Black

“Fine. Sorry.” She holds her hands up. “We wouldn’t have come back so early if we’d known you had company.”

“Why did you come back early? I just talked to JJ, and he said you were going to go out.”

“Yes, but then you told him you were going home. Did you really think we would let you sit at home by yourself on your birthday?”

Pinching my lips together I narrow my eyes at Erin.

“Birthday?” Rex asks, touching my arm. “Today is your birthday?”

Erin winces, and I shoot her one last look before answering Rex.

“It’s really not a big deal.”

“We had dinner plans, but she got held over at work, and then the schmuck was late and she had to cancel all together…” Erin’s words trail off as her eyes bounce between Rex and me, understanding slowly creeping in. “Ohhhh. You’re the schmuck, aren’t you?”

“Okay.” JJ grabs Erin’s arm. “Let’s

go open a bottle of wine and leave these two alone for a second.”

Erin gives Rex an apologetic look as JJ drags her off to the kitchen.

“Shae,” Rex says, grabbing my hand.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Yes, it is.” His eyes soften. “That’s why you didn’t want to talk about your birthday, isn’t it?” I nod, and he shakes his head. “Why didn’t you tell me you had plans tonight? We could’ve rescheduled the meeting.”

“Well, for starters, when Josalyn asked me to stay late, I didn’t realize you were my client. And it’s not a big deal. I’d rather work than celebrate anyway.”

Face tight with apologies, Rex sighs. “I ruined your birthday dinner.”

“You didn’t ruin anything,” I say, hugging his waist. “You pushing me up against the wall was probably the hottest gift anyone’s ever given me. If anyone should be apologizing, it’s those two assholes in there for interrupting us.”

Rex’s eyes grow dark with lust. Lowering his head, his lips graze mine. “I want to make it up to you.”

“Oh, I’m counting on it. In fact, I think I’m going to let you make it up to me several times. This birthday is going to be epic.”

“We could go back to my place. Or I could walk you around the city to check out old buildings.”

My smile fades. His recollection of the first day we met reminds me why I came back to Chicago. I’ve spent hours on the internet searching for clues about the life my father lived, hoping to jog a memory or at the very least get an idea of who Isa is, but I keep coming up empty. I’m not sure what it’s going to take to pull things from the deep recesses of my brain, but I make a silent promise to myself that I’ll keep trying—I’ll make time to figure things out, although maybe not as quickly as I had hoped.

“Or not!” Erin interrupts.

I shoot her another look. Damn open floor plan.

She holds up a bottle of wine, waving it around. “I only meant you could stay here and celebrate with us first. You know, before going back to Rex’s where you’ll probably have crazy hot sex.”

With Rex’s hand in mine, we walk into the kitchen. I snatch the bottle of wine from Erin. “You need to get laid,” I whisper.

“I know,” she whines. She pulls a corkscrew from the drawer and hands it to Rex. “Jacob has this crazy idea that we should wait until the wedding to have sex.”

“What?” JJ scowls. “Why on Earth would he want that?”

Rex pops the top off the wine and pours us all a glass.

“I don’t know.” Lifting her shoulders, Erin lets them fall as she shakes her head like a damn bobblehead, leaving me to wonder how many glasses of wine she’s already had tonight. “Maybe I’m not a good lover.”

“Oh, come on, Erin. I’m sure that’s not it,” I say, secretly grateful we’ve turned the microscope to her love life.