Tears welled in my eyes, blurring my vision. “I never stopped loving you, either. Not even for a second.”
Chapter 8
Cole
Inever stopped loving you, either.
Those six words would’ve brought me to my knees if I wasn’t the only thing holding her up.
There had never been any mention of another guy, and I hadn’t imagined this between us the moment she got back, but, fuck, I needed to hear that.
She pulled back and tried to smile, despite the sadness in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “Honestly.”
“I’m fine,” she whispered, still gripping my T-shirt as if letting go would make her fall into a black hole.
Her actions contradicted her words.
“I need ice cream. Do you have to get to work, or do you have some time?”
The vulnerability in her voice made me want to burn down the whole prison her dad and Frank were in.
“I’m yours all day.”
Raising her head, she let go of my T-shirt, and that playful glint returned to her eyes. “They fired you, didn’t they?”
“Why would they fire me? I’m a fucking legend.”
She laughed, quickly covering it up with a cough. That was what I wanted, though—to make her laugh.
“I took a day’s holiday, actually.”
“You took a day off work so you could come with me? On top of the time you took off last week. You’re going to waste all of your holiday time on me.”
“It’s not a waste. Maybe I think you’re worth spending those days on.”
“Yeah?”
I chuckled at the look in her eye, shy but glowing. “Yeah. Now, let’s go get some ice cream.”
Instinctively, I reached for her hand, and she curled her fingers around mine. It felt so natural, even now… especially now.
“I don’t like the new place. They should change it back.”
“I tried that. The first time I went in there after the renovation, I nearly lost it. The booth we sat in… everything was gone. I asked them to put it back but of course they weren’t going to.”
“Really? They wouldn’t rip out all the new stuff and replace it with the old?”
“We are sarcastic now. Australia is a bad influence on you.”
She shook her head. “It’s not Australia. You just make it easy.”
Before I could react, she pulled her hand out of mine and shot around to the passenger side of my car, laughing. Seeing her big smile and hearing that husky laugh was worth her teasing the crap out of me.
“Shut up and get in the car,” I said.
“Shut up and unlock it.”
