A short silence passed between them.
“Cole, what is this all about?”
If he couldn’t talk to V, how could he possibly talk to Penn? “Um…”
She let out a long sigh. “Look, I’m going to tell you something you’re not going to like.”
“Terrific.” He braced himself on the couch, letting his hand grip the arm so tight his fingers turned white.
“Cole…”
Here it comes. He was moody. Guarded. Too high-profile and too closed down for the risk to be worth it.
“You’re wonderful,” she said.
He stilled, letting the words wash over him. The unexpected and completely false statement had caught him off-guard.
“Are you listening to me?”
He shrugged again.
“Stop shrugging when I can’t see you, Cole Murphy. You know how much that annoys me.”
She should have been a teacher. Or, as her younger siblings always said, a prison warden. Her serious tone was enough to get the hair on his neck to stand up. At times, she was downright scary.
He heard stifled groans and heavy breaths. She was trying to get up. Over the last couple of weeks he’d really noticed a change in her. She waddled instead of walked. She was slower to do…everything. He’d never been witness to a pregnancy up close and personal before. It was some serious shit.
“As much as I love our conversations…”
He laughed. “Sure, you do.” Their conversations were almost always one-sided.
“Finn is coming to get me for a doctor’s appointment. But can I leave you with one last thought?”
“Sure.”
“You only have to ask yourself one question: do you think Penn is worthy of knowing who you really are?”
In the shower, he’d touched himself without a second thought. Without any thoughts at all, except for the way Penn tasted and the way her moans revved up his own desire. That had to mean something. Something far more important than sex itself.
Hell, yes. She’s worthy.
He trusted her, and he knew his secret would be locked in the vault. But more important than her being trustworthy was his decision to trust her in the first place. Exposing his past, his deepest, darkest secrets, meant more than just telling her the truth.
He was falling for her.
And that was even scarier than facing his past.
Now all he had to do was hope he didn’t end up a splattered mess on the concrete when it was all said and done.
Cole had flashed his money around once again and arranged with the concierge for a candlelight dinner in a thatched hut on the water. Now the evening had even more importance. Tonight he was going to blow her mind. Not only with the scenery and the romantic gesture, but by telling her some of his shit. The shit she’d been wanting to know forever.
He was ready. He could do this. She wouldn’t judge.
He sat on the sofa, absentmindedly flipping through the pages of a magazine while he waited for Penn to finish getting ready.
“Hi.” Her voice carried softly from the door of the bedroom.
He looked up from the magazine, and immediately his dick tightened at the sight of her. She wore a short, red dress with a thin brown belt wrapped around her waist. There were no shoulder straps, so it hugged her breasts perfectly. She’d put sunglasses on top of her head, but they were barely noticeable between the black waves of her hair. She’d done something with it. Something to make the shiny strands curly…but not. God, he sucked at describing girl stuff.