Page 47 of Tempted Hearts
“Three years? Sounds serious.”
“It was, until it wasn’t. Nothing dramatic happened, but there were just too many things we couldn’t agree on. Big things, like what we wanted the future to look like.”
His slow smile told me Cole thought he had me on something.
“Thought you liked to wait for glimmers? Let the future unfold as it would.”
“On some level, yes. Exactly. But not for the important things that probably should have gotten cleared up much earlier in our dating journey.”
“Like?”
“Like, he was a homebody. I had to drag him away from Cedar Falls kicking and screaming.”
Cole seemed genuinely surprised. “I can’t believe you dated someone for three years who didn’t like to travel.”
“You and me both,” I assured him. “And you?”
“Yes, I do like to travel.”
I rolled my eyes. “Girlfriends, Cole.”
He got a bit more serious. Actually, it was the same look he’d given me when we talked at Mason and Pia’s party. But without glasses, or a shirt for that matter, and a turquoise sea backdrop, it didn’t seem prickish. Just… intense. Thoughtful.
“You really want to know?”
“Yes, I do.” Actually, I really, really wanted to know. His girlfriends. His past. But mostly, what had hurt him so bad he tried too hard to shield this Cole, “new Cole,” from the world.
“Zero.”
I froze. “Zero?”
“Proper girlfriends, as you define them? Yes. Zero.”
“And you’re how old, exactly?”
“Thirty-two.”
Oh dear Lord. I should probably stop asking questions, but this next one was going to slip out of my mouth one way or another.
“And… improper girlfriends? Of the short term, or one-night variety?”
He stared me down. Dared me to keep pushing.
Shit.
“I don’t want to know, do I?”
Sighing, he finally looked away. “No,monella, you don’t.”
19
COLE
We climbed back onto the boat, but before coming aboard, Marco stopped us.
“I will finish a chapter. Sit there,” he said.
“There” meant the swim deck. Great idea, except… it was a small platform. Too small for us both to sit without nearly touching. Marco clearly thought we were a couple, and why wouldn’t he? By most standards, this looked like a date.
