I didn’t mean to wake him up. I tried to calm my racing heart as I twisted around to face him. “Hi.” I reached up to brush the curls from his forehead.
“Did you have a bad dream?” Cole asked, his brows furrowed.
I hadn’t meant to worry him. “I can’t remember.”
Why bring it up when we already had an expiration date? What was I going to tell him? We should try to make whatever this was work between us? The last thing he wanted was to have a long-distance relationship. That hadn’t worked for him before.
“I’m sorry.” Cole pressed his forehead against mine. He stared into my eyes with those deep blues before his lips curved up into a smile. “We should go down to the Bean and get something to eat.”
I tried to swallow around the lump in my throat. “Okay.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Cole tightened his arms around me. “Are you having second thoughts about last night? Or about us in general? Because I really like you, and I want it to work. I thought maybe we could continue to see one another once we went home. If you don’t want that, I would be disappointed, but I would understand.”
I knocked him onto his back and straddled his hips. “And what exactly are we?” I stared down into Cole’s face, his perfect blue eyes, his pink lips.
“Boyfriends?” he asked hopefully. “I mean, I’d like us to be. I guess I should ask you properly.”
He was really much better at this romance thing than he gave himself credit for. “Yes, we can be boyfriends. I’d really like that.” A smile bloomed over my face. “But you can’t get all crazy obsessed with me.”
“No, of course not. I would never do that.” Cole chuckled. “It’s not like you’re drop-dead gorgeous, funny, smart, or insanely talented.”
I snorted. “Likewise.” God, if I wasn’t afraid of having horrible morning breath right now, I would kiss the hell out of him right now.
“Boyfriends,” Cole murmured.
It sounded pretty good. “Boyfriends,” I repeated.
“I’ve never had one before.” Cole combed his fingers through my hair, then flipped me onto my back, and I found myself staring up at him. “And that means when I come back for the holidays, we can see one another. Spend Thanksgiving together. Christmas. It will be awesome. And I can go back to school and tell everyone that I have a boyfriend. I can’t wait to show all my friends how hot you are.”
And then Cole was off the bed, rushing from the room. I chuckled softly as I sat up and swung my legs over the mattress. I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but his happiness made me happy, which was all that mattered. He might be getting a little carried away, but we could talk about that once he had settled down. He came back into the bedroom with his phone.
“We need to take a selfie.”
I raised my brows. “Can I shower first? Maybe have some coffee and wake up? Then we can take a million selfies. You mentioned food.”
“I did. I wanted to go see Tate again.” Cole nodded. “He’s pretty great, my uncle.”
I had somehow forgotten they were related by marriage. “Why don’t we shower, then head down to the Bean and take some pictures there?”
“Sounds awesome.” Cole held out his hand and helped me stand. He pressed a kiss into my hair. “Boyfriend.”
Chapter Thirteen
Cole
Days turned into nights, which became weeks, and suddenly it felt like summer was going by way too quickly. Reed and I posted selfies. Lots and lots of selfies. I took and shared lots of pictures on my Insta of my summer in North Carolina. Dad and Dean were more than happy about our budding relationship. They thought we made a cute couple. As did Maverick and Jackson. But Maverick was a bit of a romantic himself. He loved the idea of love. I knew in the beginning when Andy was interested in his boyfriend, Leo, Mav wasn’t that keen on the idea, but now he was ready to marry them off, and they were still in high school. I think Ezra helped a lot with that. And even though I was warming up to him, Ezra still scared me. He was bubbly and friendly, but I always felt like he was watching me. Reading my mind like he knew everything I was thinking.
Reed and I spent a lot of time together. We went to more of his siblings’ races. We tried a yoga class with Saint, which was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I was amazed at how bendy Reed was, and he said the same about me. When I wasn’t with Reed, I found myself on the ice with Jackson. He was a good coach, and I could see why the Panthers had won multiple Stanley Cups. Sometimes Wyatt joined us, along with Tom or even Asher. And sometimes it was just the two of us. I enjoyed it best when it was just one-on-one. It felt like he was showing me things that would help me further my career, help me when the Terriers drafted me next year.
I enjoyed being at the Olson house. It was full of warmth and happiness. Not that mine wasn’t, but it was loud there, too. Full of so many children. I wasn’t used to that. I didn’t hate being an only child, and as much as I loved my father, I had always wanted to have a brother or sister. Mav and Jax had four teenage boys—five, if you counted Leo, which they did—and they were talking about adopting more. The house was just bursting with love and happiness. The loud voices, the laughing and bliss that just wrapped around you like a welcoming hug.
On Thursday afternoon, Mav had asked me to invite Reed over for dinner on Friday night, and now, here we were, sitting outside while Maverick fussed over everyone after we had finished eating. I knew any minute he would bring out some extravagant dessert to finish off the night with.
“He loves this, doesn’t he?” Reed whispered.
He was sitting on my lap, his arm around my shoulders, his head pressed against mine. I was falling for him more and more every single minute, and I was terrified of what that meant when we went our separate ways at the end of the summer, and I was too scared to ask.
I nodded. “Maverick was born to be a father. He enjoys cooking and smothering everyone around him with love. He’s a good person. He has a reputation for being a dick, but that’s just a rumor. He’s a big softie.”