Taming the Playboy CEO

Cole's arrival.

Back at Ethan's, he is seen working late.

Pausing to reflect on the activities of that morning and the Zoom meeting he had with Cole.

He ponders over his latest discovery: Mariana being Ethan's girlfriend. He wonders why Cole would let a pretty girl, like Mariana, go to a club. He wonders if Cole knew she went to the club because he sounded alarmed when he contacted her.

He also recalls that Cole had never mentioned anything about his having a girlfriend until that day which is weird because, knowing Cole as the blabbermouth he was, if he was dating a pretty lady like Mariana, he would have definitely bragged about her to him and their other friends.

He senses something fishy and decides to make his own findings.

Seeing it was getting late, he gets up, stretches, picks up his MacBook Pro and goes to his elevator. Being the only one in the building with the securities, he tips them before entering his 2023 Mercedes-Benz A -class sedan and driving back to his apartment.

San Diego

Mariana had gotten home and was wondering if to eat out with Cole or make dinner for him. She decides to loosen up a bit and go out.

One night out wouldn't hurt, she says. She begins to go about dressing up and preparing before she gets back a call from Cole saying that he wouldn't be able to come pick her up and would send his driver to come get her to the restaurant they would be eating at. She agrees and hangs up.

She finally settles on a off-shoulder red dress she just got because she liked its color on her skin and a. cashmere shawl just in case it gets chilly.

Soon she hears a car horn outside her apartment indicating that the driver was already there. She hastens up and decides on no makeup, just minimal lip balm to prevent her lips from getting patched, just stud earrings and a matching diamond necklace that was gifted to her by Alex.

She takes a few seconds to ponder but shrugs it off and decides to move on and not let tears spoil the evening she has decided to enjoy.

She puts on the necklace and steps out, locks up her apartment before going to meet the driver. He steps out to open the back seat of the Rolls Royce for which she thanks him before climbing in and then he takes off to the restaurant.

During the drive, she calls her sister to inform her of her whereabouts and the rest. Her sister is happy to hear that her sister is finally moving on and is happy for her.

Choice told her to just focus on enjoying the evening and push any other thoughts to the back of her mind to which she agreed.

On getting to the restaurant, the driver opened the car door again for her to get down. As Mariana steps off the vehicle, she gets into the restaurant. The restaurant was a 5 star restaurant located close to a beach giving it a very cool ambience. It had a VIP section at the rooftop giving its customers a full view of the ocean.

Mariana first meets a waitress who asks if she is coming for the first time or has an already scheduled appointment. Mariana replies that she was there to see Cole. The waitress then takes her up to the VIP section where Cole is already at. The waitress just opens the door to the rooftop and stands back outside.

Cole sights Mariana as comes in and gets up to pull up her seat for her as a gentleman.

He could not help but stare at her as she walked across the room to him. He had already decided to admit his feelings to her tonight and just get on to making her his.

She settles down after he pulls out the seat for her and inquires while the entire section is empty.

He replies that he wanted her to enjoy the evening, while he stares at how pretty she was. She blushes a bit and asks him not to flatter her. He assures her that it wasn't flattery that she actually looked absolutely gorgeous.

Mariana stares at the cool ocean as she finds it as a soothing relief to her ailing mind. Cole, noticing that she had gone quiet, decides to call on the waitress and proceeds to begin their evening by placing their first other.

The waitress asks which course meal they were going for and Cole asks Marina to pick anything she felt was okay for them.

Marina decides on the 7 course meal, as she was starving and had not had any other decent thing to eat apart from the hangover soup of earlier. After staring at the menu for a while and bickering on what to order with Cole, she finally chooses:

Course 1: Amuse-Bouche

- Seared scallop with lemon-garlic butter and microgreens with Sparkling wine to go with it.

Course 2: Appetizer

- Heirloom tomato salad with burrata cheese, balsamic glaze, and basil oil with Sauvignon Blanc to go.

Course 3: Soup

- Creamy asparagus soup with truffle oil and parmesan croutons with Alsatian Pinot Gris to go.

Course 4: Entree

- Grilled filet mignon with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, broccolini, and cabernet reduction with Cabernet Sauvignon to go.

Course 5: Intermezzo

- Lemon Lavender sorbet with shortbread cookies with Moscato d'Asti to go.

Course 6: Dessert

- Chocolate Lava cake with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce with Saracco Moscato to go

Course 7: Mignardise

- Fresh berries with whipped cream and chocolate-dipped strawberries

The waitress pens down her choices and goes back out to ready their order. They are left alone again.

Cole begins to make idle talk by admiring Mariana’s excellent food choices and asks where she learnt how to compliment wines with food so well.

Mariana says that she learnt it from her grandmother who had enjoyed exploring different wines and their flavors. It became a family tradition to enjoy a specific wine with each of their meals.

Cole listens to her as she speaks. He knew he could do that for as long as possible: just settle down and stare at her. He looks at her and wonders how it would be to have his lips against them.

The mere thought of it sent blood rushing into the lower part of his anatomy.

Luckily, the waitress walks in rolling in a tray with their first course. He is happy about the intrusion as he was about to make a crucial mistake that he was definitely going to regret later.

Soon their table is set and they begin their dinner making idle talk throughout.

Their dinner is soon over and it's getting late. Mariana asks to take her leave and pick an Uber home as she did not bring on her own ride.

Cole instead insists on dropping her off personally in order to be sure about her safety. They leave the restaurant after Cole clears the bill. They head to his Lamborghini before beginning the drive back to Mariana's apartment.

The drive is silent as both of them enjoy the cool evening.

They get to her apartment and Mariana rushes in as she is already tired and slightly drunk, giving Cole no opportunity to lay out his feelings to her.

She thanks him for a night well spent and for treating her to dinner.

He says the pleasure was his and thanks her for gracing him with her beautiful presence and for agreeing to spend time with him.

He asks if they could hang out some other time to which she replies that she will think about his request. He tells her to go in and that he would keep in touch. Mariana agrees to this.

She goes inside while Cole mentally chides himself for not telling her about his feelings during their meal. He pats himself too for being able to partially secure another meeting with her.

Cole drives back to his apartment with smiles on his face, but his smile is short lived as recalls that he had not yet called his mother since he landed. He makes a mental note to do that as soon as he gets home.

On getting home, he checks his phone, as it was on silent throughout the entire dinner, to see missed calls from Kate and messages of her asking him to do right by her and pick her calls.

He ignores her and proceeds to call his mum. She picks up on the third ring and scolds him for not calling sooner. He apologizes and gives an excuse that he was busy. She keeps on chastising him and asks what got him so busy that he forgot to call his own mother.

He continues to plead her forgiveness and lies to her that he had an important meeting with the manager of the branch in San Diego to inform him about his arrival and to inform the different coordinators to get their reports ready as they would be having a meeting the next day, which was a Monday.

She forgives him and reminds him of his promise to call her everyday. Cole huffs under his breath, but knowing what the woman was capable of, he agrees, so as to keep his peace of mind and sanity. They bid each other blissful nights before hanging up.