He didn’t seem like there was an emergency or bad news, though he definitely looked like he hadn’t been sleeping, based on the dark shadows under his eyes. Now that she looked at him fully in the light, though, she couldn’t help but notice that, under his winter coat, he was wearing something she’d never seen him wear before—khakis and a button-down shirt. And he had shaved recently, which made her fingers itch to touch his sandpapery jaw.

“I need to talk to you.”

“Why didn’t you text me instead of nearly giving me a heart attack?”

He grimaced. “Sorry about that. I went old-school, tried knocking on the door, but apparently you didn’t hear it.”

“I was kind of in my zone. What do you need to talk about? Why are you dressed like that?”

He stepped away from the door, came closer, and Sierra wanted to touch him so badly, to run her hands up his chest as if she hadn’t walked away from him a few days ago. To ensure she didn’t, she pushed off the counter and headed to her office, where she could sit with the table in between them.

Except when she got there, she couldn’t bring herself to sit. The heater was still pumping out blessed warm air, and she stood in front of it, letting it blow on her feet.

Cole sauntered in, pulled out the chair that used to be his usual one from the table, and instead of sitting on it, sat on the table itself.

“I knew I’d find you here,” he said. “Tried this first, even before your apartment.”

“Why?”

“Because I figured you’d be work—”

“I mean why did you track me down, Cole?” she said impatiently. Her nerves were stretched taut as he took his sweet time explaining himself.

He exhaled and looked suddenly nervous, flustered. She’d never seen him like this, not even at Kennedy’s wedding, when she knew he was uneasy and felt out of place.

“I’ve been thinking about everything you said Monday night,” he said. “Pretty much thinking about it nonstop since Monday. I was up all night, turning things over in my mind. Mason helped me realize some stuff and…” He shook his head. “Forget all that. Come over here.”

Sierra frowned. Her spot in front of the heater was only about four feet away from where he sat. She wasn’t sure she trusted herself to go closer.

“Please?” he said, and there was a plea in his eyes, along with something else, something she’d never seen on him before. An openness, as if he was laying himself bare.

That or she was being stupidly hopeful.