"Because I wanted to."
"Try again."
I catch his wrist before he can withdraw and hold his hand against my shoulder, his fingers warm through the lace.
"Because I'm done pretending this isn't happening."
His composure cracks. Just enough for me to see the hunger underneath.
"Angelina."
"I'm not finished." I guide his hand down, over the curve of my breast. "I bought this because I wanted you to see me in it. I wanted to walk out there and find you in that room full of monitors and make you look at me instead. I wanted—"
His mouth covers mine.
The kiss is nothing like those first ones, when he was still holding back. This one has teeth. His hand fists in my hair to angle my head where he wants it, and I let him.
I grab his shirt and drag him against me.
We stumble backward. My back hits the wall beside the bathroom door, solid and grounding, and he presses into me with his thigh sliding between mine. The pressure against my clit makes my hips roll forward.
"I need to tell you something," I manage between kisses.
"Tell me later."
"No." I push at his chest, not hard enough to move him, just enough to make him pause. "I need to say this now. Before we… before I lose my nerve."
He draws back far enough to look at me. His eyes are dark and his breathing is ragged. "What?"
Say it. Just say it.
"I know about the pills."
He goes completely still.
"There was a burr on the corner of the pack. My pack." I keep my voice steady, the way I hold it steady when I'm delivering a ruling I know will gut someone. "The manufacturing defect I've been meaning to file down for three years. It was gone. Smooth."
His hand is still in my hair. His thigh is still between mine. Neither of us is breathing.
"You noticed." His voice is flat and careful.
"I'm a federal judge, Cole. I notice everything." I swallow hard. "Same brand. Same pharmacy label. Same number of pills missing. But not my pack."
He goes rigid against me.
"I flushed them." The confession scrapes out of my throat. "Every single one."
His breath leaves him in a rush. "What?"
"I have backup pills. Hidden ones." I hold his gaze even though it costs me everything I have left. "Eight days. Eight pills down the toilet. And I kept taking my real ones the whole time."
Silence stretches between us. His expression shifts through something I can't quite read, surprise, then confusion, then something darker settling underneath.
"You let me believe it was working." His voice is rough.
"Yes."
"You watched me think I was—" He breaks off, a muscle twitching near his eye. "And you said nothing."
