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I blink at him, my poker face perfectly in place. “Hmm.” I don’t want to lie, but I’m not ready to tell the truth either. I’m not sure I ever will be.
“And Chloe…”
“What about her?” I ask quickly.Too quickly. It’s obvious I’m hiding something. Or maybe it’s the secret that eats at me and makes me believe it’s obvious.
Secrets do that, though. They eat and eat and eat, chipping away little by little until the person in the mirror is unrecognizable. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the girl I once was, and it’s in big part due to the truths I’ve kept hidden.
“You can be honest with me, you know?” he says softly, gently, far too kindly for what we are. Friends, I suppose, but really, he belongs to my brother. We may fool around, but I’m wise enough to know I don’t come first.
I’ve never come first for anyone.
Looking out the window, I avoid his scrutiny and his questions. “Let’s focus on Cash,” I whisper.
Maybe Frank really is my friend, because in that moment he puts me first and drops the subject. He pulls into the garage below the James building, and I turn my focus to Frank’s tattoos in hopes of avoiding the onslaught of memories this place evokes.
Late nights sneaking around. Kissing on the sidewalk. Making love on the rooftop.
There’s a reason I don’t come here often. It’s the same reason that keeps me from visiting another handful of places in Boston, that forces my shields just about any time the radio is on. And once again, that reason’s name is Jonathan Hanson. Is there a single area of my life he hasn’t infected? A corner I can turn where the ghost of our past won’t haunt me?
Of course not. Even days later, the taste of his tongue still lingers on my lips.
The man should come with a warning label.
“Cat,” Frank says, as if it’s not the first time he’s tried to catch my attention.
I turn his way and shake the thoughts of the past, and the present—really any thoughts in general—out of my head. “Sorry, lead the way,” I say, trailing behind.
Frank chuckles, and his warm palm finds the small of my back as he presses us toward the elevator.
A woman walks past us quickly, and for a moment, her gaze meets Frank’s. Beside me, his entire body stiffens, and at the same time, she stumbles.
In an instant, his hand has left my back and he’s catching her elbow and steadying her.
“Thank you,” she murmurs, her words soft and quick. But then her attention shifts to me, and she shakes off his hand and rushes out the door.
Frank spins and watches her until she disappears from view.
“You know her?” I ask.
He’s clearly reeling from their interaction—struck by her. If he doesn’t know her, he wants to.
Oddly, the thought doesn’t bother me in the least.
See? It’s just sex.
And Sophie thought I was falling for him. Can’t wait to share this tidbit with her.
“Her eyes,” he says. The words are rough, like it hurts to say them. “She reminded me of someone I used to know.”
“Oh, like your telenovelas,” I tease. “Is this the start of a long-lost love affair?”
Frank clears his throat and straightens, finally coming back to planet Earth, and ushers me into the elevators. He chuckles. “No long-lost loves for me.”
“Not buying it,” I tease.
He arches a brow and I swear mischief glints in his eye, like he’s about to turn the tables back on me, so I slump against the elevator wall. “Fine, I’ll drop it. Let’s both go live vicariously through my little brother, okay?”
He smiles. “Whatever you say, Princess.”
