Saving Rose Red - Maggie Dallen Page 0,40

like—staring at the screen he’d pulled up as if it should mean something to him.

Hunter had been in the kitchen when he’d finally given up the pretense of sleep and gotten up to start the day. Despite the fact that the sun had yet to rise, Hunter had been there with a mug of coffee in hand and a newspaper lying open on the table. After taking one glance at Cole, he let out a sigh. “Come on, might as well focus on work if you don’t want to drive yourself crazy.”

It wasn’t until they were in the car on the way to Spencer’s that he clarified that statement. “It’s Andie, right? She’s what’s got you looking like you don’t know your foot from your head?”

Cole stared straight ahead. He didn’t want to talk about this with Hunter, of all people. A man who thought of Andie as a little sister. He kept his expression unreadable as he stared at the car in front of them.

Hunter snorted and shoved the rest of his bagel in his mouth. “Trust me, man. I know that look. I’ve fallen head over heels for one of the Knight sisters too, remember?”

Cole’s mouth tightened. Head over heels? That made it sound so…so…sweet. So simple. “This isn’t the same thing.”

Hunter chuckled softly. “Fair enough. But if you decide you want to talk about it—”

“I won’t.”

Hunter laughed again but soon enough they’d reached Spencer’s and talk had turned to business. That he could handle.

“Mackenzie sent over this file,” Spencer was saying. “Maybe something here will trigger something. She has a pretty thorough list of all Gallagher properties and their holdings.” Spencer kept talking but Cole was only partially listening. Despite the urgency of his immediate situation he couldn’t keep his mind off the pink-haired woman who’d stolen his heart.

He couldn’t figure out how she’d done it but it was useless to deny it to himself. She’d gotten through the mile-thick armor. She’d climbed inside, somehow, and now he had no idea how he’d get her out of his life without losing a part of himself in the process.

Somehow he just knew it would be the part of himself that made life worth living.

“Cole.” Spencer practically shouted his name and Cole sat up straight and rubbed his eyes. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

Spencer and Hunter exchanged a look and Cole had the bad feeling that they’d been trying to get his attention for far too long.

“Don’t bother, Spence,” Hunter said. The private investigator was still laughing at him. “He’s too far gone to be much use to us.”

Spencer’s brow furrowed in confusion but then it abruptly cleared and he let out a sigh of disappointment, like Cole was some disobedient child who’d let him down. “Seriously? You’ve got a thing for Andie?”

Before he could deny it—and frankly, he didn’t know why he would bother to since he seemed to be the most readable man on the planet when it came to her—Spencer continued. “Of course you do. I should have seen it. It’s so obvious.”

It was? He shook his head, trying to clear it. Between no sleep, memories from the night before, and now having to contend with Hunter and Spencer’s speculations—well, maybe Hunter had been right. He couldn’t tell his foot from his head.

All he knew was he needed to cut this off. Whatever this was. He had to make sure Andie understood it was never going to happen.

“I ended it.” He hadn’t actually intended to tell these two men anything about his personal life but they seemed determined to gossip like a bunch of teen girls instead of focusing on Anthony and the Coradas. Might as well get them off his case once and for all.

Now they were both staring at him like he’d grown a second head. Hunter started laughing first. “Yeah, and how did that go?”

Spencer started in too. “Oh man, you’ve got it bad.”

Cole scowled at them both. He didn’t enjoy being laughed at during the best of times, but today? He found himself contemplating just how bad it would be to beat up a man in a wheelchair.

“What happened, did you guys get in a fight?” Hunter asked. He was leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, as if this was better entertainment than ESPN.

Cole kept his mouth clamped shut.

“Aw, come on. I’ve been there, man. I made some epic mistakes with Jenna when we first got together.” Hunter shook his head. “Love makes you stupid, take it from me.”

Cole stared straight