Chapter 34
Cole
NAUGHTY DEDICATION
I’m admittedly not the greatest planner outside of work.
I’ve spent most of my life going with the flow, and it’s worked for me.
But I wasn’t about to risk ruining this date with that same blasé approach.
Ariana is a romance lover, a dreamer, a believer in fairytales and true love, and while I’ve resisted those notions like the plague, I may be starting to come around.
No, I take that back. I am coming around, but only for her.
And her alone. Since starting our little charade, I’ve begun questioning some of my hard-held beliefs.
A relationship doesn’t seem so bad when it looks like waking up with her in my arms, making her smile, being the reason behind her laugh.
Being with Ariana is so goddamn easy. And not easy in a lazy, careless way, more like breathing.
You do it without thinking, but it’s the single most important thing keeping you alive.
Without it, everything dies. Cells shrivel, blood flow stops, synapses in the brain stop firing.
It’s everything, and somehow it’s still easy.
When I think of the women from my past, I think of the undercurrent of anxiety that never eased, the constant maneuvering of clashing personalities and unmatched expectations, all for some meaningless sex.
And I don’t think I could ever go back to living that life again. I also don’t want to.
Which is why tonight is so important. I’m not sure how she’ll react or where her head is at, but I need to confess how I’m feeling or I fear I won’t be able to contain it much longer.
I want to be with her, really be with her.
None of this bullshit fake girlfriend with a side of lessons.
I want the real damn thing, and I’m tired of trying to fight this and convince myself I don’t.
I thought if I gave myself a little taste of her that it would be enough to get her out of my system, but the truth is she’s not just in my system, she is my system. She’s everything. She’s not some fling I can shake and then move on from.
But then there’s the matter of that fucking professor. Is all of this just for him? Is it him she’s imagining when we’re together, when I’m the one making her come? I can’t stand not knowing.
I’ve never thought of myself as insecure, but I couldn’t feel less assured if I tried.
I’m terrified, actually. Terrified of losing her.
Terrified of being rejected. Terrified this will all end in disaster.
Yet I’m doing it anyway because, just like with anything I do in life, I decided the potential outweighs the risk. Ariana is worth every risk.
And not to toot my own horn, but I pulled out all the stops for this date. She probably thinks I’m going to try and wow her with an expensive dinner and other fancy shit I know she couldn’t care less about. No, tonight is all about her and what I think she’d like. I just hope I’m right.
“Come on,” she groans. “You have to give me something. I’m dying here.”
So cute when she’s frustrated.
“Patience, doll. Patience.”
She rolls her eyes good-naturedly and pretends to pout, but I still don’t cave.
The drive to Badger Canyon takes about twenty-five minutes. Long enough that she tries three more times to get a hint out of me and long enough that I have to keep reminding myself to watch the road instead of her.
That dress is going to be the death of me. Even covered by her peacoat I can hardly take my eyes off her.
I asked her to wear a dress because I felt like giving her a reason to get dolled up. What I didn’t account for is how distracting it would be. All I want to do is run my hands over all that smooth fabric and feel every single one of her soft curves. Everything about her is so fucking tempting.
I’ve seen her done up before, but tonight feels different. There’s something in the way she did her hair, in the slight nervousness she’s trying to hide, in the fact that she chose that dress for me. And it’s making it damn near impossible to stick to the plan.
Focus.
I pull off the main road into Badger Canyon’s small downtown strip and she sits up straighter, looking around.
“So it’s something in Badger Canyon?” she guesses, attention fixed out the window.
“Maybe,” I taunt.
I park in front of Thick Plots Bookshop, an independent romance bookstore that officially opens in two weeks. The location itself has been a bookstore for decades, but the owner’s daughter recently took over and decided to make the selection more niche.
I know this because I’ve spent the past few days talking to her on the phone to arrange all this.
And the reason I know about the bookstore at all is thanks to Nora. She handled the legal side of transferring ownership. It was dumb luck that she mentioned it in passing and I hung onto it, immediately thinking of Ariana.
Ariana’s brows knot as she stares at the building. “We’re going to a bookstore? For a date?” she mutters to herself before whipping her head back to look at me. “I thought this place shut down.”
“Yep.” I grin before parking and shutting off the truck. We’re the only vehicle in the parking lot.
