important parts of his life.
“Hey, man,” Michael drawled, and Paul lifted his head just in time to see his partner setting a steaming Starbucks cup down in front of him that smelled like heaven. “You look even shittier today than you did on Friday.”
“Thanks,” he muttered, taking a grateful sip of the coffee. For weeks now, Michael had been giving him a hard time about how bad he looked, but it was difficult to get a good night’s sleep when the woman you were crazy about kept ignoring you…and then turned you down.
Instead of moving to his own desk, Michael propped his hip up on the edge of Paul’s, his dark gaze shadowed by concern as he said, “You ready to talk to me yet?”
He snorted as he leaned back in his chair. “You’re not my fucking therapist, Mike.”
His partner slowly shook his head. “Naw, man, I’m not. I’m just your friend. But I’ve got a number for a good one if you want it.”
“You… Wait, what?”
“I’ve got the number for a good therapist,” Michael said smoothly, before taking a drink of his own coffee.
Paul was pretty sure his eyebrows had lifted all the way to his hairline. “You see one?”
“I have in the past,” Michael admitted with an easy shrug, his tailored gray shirt fitting perfectly across his linebacker-sized shoulders. “And she’s good, man. The best.”
“I…” He shook his head a little, trying to wrap his mind around what he was hearing. “Was it the job?”
Michael nodded. “A bad case, right at the time when my dad passed away. I just needed someone to talk it out with, you know? It’s amazing how much shit like that can help.” His partner tilted his head a bit to the side, the guy’s dark gaze searching his as he added, “Or maybe you don’t know.”
“I…your dad died?” he scraped out. “When?”
“Last year.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” And, shit, he thought, please don’t tell me I was walking around with my head stuck so far up my ass, I didn’t realize my own partner’s dad had died.
“Thanks, man,” Michael murmured, his deep voice a bit huskier than before. “It happened a few months before I transferred out of Vice and we started working together. My old man was my goddamn hero, and it hit me hard when we lost him, but Dr. Ross helped me get through it…along with some other things.” Michael moved to his feet and walked around to his desk, set his coffee down as he opened the top drawer, and pulled out a business card. “You should give her a call,” he said, holding the card out for Paul.
Leaning forward, he took the card from Michael’s outstretched hand…and had to resist the knee-jerk impulse to toss it into the trash can under his desk, which would have been a total dick move. Instead, he sucked in a deep breath and slipped it into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. “Thanks,” he muttered. “And I’ll, um, think about it.”
Sinking down into his chair, Michael gave him a knowing smile. “You know, it doesn’t make you less of a man or revoke your badass-cop card to need some help every now and then.”
“Yeah, I know,” he grumbled. “I’m not that fucking archaic. I just… I don’t like talking about personal shit. With anyone.”
“Then the doc will be good practice,” Michael said, picking his coffee back up, “because if you’re serious about starting something with the lovely Karin that I keep hearing so much about, then you had better fucking learn how to open up. No woman wants to be stuck with some jackass who’s too afraid to talk to her about the things that are important. Hell, about anything and everything. Communication is key, man.”
“Fuck,” he cursed under his breath.
“You know I’m right, brother,” Michael said with a deep, rumbling laugh.
Scowling at his know-it-all friend, he muttered, “And I’m never going to hear the end of it, am I?”
Michael’s smile was as sharp as a knife. “Not in this lifetime.”
Shit, he thought, dropping his head back into his hands. I’m so screwed.
That night, Paul went over to Sean and Natalie’s for dinner—a thunderstorm making it too dangerous for them to go out on the water—and it was impossible not to latch on to every noise that came from beyond their front door, his ears desperate for the sound of Karin’s voice. Her SUV hadn’t been in her parking spot when he’d arrived, which meant that she and Jase were