I don’t know if all men look like that, but Cole’s body is so impressive to me, it makes my stomach flutter. I think I understand what the women in the books mean when they talk about how attractive they find their beloved. I feel strangely warm, and my mouth is as dry as a desert.
"Good morning."
Cole’s words snap me out of my amazement, causing me to lift my gaze. He’s standing just a few feet away from the bed, hanging the towel over one of the chairs by the dining table. His eyes look almost silver in the sunlight streaming through the windows, but the expression on his face instantly makes my heart beat faster.
He does not look happy.
"Did you sleep well?"
I nod and swallow down the lump that has formed in my throat as I watch him put on his T-shirt. "Did you sleep in the bed?—"
"No." He interrupts me in a harsh tone. "I slept on the couch."
I don’t know if I’m relieved or disappointed by his answer.
"Are you hungry?" Cole turns away from me to walk to the kitchen. "I have coffee, too, if you want some."
Since he’s no longer looking at me with those piercing eyes, I relax a little before I free myself from the blanket and stand. "I don’t know if I like coffee," I confess while looking around again.
Against one wall is a row of metal lockers, some of them dented, with patches of rust here and there, and next to them is another door. To my left, a staircase leads down, and in the back of the room, in front of one of the windows, is a large table covered in green carpet with colorful balls on it. Right next to it stands a motorcycle, and I wonder how Cole got it up here.
"You must know if?—"
I turn back to Cole and see him pause before he looks at me with his brows drawn together. "You’ve never had coffee before, am I right?"
Shaking my head, I return his gaze until he closes his eyes. He mutters something incomprehensible that sounds like he’s cursing and rubs his forehead with one hand. When he looks at me again, I can’t decipher his gaze. Nevertheless, I walk toward him after he has turned around again to take two cups from one of the upper kitchen cabinets and put them in some kind of box with buttons.
"What is that?"
"A coffee machine." Cole pushes one of the buttons, and the machine lets out a hell of a noise, which makes me flinch. "Don’t worry. It just grinds the coffee beans." He grabs a box of sugar cubes from another cabinet. "Didn’t your mother drink coffee?"
I shake my head again as I watch the first dark drops fall into the cups. "No. Just tea."
Shortly after, the machine finishes and makes a few more strange noises before falling silent again. Meanwhile, I breathe in this new scent that now lingers in the air and decide that I like it.
Cole drops two cubes of sugar into one of the cups, stirs it with a spoon, and pours some milk into it that he had taken out of the fridge. Then he hands me the cup, and I take it cautiously.
"Why sugar and milk?" When I lift the coffee to my nose to smell it, the scent has changed a little.
"Because it’s pretty strong and would probably be too bitter for you." Cole reaches for the other cup and takes a sip.
"How do you drink it?"
"Black."
I frown and tilt my head.
"Without anything. Black, see?" He holds out the cup for me to look inside.
"Black," I repeat softly before looking into my cup, whose contents are rather light brown. Then I take a small sip myself. I can taste the milk and sugar, as well as the bitterness Cole was talking about. I even think I detect a fruity note, but I can’t pick it because the sugar is too dominant.
"So? How’s your first coffee?" Cole watches me while sipping from his cup.
"It’s… not bad," I answer before tasting it again. "But I’d like the next one black, too."
Cole turns away for a moment and chuckles while shaking his head slightly. When he looks at me again, though, his face is sincere, and I fear that I don’t want to hear what he’s about to say next.
"Why did you want to run away so badly?"
