“Ha!” I was grinning now. My cheeks hurt from how much I was grinning. “You think I sensed that you needed a sidekick tonight, and the gods sent me for you?”
“No.” He reached out and touched one of the pandas on my pajamas, right where my tank top rested over my shorts. The material lifted, and I felt the heat of his hand there, right on my stomach. “Just the panda gods. They must’ve heard my prayer.”
My head tipped back. “You’re funny.” God, his hand felt good there.
His eyes darkened, and the smirk lingered. “I have lots of talents, but I mean it. I’d love a date for this restaurant tonight.”
I stopped laughing. I got his message. He wasn’t interested in a friend, a sidekick, or a companion. He wanted a date. My body reacted to his straightforwardness, and for a moment, I didn’t trust myself to speak.
Clearing my throat, I pulled my eyes away. “Uh.”
“It’s Friday night.” He was still touching one of the pandas on my pajamas. His hand was against my stomach, and he pulled me closer to him. The cloth felt like nothing now. There was no barrier between us, and I looked down, unable to tear my eyes away from his hand. “I’d like you to have dinner with me.” He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear with his other hand.
When I looked up, his hand fell away, but he still held on to me. He was bold, and I didn’t want his hand to move. I heard myself saying, “I need to change.”
He nodded. “Meet me in the lobby. One hour?”
My head moved up and down, and then I pulled away and went around him. Every part of my body was aware of him. Like it wasn’t just mine anymore, it was a part of him. With each step I took, I sensed who I was leaving behind.
This wasn’t normal. This didn’t happen in real life. It took months before I’d felt this burn for Liam. With Cole it was the second time we talked, and the fourth time I’d seen him.
Everything melted inside me, and I had no idea what I’d picked to wear until I was stepping back into the elevator and hitting the lobby button. I glanced down, and my hand went to my hair. I’d put on an outfit Sia once chose for me. She’d laid it out on my dresser, saying I needed to dress sexier, and it had stayed there for two weeks. I looked in the mirrored wall to see my hair. It was pulled up in a messy braid, similar to last Friday’s lunch. Sia would’ve approved.
The elevator came to a stop, lurching in sync with my stomach.
A date—I wasn’t ready.
I reached inside my purse and found my wedding ring. I didn’t put it on, but I held it. Some of the nerves calmed inside. Then the doors slid open, and I looked up.
It wasn’t how good Cole looked that gave me pause. It was the look in his eyes when he saw me. It’d been so long since a man looked at me like that, like I was breathtaking to him, like he wanted to protect me, take me to bed, and laugh all night, all at the same time. I felt beautiful as Cole took in the sight of me. The feeling washed over me. I blinked back a tear, held my breath.
Liam… I missed him with an impossible heaviness.
Then I could hear him whispering, “Whatever this guy’s going to say, I agree. You look stunning, Addison.” He would’ve leaned in to kiss me. “I love you. Live your happy, Addy.”
It felt so real—feeling him, hearing him. Live your happy.
The heaviness lifted, and I stepped from the elevator, my head high as I walked toward Cole.
He drank me in. “You look beautiful.”
It was a simple dress, a simple sweater, but with the black boots Sia had picked, and I knew my getup made me look sexy, too. Thank you, Sia, I thought as Cole held out his hand for me and I took it, feeling his fingers close around mine.
Ken was waiting by the door. He held it open for us, pushing out toward the street. He nodded as we passed. “Have a fun evening, Mr.—”
Cole shot him a look.
“Cole and Miss Addison,” he finished.
I turned to give him a reproach for the ‘Miss’ part, but Cole led me quickly around a black SUV and opened the passenger door. I got inside and waited until he’d rounded the back to get in the driver’s seat.
“You drive yourself?”
He started the engine. “Hell yeah, I do. You didn’t think I would?” He turned into traffic, and his wolfish grin showed me another side of this mystery man. He loved driving. No, it was more than that, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.
“For some reason I thought you’d have a driver.”
“Ah.” His hand moved over the steering wheel. He leaned back, keeping one hand there and resting the other on the stick shift. “You’re right. I normally would have a driver, but this week has been my vacation from regular life. That means no driver. I get to do it myself. And driving a stick shift—” He changed gears. “—is a rush all its own.”
He was dangerous. He was strong. And now, he loved adrenaline. Cole was everything Liam hadn’t been. “You like the rush,” I mused.
He moved between cars and glanced over at me.
“Is that in all aspects of life?” I asked.
His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t reply. I saw the corner of his mouth lift up. Then we switched lanes again and came to an intersection. The faint grin was gone by then, and he turned onto another road before sliding to a halt in front of a brick building. He unclipped his seat belt. He didn’t get out, not even when the valet opened his door. He watched me. “Does that unnerve you? The rush?”