“No, really. It’s totally fine. It’ll be fun.” She took a step toward Sam and said, “I really like your family.”
When he’d seen her with his family earlier, it had done funny things to his stomach. It had been a long time since he’d wanted to introduce his family to a woman, and with Leesa, it was like the world was doing it for him. Bringing them together unexpectedly, seamlessly melding their lives together.
Sam stood from his barstool and hugged Leesa, then offered her his seat. “Great to see you guys.” He gave Cole a manly pat on the back. Every barstool was taken, every table filled. There was barely room to stand, not exactly Cole’s idea of an intimate dinner, but it was his own fault. He simply hadn’t been able to think past seeing Leesa again to make a more careful decision.
“How’s it going, Sam?” Cole moved behind Leesa’s seat and draped an arm around her.
“All’s good in my world. I’m only here for a few minutes.” He nodded toward a tall blonde coming around the corner from the direction of the ladies’ room. “We’re heading over to Whispers. Want to join us?”
Whispers was a nightclub that had dancing and a live band. It would be even louder and more crowded than Nate’s restaurant. “No, thanks. I think we’ll get a drink and take off if a table doesn’t open up. I should have called Nate or made a reservation. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Okay, cool. Well, we’re heading out. Have fun. Nice to see you, Leesa. Watch out for Cole with the trivia.” He pointed up at the television behind the bar. “He knows every answer.”
“Does he?” Leesa said. “Well, I’ll give him a run for his money.”
Sam waved and put a possessive arm around the blond woman on his way out.
The man on the stool beside Leesa rose to leave and offered his seat to Cole.
“Thanks.” He sat beside her. “Sorry about this. Do you want to go someplace quieter?”
“No. This is fine. I’m looking forward to kicking your butt in trivia.” The spark of determination in her eyes made him laugh.
“We’ll see about that.”
While the bartender filled their drink orders, Cole leaned closer and said, “So, you’re a trivia girl, are you?”
“As an only child, I had to do something to keep myself occupied. Reading became my passion, and since it was just me and my dad, I read a lot of his old books and found myself drawn to topics like sports and war. Topics that are probably read more by men than women. So watch out, because my brain is full of so much trivia I’m surprised it doesn’t leak out my ears.” She smiled and sipped her wine. When she licked her lips, he couldn’t resist kissing her again.
“Maybe if you’re nice,” she said, “I’ll let you win.”
They both laughed, and as the questions flashed on the screen, they said the answers out loud, tripping over each other’s words.
“You are good,” he said as the bartender refilled their glasses.
“Told you. Let’s play truth or dare instead so you don’t have to lose.”
He shifted on his barstool, bringing their bodies together from shoulder to hip. “That sounds like something we should play in private.”
“That’s what makes it so fun.” She raised her brows in quick succession. “You want to go first?”
“Sure.”
The bartender asked if they’d like to order food to eat at the bar rather than wait for a table, so they ordered a sampling of appetizers.
“Okay,” she said. “Truth or dare?”
“Truth.” He placed his hand on her thigh and said, “I have nothing to hide.”
She narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together. “Everyone has secrets. How old were you when you first kissed a girl?”
He laughed. “You have no way of knowing if I’m telling the truth.”
“Sure I do.” She pointed her index finger and second finger at her eyes, then pointed them at him. “Honesty is all in the eyes. Stop stalling.”
“Thirteen, playing spin the bottle.”
“Thirteen? You started young. With who?” She finished her wine, and the bartender was quick to refill their glasses.
“You only get one question. Your turn.”
“Dare.” She trapped her lower lip between her teeth as he tried to come up with a dare.
“Dare?” He drank his wine and arched a brow. “I dare you to—”
“Collecting on your thousand-dollar date?”
Cole spun around at the sound of Kenna’s voice. Kenna eyed Leesa with a serious scowl, then turned a smile back to Cole.
“I never thought I’d see you hanging out here,” Kenna said. “You sure have changed.”
“Is there something I can do for you, Kenna?” Cole kept a hand on Leesa’s leg as he spoke, and he felt Leesa’s muscles tense beneath his palm.
Kenna rolled her eyes down his body in a way that intimated a relationship that hadn’t existed in years and said, “I’d just like to talk. I thought we could clear the air.”
“I think we’ve said all we need to say, and I’m on a date, so if you’ll excuse me.” He turned back to Leesa, hoping Kenna would go away.
“Cole, I’m back in Peaceful Harbor to stay. We should be able to talk like adults.”
“I think I’ll go to the ladies’ room.” Leesa stood, and Cole rose beside her, but before he could say anything, she hurried off toward the bathroom.
He huffed a breath and set an angry glare on Kenna. “What’s so important that you have to interrupt my date?”
“I wanted to apologize. I know I hurt your feelings all those years ago—”
“You didn’t hurt my feelings, Mackenna. Thank you for apologizing, but that’s all water under the bridge. Let it go.”
She touched his arm, setting a seductive stare on him the way she used to when they were dating. She was still beautiful, but she had an edge about her now. He’d seen it last night when she’d stormed out of Mr. B’s, and he didn’t like the snotty way she’d looked at Leesa a few minutes ago.
