Page 74 of The Wrong Boss

He was gorgeous, smart, hardworking, funny, and brave. He made me feel like the best version of myself, like I could do anything I wanted to because I was me, and I was incredible. He made the colors of my world brighter simply by existing in it.

I was hopelessly, incurably in love with him.

And I would break his heart.

As the sun rose on fly-out day, I tried to cling to the last moments we had in this secret cocoon of ours. I trailed my fingers along his pecs and down across the muscles of his abdomen. I traced lines between the freckles dotting his left arm and brushed my lips over his shoulder. The rasp of his stubble felt like heaven against my cheek, my breast, between my legs. His hair was heavy silk between my fingers, and his voice was a low rumble that made everything inside me tighten.

When we were sated, he lay down next to me and pulledme against his side. “I’m going to tell my father about us,” he announced.

My body turned to stone. “When?”

“As soon as I talk to Alba. I don’t want to blindside her by telling people before she’s ready.”

“That’s generous, considering she’s the one who broke up with you.”

Cole met my gaze, his fingers trailing along my temple. “I’ve realized that she was right about a lot of things. Her breaking up with me was a gift, and I’m not going to thank her by being a dick about it.”

Surprisingly, that was the moment my heart chose to break. In that simple sentence, I saw exactly the shape of Cole’s character. He wasn’t vindictive. He wasn’t selfish. Even in the face of certain conflict with his father and the vice-chairman of the board of directors of his company, he wasn’t taking the easy way out.

Cole was exactly the type of man I’d want to have in Evie’s life. He was everything good and brave and right. He would make a fantastic father.

It was a cruel joke that as soon as I realized it, I also knew he could never be a father to her while also being the man for me. We were doomed.

“You’ve gone somewhere,” he said.

Gulping, I shook my head. “I’m here,” I lied.

“You’re worried about what people will think?”

I opened my mouth. “No,” I started. The words marshaled themselves in my head, ready to be spoken. I’d been a coward long enough. These past days—hell, these pastmonths—hadbeen unbearably selfish of me. A man as decent and honest as Cole deserved the truth. “Cole, there’s something I have to tell you.”

He frowned. “Okay.”

Seconds dragged by. I took a deep breath. “After we met?—”

A phone rang across the room. We both jumped. On the desk, Cole’s phone was all lights and buzzing and noise, rattling against the hard surface and jiggling the keys he’d placed atop it.

“Hang on, let me silence it,” he said, flinging the covers off. He pointed to me. “Hold that thought, Carrie.”

I nodded, grabbing the sheet and pulling it up to my chest. I watched him walk to the desk, stop, and frown. The phone went silent and immediately began to ring again.

Cole glanced at me. “It’s Alba. She wouldn’t call unless she needed something. Do you mind…?”

I waved a hand, smiling weakly. “Of course.”

“Alba?” Cole said, turning his back to me. “What’s wrong?”

I stared at the wall directly across from me, breathing deeply, trying to find the exact right sentence that would soften the news I had to deliver.

“Mrs. Enders,” Cole said, straightening. His tone shifted, and I looked at him, frowning. “What’s wrong?” A long pause. “Slow down. Please, Mrs. Enders, I can’t understand—in the hospital?” He glanced over his shoulder, met my gaze, then looked away. Long fingers came up to massage the bridge of his nose. “Okay. I’ll be back in New York in a few hours and I’ll come straight there. Everything will be okay. Yes, I believe that. All right. See you soon.”

The sheet was crumpled between my fists, clutchedup near my chin. I forced myself to relax my fingers and asked, “Is Alba okay?”

“That was her mother,” he said, his brow furrowed deeply. “Alba was in a car accident. She’s in the hospital.”

“Oh my God.”

“She’s stable. She took a company car, and Paulie was driving…” Cole swore. “I should’ve fired him. Why didn’t I fire him? Why did I let Kaia convince me… I have to—” He looked up and seemed to remember it was me he was talking to. “Sorry,” he said, shaking his head as he came to sit on the edge of the bed. “What were you going to tell me?”

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