CoCo blinked back sudden tears. It wasn’t like her to bare her soul. If anyone had suggested that she’d be ready to dissolve into ridiculously happy tears in front of a woman she barely knew, she would’ve laughed in their face. But she’d never had somebody encourage her like this and she was quickly losing the protective layer she’d insulated herself with.
CoCo wrapped Laci into a hug, unable to contain herself. “You have no idea what it means to me to hear you say this,” she explained through a sheen of tears. Even though she could’ve held on to Laci for another long minute, she released her with a laugh, saying, “Sorry about the impromptu PDA but I just can’t explain how your advice has touched me. I don’t know, maybe it’s all this clean air. It’s messing with my brain.”
“Don’t apologize, sweetie,” Laci said, laughing. “Genuine hugs are the best.”
“Thank you again. I really appreciate it. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”
Laci nodded and then said, “So, break out those sketches. You’ve got me curious now. I want to see what the new Abelli rising star is going to be like.”
CoCo blushed but eagerly went to find her phone. Laci McCall wanted to see her sketches and she’d successfully baked a pie. The day was ending on a really good note. At this rate, she could almost completely forget that some crazy person was trying to kill her.
21
RIAN SHOULD’VE KNOWN that Kane would miss nothing. It was a waste of time to lie so Rian met his brother’s stare. What could he say? “Are you going to bust my balls about this? Because it’s complicated.”
Kane grunted in answer and pushed off the barn door, coming toward him. “I know it’s about to get a hell of a lot more complicated when the father finds out that you’re banging his daughter—the daughter you’re supposed to be protecting.”
“Ah, so you are going to bust my balls,” he muttered. “Look, I know I screwed up. I don’t know what to say—some things happened between us and now we can’t seem to stop.” His cheeks flared as if he were a boy caught with his pants down and he got flustered. Trying to explain himself just made it worse. “Mind your own business, Kane. I’ve got this handled.”
“And how exactly do you have it handled? Because the chemistry you were throwing at the table was enough to catch the linens on fire.”
It wasn’t his fault that CoCo made his eyes cross. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. “I don’t need a lecture from you. I understand the consequences.”
Kane disagreed, not willing to let it go. “I don’t think you do. Because I can’t imagine that you would’ve risked everything for a piece of ass.”
Rian’s temper flared. “She’s not a piece of ass. Don’t talk about CoCo that way.”
“Well, I can’t imagine why you would do something so stupid. For crying out loud, Rian, you couldn’t have waited until the job was over? There are plenty of fish in the sea but this one was off-limits.”
“I know that!”
“Then why did you cross that line?” Kane wasn’t letting him off the hook. And maybe that was a good thing but it was really pissing Rian off. “Just how do you see this ending? I don’t see it ending well. What’s going to happen when you move on? What if she gets jealous and starts making trouble? What if she wants to get even when you break things off and goes and tells her dad that you two were messing around? This is our company’s reputation on the line.”
“Why would you think that she’d do anything like that?” Rian scowled. “She’s not that kind of person.”
But then he thought of CoCo and his first impression of her and he paused. Was that the real CoCo and what he was seeing now was an act? He didn’t want to believe that but maybe he was being a fool. “She and I already made an agreement that once we return to Los Angeles it’s over. Just leave it at that. Can’t you trust that I would never put our company in jeopardy?”
Kane shook his head, angry. “Before this moment I would’ve agreed with you but now that I know you’ve been sleeping with a client, I don’t know what to think. You screwed up, Rian. Take responsibility.”