Page 22 of The Irresistible One
“Switching back to the dark side, how long are you giving me for the counter?”
My eyelids flicked open. “Just don’t make me come find you—that’s my answer.”
“Understood.”
“See you later, Troy.”
As I hung up, a new email came into my inbox. The sender’s name made the air in my throat hitch. It made myhand instantly reach for the mouse so I could expand the email and read what had been written. Why I was even bothering or why I felt so intrigued, I didn’t know. Anything directly from Colson couldn’t be work-related—he’d have to go through Troy for that. Plus, the subject alone told me this was personal.
And personal, between us, wasn’t allowed.
To: Rivers, Sophie
From: Weston, Colson
Subject: Our daughters
My daughter has asked, no less than three hundred times, if Abbi can come over this weekend. I’ve tried to come up with every reason and excuse without coming right out and telling her the truth. And then I thought to myself, just because you and I have an interesting history, should our children be affected? Really, there’s no reason I should stop Ellie from spending time with her best friend. Before I give Ellie approval, I wanted to check to see where your head was. Would you allow your daughter to come to my house?
—Colson
It wasn’t even ten in the morning, but if an extra-filthy martini happened to land on my desk, I’d take it down in one gulp.
To: Weston, Colson
From: Rivers, Sophie
Subject: Re: Our daughters
To quote you: Jesus Christ, I can’t escape you.
Do I want to drop my daughter off at your house? Hell no.
Has Abbi asked to go to Ellie’s house at least three hundred times too? Yes.
To be honest … I’m torn.
—S
Within a few seconds of my sending the email, my office line rang,The Weston Groupfilling the caller ID window.
This had to be a joke. Colson wasn’t really calling me …was he?
“This is Sophie?—”
“You really didn’t know it was me calling?” He waited. “You can’t convince me that the phone system at your fancy law firm doesn’t have caller ID. Or maybe you always answer the phone that way when it’s your enemy.”
My head fell back, my patience pooling beneath my chair. “You’re right. I did know it was you. Therefore, I should have answered your call with a loud,WHAT?!How did you get my number, Colson?”
I could hear his smile with every breath he took.
“It’s in your signature.”
I sighed. “What do you want?”
“I want to talk about our kids.”
“Like I said in my email, which you obviously didn’t read, I’m torn. I want my daughter to spend time with her best friendoutside of gymnastics. I wish more than anything in this world that her best friend wasn’t related to you.” I rubbed my lips together. “What do I do about this? I don’t know …”
