Unbreakable (City Lights, #2)(49)

“All right, we’re out.” Victor—Vic, he’d insisted on being called—stood up from where he’d been leaning against the windowsill. “A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Gardener. Thanks for thinking of this guy,” he said, and then loudly ushered the other men out.

The room seemed incredibly quiet with Cory’s friends gone, and a short silence feel between us.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon,” Cory said. “Thanks for coming.”

“Sure.”

He looked so much better, even since yesterday. They’d taken out the nasal cannula, color had returned to his tanned skin, and the hoarseness of his voice was gone, leaving his low gravelly tone.

He looks beautiful, I thought. And that’s why I should leave. This has to be the last visit.

“You look good,” I said. “Really good.”

“You look…gorgeous,” he said, and I had to find somewhere else to look besides his rich, dark eyes.

His hospital gown was short-sleeved and I noticed a tattoo on the inside of his right forearm. Two prints, like fingerprints, except they were baby feet, and rendered with perfect detail, as if they’d just been stamped on his skin. Above the little feet was the name Calliope Rowan Bishop. Below, a birthdate.

“I hadn’t noticed that before,” I commented. “That’s amazing detail.”

“Yeah, the guy I go to is really good,” Cory said. “He made the prints from the hospital certificate they gave us when Callie was born.”

“You have other tattoos?” I asked, trying to keep my voice light. I had guessed he had. Not guessed, fantasized. I cleared my throat.

“Only three. Big one here,” he tapped his left shoulder—the one closest to me, the one I’d slept against for three days, “and one more on my back.”

I nodded, at a complete loss as to what to say next.

“Do you have any ink?” he asked and it felt so strange that there was anything left between us that we didn’t already know.

I smoothed down my dress. “No, uh, no I don’t,” I replied and the image of Georgia with her two full sleeves down her slender arms came to me. He must like women with tattoos.

“Anyway, I can’t stay long. I was just taking a walk today and passed this bakery I like…”

I started to reach for the cupcakes but he caught my hand in midflight and held it. “How are you? Better?”

I nodded, staring at our clasped hands. “I think so. What about you?”

“They say I’ll be out of here in couple of weeks.”

“That’s great, Cory.” I itched to pull my hand back and wanted to hold on tightly at the same time.

“I noticed you have your ring back,” he said quietly, glancing at the huge stone on my other hand. “That’s good.”

“Uh, yes.” I put my left hand in my lap. “Have you seen Callie?”

“Not yet. Georgia said she’d bring her next week.”

“Oh. Good.”

He turned his head and really looked at me, and I knew the sudden awkwardness between us hadn’t gone unnoticed. “What is it? You can tell me, Alex. Talk to me.”

I nearly did.

I started to tell him I’d moved out of Drew’s house. That I’d demanded some time apart. That I’d told everything to the F.B.I. and I still felt clogged up inside. That I’d been kicked out of my job. That I couldn’t walk down a sunny, crowded street without feeling naked and vulnerable. That I’d been evicted from my life in every way and I didn’t have the first clue what to do about it.

I wanted to tell him all of it, so badly, and yet how would that help? A temporary catharsis. But Cory belonged to the bank robbery and I had to let that go first, completely, if I was to move on.

“I can’t…come back,” I whispered. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Oh.” His eyes clouded and he let go of my hand. “Okay.”

“I’m going to marry Drew.”

“I know.”

“I should go.”

“Yeah, okay. Thanks for the cupcakes.”

“Of course. Okay, well…” I stood up slowly, not wanting to end this way, so uncomfortable and awkward and unreal. “Goodbye, Cory.”

“Goodbye, Alexandra.”

I didn’t know why, perhaps it was that I was never going to see him again, or perhaps it was the way he’d said my full name—like it was a secret I had told only him—but I bent to kiss his cheek. That was my intention, and whether I altered course at the last moment or he turned his face, I couldn’t say, but I found my mouth on his, my lips brushing his gently in a soft kiss.

It should have ended there. A chaste peck and nothing more. But I lingered and felt his hand slip up to cup my jaw. His mouth opened ever so slightly and I couldn’t help but respond, to take his lower lip in mine, to nip and suck it gently, a burning urgency smoldering in us both.

This close, his clean, warm scent defeated the pervasive hospital odors and I reeled slightly at the heady feeling that was stealing down my limbs and between my legs. I started to pull back and instead opened my mouth wider, my tongue venturing to slide against his. God, he tasted so good, so clean and warm and velvety soft.