Page 40 of The Allure of Ruins

“Yes, but he used to make time for me.”

What was I supposed to say? “If you didn’t like how he touched you, it was important to say something. No one should be uncomfortable; that’s your right. Also, everyone has a different threshold for what they consider manhandling, and again, it’s about your comfort level, not his.”

I turned in my seat to Sophie then.

“Oh,” she said, grinning, “this must be serious. Yes?”

“Are you serious?” I asked her. “Does he mean something to you?”

She took a breath. “I didn’t mean to be flip or⁠—”

I squinted at her.

“Sorry,” she said, coughing, “really. I didn’t mean to belittle your⁠—”

“Does he,” I repeated, my gaze locked with hers, “mean something to you?”

“Yes. Yes, he does,” she answered, all levity gone from her voice.

“Okay, then. You have to tackle him.”

“Pardon me?” The gleam in her bright green eyes was very appealing.

“If you want the connection back, I suggest you walk right up, tackle him, like put him on his ass or his back and smush him, and as he’s sputtering—which he does when he’s surprised—then, while touching him, as he’s very tactile, so the physical contact is important, then you tell him you want him exactly how he is and you love him.”

Her eyes went round.

“And what that should accomplish is over the course of a few weeks, you’ll get the hugging back. He’ll still be careful, but one day, in the not-so-distant future, he’ll trust that he can be himself, and you’ll get the spontaneous affection back. It will still be different because you have a child now, and you’ve moved from his buddy to a mom, so with that comes inherent gentleness. He’s like that with his sister now as well. That might really suit you.”

“I suspect you’re right.”

“But really, do what I say. I know him.”

“I would say yes, you certainly do.”

“Good.”

Sophie took a breath, and there were tears in her eyes before she lunged at me, arms around my neck as I laughed and she squeezed the stuffing out of me.

“Why are you mauling my assistant? I think you should—Sophie!”

She had moved fast, letting go of me and launching herself at him. Because the angle was weird, she threw him off-balance, and the two of them got tangled up and fell together onto the kitchen floor. She came down on top of him hard, which was much better than him falling on her, because at six-two, with all the carved muscle on his frame, the man was heavy.

“The hell are you doing, woman?” he rasped.

She laughed, ended up snorting a bit, and when I saw his look of surprise and the slight smile, I knew she had him. Gwen, on the other hand, I was guessing was done. A friend, he could reverse how he acted. An intimate partner who thought he was too rough—he would internalize that and never be able to let that go. I didn’t need to be a therapist to know that was not going to work. But again, nothing against Gwen. Everyone deserved to be treated how they wanted.

I knew how it was for me. I had been worshipped and then hit hard with a closed fist. There was a difference between Gen nearly yanking my arm off and Colton tugging on my hand to make sure I was following him. With Colton, I had always known, from the beginning, how he felt about me, because he communicated that through touch. That absolutely worked for me, but I was guessing, with how Calhoun was staring at the moment, that to them, it was weird. The takeaway was, I didn’t need to give a crap about that. Colton and I knew, and the two of us were the only ones who mattered.

“All right,” Calhoun said, “you two can get out of here and maybe get a late dinner.”

“Dinner,” I whimpered.

Calhoun chuckled and held out his card to Colton. “I’m so sorry about what happened with Hall. Know that you’re safe with the agents here in my office, and please let me know if you see or hear anything from Antonov. My hope is this situation tonight will scare him into leaving, but you never know.”

“I will keep you in the loop, and we both appreciate all you’ve done.”

He nodded, smiled, and then an agent stepped into his office and we were escorted out of the building. It was so nice to be leaving, even better to have Colton take my hand. I found myself liking that more than I thought I would.