Cole pulled back and looked at me, his eyes damp. “What happened at lunch?”
I shook my head and smiled. “Nothing. My bodyguard has impeccable manners. Made me realize yet another way my mother didn’t care.”
He put his hand on my neck and squeezed, making me laugh. “Don’t think about her. She did you a favor by letting you go. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have ended up with us. And I wouldn’t havemybrother.”
I chuckled and wiped away a stray tear. “You’re the best, C. Talking about the song probably didn’t help either.”
He sighed, then let go of me. “You really need to talk to Cooper. I think you’d feel better about everything.”
I scowled. “No fucking way. I’m still a little—” I dragged my left hand through my hair. “I don’t know how I feel about all that.”
“I think you do, man. It all goes back to your mom. And when you find the right person, you’re going to know it. You’ll see.”
He smiled at me, and Cooper’s face came to mind, then faded. I sure hoped that meant I was over all this. But deep down, I knew I wasn’t. Not yet anyway.
“I’ve sworn off relationships. Not looking for more than a hook-up when my hand isn’t enough.”
Cole smiled at me. “Never know. What you need might be right under your nose.”
If a certain face appeared in my head, I willfully ignored it. I laughed. “Yeah, no.”
Didn’t matter how attracted I was to Michael, I would not fall for my bodyguard, no matter how much we flirted.
CHAPTER6
MICHAEL
After I checkedout Patrick’s security system, I swung by the office to update GQ. He was sitting at his desk, looking at his phone with a big smile on his face. It was good to see him looking so happy.
We called him GQ for a good reason. Jesse was always impeccably dressed in designer duds and looked more like he belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine than running a security firm. If he could have convinced the Navy to issue designer label uniforms, he would've had them.
“Hey,” I said, sitting down across from his desk.
Jesse looked up and smiled. “Hey. How’s it going with Adam?”
He put his phone on the desk and sat back in his leather chair.
The contentment on his face was because of Dominick and Olivia. The little girl they’d adopted looked so much like him, it would be easy to assume she was his own flesh and blood.
“Good. I needed to pick up my laptop. Adam is safe over there. Patrick basically had the studio outfitted as a panic room. If anything goes down and the band is in there, they’ll be safe. The rest of the house is equipped with an Elite System. He spared no cost with it.”
Jesse listened and took note of the number of security cameras that had been installed and the sensitivity of their system, designed to detect any intruders on the property. As I finished detailing it, he gave me a nod.
“I wonder if he had it installed, or if the builder included it for that neighborhood?”
I shrugged. “I can ask him, but either way, they’re safe over there.”
He nodded slowly as he typed on his phone. “Have you heard anything back from Homeland?”
I shook my head, my fingers brushing over my beard. “Nah. You know I’m technically not qualified. But it was worth a shot.”
Before he could answer, Aidan came in carrying a baby. She was cute as fuck. As usual, I had no idea which one she was. It didn’t matter that they were identical, because I still couldn’t tell them apart.
“Hey Phantom. What’s up?”
Aidan was relaxed, and all smiles holding his daughter. He looked really comfortable holding her.
“Which cutie is this?”
