Page 30 of Reunion

“Hm? Oh, yeah.” Cole laced his fingers with mine and rested them on his chest. “His name is Jason. He helped me get the job at HealthCloud originally. We’re friendly enough, I guess.”

“He was staring at you all through the meeting today.” I’d noticed it from my spot across the room. I’d noticed, too, the jealousy that had speared through me. But I wasn’t going to mention that.

Cole shrugged and brushed a kiss over my knuckles. “He was probably wondering when I last changed my sheets. He was fastidious about that, too.” He laughed.

“There’s not a scorecard, you know,” I said, circling back to the previous topic of Cole’s experience or lack thereof. “I like doing things with you.Anythingwith you, to be honest. In fact, how much longer will you be in town?”

“I’d planned to go back Friday, but now I’m thinking I might need to stay over the weekend, get my mom to help me improve my baking skills.”

“Maybe I could use a refresher, too.”

Cole closed the distance between us and nipped my lower lip. “We’re proven dangers in a kitchen. I’m all for it.”

14

Cole

Dane and I spent every weekend together over the next month and a half. He drove up to Bensonville once, but most often, I drove down to Vintage Ridge. It was funny—since I’d gone to college, I’d really only spent holidays there, and after college, I’d been so caught up in travel and my career that even the holidays I’d spent there had been few and far between, so I never noticed how comforting “home” was until I started returning more frequently.

Dane and I cooked lazy breakfasts or walked over to Chester’s. We’d eat dinner with my folks on occasion or go help my mom with this or that task on Sundays before I left. Sometimes we watched a football game with them. I could tell Dane liked being around my parents, and my parents adored him, too.

Other times, we rarely made it out of his apartment.

The sex was amazing, of course. I’d never vibed so hard with someone both in and out of the bedroom. And I’d never had as much fun as I did with him. Messy sex, vanilla sex, kinky sex. We did it all, and Dane never made me feel bad for anything I wanted. He was always game to experiment, and he always took the lead, which was exactly how I liked it. We’d revisited Ace’s Wild a couple of times, too. But mostly it felt as if we were attuned to one another on a level that went deeper than chemical reaction and sexual attraction. There were times when we were locked together, arching and straining and sweating, limbs tangled, mouths colliding, and our eyes would meet. The intensity would wash over me, damn near overwhelming as his heart pounded against mine. It felt soul-deep and right.

On a gorgeous Wednesday in November, I arrived at work, tweaked Mindy’s ponytail in passing, and ducked the pen she threw my way. In my office, I powered on my laptop and examined the windows. Most of them in the old loft space that housed HealthCloud had been painted shut long ago, but I found one that I managed to crack, and chilly fall air poured inside, stirring the papers on my desk as I sat down.

I felt…good. Really fucking good. And I realized with sudden clarity that I hadn’t before, that I’d been going through the motions, shuffling along. I sat there thinking about that, wondering when it had happened. If it’d been after Jason broke up with me. But I thought maybe it had been before—though try as I might, I couldn’t pinpoint an exact reason or moment. So maybe it didn’t matter. Maybe what mattered was how I felt now.

Then Blaine walked in and shut my door, and I knew immediately what was about to happen.

“Fuck,” I sighed as he dropped in the chair across from me, expression grim.

“I’m sorry. I thought you were safe, but Metrotech has decided to bring the entire graphics department in-house.”

“Are they bringing you over?” Blaine was a great boss. I hoped he wasn’t losing his job, too.

“Nope. They say they’ve got it covered. This office will remain open only for sales and a small marketing team. But I’ve got a lead, and I think there might be a spot for you there, too. Have you heard of a design group called Sphere?”

I blinked. “Hell yeah, I have. They’re in New York, right?”

“Yeah. I’m friends with one of the art directors. They’ve got a yearlong contract position open with probable permanency after that. I already told Gil about you. I’m flying up for an interview Monday. They took a look at your portfolio and said they’d like to talk to you, too. If you’re interested?”

“Wow.” I sat back in my chair, a little flabbergasted. Talk about overload. On the one hand, I was getting fired, which sucked. On the other, Sphere was a great company, and though I wasn’t super keen on another contract job, at least it was for a place I’d heard lauded over and over.

And then my heart sank. Because a three-hour drive back to Vintage Ridge was nothing compared to a drive from New York. I worried my lower lip and fidgeted. “That’s really generous of you. And them.”

“You’ll at least talk to them, right? Or are you not interested?” Blaine cocked his head at me. “I thought you’d be excited. Or at least relieved.”

“No, I am. I mean, it’s a great offer. It’s just…” I needed to think for a second, but there was too much noise happening in my brain between getting fired, Dane, and another job in New York. “I want to talk to them for sure. I need a minute to process, though.”

Later that afternoon, after I’d talked with Sphere and agreed to fly up for a meeting along with Blaine, I began cleaning out my office. The termination was as of Friday, and I’d been given severance pay, which was really considerate.

“Come in,” I said to the knock on my door, elbow-deep in files. I glanced up to find Jason leaning against the doorway.

He looked over the mess on my desk and floor, then wandered deeper inside, shutting the door behind him. “I heard about your job. I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “Thought I was safe there for a while, but I can’t say it was a huge surprise.” I set aside some folders and waited. After the meeting in Vintage Ridge, I’d kept to my side of the building and Jason had kept to his. When I looked at him now, I wasn’t even sure what I’d seen in him in the first place. Dane had that effect. He cast a soft glow over mynow, and the relationships in my past seemed like blurry monochrome in comparison.