“But things have changed. I was hoping we could, you know, try to see if we could reignite the spark. We were good together, Cole. You know we were.” She stepped closer, pressing her leg against his.
“That flame went out years ago. There’s nothing to reignite.” As he turned, she grabbed his cheeks and pressed her lips to his.
For a second he was too stunned to register what was happening, and then he grabbed her wrists and tore his mouth from hers. He threw cash on the bar for the drinks and appetizers and set his most threatening stare on Mackenna.
“It’s over, Mackenna. There’s not a chance in hell I’d ever go out with you again.”
***
LEESA FROZE, TRYING to process what she was witnessing. She felt the kiss between Kenna and Cole tear through her chest like an ice pick. Cole broke free of the kiss, the look on his face one of disgust and anger. She fisted her hands at her sides, feeling more possessive of him than she ever had of Chris. Someone bumped her shoulder as they walked past, but she was too focused on Cole and Kenna to care. Cole said something she couldn’t hear and stormed toward Leesa with fury in his eyes. His jaw was tight, his eyes dark with anger, but when he placed a hand on her arm, it was tender and warm.
“Do you mind if we get out of here?” There was no hint of anger in his voice, and Leesa wondered how he’d managed to keep the feelings she’d seen written all over his face under control.
“Yes, of course.”
Outside the restaurant Cole’s frustration was evident in his determined steps as they headed for the car. She knew he was trying to push past whatever was going on between him and Kenna, and being confined in the car was the last thing he needed.
“Why don’t we take a walk?” Leesa suggested.
He ran a hand through his hair, eyeing the restaurant like it was a villain. “I’m really sorry about that.”
She stepped in closer and touched his chest. His muscles were firm, but it was the frantic pace of his heart that she
focused on. He was more upset by Kenna kissing him than he’d been when Leesa had told him about her past.
“Unless you initiated the kiss, you have nothing to be sorry for. And even if you did, we’re not dating exclusively, so you still wouldn’t need to be sorry. Unfortunately, exes are part of life, and yours was willing to pay hundreds of dollars last night just to get your attention.”
“Mackenna has always wanted what she couldn’t have, and I’m sure seeing us together makes me even more appealing to her.” He cupped her cheeks and pressed his lips to hers. “More importantly, I’m with you tonight, so if I had initiated anything with another woman, I’d damn well better apologize. And let’s rectify the other situation.”
“Other situation?”
He smiled, and his eyes darkened seductively. “We should be dating exclusively, even though this is our first date, because the thought of you dating any other man makes my blood boil.”
“Are you sure?” As the words left her lips, she silently prayed he’d say he was.
He pressed his lips to hers again in a kiss that drew her body against his and sent her mind spinning into the night. It was a passionate kiss, sending waves of pleasure through her as the kiss intensified, then eased. Like the tide rolling in and crashing over the shore, only to draw back and build pressure, then reclaim its place once again. A surge of lust had her gripping his back, pressing her fingers into his muscles in an effort to possess as much of him as possible in the dark parking lot. She tried to fight her mounting desires, but his hand on her back, in her hair, his kiss, and the masculine, greedy groan that tore from his lungs were too hot to ignore.
He drew back, leaving her tingling lips begging for more. “I’m more than sure.” He pressed his lips to hers again, punishingly soft this time. “Tell me you’ll date only me. I know this is fast. But I also know it’s right.”
Reality stilled her racing heart. “But being with me could hurt your career. I don’t want to gloss over that. You’ve worked too hard to get where you are.”
He kissed her again, his eyes dark and serious, his tone equally so. “I’ve already told you that I can handle anything.”
Her throat thickened at his strength and fortitude and his desire to be strong for her. He was so different from the man who’d broken her heart that a fearful wave of disbelief washed through her. Could she trust him? Trust his actions, his words, his offer of support? When he cupped her cheek and brushed his thumb over her lips, she felt the difference in his touch.
“You can trust me.”
The honesty in his eyes and the sincerity in his voice solidified his promise and erased her fears.
Chapter Nine
THEY HELD HANDS as they walked down the road toward the harbor. The air held the scents of the sea and the hum of sexual tension.
“It’s been years since I’ve walked through Peaceful Harbor at night,” Cole said as he draped an arm over Leesa’s shoulder and pulled her in closer. “I couldn’t wait to settle into a practice here, but then I got so busy that doing things like this never happened.” He smiled at her and added, “Honestly, I haven’t been with anyone here who I’d want to take on a walk like this. Until you.”
Leesa’s stomach fluttered with his confession. “When I first drove into town I was so scatterbrained from everything that happened that I didn’t really take in my surroundings. Lately I’ve been taking walks at night, like the night you saw me on the beach. It’s been cathartic, taking in the sights and stores and knowing the water is just minutes from Tegan’s house. I can see why she loves it here. There’s so much to this town that I wonder why everyone doesn’t walk instead of drive.” She pointed to the old-fashioned lampposts with big round globes that rained light over the sidewalk and the old-fashioned awnings that hung above storefronts. “This is nothing like Towson. The streets here feel friendly and loved, and as much as I hate to say it, where I used to live, the streets felt lonely and neglected.”
