I was afraid I was falling for this man fast, and I didn’t know how to stop the momentum of my feelings or of our relationship.
I mean, who could have told me a couple of weeks ago that not only would I be going on my first date with a man but also going on a series of them, some of which included a three-year-old who I was starting to adore as much as her father?
It was wild. These are the kind of things that happened in the fiction books I sold rather than real life. Yet somehow it felt… right. The pace, the time we spent together, the nature of our conversations, the chaste kisses we gave each other when no one was looking.
“I bet you never thought one of our dates would be a nativity play,” Cole said after a moment.
I shook my head and laughed.
“Admittedly not, but that was fun. Different but fun,” I said.
Cole smirked.
“We’re really burning through our dates, aren’t we? I think we’re acing this twelve dates thing.”
“Are we?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Well, yeah. We’ve been on two dinner dates, a kitty rescue, Christmas tree hunting, ice-skating, tree decorating, the shift yesterday?—”
“I don’t know if I’d count that as a date.”
Cole chuckled.
“Well, it was unconventional, but I had a great time,” he said. “It felt nice having you there.”
My heart felt tighter in my chest, and a warm fuzzy feeling washed over me.
“I guess we did have a drink after so maybe it does count,” I said.
“What’s that, seven? Eight dates if you count the tree and ice-skating as a double one.”
I leaned back to my seat and looked at him in fake dismay.
“Are you counting down the dates to get rid of me, Mr. Williams?”
Cole pressed his lips together and shook his head.
“No. Of course not,” he said. “But I thought maybe you were looking forward to getting rid ofme?”
I grimaced.
“Why would I want that?”
Cole shrugged.
“I don’t know. I’m a lot. I come with baggage.”
I turned to look at Ella in the back. She’d fallen asleep.
“I hope you don’t mean this little bundle of joy.”
“No,” he said. “Yeah. I don’t know. I’m a lot, and I don’t know what I want.”
“You don’t? I haven’t gotten that impression,” I said.
“Oh, really?” His eyes went wide. “Th-that’s good then.”
He went quiet, but that didn’t mean I stopped looking at him.
