Cole(56)

“Addison,” Cole murmured, sitting up beside me.

I tucked my forehead into my knees. The little girl in me wanted to close my eyes and disappear.

“It hurts to start living without them. I get it.”

I was tired of the invisible weight on my shoulders. Cole lifted it, always, but this time I decided I was ready to choose to let it go. I tried for a smile. “So I guess there is a we if we’re talking about how we can’t go public?”

“We can be a we,” he teased, “if you don’t care what your in-laws do.”

“Even on good days, I don’t give a damn about them.”

“You said they’re suing you?”

I nodded. “They’re fighting my right to sell our house. They’re saying Liam bought it with their money, but he didn’t. He got some inheritance from his grandmother, and he used that money to pay for the house.”

“Was there a buyer ready?”

I shrugged. “Not that I know of.”

His glanced away, and I felt him pulling away, too.

“Hey.” I touched his hand. “What are you thinking?”

“Nothing. That’s just odd is all.” He sat up and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

I caught his arm. “Why do I get the sense you’re about to get out of this bed?”

His face cleared. Whatever had been troubling him disappeared, and the softness from last night came back. He smiled, and his eyes darkened as he leaned down. His lips touched mine, holding there softly, like the promise of a caress, and he murmured, “We don’t have to stay in bed all day. There are other places we can go.”

“Like whe—” I let out a surprised shriek as he swung me in the air and carried me to the bathroom, where he turned on the shower.

I was ready for him, even as he waited for the water to heat up, even as he lowered me to the floor, even as he pressed me back against the wall. His head dipped, his lips found mine again, and I kissed him. But this was more. It wasn’t sex anymore. It wasn’t whatever he’d had before. There was laughter, teasing, but there were feelings.

There was more. We were more.

I think we already had been, even before he left the last time.





Cole left two hours later, and so did I.

Sia texted, asking me to come up to Jake’s floor, but it was Jake who met me at the elevator with his hands in the air. He wore pajama pants, socks, and a wrinkled T-shirt. Half of his hair stuck straight up, and he held a finger in front of his mouth.

“Sia doesn’t know,” he whispered.

“Know what?”

He waved his hand in the air, as if pushing it down. “Lower your voice. I really don’t want to get into it with her.”

“What do you mean?” I was almost whispering, but I glanced toward his bedroom. The shower was on. “I don’t think she can hear us anyway.”

“I know, but just in case.” He motioned to the farthest corner of the floor, and I followed him through the living room. Jake turned with his back to the window so he could look over my shoulder. Then he crossed his hands over his chest. “Okay. Here’s the deal: she’s upset.”

“What’d you do?”

His eyebrows shot up. “Me? Nothing. This is on you.”

“Me?” My eyebrows went up, too. “What’d I do?”

“It’s what you didn’t do.” He bent his head closer to mine. “She found out from someone last night about your in-laws. One of her socialite buddies eavesdropped on the conversation at the party.”

“But we didn’t talk about the case.”

“No, but evidently this person told her you and I ‘looked friendly.’” He used his fingers for air quotations. “And she got Mahler’s name, and Liam’s parents. I guess they weren’t on the guest list, so she’s been on the phone for an hour this morning already trying to figure out how they got in.”

“Mahler probably brought them.”

“That’s what she found out, but she’s pissed. Majorly pissed. She wanted to know what they said to you.” He shrugged. “I didn’t know what to say, so…”

My mouth dropped. “You said nothing? Please tell me you said something.”

“I didn’t know what to do.” His shoulders raised nearly to his ears. “I said there was attorney-client privilege, and she needed to talk to you.”

I groaned. The urge to smack my forehead had my hand twitching—no, it was the urge to smack Jake in the forehead. “Why’d you say that? She probably thinks it’s worse than it is.”

“Why haven’t you told her about the lawsuit?”