The Trouble With Coco Monroe by C. C. MacKenzie Read Free Book Online Page B

to let the dust settle and then calmly, and with dignity, resigned. In other ways she didn’t regret a damn thing. What about her father’s commitment to her? If she tried to explain herself, that she had a road map for her future and what that plan was, Rafe would never believe her. She’d covered her tracks too well.
    However, plans were in place, actions taken.
    She refused to change course now.
    Getting Rafe off her back was key to the success of her long-term plans. And there was only way to do that, to hit him where it hurt, in his pride and in his ego.
    Ignoring the jumpy nerves in her belly, Coco straightened her spine.
    Her eyes met his.
    She permitted her utter contempt for him as her father’s stooge to be crystal clear in her eyes and in her voice.
    ‘I will honour any commitments for the length of a months notice as per the terms of my contract, which means there are three weeks left. I don’t need protection and I’m not changing my mind. You can tell the organ grinder that his pet monkey failed.’
    The silence in the room was so loud she could have heard a butterfly breathe.
    The way those dark eyes narrowed into icy slits, the way those fantastic cheekbones flushed told her she’d hit the bulls eye.
    Very slowly, like a big black panther, Rafe stood.
    His hands bunched into fists at his side.
    How long he simply stood there and stared into her eyes, Coco had no idea but even though shame that she’d deliberately wounded him made her feel physically sick she would not back down.
    Rafe simply turned and walked out.
    The door snicked closed behind him.
    Coco blew out a long, shaky breath.
    She’d just burnt every single bridge with Rafael Cavendish.
     
     

Chapter Six
     
    Three days later, Coco was of the opinion that being the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the country seriously sucked.
    For example take today’s tabloid headline, ‘Soap star and Coco in secret sex romp.’
    Dating the soap star in question for three short weeks over a year ago had been a rare blunder. He’d slipped right under her sleaze ball detector. Coco always admitted her mistakes. And for the record, he’d never got past first base. The publicity had given him a short boost to his career and kept her father happy because she was in the headlines. All publicity was good publicity for the Monroe brand.
    The sleaze ball had received a notice from her lawyers and was blaming the newspaper and the newspaper was blaming him. Yada, yada, yada.
    The woman who wrote the piece was a queen bitch. Since Coco considered being a bitch was a personality flaw rather than a capital offense, it didn’t stop the warm fuzzy feeling in her belly knowing that Ms Tabitha Crew’s editor and publisher of the newspaper were even now receiving a kicking from her father’s legal team.
    A retraction and apology would be printed tomorrow, on page three, and a sum would be paid to the charity of Ms Monroe’s choice, which was better than nothing. On the whole Coco considered she’d got off lightly. It could have been worse, much worse. It could have been three in a bed with her face photo-shopped on a nubile, and naked, torso.
    But it sucked, because now Ms Crew would be looking for any excuse to get her own back. Tit-for-tat was the name of the fame game.
     
    Coco had had six months of relative peace and tranquillity. Okay, six weeks of that had been spent in hospital fighting a lingering infection and recuperating. But hey, every cloud had a silver lining.
    She’d had a taste of anonymity, freedom, and wanted a hell of a lot more of it.
    Recently she’d noticed mention of her name in a couple of celebrity blogs, on twitter and Facebook groups.
    The wild merry-go-round of her life was about to start-up again.
     
    Now Coco sat at the kitchen table of her new house, eating a late breakfast of an egg white omelette and mulling over the situation.
    She loved her home.
    Hidden from long lenses of the paparazzi, no one outside her