AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t look at me,” Jo said the moment I did. “Even though I noticed, too, I wasn’t going to say a word about it until I could talk to you privately.”
My hand immediately shot up and pressed against my forehead, swiping backward across my hair, only stopping when I reached my neck.
The conversation I’d had with Rowan at the bar had been eating away at me. Although it wasn’t really much of a chat sinceshe did all the talking and I mostly just listened. But it had been that moment when some of this shit really hit home. When she made me question how I’d been handling things. When I started to contemplate if I could somehow make this work.
Because, deep down, that was what I wanted.
I’d known that since I’d first met her in the bar before Christmas.
The only things that had changed during that time was that I’d found out she was a Cole and she’d become one of our partners.
But every day since I had found out who she was, I asked myself the same questions.
Do I want her?
Do I want this?
And every day, those answers were yes.
I just needed to give in, something I wasn’t good at, and to find a way to make this work, which I knew was going to take some time and finessing.
This—here—was the first step.
“I’m going to tell you something that’s going to blow all of your fucking minds.” I filled my lungs, holding the air inside, feeling my chest pound. “You know the woman I met in Canada, who I spent all of Christmas with?”
“You mean the one you texted us about?” Macon asked.
I nodded. “That was Rowan.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Macon blurted out.
“I didn’t know at the time that she was a Cole.” I gripped the back of my neck, squeezing the muscle. “She never gave me her last name, and I didn’t know Ray’s daughter’s name, so I wouldn’t have made the connection.”
Brady’s head tilted. “But she knew who you were, didn’t she?”
“Yes, she did.”
“That was her first mistake,” he hissed. “Be done with her.”
“Hold on a second,” Jo offered. “Can you blame her? If things were going well between you two—and it sounds like they were while you were in Canada—then she wasn’t about to drop the Cole bomb and ruin it. At least I wouldn’t have despite how wrong that is.”
Brady glared at Jo and then at me. “When did she tell you?”
“When she walked into the Daltons’ conference room. I about fucking lost it. But then I was able to piece together why she’d gone MIA after Canada. Why she hadn’t wanted to give me her number. It all made sense—she hadn’t wanted to tell me who she was.” My hand dropped, and I grabbed the armrest. “It doesn’t matter. None of that is even the point to this?—”
“Oh, it’s more than one point, it’s two,” Brady said. “Point one, she’s a Cole. Point two, she’s now a partner.”
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to pull the partner card,” Jo said to him. “I’m married to our attorney, and Macon’s in a relationship with one of our senior-level employees. Even if we had a no-fraternization policy, which we don’t, the two of you met and became something before the companies merged, which means the policy wouldn’t apply to you. Since we don’t have that policy, it’s a moot point.” Jo clicked the pen she was holding, like the boss that she was. “And, Brady, each of the points you just tried to make, well, in my opinion, they can be overlooked.”
Brady pointed his thumb at Jo. “She’s Team Cole too. What the fuck?”
“Why does there have to be sides?” she asked. “Can’t we all just stop this fighting? I’m so tired of it.”
“I am too,” I agreed.
“Do any of you even know why we hate them so much?” Macon questioned. “I mean, how it all started?”
“No,” I replied. “And I’ve been wondering the same damn thing. Aside from all the bullshit we’ve gone through with them over the years, the shady shit that went down behind our backs. The lost properties, the questionable marketing. Why have we grown up hating this family?” I loosened my tie, pulling the Windsor knot a few inches from my throat. “I don’t recall a single memory where Dad or Uncle Walter ever mentioned their history with the Coles or when all this bullshit even began.”
