“Can I ask you something?”

“Hmm?” Cole closed the car door behind her, having just told the driver to wait inside. Her apartment building towered overhead, quiet and familiar, beckoning her in. But Skye couldn’t just go. She couldn’t do their usual cheek-kiss thing and walk away like tonight hadn’t happened.

“Why did you tell me to wear something sexy under this?” When Cole’s eyebrows creased, she clarified. “On the note. On the back… You said—”

“We were going to a sex party,” he said briskly, hands sliding into his pockets. “I didn’t want you to feel like a fish out of water.”

“By wearing lingerie?”

“Sure.”

“Because I’d be, what, showing off my underwear or something?”

Colour flooded his cheeks. “Well. You know. I don’t… If you wanted to, I figured I’d give you the option.”

“Oh.” Adrenaline made her hands clammy and her body tremble. Given they were on the cusp of summer, she couldn’t blame it on the weather, either. “Is that all? No other reason that I should wear something sexy under the dress you bought me?”

“No.” He pulled out his phone, but this time he just stared at it, not even bothering to poke at the black screen. A beat passed before his bright, gorgeous eyes darted up to hers. “Should there have been a reason?”

His words steadily proved her suspicions correct—that he wasn’t interested—but his eyes told another story entirely. She waited, gripping her clutch so tight in both hands that she would be surprised if anything inside remained in one piece. The early-morning sounds of laughter, drunk tourists leaving bars, and taxis whizzing through the near-vacant streets trickled into the space between them, and still she waited. Nothing.

Fine.

“No.” She shook her head and half turned toward her building. “No, I guess not. Never mind.”

“Skye…” Cole took a few steps toward her, lips parted slightly. However, he seemed to lose his nerve the second she gave him her full attention. “Thanks for coming with me tonight. I really appreciate it. I appreciate your time.”

She bit the insides of her cheeks, wishing he would appreciate something more about her—but all things considered, time was a valuable commodity, especially in his world. Cole’s appreciation of it… It was sweet. She swallowed hard, closing her eyes briefly when he leaned in, his cologne engulfing her senses, and kissed her cheek. Skye drifted toward him when he lingered, then cleared her throat and stepped away, needing the space.

“Goodnight,” she said, slowly making her way toward the lobby. “I’ll see you around?”

“I’ll be in Coral Bay for a few weeks. Most of the summer, actually,” he told her. “I’m sure there will be plenty of other sex parties to crash.”

Skye grinned. As much as she wanted him to want her, now there was this desperation for things to just go back to the way they were—before it felt awkward. Jokes were a good way to start.

A quick wave earned her a smile, and she hurried across the lobby to an awaiting elevator, then disappeared inside. It was hard to remember she’d had the best sex of her life tonight—because that was definitely what it was—with all the Cole drama mulling around her brain, but she let it all go when Oz greeted her at the door with a characteristically exuberant yowl and a shower of purrs.

“My love,” she whispered, scooping him up and nuzzling his soft fur after locking the door. “I missed you.”

He kneaded her arm in response, little claws pulsing in and out of her skin as he smothered her in his scent. Classic guy move. Kicking off her heels, she headed in, turning on lights as she went, and plopped down on the couch with Oz. Once he’d had enough of her smothering, he headed for the fridge, meowing incessantly, as if to remind her he needed to be fed before she went to bed.

“I’m coming, I’m coming…”

After she checked her phone. Maybe there’d be a latent message from a certain someone.

However, as soon as she opened her clutch, fresh rose petals spilled out of it.

“What the hell?” Dozens of them. A few in slightly less than perfect condition, like someone had torn them straight off the flower. No wonder her clutch had felt bulkier; she had been too wrapped up in Cole to notice at first.

Beneath the petals was a business card, and she needn’t have a PhD to figure out who it was from. Her lips twitched into a smile at the sight of Finn’s name—and the smile grew when she read the note on the back.

Thanks for tonight. These kinds of things are always so dull.

We should connect again soon. Lots to discuss, I think.

Not in a blackmaily sort of way.

Sorry.

I’m not writing this note again.

It’s the only business card I can find and you’re about two seconds away from leaving.

Let’s have brunch.

xx

Finn

“Fuck me,” Skye muttered, holding the card to her lips for a moment before setting it on the coffee table. Suddenly finding herself energized, she shot up and started to pace her apartment, eventually ending up in front of the window that overlooked the street below. Her heart skipped a beat: there was Cole, leaning against his car with a cigarette in hand, jacket off and bowtie gone.

She had only ever seen him smoke when he tanked a business deal.

And she’d thought all his back-alley dealings tonight had gone well.

So why the cigarette?

He looked up in the direction of her apartment, expression unreadable from the sixth floor.

“Fuck me,” she whispered again. Pushing away from the window, she shot straight to her shower. What she needed was some hot water, some soothing scents, and a night to sleep on everything that had happened.

Because things were always better in the morning. Clearer. Easier to sift through. More manageable.

Right?