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Leah rushed to the door upon hearing insistent knocks. Looking through the window, her eyes bugged. She fussed over her hair and smoothed down the front of her shirt. She opened the door to stare at Cole.
“I’m so sorry.” Walking inside, he gripped her hands and pivoted her body toward him. She shut the door with her foot.
“I called you,” she replied.
“I called you.”
Her shoulders drooped. “So, this whole time we’ve been playing phone tag?”
“I stopped by earlier, but you weren’t here.”
“I was at Gemma’s.” A slow smile built on her face. “She’s pregnant.”
His eyes beamed. “That’s great.”
Leah slipped her hands from his. “It is. I’m happy for her.”
“I’m so sorry, Leah. I shouldn’t have run out on you like that. I lost my head for a second.”
She folded her arms and walked to her kitchen. He and Chip followed her. Cole kneeled to give a pat to her puppy, but then his eyes focused on her again.
“I don’t blame you,” she said.
“I should have trusted you.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “If you said it was over between you two, I should have believed you.”
“Brian did… want to get back together.”
Cole sighed. “What did you say?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “For the first time, I told him how I felt. I’ll always care about him, but the past needs to stay that way.”
His mouth twitched into half a smile. “I wish we could’ve talked sooner. It would have saved us a lot of confusion.”
“How are you and Seth?”
He blew out his cheeks, resting his elbows on the counter. “He kicked me out of his house.”
Her lips parted. “What? Cole, I’m so sorry I—”
He waved his hand warding off her response. “It’s okay. We talked it out. I even patched things up with my dad.”
“When did all this happen?”
“In between us playing phone tag.”
“I want you to know… I talked to Seth. I finally got things straight between us.”
Cole stood upright, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “He didn’t tell me, but I can’t say I blame him. What happened?”
“We agreed that we’re better off as friends.”
He inched closer. “So… where does that leave me?”
“You tell me.” With each step Cole took, heat radiated from her chest. Leah licked her lips. An overall tingling returned in her body. If he stared any harder, she would surely faint. Did he see her knees shaking?
Closing the distance between them, he laced his fingers with hers. “I meant what I said, Leah. I want this.” He lifted her hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on her knuckles. She shivered. Then he draped her hand over his shoulder. His hand bracketed her waist. “I missed you like crazy, Leah.”
“Not as much as I missed you,” she breathed.
