All She Ever Wanted - Barbara Freethy [95]
"They don't have any evidence to do that."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm a lawyer, aren't I? Look, Laura—you don't have to worry about the book. Natalie is the one who should be concerned, not you. You didn't do anything to Emily. your hands are clean. However, it might be a good idea for you and the girls to get out of town for a while. Why don't you go up to Tahoe, stay in your parents' cabin for a week? You can come back when this all settles down."
"The girls have school, and I have appointments," she said, surprised by his suggestion.
"They can miss school, and you can reschedule. I don't want you or the girls hounded by the press. And I don't want you to say the wrong thing."
Which was probably his main concern, Laura thought cynically. "I can't go out of town. I have an audition on Monday for the Community Orchestra. What do you think about that?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I want to play the flute in the Community Orchestra."
"You're not good enough to do that, are you? You haven't played in years, and don't you have enough to do taking care of our children and our home?"
His words made her feel immediately guilty. Madison was right. Drew had always known exactly which buttons to push. But she had Madison in her head now, too. And Natalie. Even Emily's voice could be heard, telling her it wasn't a crime to want something for herself. Before she could tell him she'd do what she wanted, he was speaking again.
"I've got to run," Drew said. "We'll talk about this when I get back."
"I love you," she said quickly, automatically, out of habit—but he had already hung up. He hadn't told her he loved her. Maybe he didn't. Maybe she didn't. Right now even her own words of love had a hollow echo to them. They needed to talk, share, trust each other again. But that wouldn't happen until he came home, until this secret case he was working on was over. She just hoped the secret case had nothing to do with Malone's book, because there were a lot of things she could forgive, but that might not be one of them.
Chapter 16
Natalie awoke to sun streaming through the blinds in Cole's bedroom early Thursday morning. A glance at the clock told her it wasn't that early— almost eight. She rolled onto her back with a sigh of delicious satisfaction; she hadn't slept so well in years. She was just sorry that tomorrow had finally come. They would have to talk about the past, the present, and maybe even the future. It wouldn't be just the two of them anymore. The rest of the world would have its say. And she wasn't quite ready to give Cole back to the rest of the world.
Maybe she never had been.
She'd told him before that she'd never asked him for anything, no promises, no ring, no happily ever after. That had been true. She'd never said the words out loud, but in her heart she'd wanted all of that. Maybe he'd run from what he'd seen in her eyes, not what he'd heard in her voice. Maybe the same thing would happen again. Because she was falling in love with him for a second time. Her heart wanted to believe that there could be a different outcome this time around, but her brain knew it was a long shot.
The bathroom door opened and Cole appeared, his hair and chest damp from a shower. She swallowed hard at the sight of him wearing only a pair of skimpy blue boxers. She would have liked to just stare at him for a while, but after giving her a sexy smile that completely undid her, he jumped into bed, pinned her beneath his body, and proceeded to kiss her like he was never going to let her go.
As soon as one kiss ended, another began. He gave her no chance to protest or even to tell him to keep doing exactly what he was doing. Which was really all she wanted to say. He pressed his lips to her neck, her shoulder, her collarbone ... and she sighed with pure pleasure. She didn't want him to stop. She didn't want to think anymore