Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

AINSLE Y

I had no idea I was going to be having dinner with Cole tonight. He is anything, if not unexpected. All day I’ve been reveling about everything that took place last night at the dance. I can’t wrap my head around most of it. I don’t know which part is the most unfathomable; the fact Drake turned up intoxicated and Cole punched him in the face, or the part that happened afterward; before and after the infirmary.

I mean, I initiated it — I kissed him first. It was reckless and irresponsible, definitely unexpected, but I can’t deny it felt right. And he kissed me back. He didn’t freeze and pull away and ask me what the hell I thought I was doing. He reciprocated. And I can’t get my mind off his soft, warm lips and his expert touch.

Could it really be true that he’s into me? I mean, we kissed the second time when no one was around, so he didn’t have to keep up the pretense to Drake, who was long gone, anyway. If my mind serves me correctly, he also admitted to liking me since last year at the speed dating thing.

What really turns me on in a woman is her being comfortable in her own skin, pumpkin onesies or silk negligees, it’s all the same .

I can’t stop running the conversation over in my mind as we divert to the local noodle bar to grab some food.

As we walk, I know the lines are getting a little blurred between us — even now, is this an actual date? Or are we still faking it? Maybe that kiss in the infirmary was just a practice run until Drake finally got the message. Which, I’m pretty sure he would have by now, if his broken nose is anything to go by.

Could it really be possible that it’s true what Cole says; that he actually likes me for me? That he digs me being a boring librarian? I mean, I don’t for one minute think he’s lying about it, he’s not like that. But he was the resident fuck boy for a while there.

But me believing that it’s true is more about my confidence than anything else.

I straighten myself out as I walk up to the doors of the restaurant. Cole reaches out to the handle and pulls it open for me.

“Ladies first.” He gestures with his hand.

I smile and step inside to the warm noodle bar where the delectable smells of mixed spices and lemongrass in the air overtake my senses and my stomach rumbles in response. The food is always good here, and it’s always busy.

Cole glances around as we wait to be seated. The server greets us after a moment and takes us over to a long wooden bar by the window with swivel stools. She leaves us two menus and a pitcher of water with two glasses. “It’s busy tonight,” Cole says as we take a seat.

“Sure is. I think half of Silver Pines is here.” I smile when he slides a menu over to me. “Us being seen having dinner together sho uld set some tongues wagging.”

He chuckles. “I’m sure it’ll be all over town in no time. But that’s not why I asked you to dinner.”

I look at him over the top of the menu. “It’s not?”

“Nope. I enjoy your company. And we have fun, but my stomach is sore from laughing.”

I adjust my glasses and glance down briefly. “We do laugh a lot. And for the record, I enjoy your company, too.”

“Phew.” He grins. “Glad we got that settled.”

“You know we should talk about the Drake thing,” I blurt. Not that I want to talk about him, but it was kind of a big deal last night.

His eye gaze lifts from the menu as well as one eyebrow. “What’s to talk about?”

Clearly he doesn’t share that same big deal sentiment as me.

“What if he presses charges?” I whisper.

Cole shakes his head with confidence. “I don’t think so, Shorty. You worry too much.”

“Maybe.” I tug on my lower lip with my teeth. “Should we talk about the umm?—”

“Snowball fight?” he asks when I cut off my own sentence because I don’t know how to articulate what I’m trying to say.

I stifle a small laugh. “No, I was going to say the kiss thing,” I whisper.

That seems to pull a favorable smile to his lips. “Ah, the kiss thing.”

My throat suddenly feels dry at the intense way he’s looking at me. He doesn’t appear to be interested in the menu anymore. “It was pretty intense,” I manage. My eyes are busy studying nothing in particular on the menu. I can’t concentra te on anything with his heated stare.

“Which one?” his lips quirk, “they seem to be stacking up now.”

“I meant the dance situation, and when I kissed you suddenly. Then we kissed again in the—” Oh god, am I babbling?

“What about the parking lot just now?” he muses, then adds, “maybe you just can’t stay away from me.”

