Chapter Thirty-One
Lori
Once Cole and I exit the Houston office, I stop him right before we enter the car waiting on us, concerned about privacy. “Should we call Royce about Ashley’s call?”
“Royce already told us what she told us,” he says. “In fact, I’m quite certain he was giving us a heads up about that call, but yes.” He eyes his watch. “I’ll text him in a discreet way from the car.”
I nod and he opens the door for me. Once we’re settled inside, he directs our driver and then sends the text. Royce replies instantly, and Cole shows me the message that reads: She’s safe. That’s what matters.
“She really is in that program,” I say, choosing my words carefully.
“Yes. I believe she is.”
“Can she ever get out?”
“Doubtful,” he says, kissing my hand. “I think we said our final goodbyes upstairs.”
“Me too,” I say, feeling sad and relieved at the same time. “She’s safe,” I repeat. “That is ultimately what matters.”
“Except that someone stripped away her life.”
“Maybe she’ll find a new, happy one,” I suggest. “Like we did.”
“Like we did,” he repeats, his eyes warm on mine.
I settle my head on his shoulder, silently imagining a fairy tale for Ashley with her own Prince Charming, praying it comes true. We arrive at the restaurant only a few minutes later, and Cat sends me a text as we exit the car. “Cat’s holding a surprise birthday party for Reese at the house Saturday night. It’s a last-minute idea she had, she says. She wants us to come and Alex is invited.”
Cole’s hand settles on my back. “Let’s go convince him he needs to be at that party.”
We step inside the cozy entrance with stone beneath our feet, and wine bottles lining the walls left and right. “The pizza is the best,” he says, as we wait our turn for the hostess.
“Pizza it is, then,” I say, and my stomach is growling when it’s finally our turn to be seated. Cole and I step forward, and the hostess leaves us at the podium to check on our table. We maneuver to the side of the line when a man steps between us and Cole and I are momentarily separated.
Cole offers me his hand to pull me close, but suddenly a beautiful brunette throws her arms around him, and my hand falls from his reach. “My God, Cole. I thought you left.” She leans back, her deep cleavage right smack in the middle of the two of them, her smile sexy. “Let’s catch up, preferably not here.”
Cole untangles himself from her arms. “Shelly,” he says, looking for me, and literally taking a sideways step to catch my finger. “This is Lori, my wife. Lori this is Shelly Waller. She’s a corporate attorney that I’ve known for some years.”
Her eyes go wide. “Wife? Oh God.” She holds up her hands. “I’m sorry.” She looks at me. “Lori, I’m sorry. I would never—I wouldn’t—this is very awkward.”
“It’s okay,” I say, and then I smile. “Well, not really, but I’ll live.”
She laughs nervously. “Right. Okay.” She looks a Cole. “I’ll leave now.” She eyes Cole. “Congrats.” She disappears.
“Mr. Brooks,” the hostess says. “Your table is ready.”
Cole looks at me. “I’ll explain.” His arm wraps my shoulders and he kisses me before we follow the waitress, and I try to decide what I feel. This woman was clearly intimate with Cole, and it wasn’t a one-time thing. But he was free then. He was a gorgeous, successful man who, of course, had women lining up for him. I have no reason to be bothered by this. He’s my husband.
We settle into a half-moon-shaped booth, and once we’re alone, Cole’s hand comes down on my leg and he drags me close. “She was just someone I knew.”
“She’s very pretty.”
“She is very pretty, and yet I had no desire to see her or anyone else from the moment I met you. And that, my wife, pissed me off.”
I blanch. “Pissed you off? Why did it piss you off?”
“Because you left me and I had no idea how to find you.”
“Oh,” I laugh. “That.”
“Yes. That.”
“How well did you know Ms. Very Pretty?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes,” I say. “It does.”
“I had a couple of women I dated casually.”
“You mean a couple of women you fucked?”
His grip tightens on my leg. “Now I only fuck you, as often as I can.”
“I’m glad we don’t live here.”
“Me too, sweetheart,” he says softly, his mood darkening. “Me too. And for the record, you’re beautiful and the only reason I agreed that she’s pretty is I wanted you to understand that it didn’t matter. You mattered then and you damn sure matter now.”