Her eyes bounce around, confusion settling in her expression. “I really don’t think this place is in business anymore.”
“It sort of is.” I slide out and come around to open her door, and she takes my extended hand to help her out. “But tonight it’s open only for us.”
Her lips curl into a smile, her eyes brightening as they beam up at me. “What on Earth did you plan, Cole Benton?”
My chest tightens with nerves. She actually looks excited, and I can only hope I don’t disappoint her.
There’s a warm amber light visible through the windows even though the sign on the door says Closed. Ariana’s eyes snag on it like I might be leading her astray.
Evelyn, who owns Thick Plots, unlocks the door as we approach, the scent of fresh paint and recent renovations drifting out to meet us.
She’s younger than I expected, closer to Ariana’s age, with paint-stained overalls, oversized tortoiseshell glasses, her hair twisted into a messy bun, all of it finished off with a bold red lipstick. Eccentric, to say the least.
She greets us with a wide smile, holding the door open. “Hi, hi. Welcome in.” Her eyes land on me. “You must be Cole.”
“That’s me.” We shake hands, and then she and Ariana do the same.
As we make our way inside, Evelyn sweeps an arm toward the shop.
The stocked shelves run floor to ceiling, adorned with rolling ladders and cushioned reading nooks tucked between sections.
Behind the register, painted directly onto the exposed brick wall in bold hand-lettered script: I LIKE THICK PLOTS AND I CANNOT LIE.
“I love that,” Ariana says with a chuckle, pointing at it.
Evelyn grins. “Thanks! Love a little play on words.” She moves to stand behind the counter of registers.
“Welcome to Thick Plots. You two basically have the place to yourselves. And don’t mind me.
” She tips her head where a neat stack of paperwork is waiting.
“I’ll be right there with my earbuds in, completely invisible.
Think of me as a very responsible ghost. I’m mainly here to make sure nobody burns anything down. Please don’t burn anything down.”
“We’ll try not to.” I point at Ariana. “She is a bit of a pyro, though.”
Ariana elbows me. “Ignore him.”
Evelyn tosses her head back, laughing. “You two are so cute! Take all the time you need.” She gives us a small wave and retreats to her paperwork.
As soon as we round off to the next set of shelves, Ariana tugs me into the aisle. “What the heck is going on? Is this like a private shopping thing? And how do you know about this place? I didn’t even know about it.”
A cocky grin pulls at my lips. “I have my ways.” Reaching inside my pocket, I pull out the list I made and hand it to her.
“What’s this?” Her eyes narrow at me, a suspicious smile lifting. The smile broadens as she reads through the list. Her eyes flit to mine. “A scavenger hunt?”
I lean against a shelf, watching her. “Well, what do you say? Wanna play?”
She takes me by surprise and reaches her hands around my neck to pull me down for a kiss. It’s brief but sweet, yet my heart hammers in my chest.
“Yes, I definitely want to play.”
I clear my throat, trying to focus. “Okay, what’s first on the list?”
She looks down before reading aloud. “Find a book with a naughty dedication.” A blush colors her cheeks and she swats the paper at me playfully. “Did you make this up yourself or did you find something online?”
“A mix of both,” I admit. “I referenced a few online templates, but I had to tailor it for my girl.” I wink.
She giggles, but I can see the excitement lighting her eyes. She loves this, I know it.
“So are we competing or doing this together?”
“Together. Teamwork, baby. And we’re walking out of here with every book on that list.”
That seems to light a fire under her, and she starts moving through the shop, reading the section names. “We’re probably going to find the naughtiest dedications in dark romance.”
“Lead the way.”
She navigates to the dark romance section with focused efficiency and starts pulling covers and flipping to the dedication pages. I follow behind, pulling random books and opening them to random pages, which earns me a look.
“Dedications are usually in the first few pages of a book.” She smirks.
“I know where the dedications are.”
“Didn’t look like it,” she teases.
I give her ass a light smack. “Can’t a guy just flip through some pages for inspiration? Gotta figure out how best to punish you for being a brat.”
A flush washes over her, her breasts rising above the neckline of her dress as she inhales deeply.
“Don’t get any ideas,” she says, but the way she says it tells me she wants me to get all the ideas, and then use them on her.
We continue rifling through books, and after a few minutes she finds one that makes her clap the book shut and press it against her chest.
“Found it.”
“Let me see.”