Page 54 of Tempted Hearts
I didn’t know what to say.
Cole reached up, brushed away the sole tear I couldn’t hold in, from my cheek.
“It’s okay. I’ve learned to carry this.”
“I didn’t know,” I managed.
“Of course you didn’t. I don’t tell anyone. The guys. My family. That’s it.”
Why did you tell me?
Even though the question was on the tip of my tongue, I didn’t ask. This moment wasn’t about me. It was about Cole sharing something he preferred to keep buried.
“Thank you for sharing,” I said, gripping the railing even harder now, but not for fear of falling off. “I’m glad you found a way to carry it. But Cole…” I nearly started choking up again, thinking of Caleb. Somehow, I held it together. “You were never meant to carry it alone.”
21
COLE
Her head dropped to my shoulder.
We’d gotten up at 5a.m. to catch the first train, changing in La Spezia, where we stored our things and spent a few hours exploring the city. We were now on our way to Milan, and one minute, I’d been telling Juliette about the city’s history. The next, like that first night in the room, she went from responding to… out cold. I could admire anyone with the ability to fall asleep that easy. I certainly couldn’t.
Not last night or any of the ones before it.
After finishing our night back in Monterosso, we capped off the Cinque Terre trip with a final bottle of wine on the roof of the hotel. I’d kept my distance, and Juliette kept hers, but the points had racked up so I’d finally admitted what she already knew.
I’d enjoyed myself.
Immensely.
She was as easy to talk to as she was beautiful, my revelation yesterday to her surprising me as much as it did her. I drew in a deep breath, the scent uniquely Juliette. Not daring to move my shoulder where her head rested, I continued to read for nearly forty-five minutes until a stop jolted her awake.
She jumped, appalled.
“Oh my God. I was lying on you.”
“I noticed,” I said, not giving her a hint that it was anything more than a casual observation.
“Did I snore?”
The Italian countryside whizzed past after pulling out of the station.
“No, you didn’t.”
She looked at my shoulder. “I didn’t drool either,” she said, clearly grateful.
Juliette was as outrageous as I’d always assumed. How easy it would be to lean forward and kiss her. Pull her head toward mine and continue what I’d begun in the hotel stairwell.
“I get confused when you look at me like that.”
“Not hard to do,” I teased, ignoring the second part of her statement.
“Sometimes I think… wow, he’s not at all the asshole I thought he was. And then other times, I’m fairly certain my gut instincts were on point.”
“They usually are.”
“What?”
