Page 232 of Come Back to Me

“Why are you whispering?”

“I don’t know.”

“This place is in the portfolio, sure.”

“Is it where Zee stayed after she got married?”

I stare at her. “You expect me to know the answer to that?”

“How many other hotels do you own?”

“God if I know,” I mutter.

The receptionist smiles in greeting and hands me a key card.

“That’s so fucking cool.” She’s back to whispering. “You didn’t have to tell her your name.”

“I warned them I was coming. Amazing how emails work,” I tease.

Her nose wrinkles. “Don’t spoil the magic.”

“I’m not Gandalf.”

“No offense to Ian McKellan, but thank God for that,” she says wryly.

“White beards aren’t your thing?”

“Maybe when you’re eighty, I’ll deal with it, but now? I prefer this look.”

Her admission comes with both of us blinking at one another.

“When I’m eighty, huh?”

She clears her throat. “You know what I mean.”

“Oh, I do,” I rumble as we enter the elevator that’s reserved for the family’s use.

Cheeks red hot, she stares around the small carriage. “You guys are crazy rich.”

“We are. It’s unethical, but I know Colt goes out of his way to handle charitable donations.” I study her reflection. “Money’s a headache.”

“Only because you have too much of it.”

“No, because Zee has to hold interviews with architectural magazines to woo the nation when before she was a Korhonen, she didn’t give a damn.Thatis why it’s a headache.”

“To be fair, the only magazine who’d have wanted to see our old apartment isDumps.”

“I’m sure you made it nice,” I joke.

“As nice as we could around the black mold in the bathroom and the broken vent in the kitchen,” she mocks. “But I get what you mean.”

“You wouldn’t need to worry as much as she does.”

Her brow arches. “Huh?”

“As my girlfriend and... you know. I’m not as interesting as Colton.”

“Oh, babe, it’s sweet that you think that. Now that they’ve seen Colton and know he’s off the list, Cole too, especially once he marries, all eyes will be on you and Callan.”

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