CHAPTER 1
Cory
“You never saidyou were thinking of asking him to marry you,” Kale said.
I didn’t have him on a video call, but I did have him on speaker in my office. We hadn’t been able to make our schedules match for a proper phone call to catch up since Thanksgiving.
“I didn’t need to. Marrying Reese isn’t something I felt like I needed advice on.” I toyed with the ring on my left hand as had become habit ever since Reese slipped it on. Until he did, I’d not realized how much I wanted to wear it. How important it was to me to have this tangible connection to him. I loved that it made me feel like he claimed me. Like I was his as much as he was mine.
“Aren’t you supposed to be turning over a new, non-interfering leaf?” I asked, remembering that he was now making an effort to be less involved in other people’s lives and decisions. There had been some kind of a dust-up when Boston got with Kale’s best friend, Ford, and it had brought a lot of things to a head. The details were sketchy to me because I was out of town for a lot of it, but I’d gotten the highlights later.
He scoffed. “What I’m supposed to be doing is looking out for my friends.”
“Kale, don’t make me tattle on you to your little prince.”
“Ugh. Fine. Have it your way.”
I could hear Kale’s pout through in the tone of his voice.
“I really am happy for you, you know. I don’t want you to think I’m not.”
“Ah, so you just wanted me to tell you so you’d have been the first to know. I see you, Kale Sheffield.”
He ignored my comment. “So where are you two getting married? And when?”
“We barely got engaged. We haven’t discussed anything yet. We’re still…”
“Fucking like bunnies to celebrate?”
I let out a laugh. “Basically.”
“If you want to get married in New York, I can handle venue arrangements for you. Hell, I can offer you a farm if you want a nice country setting. Boston and Ford wouldn’t mind.”
“I’m pretty sure that counts as meddling, Kale. But I’ll let it slide.”
“It wasn’t meddling. It was suggesting.” He let out a sigh. “Try to run people’s lives for them, and this is the thanks I get.”
“You’re so hard done by, Kale. Honestly, how do you handle the abuse?”
“I’m just tough, I guess. But the offer stands. I don’t know what your plans are, but if I can do anything to help, I will.”
“I know. Thank you. That means a lot to me.” I glanced at the time. “I hate to cut this short, but I have a client coming in a few minutes, and I need to prepare.”
“Sure. Abandon me for something as silly as a job.”
“You’re awfully needy today. Go find your prince. I’ll talk to you later.” I ended the call and focused my attention on preparing for the client. This client would require a differentskill set to handle their needs, but I had confidence I was up to the task.
Ten minutes later, there was a tentative knock at my door, and then Reese stepped inside. He was wearing a pair of slacks instead of his usual jeans and a button-up with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows.
This whole thing had been his idea.
“You must be Mr. Rollins,” I said, using his last name. I stood and crossed the room, offering my hand. Reese took it, his cheeks heated, but he stayed in character.
“Mr. Callahan. Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice.”
“It’s my pleasure,” I practically purred. “Please, take a seat.”
Reese lowered himself into the chair and folded his hands in his lap. Role play wasn’t something either of us had done a lot of, but the idea of pretending that Reese was a client and I was an inappropriately-acting architect was too good to pass up.
