time, Cole felt ten feet tall and bulletproof.
Chapter Six
Jane stepped out onto the back porch, two cold beers in hand.
She’d showered and changed into a strappy sundress and flip-flops because, for the first time since Finn had been landed on her unexpectedly, she could actually call it quits for the day. The dress was an A-line design, falling from the shoestring straps on her shoulders all the way down to her ankles in a sheath of printed cotton.
Perfect for nights just like this.
Cole was sitting on the top step, still and silent as he stared out over the backyard just as he’d done this time last night. She’d been determined to make her first performance review brief and brisk, but the orange and gold of the setting sun outlined his frame, burnishing him in fire, and she faltered. It was like the universe was pointing a big fat flaming arrow at him.
Or sending her a freaking huge warning beacon.
But, as her gaze fell on his back, on the broad set of his shoulders, the meaty cheeks of his ass, and the brush of dark, tangled curls against his nape, her pulse did a funny little flutter, and her chest cavity felt too tight for the rough inhale expanding her lungs. She’d never missed having a man around, but Cole sitting there, waiting for her, caused a sudden, vicious well of yearning. And not just for any man but for him.
Warning beacon or not, Cole Hauser was definitely under her skin.
Pushing those fanciful thoughts aside, Jane forced herself to walk, then to sit down on the stoop beside him—not too close. Her ponytail brushed against her nape, and the excess material of the dress slipped between her thighs as she settled her feet a natural distance apart, and, with as much casual aplomb as she could muster, she handed over his beer.
“Thanks,” he said, taking it off her and cracking the lid.
Jane cracked hers, too, and for long moments they sat side by side, not saying anything, just drinking beer, their gazes fixed firmly outward. She didn’t know what he was thinking or staring at, but Jane was concentrating hard on the golden diamonds of light shining through the leaves and branches of the oak tree because she didn’t want to think too much at all.
If someone had looked over the wall at them right now, she and Cole probably appeared companionable. Two people sitting close enough to be friends, drinking a beer together. But there was an awareness between them that did not feel remotely companionable. It felt alive with possibilities, fraught with tension. The me Jane, you Australian Rugby God kind of tension.
Cole Hauser was a man, and every cell in her body keened to his blatant masculinity.
After a long, silent minute, Jane dragged in a steady breath, determined to act like her body wasn’t lit up like a switchboard right now. “Thank you for today.” It came out clear and steady. If Cole hadn’t been here, Jane would have done a little victory dance.
He glanced sideways at her, a small smile playing on his mouth. “So I passed?”
Jane laughed at the wholly inadequate statement. “With flying colors.”
“Does this mean I get an A on my performance review?”
“Oh no.” Jane shook her head, trying to rid herself of the sudden urge to grade him on things that had nothing to do with his child-minding skills. “You get an A plus. Finn didn’t stop talking about you and your day all during his bath and getting ready for bed. He even kept interrupting the book I was reading him to tell me the things he hadn’t remembered to tell me. You were a hit.”
Cole grinned, his teeth even and white, a cleft in his chin just barely visible through the scruff on his jawline. The fact her son’s praise clearly thrilled him made him that much harder to ignore.
Slow heat suffused her body as Jane pushed on. “And thank you for dinner, too. You didn’t have to cook for me.” She faltered. “For us…but it was very much—”
Appreciated.
She cut herself off abruptly before she said the word, and he cocked an eyebrow, that small smile playing peek-a-boo on his lips again as if he knew exactly what she’d been about to say. She didn’t know why she’d stopped. God knew she wanted him to lean in and kiss her again. Properly, this time, deep and slow and wet.
Maybe cradle her face and slide his hands into her hair.
“It was very