Andmore than once, I’d had this desperate need to explain to her why I was the way I was.
Thank fuck, I’d never acted on that need.
No small feat either. Especially on days like today when my tongue burned with the desire to tell her I wasn’t all bad. I wasn’t good. I was...lost.
“Please don’t forget to sign these.”
Her voice pulled me from my thoughts. She’d moved. Instead of standing by the door, she was at my desk, the papers from earlier arranged in a neat stack in the middle of it.
She stared at me. I stared right back. I thought she’d leave, but then her gaze darted to my chest—still on display since I hadn’t gotten around to buttoning the shirt—and fuck me, her breath hitched.
It was quick, and she righted herself damn fast, but I didn’t miss it. Another rush of excitement shot through my veins; this feeling far more potent than the one from earlier.
My feet moved before my brain had time to issue the command. Her eyes widened with every step I took. It was only when I was in front of her that I noticed something odd.
She was sad.
Red lined her eyes, and there was a dullness to her amber irises that hadn’t been there before.
I couldn’t ask about it since the last person I expected to see chose that moment to waltz into my office.
Chapter three
Tristan
Fucking Rafe.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I pinched the bridge of my nose and cursed my friend for his shit timing.
“Ah, Kate, please tell me I’m not too late to take you out to lunch.”
Her soft laugh filled the room.
I glanced at her schooled features and sweet smile aimed at my friend.
My hands curled into fists.
I didn’t even know why. Rafe was like this with her—with everyone, really—and she had never not been friendly and professional. Their interactions hadn’t bugged me before. But today was different. Today, I wanted to shove Rafe out the door and beg Kate to tell me where the sadness in her eyes came from.
Maybe skipping food at lunch hadn’t been such a great idea.
That had to be the reason for the weirdness happening inside my brain. I forced my attention to my fingers flying over the last few buttons of my shirt. Not that it did anything to drown out Rafe and Kate happily chatting away.
Every cell in my body burned with a fierce need to watch them. To see if her smile was genuine. This was so new and so fucking unwelcome, I had no other choice than to sink into my chair and go over the documents she’d left on my desk.
I was five pages in—I didn’t know what was on the other four—when she finally left, and Rafe took the seat in front of me.
I glanced up.
Fingers laced, elbows resting on the armrest, he balanced an ankle on his knee. His eyes twinkled with amusement.
“What?” I snapped, mirroring his position.
His lip twitched, and I knew the bastard was about three seconds away from laughing like an idiot. Rafe, Liam—the last member of our fucked-up trio—and I had been friends for most of our adult lives. We’d met while studying. After two decades of looking at both their faces nearly every day, I knew their tells.
Three… Two…
Rafe’s shoulders shook, and his hearty laugh filled the room.
