“Because I’m freaking out,” J.P. said, his voice barely above a whisper. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
I shared a look with Cole before asking, “What wasn’t?”
J.P. scoffed and pushed away from the sofa. He stalked away from us, stopping in front of the window, displaying all of New York. “This,” he said while throwing his hands up, his back facing us. “You...I’m too old not to know better. The ink is still wet on my divorce papers. I shouldn’t be diving into anything. But goddammit, I want to.”
He finally turned around. “I can’t stop thinking about both of you, and it’s driving me absolutely crazy.”
My heart fluttered. “Really?” I breathed.
J.P. nodded. “I shouldn’t be making you any promises. It’s not the smart thing to do, but if I don’t come clean now, I don’t know how I can get my sanity back.”
I tensed. Come clean? Did he have something to confess? A lie of some sort. My blood ran cold.
J.P. downed the rest of his drink in one swallow. He loosened his tie and took a breath. “I’ve never felt a connection with anyone before like I experienced with you two on that trip. It’s a connection I find myself craving every single day. I’m not going to say it’s love, because it’s too soon for that. But I am going to be real about it and admit that it’s a need. I need you in my life, and I hope your little speech was what I think it was. An invitation to do more than swing with me. I’m hoping you will invite me into your life, because I want to invite you into mine.”
He walked back over to us, reaching out for both of our hands and guiding us to stand. He looked at me, drinking me in with those gorgeous eyes. “May I kiss your husband?”
I smiled and nodded. “You may.”
The kiss he and Cole shared was flush with thirty days of pent-up desire. I tingled at the sight in anticipation that I would be next.
After one last sip of Cole’s lips, he asked the question I’d been waiting for. “Cole, may I kiss your wife?”
Cole grinned slyly. “You may, but you’d better fuck her too because it’s all she’s been talking about since we left you.”
I gasped and swatted him on the arm. “You, too!”
Cole shrugged. “I won’t deny it.”
J.P.’s grin was like the sun on my skin. “I think I can honor that request,” he said teasingly, flicking his tongue into my mouth. The tease quickly melted away into something far more sensual as he seemed to want to erase the miles he’d placed between us.
“You know, this place has long-term leases, too,” Cole said.
J.P. reached for Cole’s tie, working it loose with slow but purposeful pulls. “Hunter Railways has offices in LA.”
“I guess we can make this work.” I smiled while he kissed Cole again, feeling for the first time that I had finally checked all the right boxes. The further we’d climbed up the ladder of success, the more lost we’d gotten. I still looked forward to having a baby when the time was right and not just because it was on my to-do list. In that hotel room, with every hope and wish for the future based on the truth in our hearts, we embarked on a new journey to the place where Kara + Cole ? J.P.
THE END