I assume that means he’s here to make excuses about his affair. “Where are we? Southern Missouri?”
“Yeah. Stone County.” He flicks a finger at the lake. “That’s—”
“Table Rock Lake. I know the area. We used to vacation here when I was a kid.” I can’t ignore the heat of his body so close to mine, so I scoot a few inches away. “Who owns the house?”
“I do.”
“What?” My pulse kicks up. “How can you afford it?” Curiosity turns my head, and I plummet into his deep brown gaze. “Did your government job pay for it?”
“Not the government, but my skill set made me a wealthy man.”
“I don’t understand. You worked a minimum wage security job. I thought you needed money.”
“That’s an assumption you made.”
“You never corrected me.”
His jaw flexes. “There were side jobs over the years, as well as other means to collect assets.”
“What other means? Or is that another secret you can’t tell me?”
“No more secrets.” He bends forward, forearms on his spread knees, and stares at the lake, seemingly gathering his thoughts.
His breath releases in white clouds, his black leather jacket unzipped and hanging open. Isn’t he cold? I feel an aching need to share the blanket, but I don’t move. He cheated on me, and the pain that would come with touching him and smelling his familiar scent would be my undoing.
I miss him. Goddammit, I fucking love him, and it’s such a hopeless, miserable feeling. He’s right here, close enough to hold tight and breathe in, yet the only thing we’re capable of sharing is strained silence.
My lungs burn, surging all the bitterness from the past five weeks to the surface. “When did you sleep with her?”
He moves so fast my heart stops. In a heartbeat, he kneels before me with his hands braced on the bench on either side of my hips.
“You tell me.” His eyes are as bare and smoky as the sky. “Look at me and tell me when I fucked that woman.”
“I don’t know! I tried to get that answer at the penthouse.” My chin quivers. “I asked if it happened while we were together and you…you just glared at me.” I lean back. “Like you’re doing right now.”
“Because you know the goddamn answer!” He slams a fist on the bench beside me, his enraged voice echoing across the lake. “Look at me. Look hard, Danni, and listen to your heart. Do you honestly believe I would cheat on you?”
The hurt in his eyes is tactile, his face lined and heartbroken. His inconsolable expression suggests weeks of suffering, sleepless nights, and soul-deep disappointment. I feel every tired crease and dark circle like a punch in the heart. As hard as I search, I don’t find a trace of guilt or collusion. He just looks…wrecked.
A warm bud of hope blooms in my chest, followed instantly by the hard stab of shame. He stares at me like he’s the one who’s been betrayed. Like I’m the betrayer.
A flood of tears terrorizes my airway, and I gulp down the cry that tries to escape.
“In the five years I’ve known you—” I choke, devastated and nauseous. “You’ve been undeniably committed and loyal to me.”
“That’s right.” He reads my eyes, waiting for me to continue.
“Goddammit, Cole. Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice spikes with confusion and anger. “You could’ve explained it and told me—”
“I can’t.” He pushes off the bench and launches to his feet. “I can’t prove it, and you know what? Fuck you, Danni, because I shouldn’t have to.”
I choke at the force of his rage and hunch deeper into the blanket.
Pacing to the edge of the dock, he speaks quietly with his back to me. “You know me. You fucking know I’d rather cut myself open than so much as look at another woman.” He shoves his hands in the pockets of his jacket, gazing out at the dark lake. “It kills me that you so quickly believed the worst in me.”
“I didn’t want to believe it.” My spine snaps straight, bristling with defensiveness. “But the last few months left me feeling so damn naive I stopped trusting my instincts. When I saw the photos, the proof was right there in black and white, and you said nothing.”
“It was nothing!” he bellows and spins to face me. “It was another lifetime, another place, a mistake I made before I met you.” His expression falls, his voice broken. “I would never cheat on you. Not for the job. Not even to save my own life.”
The sincerity in his words molds around my heart and constricts it mercilessly. Another sob crawls up, and I cover my mouth, muffling the horrible noise.