Page 37 of You'll Be the Death of Me

“God damn it, Tommy, what did you put in there... ?” she muttered as she marched toward the polished double doors.

“Ms. Rodgers, wait!” Cole called, already several paces behind her.

“I should have paid more attention,” she said through gritted teeth, already seeing red again at the mere thought of such betrayal. She was three paces from the door, ready to pass through it and upend Mr. Sterling’s office in a rampage to find what they needed.

“Dell!” Cole desperately shouted as she walked full speed into the closed door with a loud bang.

Her forehead cracked off it, and she saw stars. She stumbled back, reeling, and felt Cole grip her waist from behind to steady her.

“Why didn’t that work?” she said, and threw a hand to her throbbing forehead. Her vision was still dotted with fading sparkles. “I could walk through my own door.”

“Yes,your owndoor,” Cole said from behind her. He held her until she had her feet back under her. “You can pass through walls of your own property but can’t enter other spaces without permission.”

“What?” she said, and rubbed her head. She wasn’t sure if a ghost could get a goose egg, but surely, she should have one from that collision.

“He has to let us in,” Cole clarified, and gently led her over to the leather bench lining the wall. “Or he at least has to open the door and we can slip in after him. Here, you should sit.”

“Huh. So it’s like vampire rules?” she asked, and let him lower her onto the bench.

“Something like that.”

“So, it’syeson my own door,yeson standing and sitting on things, like this bench, butnoon other peoples’ doors?”

“Yes. And it should benoon moving objects, but somehow, you are able to. And definitelynoon touching people—even though youcan, you shouldn’t.”

“I might need you to write that down for me,” she said, and gently touched her fingertips to her forehead. “Will I bruise?”

“No. Your body is preserved, remember?”

“But I can still feel pain?”

He shrugged his shoulders up to his ears. “I don’t make the rules.”

Dell took a deep breath to settle herself and leaned back against the wall. “No, you just follow them. So, what do we do now?”

“We have to wait.”

“I am not good at waiting.”

“Yes, I’ve ascertained that about you,” Cole said, and shot her a coy grin.

She glared at him, but only half-heartedly.

They sat in silence for a few moments, Dell very aware his thigh was mere inches from hers. At least this floor of the building seemed empty for the day, save Mr. Sterling in the shower. She assumed they had a private bathroom stashed away somewhere. The little sconces on the dark paneled walls shone upward, lighting the stylish waiting room. Dell noted the orchids on the reception desk matched the ones from Mr. Sterling’s office she’d admired the day before, when she was still alive.

Cole gently cleared his throat. “How did you meet your fiancé?”

“Ex-fiancé,” Dell quickly corrected.

“Yes, sorry.Ex-fiancé.”

Dell sighed, still overwhelmed by it all. “We met at a fundraiser gala. Our parents basically shoved us together. I was mostly going to marry him to make them happy.” The honest truth came spilling out before she even realized it.

Cole looked at her with wide, sympathetic eyes. “Really?”

“Really,” she said with a sad nod. “My family is kind of a big deal—and I don’t mean that in an egotistical way. I mean, theexpectations are high. My brothers are real estate moguls, my dad is a retired mogul, and my mom runs more nonprofits than she knows what to do with. Even if it’s unspoken, there’s pressure to keep up.”

Cole sat quietly for a moment before speaking. “Pressure from them? Or from yourself?”