“I want to see you, Remy.”
His voice brings tears to my eyes. “I want to see you too.” I do. I just can’t see beyond that.
“But?” he prompts. I’m not fooling anyone but myself. “Would it help if I came alone?”
More tears. “It isn’t that.” It isn’tonlythat.
“What is it then?”
I try to picture Cash in his office. Is it like Bash’s, with huge comfy couches and a jug of iced water on the coffee table? Is that standard office décor? Is he standing by the window when he speaks to me, his eyes instinctively seeking out the college building? Or is he seated at his desk with his feet up, a spreadsheet open on the computer screen. It’s hard to imagine him in that setting when my mental image of him is naked, his body stretched out beside mine, his lips so close…
“Remy? Talk to me, baby. Whatever it is, we can work it out. Together.”
“I’m not sure I belong in your world.”
I don’t feel relief from saying it out loud. Instead, my chest feels as though it’s caving in beneath the weight of a sledgehammer. I feel like Kate Winslet when she lets go of Leonardo DiCaprio’s hand at the end ofTitanic. I’m being melodramatic because of the pregnancy hormones, but for once, I don’t apologize for it.
Cash is silent. He obviously doesn’t know how to handle hormones and that’s okay. I get it. I don’t know how to handle them either. Then, “Cancel your shift at the café.” He ends the call.
“Cash?” I stare at the dark screen.
I shouldn’t feel excited, but I do. I seriously have no control over my emotions right now. What happened toI need time to figure this out? One command from Cassius Murray, and I’m a gooey, caramel-centered chocolate.
A limo is waiting outside college for me at the end of the day. The chauffeur opens the passenger door for me, and I climb inside wishing that I’d worn pants and a shirt instead of a white sundress with a sunflower print. I look like I stepped straight out of the 60s. All I need to complete the visual is a daisy chain in my hair.
“I didn’t know you were going to send a…”
My voice trails away when I realize that Cash isn’t waiting for me. Instead, the door closes behind me, leaving me inside with two beautiful women I don’t recognize.
“Shit. I’m sorry. I thought this car was for me.” The limo shifts into gear, and I’m jolted onto the seat.
They both watch me, smiling. “This car is for you, Remy.”
They introduce themselves as Victoria and Sienna. The twins’ sisters-in-law.
“Did Cash send you?” I sit up straighter and smooth my dress across my lap.
They exchange glances, then Victoria says, “Shall we get coffee first?”
“I work in a coffee shop.”
“Have you ever been to Alice’s Tea Cup?” Sienna asks.
She has red hair, I mean, it’s literally red with golden strands like she stepped straight out of a fairy tale book. My eyes drop to thescars above the neckline of her tank top, and heat rushes to my face.
“I used to hide them.” Sienna shrugs. “Until Kyle made me realize that it’s a part of who I am.”
“You’re Kyle’s wife.”
Cash and Bash told me about the car crash they were involved in. They got separated somehow, Kyle thought she was dead, and then six years later, she walked back into his life.
“I am now. But believe me, I’ve sat in your seat, Remy. I know exactly how you feel.”
“We both do.” Victoria’s hair is darker, her smile a little softer, and I instantly feel comfortable in her presence. Like I have nothing to prove. “Did they tell you that Caleb fired me from the Wraith and then asked me to pretend to be his fiancée?”
“That was some chat-up line,” Sienna adds.
“Why did you agree to it?”
