Page 72 of Tempted Hearts
“I know. I was at your house before. Remember?”
Juliette looked up at me. “How can I forget?”
Seeing her certainly hadn’t put the genie back in the bottle. As I suspected, I wanted more. More than just another conversation. More than just being in her presence.
But more was dangerous as hell.
Before long, we were standing at her door.
“Do you want to come in?”
I ran my hands through my hair, thinking about the simple question. Of course I wanted to come in.
I shoved my hands into my pockets.
“Quite honestly, Juliette, I don’t know what I’m doing here.”
She gave me a small smile, reassuring but studying the situation too. “Honestly, I don’t either.”
“I shared more with you in Italy than I intended to.”
I wasn’t sure why that admission felt important. But it did.
“I know. And I’m glad you did. It’s incredibly difficult for you to open up, and I get it. I mean, not that I’m saying I understand what you’ve gone through. But everything made a lot more sense then.”
My brows raised. “Everything?”
She smelled so good. She looked so good. Everything she did was wrapped in brightly colored paper with an obnoxiously big bow—something you couldn’t look away from. A present you wanted, not to rip open, but to unwrap slowly, appreciating the packaging as much as the gift inside.
“You know. Old Cole, new Cole. Essentially the same, but context matters. In this case, it’s everything.”
“And I’m the context?”
I couldn’t resist. I took a step closer, brushing my fingers along her cheek, down to her chin. I just wanted to touch her.
I pulled away just as quickly.
She sighed softly. “You are. But I don’t know what to do with it. Guys like you hurt women like me.”
That was the splash of cold water I needed, because she was right.
“If you knew how badly I want to fuck you right now, Juliette—how everything about you sets every one of my senses on fire—you know that, right?”
“Cole…”
The same tone she’d used in Milan, on the boat.
“I probably shouldn’t have come into town this weekend.”
“No, probably not. Again, you never know. You have to watch out for those glimmers and the possibility of something unplanned.”
Glimmers were one thing. Taking Juliette into her house, ravishing her, and waking up to admit to Parker that I’d done the one thing I promised I wouldn’t—fuck around with his fiancée’s best friend?
“I should go.”
Juliette gave me a sad smile. “Yeah. You probably should. I’ll see you later?”
If she hadn’t asked it as a question, I would’ve walked away. Instead, I made another bad decision. Halfway down the stairs, I turned back.
