Page 17 of Verdict

I shook my head. “No way. Once the lease is up, I’ll figure something out. I can find a bigger place that doesn’t cost what this does.” I walked back toward the view of the lake. “I’m already uncomfortable with you paying for my rent for a year; there's no way it goes beyond that.”

Cohen shrugged and said nothing, but I had the feeling this was not the last of this conversation.

I turned back toward him. “Seriously,” I said. “Thank you for this.”

He shrugged, hands sliding into his pockets. “I’ve got you.”

The next few weeks flew by in a blur of boxes and exhaustion.

Cohen hired movers—and then paid them to unpack everything too. Sometimes I swore he thought I was incapable of doing anything myself. But I couldn’t deny how helpful it was.

He was out of town for a series in San Francisco. Even so, he texted often, and we tried to FaceTime at least once a day so he could see Ellie. He was far more involved than I’d ever expected, and I was grateful she had a present father.

I was finishing the last of the dishes when a FaceTime request popped up on my phone.

Cohen’s face filled the screen.

“Hey, hey!” he said, smiling. “Where’s my girl?”

He looked like he’d just showered, damp waves pushed back, skin warm and relaxed.

Infuriatingly handsome.

“She’s snoozing in her Boppy,” I said, flipping the camera to show Ellie asleep on the counter in her little newborn cushion.

He leaned closer to the screen, lowering his voice instinctively. “Look at her. Damn, she’s got even more hair.”

I smiled. “I know. A full dark-brown mop already. And her eyes are only getting bluer—I wonder if they’ll stay that way.”

He grinned. “I hope so. Then she’ll look like her pretty mama.”

My body warmed in a way I couldn’t explain. I hated how my body reacted to him. Hated that it always felt so easy with him.

Cohen glanced off-screen at the same time I heard a woman’s voice.

My stomach dropped.

We were friends. Nothing more. But the thought of him with someone else made my chest tighten painfully.

Why am I surprised?

Cohen Jordan had a reputation for a reason.

He nodded to whoever was beside him, smiling.

Then I saw her.

The back of a woman with long blonde hair crossed the edge of the screen—there one second, gone the next. Something inside me hardened. My stomach dropped before I could stop it. Of course there was a woman there. Cohen was handsome, charming, and very single. Women had always hovered around him like moths to a flame. Still, seeing it—knowing someone else was standing just out of frame in his hotel room—sent an uncomfortable ache through my chest.

Cohen turned back toward me. “So, how did moving go? Everything set up?”

“It was fine,” I said shortly. “I’m still working on it." I couldn't control the edge to my voice. I was ready for this conversation to end.

A flicker of confusion crossed his face.

“I’ve got to go,” I added flatly. “I still have a lot to do.”

He frowned slightly. “Okay. Give Ellie a kiss for me. I’ll text you later.”