“Maybe that was the company you kept and not the streets.” Cole squeezed her shoulder.
In just the few minutes that it took to walk from the restaurant down to the harbor, the tension in Cole’s face had subsided completely. But Leesa couldn’t stop thinking about Kenna and the anger she’d seen in her face last night and again at the bar. Something felt off to her, like more than just an ex-girlfriend who wanted to reconnect with a man.
“Can I ask you something personal?” she said tentatively. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“Sure.” He led her across the street toward the marina.
“Is there more to the story with Kenna?”
They crossed the parking lot, and Cole led her down a set of stairs to the docks below. The silence between them was cut only by the sounds of water splashing along the pilings.
“There is more,” he finally said as they walked along the water. His eyes rolled over the sailboats, their masts standing erect against the inky sky. The farther they walked, the fewer boats they passed. Cole was quiet as he led her to the far end of the marina, where a beautiful boat was tucked into a slip.
“This side of the marina is private. We’ll be alone here on my boat.” An easy smile curved his lips, and she wondered if this was his way of distracting her from the question.
“It’s a beautiful boat.” Even though he didn’t seem tense, she worried that he was trying to distract her, and now she felt bad for prying. “Cole, you don’t have to tell me what happened between you and Kenna. I was just curious.”
“Have you always been this careful with questions?” he asked with wonder in his voice. “Or is it because of what you went through?”
“Oh. I…” Can’t believe you noticed that I’m careful. She was definitely more careful now than she had been before her ordeal. “I think I’m more careful now. Having gone through something that I don’t really want people to know about makes me more aware of others feeling the same.”
“You don’t have to be careful with me. Even though we just met, I feel a connection with you that’s different from what I have with other people. I don’t have anything to hide. I just wanted to be someplace where we could sit and talk uninterrupted.”
He helped her onto the boat, and they settled in on the cushioned bench. Leesa turned to face him, and he draped an arm across the back of the bench.
“I haven’t shared this with anyone else, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t share it with my family. Peaceful Harbor isn’t that small of a town, but word can travel quickly if it falls upon the wrong ears. And strangely, I still feel sort of protective of Mackenna.”
Leesa’s stomach tightened with his admission, but if she was honest with herself, she still felt protective of Chris in certain ways, too. Even though she’d been devastated when he’d chosen work over her, once the ache and disappointment had subsided, she’d understood why he’d done it.
“We dated for about two years, and I guess you could say she was my first love. Or at least that’s what I thought at the time. But now I’m sure it wasn’t love, because in the two years I dated her, I never thought about her even one-tenth as much as I’ve thought of you over the past two days.”
He paused, and Leesa was sure he could see the surprise and delight she felt written all over her face.
His fingers brushed over her shoulder. “I’m not trying to say I’m in love with you. There’s such a big difference in what I do feel, it made me realize that I wasn’t in love with her.”
“I’m sorry if I look surprised. I’m not, really, because I’m in the same boat.”
He arched a brow and his smile grew as he tapped on the boat.
“Literally, I guess.” She laughed. “I thought I was in love with Chris, too, but I now know I wasn’t. I was attracted to him, comfortable with him, and maybe after two years I was ready to settle for him, too. I’m not sure about that.” She thought for a second, and her father’s words came back to her again. “I guess in a way I could say that if anythin
g good came out of the mess I went through, it was that I got to see that side of him before we ended up married with children and something he didn’t want to handle came up. It would be much harder to part with children involved. But I don’t think anyone really knows what they can and can’t handle until they’ve had to face it.”
“Is that how you rationalize what he did?” His eyes grew serious again as he ran his finger up the length of her arm, sending shivers right through her. “Because I disagree. I think we know what we can handle, and we make choices based on those things. I knew I wasn’t the type of guy who could share a woman. I’ve never been that person.” He raised his brows. “Sammy? He’d rather share than be tied down any day of the week, and I get that. There are lots of guys who feel that way.”
He gazed out over the water for a minute and said, “You asked if there was more to what’s happened between me and Kenna, and there is. I told you the truth about why we broke up. She wanted an open relationship, and I didn’t. It was what I found out afterward, the thing that, as far as I know, has been kept secret for all these years, that left the bitter taste in my mouth.”
Leesa couldn’t imagine what it might be, since he’d already told her that Kenna hadn’t cheated when they were dating.
“You probably know by now how important family is to me,” he said.
“Yes, you all seem very close.” She thought of the way they teased one another and how Shannon built up Tempe’s organizational skills. She loved seeing that type of support between siblings.
He smiled. “We are, but I never realized how important family loyalty was to me outside of my own circle until after Kenna and I broke up.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.” She was trying to concentrate on what he was saying, but he was absentmindedly brushing feathery touches across her shoulder, and her entire body was aware of each and every stroke of his fingertips.
Surrender My Love (Love in Bloom: The Bradens): Cole Braden Page 9