“Sure. Whatever, Cormier.”
He was leaning back into the swing, his heels pressing against the porch floor, gliding the swing back and forth. He looked completely relaxed, but something about the set of his eyes made me think he’d been waiting for me.
Why would Cole be waiting for me?
Not knowing what else to do, I gave him my best“You’re-a-weirdo-look”and took a step in the direction of the guesthouse.
“So?” he called after me.
I spun around again, this time frowning. “So, what?”
The left side of his mouth hitched up into a smile. Cole had light brown hair with just a touch of blond on the ends, as if he’d always just returned from a tropical vacation. A bronze glow sat on his skin year-round, making him look like a lifeguard.
Alberta thinks he’s gorgeous.
The thought sprung at me from the shadows of my mind, knocking me off balance. I had to force myself to listen to what he was saying.
“So, are you over your snit?”
I shook my head. “I wasn’t in a snit.”
He chuckled again. “You were. I pissed you off when I knocked your vampire book.”
I crossed my arms over my chest as though my skinny limbs could hide me from his all-seeing eyes. Why did he have to be so nosy?
“I should be used to that by now,” I said, giving him a one-shoulder shrug. “You like to knock my books.”
His eyelids lifted in surprise, but his smile held. “Is that so?”
“It is,” I said, widening my stance and squaring my shoulders. “You saidJane Eyrewas boring.”
Cole pressed his lips together and nodded. “I stand by that assessment. I think all romance books are boring.”
I kept my features from reacting to this. “You would.”
His look of surprise returned, but this time uncertainty pinched the corners of his eyes. “What does that mean?”
I shrugged again. “You have to actually have a heart to appreciate romance.”
His bark of laughter made me jump a second time. And then, just as quickly, it tugged me toward him, forcing me to take a step forward. But I made myself stop there instead of joining him on the porch as I suddenly yearned to do.
Yeah, okay, I want Cole to like me.
But when I thought of the way Alberta put it, I shrunk back. The thought of wanting Cole to be…into me…had my stomach clenching in fear. Not because it would make him a perv. And not because I’d never had boys like me that way before.
A handful of boys had asked me out. Nothing serious. Two boyfriends total. One of them, Will Graham, had been my first kiss and my first over-the-clothes make-out. The second, Jeff Griggs, had gone from kissing to slipping his hand under my bra in just two dates. When I’d shut him down at the zipper of my jeans, he’d called me a cock-tease. The words had felt like a slap and reminded me at once of that Halloween night with Ava. That had made me angry enough to let the air out of all of his tires a week later at Comeaux’s homecoming game. Alberta had helped, of course.
That had been in October. I’d decided then I would be ready to have a boyfriend when a boy decided to actually be my friend first.
And Cole Whitehurst definitely wasn’t my friend. Not that there was any chance he’d want to be my boyfriend if he were. I mean, he was in college, and I was just a sophomore in high school. And Alberta was right. He was gorgeous. It was easier not to think about him that way because I never knew what I’d get with him — charming, teasing, or insulting — but his sun-kissed complexion, his swimmer’s shoulders, and his wicked smile certainly had a way of holding my gaze. And those eyes. They could be cold, yes. But their blue was like a beacon. And when he laughed, like he had just now, the light in them pulled me off balance. Yes, he was gorgeous.
And I was… well, not gorgeous. Other than my light brown eyes, there wasn’t much about me that stood out. And there wasn’t much to me to begin with. I was short, skinny, and pale. Jeff Griggs may have stuck his hand in my bra, but he hadn’t found a whole lot in there.
If Cole put his broad hand in my bra, he’d completely cover everything.
“What’s that face for?”
I blinked and found Cole frowning at me, and blood rushed to my cheeks. Had I really been picturing his hand in my bra? Its size? Its heat?