The waiter appears at that very moment and Cole leans in and kisses me, and the rush of heat flooding my body isn’t about the kiss, well, not the kiss alone. It’s about this man and all the things he makes me feel and want and need. And now I know I can have all of those things that I still feel, want, and need just as much. Cole orders a bottle of wine after we discuss our options, and no sooner does the man disappear then the hostess appears, leaving us a tall, dark and good looking man in a gray suit with a neatly trimmed goatee.
“What’s a guy got to do to get a whiskey sour around here?” he asks, claiming the seat on the other side of the booth from us.
“Hey, man,” Cole says. “Good to see you.”
They do some guy shake that isn’t a shake at all and then Alex is fixing me in a rich brown stare. “And you must be Lori.”
“I’m definitely not Shelly,” I say before I can stop myself.
Both men laugh and Alex says, “No. You are not. I know Shelly, and Cole was never going to marry that woman.”
The waiter appears with our wine, and a few minutes later, all three of us have drinks in front of us and Alex cuts to the chase. “I know why you want me. You have an asshole running the Houston location.”
“While that’s true, that’s not why,” Cole says. “We want to rule the world. I believe you can help us do that.”
I sit back and listen to them talk, enjoying watching my husband negotiate as much as I enjoy watching him in the courtroom. He needs to be back in a courtroom. “What’s the offer?” Alex finally asks.
“You can buy in as third in line.”
“Why not equal?”
“I put in fifty million. If you want to meet that, you’re equal,” Cole says.
Alex arches a brow. “I’ll go a few million tops and we both know you didn’t buy in for fifty million.”
“No,” Cole concedes, “but I set-up a fund for the company, readily available in that sum. Money you’d have available. Are you in?”
“I want to meet Reese,” he says. “I’ll hitch that ride with you, but I have a trial starting next week. It’s big and I’m all the way in on it until it’s over.”
“We’ll make it work,” Cole says.
“What’s the case?” I ask.
“Real estate investor accused of killing his wife to get out the sizable divorce settlement and then burying her under a rental house,” he says. “Her sister did it. I’m going to prove it.”
I start asking questions, intrigued by the case, and before long our glasses are empty and stomachs full. Alex looks at me and then Cole. “If you had to go the damn marriage route, at least you picked one with a brain.”
“You don’t like marriage?” I ask.
“Not the marrying kind,” he says dryly. “Not the family kind. I work too hard and too long, with no time for distractions, like women who need and want more than what I need and want.”
“Which is what?” I ask.
“A moment that passes without a mention of white picket fences so I can get back to work.”
“And you’re thirty-six?” I ask.
“Look out,” Cole says. “She’s going to tell you that—”
“That there must be something wrong with me,” Alex supplies. “There is and I like it that way.” He glances at his watch. “What time are we leaving in the morning?”
“Nine,” Cole says, giving him details.
Alex winks at me. “Don’t be trying to fix me up or the deal is off.” He motions to Cole. “He likes me just how I am.” He leaves and I turn to Cole.
“What’s his real story?”
“Foster child shoved from bad home to bad home, but he’s brilliant, as in really brilliant. He got into Harvard with a full scholarship. Landed a big firm job. Made some cash, invested well, and then started his firm.”
“So he’s broken.”
“Aren’t we all?”
“Yes,” I agree. “But he’s alone and broken.”
“And so was I until I found you. Let’s go to the hotel.” He tosses cash on the table and helps me to my feet.
About fifteen minutes later, we pull up in front of Ashley’s old building. We don’t go in. We just sit there a few minutes, talking about her, and laughing at her big personality. We say our goodbyes. When we finally head back to the hotel, we enter our room, and stand at the window, me in front of Cole, his arms wrapped around me. We don’t make love and it doesn’t feel wrong.
We just enjoy the fact that we’re together.
We are no longer alone.
It feels like we are settling into a new place together, one that isn’t just about passion and intensity, though we are those things. But here, now, we’ve created a shelter, a small space in the universe that is only ours, where it’s safe and calm. One we’ve relaxed inside, as we’ve escaped fear and doubt and even pain. We’ve found more than love. We’ve found peace, the kind that doesn’t care what hell rages around us. We can step into this space together, and everything else fades. There is just us.
I’m pretty sure that means we’ve finally fit all the broken pieces of our lives into one perfect heart that we now share.