Total pages in book: 183
Estimated words: 174715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 874(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 874(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
“I don’t care what your apartment looks like, Lori.”
“I do. And you will. You’ll do the bleeding-heart thing because as tough as you act, and are, you have a soft spot, which I love, I do, but it will work against our relationship. And this place is a big gossip hotel. My mother will find out you were here, and I told you I don’t want her to stress out.”
“We’re sharing a life now.”
“I’m also sharing a life with my mother.”
A muscle in his jaw ticks. “Which is why I should meet your mother.”
“Not yet. Please, Cole. Please just—”
He kisses me. “Don’t pack for one night. I’m not standing outside your apartment if we have to do this again tomorrow night.”
I press to my toes and kiss him again before I turn and run for the apartment when it hits me that maybe, I think, probably Cole just basically asked me to move in with him. Or more like, told me I am, but I can’t. He’s my boss, and my mother is here, and I won’t leave my mother behind. Cole won’t expect that. I know that. I quickly pack, and text my mother to let her know I’m back in town. Her reply: Tell me all about it over coffee in the morning.
I finish packing and then realize I have to be here when my mother gets home tomorrow. I leave behind my work clothes. I’ll change here in the morning. With that in mind, I hurry downstairs to find Cole leaning on the car. “I have to leave your place at six in the morning. I need to be here when my mother gets home from work. Any night I stay with you, I have to do that.”
He straightens and pulls me close. “If it means you stay with me, we’ll make it work.”
Twenty minutes later, we stop at the security desk of Cole’s place, and he registers me to be able to come and go as I please. Another five minutes, and we walk into his apartment. The instant we’re in the foyer, he kisses me, but this time it’s not about lust and passion, and shoving me against the wall. There is tenderness in his eyes, in his voice. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too,” I whisper, amazed how true those words are when months ago, when I met him, I was certain that I couldn’t be with him and not lose me.
“Let’s put our bags upstairs and we can order dinner,” he suggests. “I’m starving. Are you starving?”
Starving for you, I think. “Yes,” I say. “That sounds nice.”
An hour later, we’re sitting on his living room floor, laughing and talking, waiting on news from Ashley that doesn’t arrive. Another hour later, we’re in his bed. Two hours later, I’m lying on his chest, listening to his heart beat, his fingers stroking my hair. “This is where I want you every night,” he says. “Here with me.”
I don’t reply. I can’t reply. I’m caught between two worlds. I love my mother. I belong with her, taking care of her, but on the other hand, here with Cole feels better than anything I’ve ever experienced in my life. I’m in love with this man. He wants me with him. He’s not the obstacle. The rest of the world is the obstacle.
Chapter forty-five
Lori
Iwake the next morning at five in Cole’s bed, lying on his chest, his heart thrumming beneath my ear. He smells good. He feels good. We feel good. We make love despite the early hour, and when he insists on driving me home, I refuse. We settle on a car service and he walks me downstairs, kisses me thoroughly and shuts me inside my ride. I arrive to my apartment with enough time to shower and start coffee before my mother arrives. I spend an hour chatting with her before I dress for work, choosing a pale blue suit dress that yes, I think Cole will like.
Once I’m at work, I walk into Cole’s office to find him looking drop dead gorgeous in a blue suit with a gray pinstripe and gray tie.
“Good morning, Lori,” he greets, sounding quite formal, while giving me a hot once over that says he’s feeling anything but formal.
“Good morning, Cole,” I say, sitting down in one of his visitor’s chairs.
“Any news from Ashley?”
“Nothing,” he says, “and I started making calls early this morning.”
I notice how he avoids statements like “after you left” with great appreciation. “Are you worried?”
“Extremely. A foreign country is not where you want to get into trouble.”
“In the meantime, should I just get a temporary secretary lined up?”
“Yes,” he says. “A very temporary secretary. I have a meeting with Reese in half an hour about a case he wants me to take. I’m also coming back with a stack of cases he’s been managing through the other attorneys. I need you to review them and flag any problems for me.”