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But the little box tucked under my bathroom sink is a constant reminder that someone decided to take my safety away again.
“Summer? Are you okay?”
Cole moves around from behind the table, but he still keeps at a distance, as if he’s worried I’ll flee.
I was considering it. Now I feel silly.
“Yes. Fine. Just thinking. About my date.” I hate lying.
“Was it bad?”
Not surprised he thinks so from the weird reaction I’m pairing with talk of it.
“Um. Well. It wasn’t good.” This I can at least be honest about.
Cole’s brows dive at sharp angles, giving his face a fierce energy.
And, to my surprise, I’m not in the least afraid of it.
“Did he do something to you?”
“What? Oh. No. He was… Well, I’m sure he was being a genuine version of himself. The date should have been nice.”
Cole’s face softens, and he leans a hip against the table, settling in for a conversation.
I’m not supposed to be talking to him. I’m supposed to be shelving books.
“But it wasn’t?”
I shrug and scan the room for any items that may have magically appeared and need to be returned to their rightful places. “We didn’t have much to talk about.”
“Really? But you want to knoweverything.” Cole over-exaggerates my previous statement to him, but from the secret curve at the corner of his mouth, I can tell he’s not mocking me. Only forming an inside joke.
His lighthearted response and sexy smile draw me back in.
“I do! And he had to know some stuff, right? But I just…” Realizing what was about to come out of my mouth, I cut myself off. “No never mind.”
Cole leans toward me, smile inching wider. “What?”
“It’s a horrible thing to say, and I make an effort not to say horrible things.”
“Please, Summer.” The sound of my name in his smoky drawl has my eyes fluttering.
“Please what?”
“Say something horrible to me.”
“I can’t,” I whisper.
“Yes, you can. You can be bad if you want to.”
Oh damn. Those words cause some delicious clenching down in my gut. It’s almost too much. But what is definitely too much is the way he’s staring at me.
“I didn’t care.”
“About what?”
“About anything he had to say. Abouteverythinghe had to say.” I cover my eyes, ashamed of how good it feels to admit my complete disinterest in a fellow human being. “He was like a walking, talking white noise machine.”
