“I know what you told me, but we aren’t your responsibility.”
His lips thin in aggravation. “I didn’t say you were. I was just trying to help. I can see that I made a mistake.”
When he sets the phone on the coffee table and starts to turn away, I stop him with a hand to his forearm. I feel his response to my touch–the rippling of muscle under my fingertips. “Wait! That’s not what I–”
“I shouldn’t have come.”
“Cole, stop! Please. I didn’t mean it like that. I just…I don’t want you worrying about us. It seems like you…like you’ve got enough to worry about without us adding to it.”
His eyes are like a turbulent sea. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I sigh, exasperated with myself and the mess I’ve made of things. “I just mean…God! I don’t know what I mean. I just know that I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. I…I’m grateful for the gift. Thank you. I just…I hate that you went to so much trouble for us. Jordan…Jordan said you don’t drive and I…I…”
His expression turns stony and cold. “People say all sorts of things about me.”
“So you do drive?”
The further tightening of his features answers my question. “Use the phone if you need it. Toss it in the garbage if you don’t.”
He pulls away and heads for the door in long, angry strides. I’m left to either watch him leave again or chase after him.
This time I chase after him. “Cole, wait.”
He stops with his hand on the knob, his face in profile to me. I can see the firm set of his jaw and the little muscle that twitches rhythmically there.
“Yes?”
I walk right up to him, winding my fingers around his arm again and hauling myself up on my toes. I press my lips to his cool cheek. “Thank you,” I whisper against his skin.
I start to back away when he turns to look at me. His mouth is within an inch of mine and I stop dead, frozen by the magnetism that exists between us.
I see his piercing eyes fall to my lips. I know I should move away, but I don’t. I’m not sure I can, even though the muscles in my calves are trembling as they hold me up.
Cole’s arm is wedged between my heavy breasts and I have the intense urge to press into him, to ease the ache that’s getting stronger with each passing day. As though he can sense it, he lists toward me. Just a little. The tiniest of sways. But it’s enough. It’s enough to fan the flame of our attraction.
I jump when a harsh knock breaks the spell. Neither of us moves for a few more seconds, hesitant to let this go. Whatever “this” is.
At the second knock, I drop back down onto my heels. Cole clears his throat and steps aside so I can answer the door, but his eyes are still on me. I can feel them, like velvety fingers, keeping me wound up. Disconcerted.
It’s with one shaking hand that I reach for the knob and pull open the door. Jason is standing on my porch, smiling down at me.
“Jason. Hi,” I say, sounding as breathless as I feel.
“Eden,” he says with a nod, his smile widening. “Can I come in?”
“Oh, uh, of course,” I stammer, standing back to allow him to enter. I know the moment he spots Cole. His body language changes completely. He stiffens and his smile turns cold. He tries to hide it, but only a complete fool wouldn’t be able to see it.
“Hiya, Cole. Didn’t know you were here,” he says as if there is no tension in the room.
“Jason,” Cole nods. “What brings you by?”
Conveniently, Jason holds up a white slip of paper he’s carrying. “Brought the receipt for the items you bought at the store. Jordan forgot it when she bagged it all. I told her I’d bring it on out, but you weren’t at your place or across the street, so I thought I’d drop it off with Eden. You know, since you were fixing things here.”
I guess that makes sense, but still, it seems like an awful lot of trouble for a receipt. “Thanks,” Cole says coolly, reaching for the paper. He folds it up and sticks it in his jeans pocket.
“Were you on your way out?” Jason asks Cole innocently enough, pointing back over his shoulder at the door.
Unruffled, Cole simply says, “As a matter of fact I was.” Jason moves farther into the living room as Cole approaches the door again. “Call if you need me,” he says. Then, with one long look, he’s gone, leaving an empty space in the room that ten Jasons couldn’t fill. I feel oddly…bereft, a sensation that’s becoming more pronounced every time I’m around my handsome landlord and then he leaves.
“I thought you didn’t have a phone,” Jason reminds after the door is closed and the room is quiet again.
“He brought me one,” I confess, not following him into the living room.
His eyebrows shoot up. “He did? Well, looks like you’re bringing him out of his shell.”
I shrug. I don’t know what to say to that, although his observation makes me happy.
“The guy needs all the friends he can get. Nobody really wants to have anything to do with him, so…”
I know what he’s doing. I know what he’s getting at. And it infuriates me. I don’t let him see that, though. “I’m glad I can be different then.”
“You are definitely different,” Jason says, his genuine (if a bit shark-like) smile returning. His gaze skims me appreciatively.
As if sensing my discomfort, Emmy jumps up from her place on the floor and runs to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and looking up at me with her big, shiny green eyes.
“Well, thanks for bringing that by for Cole. Emmy and I were just about to get into her lessons for the day.”
His expression sobers, but he still seems pleasant enough. “I’ll see myself out then.” When he passes me, much closer than what I’d have liked, he stops and bends toward my ear. “If you need help, you’d be better off calling me. I don’t think you want to put much faith in Cole. Not with a history like his.”
I frown. I want to ask questions. I’m sure he knew I would want to ask questions. But I’m not falling into his trap. “I guess you should leave me your number then.”
That seems to satisfy him quite a bit. He takes out his wallet and removes one of several crisp business cards. They read JASON BAILEY. OWNER. BAILEY’S QUICK STOP. BAILEY’S PROPERTY MANAGEMENT. BAILEY’S IMPORTS.
What doesn’t he do in this town?
“Call me anytime. I mean it.”
He gives the underside of my chin a quick brush with his hooked forefinger, like we’re that familiar, and then reaches for the knob. I wait with bated breath for him to disappear, unlike with Cole, who I have to resist the urge to beg to stay. And when the door is closed behind Jason, I can’t help noticing the relief I feel. Nothing like the empty, yearning sensation I get when Cole goes.
With Jason gone, Emmy happily returns to her spot on the floor. I drift to the chair and sit down, lost in deep thought. What is Cole doing to me? How can I be so taken with someone I hardly know? What is it about him that pulls me in, that has taken such a hold on me and won’t let go?