Page 46 of Ruff and Tumble

“You didn’t laugh that time.”

She blushed deeper, but that didn’t stop her from replying in kind. “Neither did you.”

He chuckled now, pausing just long enough to run a hand through his hair and return it to its former glory. Hailey didn’t dare do the same. She could feel how loose her braid had become and knew the color wouldn’t leave her face for another few minutes. To attempt repairs without a mirror would only make her look worse.

“For a minute there, I think I might have forgotten how,” Cole said. He reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear. It wouldn’t do anything to improve her appearance, she knew, especially since it caused the heat to flare up inside her all over again. “Consider this fair warning, Hailey. If you compliment me like that again, you’re going to get soundly kissed.”

He paused and stared, as if expecting her to urge him into a repeat performance. As ifhopingfor it.

It would be so easy to comply. Compliments on his appearance and muscle tone, on what a good brother and uncle and son he was, on how all he had to do was smile to light up an entire stadium full of people… Hailey had no shortage of options available to her.

But “You’re not staying here tonight” is what she said. It was the only thing she could think of, and it didn’t even begin to capture everything she was feeling. “You’re getting in your car and going home. If you leave now, you can get a few hours of sleep in before practice tomorrow.”

He seemed to find this highly amusing. “Yes, yes. I know. I can’t crack a spread defense without it.”

“I’m not worried aboutthat,” she replied. She blamed the fact that she was still so rattled for what she said next. “It wouldn’t be right for me to take advantage of you in your current situation, that’s all.”

He blinked down at her, the flutter of his eyelashes the only movement he made. “Mywhat?”

She made a vague gesture over him—at the wrinkles in his once-crisp white button-down, the lines of exhaustion on either side of his mouth, the way his shoulders were oh-so-slightly sagging from their usual granite position. “It’s been a long day, and you just spent the last five hours at the hospital. You’re feeling emotional and vulnerable and in need of human comfort—totally understandably, by the way—but it wouldn’t be right for me to take advantage of you.”

He still wasn’t moving, but something in his gaze shifted. “You’re afraid of taking advantage of me,” he said, his tone flat.

“Yes.”

“Because I’m in a vulnerable state.”

“I know it might not feel like it right now, but the classic signs of shock—”

He didn’t let her finish. “You’ll kiss me and make me hot chocolate and open up to me about your own father’s death, but you won’t sleep with me.”

She could feel the heat starting to fast-track to her face. Okay, so it was a little presumptuous of her to assume he wanted to stay the night, but after a kiss like that one, she figured the thought had crossed his mind. It had certainly taken up residence in her own.

“I’m sorry,” she said, feeling flushed. “It’s just that you said if I complimented you again—”

He swooped in and kissed her again, but this time, it was a quick, loud smack of his lips against hers. He put his hands on either side of her face and held them there, his eyes twinkling down at hers with unmistakable warmth.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you in my life, but it must have been something amazing,” he said.

“Wait. So youdowant to sleep with me?”

His chuckle was so deep and so rich that it sent her whole body quaking. “The things I want to do to you don’t have anything to do with sleep.”

Hailey had no idea if her cheeks were still flaming, because at those words, her whole body caught on fire.

“Don’t worry. I’ll go,” he said, his voice low, his hands still holding her face like it was the most precious thing in the world. “Not because you told me to, and not because I’m in an emotionally vulnerable state, but because there isn’t nearly enough time tonight for me to do things properly.”

She opened her mouth and closed it again, unable to think of a single thing to say. Which was probably for the best, because she doubted she could manage much in the way of coherence right now.

As if sensing this, Cole leaned down and pressed a quick, light kiss on the end of her nose. “Thank you, Hailey. I knew that seeing you again tonight would cheer me up. I just didn’t realize how much.”

He stepped back and snapped his fingers. The sound did little to bring Philip to attention, but it did have the benefit of bringing Hailey to hers. She managed to walk Cole and his puppy to the door, saying all the right things and wishing him a safe journey home. She even got the door shut and locked behind them, but that was about as much as her limbs would comply.

Cole Bennett wanted to not-sleep with her. Cole Bennett wanted the time to do things properly.

Even if he woke up tomorrow and changed his mind, if he realized that Hailey had been right about the emotional upheaval that a beloved father’s heart attack could wreak—and that she was the last person on earth he wanted to entangle himself with—she still had this moment.

And she’d always have that kiss.