Page 70 of Tempted Hearts
That was it?
I waited.
“You going to elaborate?”
His mouth twitched in amusement. “Do you want me to elaborate?”
Yes. No. Maybe.
“I did ask.”
Again, silence. The kind that would’ve pissed me off not long ago. The silence I’d mistaken for arrogance. It was just him battling demons—ones that were currently winning.
He took a sip of whiskey. A perfectly refined, Ivy League, college professor sip.
Then he set the glass down as the song changed and the singer strummed a new tune.
Our eyes met. Cole leaned forward, close enough that I could almost—but not quite—feel his breath.
“I’ve developed a taste for you,monella.”
This called for calm, steady breathing, not squeaking out the first thing that came into my brain like usual.
“I see.”
Restrained Jules wasn’t much of a talker.
He smiled. “Do you?”
I took a sip of my Prosecco, mimicking him exactly. Cole tossed his head back and laughed, eliciting looks from the others. Beck, in the process of pouring a draft, nearly overfilled it as he glanced over.
In my best impression, I said, “I think so. I’m glad you came in this weekend.”
“That’s good,” he said. “Because I came to see you.”
27
COLE
Maybe it was a good thing we were interrupted.
I hadn’t planned on admitting that. Delaney asked Jules about the gym. I simply sat back and watched the two women converse, my whiskey no longer just a drink, but a shield.
If I were honest, it was an entirely enjoyable experience, sitting beside the woman I hadn’t stopped thinking of for one second since we parted, and all of my buddies.
The pact.
An idea sprung from my desire not to repeat my parents’ failed marriage. Mason agreeing so his heart wouldn’t be broken the way his father’s was when the love of his life passed away. Parker. Beck. Not one of us wanted to repeat our parents’ mistakes, but here we were—every one of them paired up. Me, the last man standing. The lightning strike they talked about when meeting, the one more real than it had ever been before.
“And this one, quiet as usual,” Delaney said. “What brings you in this weekend? Anything special?”
Whether Delaney already knew the real reason and was just fishing, or it was a simple question, I wasn’t sure.
“You know how I feel about the city.”
“I do. Personally, I love going in for a day or even a weekend, but I can’t imagine living there. It’s too bad there wasn’t some fancy Ivy League university here you could transfer to.”
Beck overheard that one.