My eyes flick up at him and I can’t help the heat that rises in my face as we stare at one another. “There is that. You might just be right.”

He studies me intently for a moment. “Did you like it?”

I press my lips together, and little does he know, I’m clenching my thighs too, under the table. “Yes.” It leaves my lips in almost a whisper.

“I did too. So, what’s the problem? Are you still worried about your ex?”

“No. But he was so mad. Do you think us playing at dating was really believable?”

“I think our little display behind the lemonade stand did the trick, baby girl, and if he bothers you again, you need to let me know.”

“You can’t go punching people every time I have a problem.”

He thinks for a moment, then pops a shoulder, closing the menu. “Not everyone, just that asswipe.”

The words are on my lips. I want to ask him if we’ve gone beyond the fake dating pretense — does he want more? And if he does, why isn’t he saying so? But before I can ask him anything else, the server interrupts us for our order.

“Hey, Cole,” she purrs. When I glanc e up, I see it’s not the first server who seated us. It’s Cassie Middleton, a pretty little blonde with a wide-eyed smile for him, a knockout body and bejeweling blue eyes. She’s tapping her pen on the order pad, never taking her ultra long eyelashes off him.

“Hey,” he replies, but I notice he’s not even looking at her. In fact, his eyes are on me again. “You ready to order, babe?”

Babe?

At the same time my heart flutters with Cole calling me that in front of her, Cassie’s eyebrows raise in obvious surprise. It’s only then that she glances at me with an equal amount of shock and interest on her face. Her mouth even parts with a silent ‘O’ that’s nothing short of gaping. Rude. Her pen immediately stops tapping, and I don’t know why that makes me feel both smug and satisfied. It’s like he just kissed me in front of the whole cafe. It seems Cassie is having a harder time than me believing he’s into me.

“Ainsley,” she says under her breath. I’m not sure if it’s by way of greeting, acknowledging I’m sitting here with him, or if it’s a question she can’t quite fathom.

Don’t worry, Cassie, I can’t quite fathom it either.

Even as I think that, her reaction still stings a little.

The question is on her lips. She wants to ask if we’re a thing, but Cole answers her unspoken words by reaching over and placing his hand over mine and giving it a squeeze. His touch almost jolts me back into my body and his question about being ready to order.

He’s just doing this to reinforce the message around town, so it’ll get back to Drake. I tell myself. Because I know for sure it will get back to him if Cassie has anything to do with it.

“I’ll have the chicken and vegetable wok box,” I say quickly, closing the menu and placing it back on the counter.

“I’ll have the beef wok charred noodles,” Cole adds.

“Anything to drink?” she asks him, notably looking down at his hand still on mine, not even bothering to acknowledge me any further.

“I’ll take a root beer.” He glances at me. “What about you, babe?”

There it is again. “I’ll have the same,” I croak out, loving way too much the feel of his warm hand on mine. I’m loving even more that he doesn’t remove it. My heart is stupidly soaring that he’s making our ‘fake dating’ thing known to Cassie Middleton and whoever else might happen to spot us.

“Perfect.” She hastily grabs the menus, not sparing me another glance, and walks off with a huff back to the counter.

“Geez.” I grab my glass of water, needing to seriously lubricate my dry throat. “She looked like someone told her there was no Santa this year.”

Cole’s deep chuckle has me looking up. He still hasn’t removed his hand, and those eyes… they’re more than pools of liquid honey… there’s something else — heat?

“That’s Cassie for you.” He finally leans back and slides his hand away, and I hate to say that I miss his touch the instant it leaves me, but I do.

**

Cole

Warmth radiates through every fiber just being here with her, and it’s not just the steam from the wok bar that’s getting me into a spin. It’s pure Ainsley. And she seems to have no idea how stunning I think she is.

“Why did you… um … call me that?”

I raise my eyebrow as our root beers are delivered, not by Cassie. “Call you what?”

She gives me a look that tells me I should know. “Babe,” she murmurs.

A wry smile pulls from my lips. “Because I wanted to. And I like touching you in case you wondered that, too.”

