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She frowns, giving me anare-you-seriousglare before mouthing “no.”

“Uh, I don’t have any concrete plans.”

“Perfect. Do you want to meet at twelve for coffee?”

“Sure.”

“Great, it’s a date. I’ll text you the details. See you then.”

“Okay. Bye?”

“Bye, Verity.”

The call disconnects, but the sound of his smoky voice curling around my name remains.

I stare at the dark screen and wonder just how I got into this situation. It all seems too good to be true, like some kind of lovestruck fever dream, but damn, if it’s a dream, I don’t want to wake up.

CHAPTER FIVE

CULLEN

“She knows you’ve purchased the apartment,” my lawyer drawls.

“Does she?”

“Yes.”

“Well, she knew I’d move back by now.”

“Her reaction says otherwise.”

“She probably wishes she could keep me away for eternity.”

“For lack of a better word, according to her lawyer’s voicemail.”

“Now I’m curious, Hughes. What colorful words did she have for me this time?”

“Do you really—”

“Hang on, hold that thought. I have to jump. Fill me in later.”

I hang up without waiting for him to finish—which he will chew me out for later—and slip my phone in my pants pocket. I smooth out my shirt and readjust my posture on the wall I’m resting against, making sure I come off relaxed and not like I’ve been here for the past thirty minutes.

Verity breezes into the coffee shop, looking just as stunning as I remember. Her cheeks are a little flushed as she smooths down her hair and tucks a stray flyaway behind her ear. She ping pongs her gaze across the coffee shop until she spots me, and then raises a hand to her chest with an apologetic smile.

“Hi, sorry I’m late. The A train isn’t running and I didn’t know, so I had to take the F, and that didn’t bring me nearly as close to the shop, so I had to walk a couple of blocks. And there was like an entire horde of tourists clogging the path because of those damn bus tours that–between you and me–are a total rip-off, and fighting through them was a complete nightmare. This one guy nearly took out my eye with his elbow and he didn’t even apologize. I swear, I’m normally on time.”

I smile at her signature rambling.

“You’re fine. I just got here myself.”

“Really?”

No.

“Yes.”

“Okay, that makes me feel a little better.” Her shoulders relax a fraction, and she finally takes in the coffee shop, neck craning to observe the small space. “I don’t know how I’ve never seen this place before. My office isn’t that far from here.”