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“Oh.” My forehead creases in annoyance at my own forgetfulness. “I'm an idiot.”
“Nah, I've been distracting.” He grins, lips pink and teeth sharp. “Ain't your fault.”
“Isn't that the truth?” I press my lips to his bare chest, right over the beating of his heart.
“You gonna tell me, then?”
“It's for a charity I set up a few years ago called Empower,” I tell him, suddenly shy. I've never found it easy to talk about my work, especially when it's about something that means so much to me. “We work with girls and young women in lots of different ways, but mainly to build confidence and mentor them in the early stages of their careers. The event tonight is about a new partnership we have with a mental health charity down in Florida to support those struggling with body image or“—I pause, then lower my voice to an almost whisper—“eating disorders.”
“Shit, baby, that's incredible,” he says, reverence shimmering in the golden flecks of his mahogany eyes. But then his face falls, twisting with something gloomier—regret, perhaps. “All that bullshit I gave you about making the problem worse and you're out here tryin' to make it better.”
Smoothing a hand through his hair, I reassure him. “No, you were right. I'm a part of the problem.”
He drops his face to my neck and strokes his lips over the pulse point. “Maybe, but you're a victim of it too.”
“That's the thing, though, right?” I tilt my head to the side, lips twitching in a downward slant. “It's a cycle and I feed into it just as much as I suffer from it. I guess Empower is my way of making up for my contribution to the system.”
Cole looks at me.
Reallylooks at me.
His dark eyes trace every line of my face, every pore, every crevice, every freckle. Then, his gaze finds mine, something indistinct glittering inside of it.
“You're amazing, you know that?” he says, voice soft and affectionate.
I drop my eyes to the bed sheets, heat flooding my face. Put me on a stage in front of a thousand people and I won't be fazed, make me simulate sex in front of a whole studio of crew members and I'll do it no problem, but listening to the man I love compliment me? I can't handle it.
Cole slips a finger under my chin and tilts it upward. “You are, Thea.”
His eyes never leave mine, imploring me with every shimmer of light across them to believe what he's saying.
And though I don't believe it, I accept it. “I don't know what to say.”
“Just say thank you.”
A smile blooms on my lips, stretching across my face. “Thank you.”
“Atta girl.”
A knock on the door to our room jolts us out of the moment. Padding barefoot across the cream carpet, I suck in a deep breath, knowing what awaits us on the other side. “You ready for this?” I ask Cole and at his nod, swing open the door.
My beauty team pours into the room, followed by my stylist and a bellboy pushing a clothing rack with several dresses and tuxedos suspended from it.
“Althea,” Shannon, my stylist, hollers. “I haven't been able to get in touch with you or Elena for weeks. I've been sending that damn woman dress options for tonight with no response. The only reason I know to be here right now is because it's been in the calendar for six months.”
“Elena was fired,” I tell her simply.
Shan throws up her hands in a hallelujah gesture. “'Bout damn time, girl.”
“Tell me about it.” I laugh, letting one of my makeup artists push me down into a chair and start fussing with my face. “Sorry I've been hard to get a hold of, though. I've been in my hometown the last couple weeks.”
“What drove you back there?”
“My daddy died.”
“Oh, fuck, Thea, I'm sorry.”
I wave away her condolences with a flick of my hand. “Don't be.”