She leans forward to pick up her drink. I watch as her lips find the rim of the glass and she takes a sip. “I think Cassie is into you,” she says, placing her drink back down.

I wave it off. “The feeling isn’t mutual,” I say simply. And it’s the truth. I don’t know why Ainsley beguiles me so much, maybe because she’s genuinely a nice person. I find that very attractive in a woman. Kindness is sexy. Maybe it isn’t something I’ve always thought about in the past, but you kinda get bored with the same type of girls that don’t have much substance or common goals. “There’s no one else I want to be here with, Ains.”

She looks up at me under her lashes and smiles, genuinely smiles. So much so, it makes me smile too.

“In saying that, we have a bunch of shit to get down on paper by Wednesday if we don’t want the Mayor on our backs.”

She glances at her watch. “I mean, it’s not late, so maybe we could go over things at home later… I mean… your place… or my place…shit?—”

I chuckle, loving the way she blunders, the way her cheeks pinken. “Are you inviting me over later?”

“Well, I have a new coffee maker if you want to come try it out?”

“I’d love to. I don’t think we’re goin g to get much committee stuff sorted out here. It’s way too loud. And I’m sure Fudge will have made himself at home somewhere in your house.”

She laughs. “Like only he knows how.”

We get our food pretty quick and whilst I’m hungry; I don’t end up eating it all. Neither does she, so we get the rest to go and walk back to the Town Hall where everything has been locked up for the night. I lean against her open door, holding the takeout bag in my hand. “I guess I’ll see you at home,” I say, as she slides in and starts up the engine. The way that sounds stirs in my chest. At home . Even though we live in different houses.

“See you there.”

I wait until she pulls out of the lot first, then follow behind as the snow lightly falls. It’s not enough to blanket the ground, but the forecast is showing it’s only going to increase in the next couple of weeks.

I like the fact that I’m not going home yet and the idea that she wanted to have coffee after dinner. I shake my head thinking about when I got up to pay the check and Cassie was still trying to make flirty small talk with me and not seeming to care I was there with Ainsley. That kind of pissed me off, actually.

Ains took it all in her stride, of course. I don’t think she has a mean bone in her body.

I enjoyed eating out with her, and I like hearing what she has to say. She’s like a breath of fresh fucking air. Fresher than anything I’ve ever known. I didn’t like what she said earlier about never getting many compliments from men and the fact she saw herself as boring. It’s just a stereotypical thing because she’s smart, dresses sophisticated and she works in a library. But she’s so much more than that and a big part of me thinks she doesn’t see it. At least, if today’s reaction is anything to go by.

I mean, we both know we’re attracted to one another. That whole fake dating thing at the dance got us both going, but more importantly, I’m glad I could be there for her when that idiot ex showed up. Aside from the broken nose, it sure gave him something to think about. What gets me the most is how the dumb-fuck thought she was just going to roll over and drool because he wanted her back. What a loser.

Well, he’s not having her. Not on my watch. And I don’t think he could wangle his way back in on Ainsley’s watch, either.

I want to tell her it wasn’t all for show. First, I did what I did to help her out. Second, I like her and I’m sure our kiss in the infirmary cemented that fact.

But it still lingers in my mind that she doesn’t have much confidence and she thinks she’s too boring for me. I know my reputation for being a ladies man doesn’t help, but I’ve never been into anyone the way I’m into her. I can’t explain it.

I like the fact there’s a little resistance there, even though she’s attracted to me. I like the fact she isn’t just letting me slide my way into her bed as much as I’d love her to.

She’s making me work for it, and I dig that. I’m here for it.

When I park my truck, I quickly duck over to my place to shower and use the bathroom. I check out my reflection in the mirror, messing up my damp hair a little and decide it’ll do.

I glance over at Fudge, who’s kindly graced me with his presence. I’m surprised he’s even here, but there he lies on his bed near the window, stretched out like he’s God’s gift to mankind .

“Fancy a cat-nip over at Ainsley’s?” I chortle at my own joke. “If you do, little guy, you know where I’ll be.” I head off in the direction of Ainsley’s place and I swear to God I hear him meow behind me.