A wicked smile spreads across my face. “Same. But to be fair, he was my only. Have you played with many?” I ask into his side.
He shakes his head. “You know what I meant, naughty girl,” he says in a harsh whisper.
His playfulness takes me by surprise and an involuntary giggle bubbles out of me dissolving the less pleasant ones threatening to surface. I mouth a small “thank you.”
Cole smiles sheepishly and shrugs before returning to his “power bowl” the diner made in concert with the hockey team’s dietician. “I would have loved to have you at a game,” he says, responding to my mother between bites. “I’ve been wanting to meet you guys ever since I ran into Natalie in the bathroom, but the logistics have never worked out with my season.”
I keep my reaction to Cole’s kidnapping of Caden and my meet cute to myself. Considering how intense I’ve been with my feelings, it’s logical the guy I’m dating would be the one I met then.
“Speaking of meeting,” my mom says, lowering her mug with a smile, “How was that for you, Cole? Your first run-in with Natalie, I mean. The way she tells the story, you were her knight in shining armor that day. You know, she was so smitten she even called me and told me she thought she met the love of her life that night.”
Cole’s posture straightens. “Did she?”
My mom waves him off. “You probably know by now, Natalie’s full of feelings and loyal to a fault with them, even if something doesn’t sit right.”
Translation: Natalie will follow a douche to a college, despite our wishes, because she loved him once and feels like that means she has to keep loving him forever.
“So I wasn’t really surprised that she fell in love with you at first sight, but I’m wondering how it was for you? Did you feel the same way?”
I meet Cole’s stare, trying to convey to him he doesn’t need to debase himself and answer the question, but when our eyes lock his gaze is soft, holding me and my breath in that space.
“I did,” he says. “I still do. If I hadn’t been so nervous, I would have asked her out that day.” His mouth lifts into a sad, crooked smile as he glances over at me. “I kicked myself for a long time after because I thought I had missed my chance.”
“Glad it all worked out in the end, then. But I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself, son. It was quite the introduction. I’m surprised you didn’t just turn and run.” My dad laughs. “I love my girl, but Natalie can almost be too much sometimes.”
“Wow, thanks.” I stab at a strawberry on my plate. Cole turned and ran the first time he saw me—and I’m totally cool and not bitter about it all—but I don’t need my dad justifying his actions.
“Like I said, I love you, kiddo, but when I was his age—I don’t know if I would have done the shit he did that day. You’ve got a good guy there; don’t let him get away.”
Naturally at the end of this, Colewillget away. By then my parents will probably love him even more and they’ll be disappointed to be left again with only me. Tessa was probably right; it would have been better if I just pretended to be a party girl. Or told them the truth. I hate lying to them. When it was just on a phone it felt different, but now that it’s to their face it feels much grosser and wrong.
“She doesn’t have to worry about that.” Cole says, lacing his fingers with mine. “I know I’m the lucky one and I’m not going anywhere.” He lowers his mouth to my hand and brushes a sweeping kiss over my knuckles.
A lovesick glimmer flickers in Cole’s blue eyes as he meets mine and I almost fall for it. But before I become the fool I’d truly be if I thought Cole Sinclair had feelings for me, I remember his words to me in the hallway.“Darling, I’d be so inlove with you, even you wouldn’t be able to tell what’s real or not.”
And I stuff another pancake in my mouth, because hell, his plan is working.
CHAPTER
SIX
Natalie
Hey, any chance you know what number Cole wears for hockey? When Dillon was on the team, I remember a Sinclair who wore 11 but that’s not out here.
Tessa
He changed to 25 sophomore year.
Wait.
Are you at the game?
Natalie
It’s a long story.
Tessa
