The whole table goes quiet. Slowly, I lift my wine glass to my lips to hide my reaction.
Well, that is interesting. Bennett is defending Audrey.
Robert finally looks up. “You got something you want to say, Bennett?”
Bennett leans back in his chair. “Nope.”
But the tension at the table says otherwise.
I glance between them all, and realization slowly settles in my chest. Things are changing, and not just between me and Bobby. The whole family.
Dinner eventually winds down, and everyone slowly filters out.
Luna hugs me goodbye twice.
Cole tells me I need to come back soon.
Knox gives Robert a long look that clearly says they need to talk.
And Bennett? He disappears outside with his phone pressed to his ear.
Robert puts a hand on my lower back as he walks me toward the front door.
“You were quiet tonight,” he says once we’re alone.
I glance up at him. “I was observing.”
His lips twitch. “That sounds dangerous.”
“It probably is.”
He opens the front door for me, and cool night air rushes in. But instead of walking me to my car, he stops on the front steps and turns toward me.
The porch light casts shadows across his face, and suddenly he looks less like the Mafia king and more like my Bobby again.
“Come home,” he says quietly.
There’s no demand in it this time, and that’s what makes it harder.
I step closer and smooth my hand over the front of his tie. “Not yet.”
Pain flickers across his face before he hides it, but then he nods.
“Okay.”
And for the first time since I left… I’m not sure staying away is what I really want anymore.
CHAPTER 8
ROBERT
I sit behind my desk pretending to read over paperwork, but my attention keeps drifting to the woman sitting across from me.
Eleanor is curled up in one of the leather chairs in my office with her legs crossed beneath her and reading glasses perched on her nose. I don’t know why I thought I would get any work done with her here in my office, but I asked her to come, and I don’t regret it for a second.
I really like having her here. I’ve been a mess since she left, and with her sitting across from me, I feel more at ease and focused.
Having her here last night in the house was perfect, and I’m not the only one that thought so. Cole smiled more, Luna felt more at ease since she wasn’t just with a group of men, and Knox and Bennett even seemed more like their old selves.
