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His jaw twitches before he turns toward her. “You know we’re not going for jail time. It’s a simple plea agreement for her to announce he’s innocent as well as revoking all her rights to his fortune when he divorces her.”
Stacey looks at me, straightening her navy-blue suit jacket. “Right. And do I—”
“Stacey?”
Her head swivels toward him and he gives her an encouraging smile. “Mrs. Kent didn’t cover her tracks very well when she hired that guy to knock her around a little.” Holy crap, does this stuff really happen in real life? “You have the evidence sitting in front of you plain as day, and I trust you.” He walks over to me and places the palm of his hand against the bottom of my back. “Now if you’ll both excuse me, I have dinner to prepare. My work cell is on if it’s urgent.”
Leading me out of the room, he brings us back into the main hallway where there are still just as many people running around.
“So you have a meal to prepare, huh?” I smirk, gaining his attention.
His thumb snakes under my tank top, rubbing at the bare skin on my hip. “I was thinking that today has been a whirlwind and I’m sick of sharing you with everybody else, so we’re not going to a restaurant.”
“Well…” I start, pushing my body closer to his.
“Mr. Cole—”
My nostrils flare as a second person comes closer to us, calling out to Nate as well. The idea of him being the boss is nice, but not when I’m trying to—
“Just one question, Mr. C—”
“Nope,” he says popping the p. “Stacey is in charge.”
“But, Mr. Cole...”
“Stacey is in charge, Murphy.” He grabs my hand and starts pulling me toward the elevators. “Run or we’ll never make it out alive!”
Laughter bubbles up and overtakes my whole body as he jams his hand on the button for the elevator, yanking me inside and pushing us into the corner as the doors slide closed, blocking out all the people vying for his attention.
We’re both breathing hard as we start to descend, our laughter turning into chuckles and finally dying down into nothing when his gaze connects with mine.
“So…” I swipe my tongue along my bottom lip, aware he’s watching me intently. “Mr. Kent knows your dad?”
He nods. “They’ve been friends as far back as I can remember.”
The doors slide open but neither of us move to walk back to the car. I breathe him in, letting the back of my head hit the wall as I stare up at him.
“I imagine your dad to be a lot like you,” I whisper, not able or wanting to stop the words coming out of my mouth. I don’t want to filter everything I s
ay, and after today, I have every intention to say exactly what I think and not hold back.
An affectionate smile quirks up his lips. “He’s a good man. Mom and Dad are both going to love you when they get to know you properly.”
My palms start to sweat at his statement and my eyes widen. I’ve met his mother and father very briefly, barely managing to say hi. But that was different, because I was “Amelia, the woman who looks after Clay and Izzie.”
“I…” I lift my head, closing my eyes briefly before I take a calming breath. “I’m sure I’ll love them too when I eventually meet them as your… girlfriend.” Saying that word feels foreign but I love the way it rolls off my tongue.
“Yeah… I hope that was okay.”
Lifting up onto my tiptoes, I lean closer, pressing my lips against his before whispering, “It was more than okay.”
“Then I guess since we’re official we can tell people we’re together? I don’t want to hide anymore, it’s tiring.”
I consider what he’s said for a moment, wondering if it’s safe. Before today I wanted to keep it a secret, and even though I know someone was watching us at the waterfall, I can’t bring myself to ask him to keep it to ourselves anymore. They already know anyway.
If we do this, then we need to be all in—I need to be all in. Forget about the what-ifs. I want to live in the moment, but more importantly, I want to live in the moment with Nate.
“Okay,” I reply, letting my feet drop flat and running my hand down his forearm, the pads of my fingers trailing over his popping veins. “Let’s start telling people.”
