And while I'm waiting on a few leads to surface, discussing matters with her just came to the top of my to-do list.
I park in the garage, next to the car that Miller bought for Cora, and make quick work on getting upstairs, inputting all the codes that they gave me to access different parts of the building. I'm grateful for the level of security in place, but I'm not convinced we couldn't beef it up a bit more to keep her protected.
Once I'm through her front door, I toss my keys into the bowl and listen carefully to locate her.
When I don't hear anything, I accept that she might be sleeping, and this conversation I thought we'd be having may have to wait.
I kick my shoes off and head toward her bedroom, rolling my sleeves up to my elbows along the way. But the second I'm in, I don't notice her in the bedroom. My gaze shifts to the bathroom, the door ajar. Silently, I go over there and peer inside, my heart breathing a sigh of relief at finally laying my eyes on her.
I knock gently on the door.
"Come in," Cora says from her spot in the bathtub. She wipes at her cheeks and it's then that I see the tears lining them.
I rush over to her. "Hey, what's wrong? What's the matter?"
She shakes her head. "Nothing. I'm fine." Cora sniffles and it practically brings the grown man in me to my knees.
I don't waste another second—still, with my clothes on, I climb into the full bathtub with her, submerging myself completely, and pull her to my chest. "Angel." I smooth the hair from her face and press soft kisses on her forehead.
Cora resists at first but melts into my embrace, no doubt wondering if I've lost my mind having climbed in here totally clothed. Doesn't she realize that she matters more to me than anything else, and so what if I get a little water on me, I'd go to the ends of the Earth for her.
"Do you want to talk, or do you want to just sit here?" I ask her.
"I don't know."
Holding her close to me, I whisper, "That's okay. You don't have to know." I wrap my arms around her small, wet frame and wish that I could take away her pain.
Cora breaks away from my chest and looks up at me, her nose red from crying. "You're still in your clothes."
I shrug. "They needed to be washed anyway."
Cora rolls her eyes and repositions herself in my lap, straddling my waist. "What are you afraid of?" she questions while staring at me.
I do what I can to ignore the fact that she's completely naked and I'm completely clothed, my hands on her hips. "Nothing," I tell her.
It's a lie and we both know it.
"Nothing at all?" She sits back a bit, exposing her perfectly perky breasts.
I bring my left hand up to run my thumb along her cheek. "It's a secret."
"I'll keep it safe," she says encouragingly.
"I'm afraid...of you."
Cora narrows her glare. "You are not."
"I promise." I take that same hand and hold my pinky out to prove just how serious I am.
"Why?"
"Because you hold the power to break me, Angel." Every word out of me is the truth and I've known it from the very first second I laid my sights on her. For someone to come into your life so fucking abruptly and stirs up feelings like she has, she absolutely has the means to ruin me.
Cora lays her hands lazily around my shoulders, her gaze meeting mine. "I wouldn't. Not on purpose." She leans forward, pressing a kiss on my lips.
I kiss her back, grateful that she even likes me. I wanted to withstand the sudden feelings I had for Cora, and maybe a better man would have been able to, but every stolen kiss and flittering glance has only proven one thing totally certain—I am completely and utterly hers.
"Distract me?" Cora says, her mouth still hovering next to mine.
