her
shoulder and saw Cole standing in the same spot before he slowly turned and walked towards the front door of the house. When it opened, he stepped inside and the door shut and Ally heart sank.

She
turned back around in her seat and stared at the back of the seat in front of her. Suddenly hot tears began to sting her eyes.

Why the hell am I crying?
She thought to herself as she quickly wiped the tears from her eyes. She had no idea why she was upset. She hated the idea of Cole being in there alone with that tart. She couldn’t bear to think of the horrible nasty things she was saying about her right at that moment.

She knew she should have gone in with him. She should have kept her promise and stood next to him facing that horrible woman again. She thought maybe she should tell Nick to turn the car around but she knew her eyes were now probably red and puffy and there was no way she could go back now.

She had let Cole down again and it was breaking her heart. This time she couldn’t hold the tears back as they began to stream down her face.

Suddenly Nick’s hand stretched back over his shoulder as he held out a
handkerchief for Ally.

“Thank you,” Ally sniffed as she reached out and took the
handkerchief from his hand and wiped her eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked as his eyes caught hers in the rear view mirror. She nodded as a fresh wave of tears hit her. Nick didn’t say anything else.

Ally dried her eyes and took a deep steadying breath. And she glanced up and once again her eyes met Nicks in the rear view mirror.

“I know you don’t really like me,” Ally said, unsure what had possessed her to say what she just
did. But she had and should couldn’t take it back.

“What makes you think that?” he asked sounding a little taken back by her directness. “Why wouldn’t I like you? I don’t
even know you.”

“But you don’t approve of Cole and I,” she retorted suddenly feeling braver.

“What Mr Thomas does with his life is his own business,” Nick’s his eyes flicking from the road ahead to Ally and back to the road again.

“So it’s me you don’t approve of!” she shot back immediately.
She was on a roll now.

“I am sure you are a very nice girl,” Nick replied, maintaining a professional tone with Ally the entire time
. He quickly glanced at Ally in the rear view mirror briefly the turned his attention back to the road.

“But I am not good enough for Cole.” this time Ally’s tone was curt and a little hostel. Suddenly they were plunged in to the darkness of the underground car park of Coles building. Ally hadn’t even realised they had been driving that long.

“I am not sure where you have gotten the impression I don’t like you Ms Brody,” Nick said as he pulled the car to a stop and turned in his seat to face Ally. She sat back in her seat unsure of where this was going or what she had started. “But if you want the truth, I don’t think Mr Thomas should have brought you here. He clearly hasn’t told you everything there is to know. Just how important he is or how many would love to see him fall on his ass and would step on anyone, and that includes you, to get to him. You are not part of this world. You are not like Ms Richards or some of these other social climbing wanna bees. You are a different class altogether. You are a lady. Granted a lady with a fiery temper, but a lady none the less.”

“I see,” was all Ally could say. She was completely
floored by what he had just said. She was so sure he didn’t like her. But she couldn’t have been more wrong if she had tried.

“Look I have said far too much,” Nick sighed. “I understand if you tell Mr Thomas about my inappropriateness. I am truly sorry.”

He stepped out of the car and walked around to Ally’s side if the car and opened her door. She slowly stepped out of the car, the whole time she watched Nick, who was no longer making eye contact with her. If anything he looked angry with himself that he had said what he had. He had crossed a line.

Ally stopped in front of him and stared
up at him. Then much to Nicks surprise she leaned up and kissed his cheek.

“Thank you,” she smiled up at him. “And don’t worry, Cole doesn’t need to know about our conversation either.”

“Thank you Ms Brody,” he said finally looking at her once again. “I am very grateful.”

“My pleasure,” Ally replied. “And please, call me Ally.”

“Okay” Nick smiled for the first time Ally could remember and even blushed a little. “Ally.”

Ally smiled
back and walked towards the elevator and stopped and waited for Nick to join her.

They rode up in the
lift together, in silence and Nick escorted Ally into the apartment before he excused himself so he could go back for Cole. And then he left and once again Ally was alone in Cole’s big penthouse.

She walked down to Cole’s room and quickly changed into her baggy t-shirt, legging and trainers. She pulled her iPod from her hand bag and popped it into her ears before she made her way to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. She was going to hit the gym she had discovered Cole had in his apartment earlier that morning, not that she should have been that surprised.

She opened the big brushed metal fridge door and pulled out a bottle of water. But when she closed the door of the fridge, she came face to face with a pretty red head with the friendliest smile she had ever seen beaming at her. None the less she scared the crap out of Ally and she screamed with fright as her bottle of water went crashing to the floor.

“Oh I am so sorry I startled you,” she said as she instantly bent down to pick up Ally’s
bottle of water from the floor. She picked it up and handed it back to her. “You must be Ally.”

“Have we met?” she asked confused that this woman seemed to know who she was.

“No my lovely,” the girl replied with a big smile. “I’m Annette. Mr Thomas told me you were here. We seemed to have kept missing each other.”

“Oh right,” Ally said, as memories of Cole talking about someone called Annette came
back to her.

“Is there something I can get for you?” Annette asked as she handed Ally back her bottle of water.

“I am all set,” Ally replied taking her water and giving her a big smile. “I was just going to hit the gym, before Cole gets home.”

“Well if you need anything at all,” Annette continued in her friendly manner. “I will be around somewhere just give me a shout.”

“Thank you,” Ally replied. She headed for the gym and she smiled to herself. If Cole had one thing right in his life, it would be picking good house keepers. Annette seemed just as lovely as Rosie.

Ally smiled at the thought o
f Rosie and suddenly she was feeling a little home sick. She missed her job and her friends. She needed to get back home and back to her normal life as soon as possible.

When she reached the gym, she
grabbed a towel from a pile on a side table and headed straight to the treadmill and switched on. She wasn’t feeling as eager as she was earlier.

She switched on her
iPod and turned the music up full the sounds of the Pussycat Dolls “Don’t ya” blaring in her ears and pressed start on the programme she had selected. Starting of slowly, her speed increased gradually until she was running flat out, lost in the music and a world of her own.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been running for but her legs were starting to get tired so she hit the cool down button and began to slow until she finally came to stop. She grabbed the towel and wiped her face as she stepped of
f the treadmill and turned around.

“JESUS CHRIST!” she cried out when she saw Cole sitting on a chair watching her.
She reached up and pulled her earphones from her ears. “You scared the crap out of me Cole, how long have you been sitting there?”

“Just a couple of minutes,” he smiled as he stood and walked towards Ally. “Sorry I startled you.”

He slipped his arms around her and drew her into his embrace.

“Cole I am all sweat
y,” Ally protested but he just held her tighter.

“Exactly how I like you,” he replied with a mischievous grin and kissed her briefly. “Although, I prefer you naked and sweaty. And because I made you that way.”

He kissed her again but this time harder than before. He pressed his hand on her backside and pulled her against him and she could feel how much he wanted her.

Suddenly a cough from the doorway made Ally try to pull away from Cole but he just held her tighter and grinned at her.

“Yes, Nick,” Cole said without taking his eyes from Ally.

“I’m sorry Mr. Thomas,” Nick
said nervously. Ally looked over at him and she could see he was blushing, having walked in on them the way he did. “We need to go if you want to make that meeting.”