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“Evelyn,” she corrects.
“Evelyn,” he says, his attention shifting back to me. “Walk me out, Lori.” It’s not a question.
I nod anyway, as if it was, and stand up, my belly clenching, chest tight with adrenaline and emotion. Now is the time when I face what he thinks of this place and me. Now is the time that I face the imbalance in our lives. Cole waits for me at the door and opens it, allowing me to exit first. I step into the hallway with him immediately behind me. The minute the door shuts, I whirl on him and explode, without even meaning to do it. “I told you not to come here and yet you went inside.”
He pulls me to him. “Move in with me. Leave this place and come home with me.”
“My mother—”
“Can come, too. We have an extra bedroom.”
We.
No.
“No,” I say.
“If you think she won’t come,” he says, “at least let me give you the peace of mind of getting her out of here and into a nice place.”
“No, Cole. I knew this is how you would react.” I shove on his hard, unmoving chest. “This is why I didn’t let you come here. Now you need to save me. Now it’s all about you saving me, not being with me. I don’t need to be saved. I can save myself. I, we, are not your charity case.”
“That’s not what this is,” he bites out, low and rough. “You know that and there are so many things I want to say to you, but not here in this hallway. Not like this.”
“Not like this is right,” I snap back. “Cole, it’s not our time. I was crazy to try to change that. You are not getting stuck with your employee and her mother.”
“Do you really think that little of who and what we are together?”
“That’s not it. I care about you. I care that much about you. I won’t trap you. I can’t do that to you. I don’t want to wake up one morning and realize that we’re different. That we’re that couple.”
“We won’t be. We can’t be, and you aren’t staying here. I won’t let you.”
“You don’t get to make my decisions.”
“You are not staying here. Let’s go somewhere and talk.”
“I haven’t even found out why my mother wanted to talk. That’s why I asked you not to come here.”
“I couldn’t leave things like they were. You know that.”
“I have to go inside. I need to know what is going on with her. I need space, Cole.”
“No, you don’t,” he says, and the next thing I know, his mouth is on mine in a fiery kiss that steals my breath, and steals all of me. That’s the problem with Cole: He consumes me. “You have tonight,” he says, when his lips part from mine. “Tomorrow we talk. Tomorrow you’re back with me.”
He turns and heads down the stairs. I lean on the wall. What am I doing? What are we doing?
Chapter forty-eight
Lori
Iforce myself to straighten and enter the apartment, shutting the door on everything but my mother. She remains sitting at the kitchen table, no doubt waiting on me, and she’s a smart woman. There is no doubt in my mind that she has questions I have to answer. Inhaling, I cross the tiny room and join her. “What’s the real story with you two?” she asks.
“He’s my boss, mom. The end. Why did you want to talk tonight?”
“I was going to talk to you about meeting Joe. I think it’s time.”
“Time?” I swallow hard. “Really? Is it serious?”
“It’s good,” she says. “I want you to know him. Maybe you both can come by and see me at the hospital during one of my breaks? Or even coffee tomorrow? That way it won’t interfere with your work.”
