Though, I suppose it was, because he had no real idea where I lived beyond the vague direction I’d pointed in earlier.
Cole nodded, slowly, as if my abrupt appearance was somehow surreal. “Come in.”
“You sure? I was just checking you were doing okay.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
And there was a question. But I knew he wasn’t. I’d seen the way he’d looked at Harry when he’d casually taken Ella from me. The fear, then the guilt, then the sheer confusion of a man who didn’t know why he felt how he felt. “You seemed a little spooked earlier.”
Cole huffed out a laugh and waved me inside. “Spooked? You make it sound like someone snuck up behind me with a bullhorn.”
“That’s a bit dramatic, Cole.”
His gaze flickered. “Say that again.”
“Say what?”
“My name.”
“Cole.”
He grinned. “I like how you speak. Anyone ever told you that accent is sexy as hell?”
“Nope.”
“Well, it is. On you, at least. I think I met George earlier when I took Ella for a walk. He didn’t do it for me.”
For once, humour outweighed my embarrassment. I pictured old man George giving Cole his patented sour stare while Cole tried to figure out if his voice was sexy or not and couldn’t contain my laughter.
Cole laughed too, and it was a beautiful sight and sound. Worry faded from his lovely face and he seemed somehow lighter.
He beckoned me further inside and led me to the living room. Right now, I was likely more familiar with the cottage than he was, but the fresh walls still caught me off guard. It seemed like a lifetime ago that I’d painted them. The plastering beneath wasn’t perfect. I spotted a raised patch and rubbed at it with my thumb.
Cole came up behind me and caught my hand. “Stop working.”
It was the third time I’d been told in the space of thirty minutes, but Cole’s soft voice held more authority than Joe’s irate yell. I stilled, instantly attuned to Cole’s fingers wrapped around mine, his clean scent, and the warmth of his body so close to me.
Or maybe it was me that was warm. Hot. Burning. I didn’t ever want him to let go of my hand, but I wished he’d never touched me at all. It was a strange headspace to be in. Paralysing. I felt like crying when he let me go.
He didn’t go far, though. Cole sat on the couch and jerked his head for me to do the same. “I wasn’t spooked earlier. Just... on edge, I guess. I’ve known Harry and Rhys a long time, but from a different life. And I’m not used to people I work with—or my friends—giving a shit about Ella.”
“What? Why wouldn’t your friends care about your kid? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Cole gave a resigned shrug. “Well, maybe they weren’t really my friends, but whatever. Either way, in London it was just me and Ella. No one I knew took enough interest to want to hold her or anything like that. It caught me off guard earlier when she was taken from me.”
Oops.I cringed. “Sorry. I’m so used to my sisters dropping their kids on me, it never occurred to me you wouldn’t like it.”
“I don’t mean you. I was fine with that.”
“But why? You know Harry and Rhys better than me.”
Cole shrugged again. “Who the fuck knows? And maybe I’m making too much of it. It wasn’t like I wanted to punch them for holding her. It was just, I don’t know. Weird for me. Huh. MaybeI’mweird.”
I didn’t argue because truth be told, Cole was a bit weird. But only in the sense that he came from somewhere I’d never been and worried about things I didn’t have to. And to be fair, he wasn’t the one who’d rocked up on a stranger’s doorstep with nothing to say.
He’s not a stranger anymore. He likes you, remember?
It was hard to remember anything when I was with Cole. Anything except how absorbing he was. How we could exchange two sentences and it was the highlight of my entire day. If I didn’t think about the fact that him knowingRhysfrom a different life meant they’d likely partied together in Rhys’s favourite sex club, I could even pretend our interactions had a purpose.