Which,again, wasn’t the point.
Regardless, Cole took a deep breath and decided to keep his mouth shut while he waited for whatever reaction she was going to have next.If it was tears, so be it.Time for him to man up and just deal with?—
A wide grin split across her face and her eyes sparkled up at him as she breathed, “That.Was.Awesome!”
Well.How surprising.
Chapter4
Hadley once met Dolly Parton.For years afterward, she figured out ways to work that factoid into random conversations because it had been the coolest thing she’d ever experienced in her life.
Until now.
She’d read about men who defended women and beat up would-be attackers.Mostly in romance novels.She’d hoped such men were out there, even though, in her experience, they were as elusive as unicorn farts.
But actually seeing it in action—seeinghimin action—was atotallydifferent story.
Her neighbor looked even better in person than he did through her binoculars and was, without question, the most beautiful man she’d ever seen in real life.But not, like,prettybeautiful.Definitely more of a rugged, untamed, manly kind of beauty.The messy black hair, the thick beard stubble, the jawline that looked like it’d been carved out of stone, the knife-edged cheekbones, the eerily pale green eyes…holy hotness, Batman!
He was super tall and built like he did nothing but manual labor all day, too.His white T-shirt looked like it was fighting for its life against his biceps and pecs.And while she hadn’t cared that Darren was on the shorter side and what could be described as wiry, she’d be lying if she said her neighbor’s huge physical presence wasn’t sexy.
Having all ofthatfocused on defending and protecting her was making her feel even more special than when Dolly signed a promotional photo for her and called herdarlin’.
She could only hope she hadn’t embarrassed herself by grinning manically at Dolly like she wassureshe was grinning at her neighbor now.
Hadley shifted her gaze to the pile of glass that used to be Darren’s car window on the ground.“I didn’t even know car windows could shatter like that.”
She imagined some men (and definitely the ones she’d been dating lately) would take that opportunity to brag a little about their skills or strength.Not her neighbor.He wasfartoo cool for that.He just stared down at her like she’d lapsed into a language where he could only translate every other word or so.
“New car windows don’t,” he eventually said.“You’d need an escape hammer on a newer car like yours.You probably have one in your emergency bag.”
Bold of him to assume she had an emergency bag in her car.Truth was, she didn’t even have an ice scraper in her Toyota, let alone tools that could shatter a window.But she didn’t want him to think she was ill-prepared, so she kept her mouth shut.No reason for him to know all she had in her car was a half-eaten, two-week-old box of Milk Duds and a stack of reusable grocery bags she always forgot to take into the store with her.
She’d still eat those Milk Duds, too, even if she chipped a tooth doing it.Not that she’d admit that tohim.
But I digress…
She cleared her throat.“Saying ‘thank you’ for…thatseems insignificant.I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t gotten here when you did.”
A frown line creased his brow.“I do.”
Yeah.So did she.She’d justreallyrather not think about it.It made her feel fragile.Breakable.Andbreakablewas the very last thing she ever wanted to be.She was a smart, independent, successful woman.Admitting she could be easily overpowered and hurt was humbling.Infuriating, too.
But she didn’t want to discuss that with this unnecessarily attractive, Jason Bourne-like man.So, instead, she held her hand out (the unbruised one) and said, “My name’s Hadley.Hadley Lockhart.”
He stared at her outstretched hand for a second or two like he was unfamiliar with the custom of shaking hands.Eventually, he wrapped his giant hand around hers and gave it a squeeze so gentle she assumed he was worried about hurting her.
She wasn’t hurt.She did wonder, however, if he felt the little shock of awareness that shot up her arm the second his warm skin touched hers.
Yowza.
The speed with which he released her hand suggested he hadn’t felt it.Seemed about right for the romantic luck she’d been having lately.
Then it occurred to her that he hadn’t told her his name.He was just staring down at her like she was a calculus problem he’d been told he had to solve without scrap paper and a pencil.
After a few moments of awkward but intense eye contact, she prompted, “Andyourname is?”
He gave his head an almost imperceptible shake before he said, “Cole.Cole Clayton.”
