Cole’s gaze drifted to my lips and lingered there. He traced my bottom lip with his thumb. “They didn’t like you because you weren’t Bertal-approved. I can tell you that.”

I lifted my head, and he let go of my lip. “I don’t even know what that is.”

“They like to marry within their structure of associates. I’m sure Carol had other women she wanted Liam to wed. You’re an outsider. Outsiders are…” He hesitated, eyeing me. “They can be a risk.”

“I read some articles that talked about an Emma person? She’s with your friend Carter, the one from last night. Is it the same for her as it is for me?”

He shook his head. “No. Emma was an outsider from the beginning. She wasn’t connected to another family, and Carter has known her a long time. They kinda grew up together. It’s more difficult with you because you’re connected to the enemy. If we went public and this, whatever it is, didn’t work out, you’d still be looked at as a traitor. You chose the enemy.”

It seemed logical in some stupid, schoolyard way. “I’m not connected to them anyway, so I can’t imagine feeling any worse. I guess it doesn’t matter to me because Liam’s—”

I moved off of him to sit on the bed. Cole turned to watch as I rested the side of my face to the tops of my knees. I couldn’t hide my sadness. “Grief is a bitter fuck-you pill, isn’t it?”

He grunted. His hand went to my leg and began caressing it—for comfort, nothing more. “I wasn’t lying when I told you about my family. I lost every family member, one after another, until it was just me. Grief and I go way back.” He smirked. “We’re old pals.”

“I’m sorry.” I couldn’t imagine that. I didn’t want to. “I wanted to go with him.”

“Addison,” Cole murmured, sitting up beside me.

I tucked my forehead into my knees. The little girl in me wanted to close my eyes and disappear.

“It hurts to start living without them. I get it.”

I was tired of the invisible weight on my shoulders. Cole lifted it, always, but this time I decided I was ready to choose to let it go. I tried for a smile. “So I guess there is a we if we’re talking about how we can’t go public?”

“We can be a we,” he teased, “if you don’t care what your in-laws do.”

“Even on good days, I don’t give a damn about them.”

“You said they’re suing you?”

I nodded. “They’re fighting my right to sell our house. They’re saying Liam bought it with their money, but he didn’t. He got some inheritance from his grandmother, and he used that money to pay for the house.”

“Was there a buyer ready?”

I shrugged. “Not that I know of.”

His glanced away, and I felt him pulling away, too.

“Hey.” I touched his hand. “What are you thinking?”

“Nothing. That’s just odd is all.” He sat up and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

I caught his arm. “Why do I get the sense you’re about to get out of this bed?”

His face cleared. Whatever had been troubling him disappeared, and the softness from last night came back. He smiled, and his eyes darkened as he leaned down. His lips touched mine, holding there softly, like the promise of a caress, and he murmured, “We don’t have to stay in bed all day. There are other places we can go.”

“Like whe—” I let out a surprised shriek as he swung me in the air and carried me to the bathroom, where he turned on the shower.

I was ready for him, even as he waited for the water to heat up, even as he lowered me to the floor, even as he pressed me back against the wall. His head dipped, his lips found mine again, and I kissed him. But this was more. It wasn’t sex anymore. It wasn’t whatever he’d had before. There was laughter, teasing, but there were feelings.

There was more. We were more.

I think we already had been, even before he left the last time.

Cole left two hours later, and so did I.

Sia texted, asking me to come up to Jake’s floor, but it was Jake who met me at the elevator with his hands in the air. He wore pajama pants, socks, and a wrinkled T-shirt. Half of his hair stuck straight up, and he held a finger in front of his mouth.

“Sia doesn’t know,” he whispered.

“Know what?”

He waved his hand in the air, as if pushing it down. “Lower your voice. I really don’t want to get into it with her.”

“What do you mean?” I was almost whispering, but I glanced toward his bedroom. The shower was on. “I don’t think she can hear us anyway.”

“I know, but just in case.” He motioned to the farthest corner of the floor, and I followed him through the living room. Jake turned with his back to the window so he could look over my shoulder. Then he crossed his hands over his chest. “Okay. Here’s the deal: she’s upset.”

“What’d you do?”

His eyebrows shot up. “Me? Nothing. This is on you.”

“Me?” My eyebrows went up, too. “What’d I do?”

“It’s what you didn’t do.” He bent his head closer to mine. “She found out from someone last night about your in-laws. One of her socialite buddies eavesdropped on the conversation at the party.”

“But we didn’t talk about the case.”