“Don’t you dare,” Hayden said. “So how did the night end?”

“I left him with his brothers, waiting for surgery to be over. I felt bad deserting Cole, but it was pretty awkward once we went upstairs to the ICU waiting room with them. It felt like it should be family only.”

“And it was the middle of the night by this point,” Hayden said, as if reinforcing she’d made the right decision in leaving. “His mom made it, I take it?”

Sierra told her the basics, which was all clammed-up Cole had given her between yesterday and this morning.

“That’s a high-drama night for sure,” Hayden said.

“It pales in comparison to this morning at the office,” Sierra said.

“Oh?” Hayden leaned closer, planting her chin on her hand, elbow on the counter. “Do tell.”

“He was back to reserved Cole, business-only Cole, but even worse than usual. Really buttoned up and he didn’t want to talk about his mom at all.”

“Like an awkward morning after, and you didn’t even get the sex,” Hayden said.

“Sort of like that.” Sierra spun her glass round and round, her fingers at the base of it, a repetitive, almost subconscious movement as she went back to the morning in her head. She’d been able to tell, from the second he walked into her office, that he was guarded and she was going to have to smack him, figuratively speaking, back to the reality that Saturday had changed things. “I kissed him,” she blurted out.

Hayden had raised her glass for a drink, but she froze with her hand midway to her mouth. “What? Like, an I’m sorry your mom is unwell and I’m here for you kind of thing?”

Sierra grinned. “More like a damn, you look good and I need to kiss you to remind you that we practically spent the night together two nights ago kind of thing.”

“Okay.” Hayden sat up straighter, lifted her glass in a toast. “Here’s to going after what you want.”

Sierra laughed, raised her glass, drank. As she set it back down, she said, “Do I want him though?”

“Seems like a resounding yes from here.”

“Shit, Hayden, I kissed one of my employees. How many ways is that wrong?”

“How many ways was it right?”

Sierra glared at her, then eyed the bottle, starting to think there wasn’t enough wine for the evening. “What if he thinks I harassed him?” she asked, trying to break through her friend’s lack of concern.

Hayden’s perfectly groomed brows went up. “Harassment would mean he didn’t welcome the attention. Did he seem like he didn’t want it?”

“He didn’t want the personal talk, but the kiss?” She remembered every second of him pulling her closer, his strong hands on her back. “He took control of the kiss.”

Hayden let out a quiet sigh of longing.