Page 29 of Tempted Hearts
“Are you finished?” I asked, Delaney’s empty coffee cup and croissant crumbs answering for her. Before waiting for an answer, I jumped up. “Now that that’s settled, you guys finish up. Delaney and I are going to soak in a few minutes of sea views before we head out.”
I was halfway to the promenade when Delaney caught up with me, her red hair streaming behind her like some sort of sea nymph.
“You fit in perfectly here,” I said as we approached one of two empty benches. I sat and drew in a deep breath. “I could live here.”
“With that view?” she teased. “Pretty sure anyone could. I’ve never seen so many shades of blue and green before.”
Four more days wasn’t enough.
“So what the hell’s going on?”
Delaney was nothing if not blunt.
“Good question. I honestly thought Cole was a pompous prick and had no idea what the guys saw in him.”
“Thought? As in past tense?”
This is where it got tricky. I turned to her, tucking my leg into me on the bench. “I’m not fully convinced he isn’t a pompous prick, but he’s also clever, and funny, in a strange sort of way. And last night, while we were lying in bed, we talked in the dark until… I don’t know… maybe three o’clock or so.”
Her expression was exactly what I expected it to be.
“In the morning?”
Ignoring the question, I forged ahead. “I mean, obviously he’s hot as hell, and you should see him without his shirt. Jesus, Mary and Joseph.”
Delaney’s jaw dropped.
“You aren’t seriously telling me you’re attracted to Cole Ford? You hate the guy.”
“Hate’s a strong word.”
“He’s as different from you as they get.” She tried a different angle.
“Clearly.”
“And lives in the city.”
She gave me a poignant look. The only guy I’d dated even semi-recently also lived in Manhattan. Not that I was considering Cole as potential dating material. But it was ironic.
“Rocco is…” I stopped. Was what? A great guy who I dated who wanted to take things more seriously, something I had been, in theory, ready for. And he’d even mentioned not wanting to live in the city permanently. But there had been something… missing. “Besides the point.”
“Uh huh,” she said, clearly unconvinced. “Maybe we shouldn’t leave you here.”
“Delaney,” I said firmly. “It’s nothing, at the moment. Just…” I shrugged. “Something to keep an open mind to. More importantly, I wanted to get you alone so you knew for sure I really am fine if you guys stay in Florence. This trip got totally turned on its head, so let’s make the most of it.”
Delaney’s frown told me she wasn’t convinced. “By staying here with Cole?”
“Why not?”
When she opened her mouth to give me the likely million answers to that question, I stopped her.
“That was rhetorical.”
She blew out air as if deflated. “I don’t like it.”
So I asked her the one question I’d been pondering all morning. “Do you trust your fiancé to make good judgments about who to have as his close friends?”
I’d asked myself that before today, but always just brushed it off, thinking the guys just had some college-born history with Cole they couldn’t shrug off. But there was more to it, clearly. And Parker did have good judgment. The proof of that was sitting with me on this bench.
