AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cole pretended to follow orders, though his gaze veered to her. He lowered his voice. “Are you and West really a thing?”
She stiffened—he’d found where she was most vulnerable. “Define ‘a thing.’”
“Are you dating?”
“Noooo, not yet, but… well, I like him, and I came here to meet the family, didn’t I?”
He didn’t seem satisfied by that answer. “What about West? What’s he said to you?”
Nothing. A big fat nothing! She licked her lips. She was going to change that.
“Do I need to start setting youup withmyfriends?” he asked with an arch of his brow.
She gasped and swatted his knee. “You brat!” A part of her realized that if she hadn’t been so intrusive in his personal life from the get-go that they wouldn’t be having this heart-to-heart, but honestly, after Nash got together with Emily, she’d missed having a confidante. She immediately picked up this same friendship with Cole. “I’ll show you exactly how good I am at getting a guy interested.”
“Yeah?”
She picked up her phone with a practiced swipe and texted West again: “I miss you.” She turned to his brother, whipping her hair back. “I just have to show him that he’s special.”
“That’s it, huh?”
Annoyance flooded through her. He thought he knew more about flirting than she did? He’d better think again. “How about I give you lessons some time, bad boy.”
He snorted and leaned the opposite way to drop Lizardman next to Ballerina, where the puppies immediately went back to their wrestling. “I thinkyouneed a few lessons,” he mumbled to himself.
Say what? She guessed that she wasn’t supposed to catch that. Before she could call him on it, Charlie gave up on the puppies and tried to rein in his other rambunctious students. “Please hand in your homework, class.”
“Umm.” Eva glanced over at the blur of fur. “Ballerina ate my homework, so…”
“Ballerina!” Charlie looked very disappointed, as he pointed a stern finger at the puppy.
“That’s the oldest excuse in the book,” Cole said, leaning next to Eva with a grin. She froze at his nearness. She wasn’t sure why her heart was trying to climb out of her ribcage, only that maybe he reminded her too much of West. “Dog ate my homework?” Cole met her eyes inches from her face. She felt his warm breath against her lips. “Charlie, you’re going to let her get away with that?” Cole asked.
“Nice try! Where’syourhomework?” Eva asked.
“I didn’t do it!”
“What!” That was almost more than Charlie could bear. The little boy stiffened with rage.
Eva’s phone beeped with a text from West. She hurriedly opened it and read his message: “Give me five minutes, and I’m all yours.”
Oooh! West was coming! Cole could stop with his superior attitude already! She knew exactly what she was doing. Her insides turned all gooey and soft like melted chocolate. Westdidcare about her. And now would be the perfect time to surprise him like she’d planned since she’d gotten off the jet. She was going to prove her feelings to West once and for all. Forgetting her own set of rules, she texted him back immediately: “Cool! I’ll be waiting.”
She raised her hand, but didn’t wait for their diminutive teachers to call on her. “Can I have a hall pass? I need to be excused.”
“No, no hall path,” Pip adamantly declared.
“I think we’re playing jail, not school,” Cole said with a laugh.
Somehow his cynical words softened their teacher’s austerity. “Recess!” Charlie suddenly announced. “Hide-n-seek… in the barn!”
“Oh?” That sounded like a good way to make her escape. “Who’s ‘it’?” she asked.
“Not me,” Charlie said. That sentiment was echoed by Pip. “Cole!” the kids decided unanimously.
Cole seemed okay with that. He leaned back against the stall like he’d take a nap. “So I come for all of you in thirty minutes then?”
“No!” His nephews were used to his shenanigans and didn’t seem worried at all as they ran out of the stall to find their hiding spots in the barn.
