Page 87 of Tempted Hearts
When I turned back, they were both laughing.
“Just a hike,” Mason said.
“And he’s supposed to be the smart one,” Parker added.
“You’re both assholes,” I said. “I’m not going to lie to her. And I’m not walking away either. I want to see her again.”
That was all I had.
Apparently, it was enough. Mason stood, clapped the counter, and smiled.
“Enjoy your date,” he said.
“Your word,” I reminded him.
“I know.”
33
JULES
I turned the music up. Carly Simon filled the house with a confident, carefree energy that made it impossible to stand still. I danced through the kitchen and into the living room, laughing at myself as the song about thunder and rain came on and the sky outside darkened.
For two fairly intelligent people, you would think we might have looked at the weather forecast before choosing to embark on a hike. Cole was on his way to pick me up and figure out a Plan B.
For a few minutes, I let myself feel light and reckless and fully in my body, the kind of mood that made bad decisions feel inevitable and completely worth it.
When he knocked at the door, I opened it all the way, unable to help myself from cracking up at the darkened sky. I opened the screen door.
“Perfect hiking weather, huh?”
As if in response, a crack of thunder taunted us.
By the time he came inside and I closed the door, it had just started to rain.
“It’s actually weird seeing you dressed like that.”
Shorts, T-shirt, sneakers. No glasses. It was as if the buttoned-up Cole I met that first day wasn’t this guy at all. Except that he was one and the same, and I needed to remember that.
“I don’t typically hike in khakis and a button-down.”
The song continued to play. I grabbed his hands.
“Do you dance?”
Before waiting for a response, I twirled him into the living room. Whether or not he liked to dance, I had no idea. But he was doing it anyway and actually had pretty decent rhythm.
When the song finished, he spun me in a pirouette and then brought me into him. It was a kiss unlike any other. Maybe it was the music. The rain, which I could hear from my open windows.
Something made this one feel magical, our lips melting perfectly together. I couldn’t get enough of him.
When we broke apart, I couldn’t decipher the way he looked at me. If it were any other man, I would guess something like affection.
He tucked one side of my hair behind my ear. “So what do you want to do today instead,la mia piccolo monella?”
“Now I’m your little troublemaker, huh?”
“Something like that.”
