that was a good sign, right? That was how one was supposed to feel around a guy one liked.
And she liked Cole. He might have been the exact opposite of every guy she’d ever dated, but that didn’t mean anything. She’d been drawn to her past boyfriends for one reason—she’d thought they might have a future. She’d thought that maybe they could be the one. Now, if she compared her string of short-term boyfriends to Cole, they seemed overwhelmingly…flimsy.
She might not have known Cole for long, but he already seemed more real than any of the other men who’d come before. He was a solid presence and he took up a space in her life. Something told her that if she were to never see him again, she’d feel the empty space acutely. But he barely knew her and she had no reason to believe he felt the same. All she had to go on was her instincts…her heart. And right now, her heart and her gut were in agreement—despite his big, burly size and his formidable muscles, the cagey expression he wore told her one thing.
He was scared.
She approached him cautiously. “I’m sorry that your fears were proven to be true.”
At his temporary look of incomprehension, she clarified. “That the leak came from the police department, I mean.”
Understanding dawned but he merely shrugged. “These things happen. It’s disappointing but not unheard of.”
She took another step toward him and tried not to flinch when he backed away. So apparently something had changed between them between that epic kiss in her apartment and here.
Just the memory of that kiss made her skin burn in the best possible way. The temperature in the room skyrocketed suddenly as she remembered the feel of his hard muscles beneath her hands, pressing against her….
“You’ve had a long day,” he said. “You should get some rest.”
She bit back a tween-angst retort but the urge to remind him that he was not her father was almost too powerful to restrain. “Thanks for your concern, but I’m not all that tired. My brain is going a mile a minute.”
He watched her in silence. Well, he was definitely not going to make this easy.
“I was actually hoping you and I could talk before we go to bed.”
She took another step closer to him and he didn’t back away but he stiffened as if her nearness was physically uncomfortable. Well, good. Because she was definitely uncomfortable around him, but not in a bad way. She was painfully aware around him—of herself and of him. It was like all her senses went on red alert when he was near.
When she reached out a hand to touch him and he jerked away from her touch—that was when she knew she needed to reconsider her strategy. A new idea popped up in her mind. Turning her back on him, she whipped her thin sweater over her head in one swift move. She was wearing a camisole underneath so the gesture wasn’t nearly as salacious as it could have been.
Still, she heard his breathing halt and smiled to herself in victory.
“What are you doing?” he growled. She saw her sweater appear out of the corner of her eye as he held it out to her like he was waving a flag. And maybe he was waving a white flag of surrender because his voice was hoarse and strained. “What do you want from me?”
Her smile faltered at that. He made it sound like she was torturing him, but that wasn’t what she’d intended. She’d just wanted to show him how much he meant to her. Glancing over her shoulder, she met his gaze and smiled. See? No threat here.
“I wanted to talk to you about my tattoo.”
After a brief silence, he blinked at her as if those words were just now being processed. She’d like to think his slow response was caused by the fact that they were alone together in what was basically his bedroom.
“Your tattoo,” he repeated slowly. “Now?”
She shrugged, turning slightly. Yes, now. If there was one thing she’d learned in her life it was that finding a true connection was rare and precious. There was no way she could let any more time go by without claiming it.
Her mouth went dry as nerves threatened to drown her but she turned her shoulders again so her tattoo was visible above the low-cut neckline of her camisole. She pulled her hair up off her neck to make sure he could see.
She didn’t