CHAPTER 43 – CASPIAN
The smile Cole calls dopey keeps sneaking onto my face as I drive to his house. I’m taking Noah to his summer preschool class today. Noah’s class isn’t the reason I’m up this early, though.
I’m awake because I’m an idiot in love.
Antonio kissed me last night.
I hadn’t expected him to, but it thrilled me that he did. It was an impulsive surge of need and want. I could tell he wasn’t used to it, which only made it better. Hotter.
He wasn’t trying to seduce me or impress me.
He just really wanted to kiss me.
It was, without question, the most innocent and hottest kiss I’ve ever had.
I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anyone.
More than I thought possible.
But our date revealed something to me.
Antonio is inexperienced and fragile. Passionate. Impulsive.
He’s extraordinary.
That means I need to keep my cool. Because out of us two, Antonio di Scotti won’t be the one to pace us.
I arrive at Cole’s house an hour early.
Armed with warm cinnamon rolls and his favorite latte, I open the door—only to be met with pure chaos.
A loud crash is followed by a banshee-like shriek.
“I DON’T WANNA!”
A blur of limbs rockets down the hallway toward me. Noah collides into me at full speed.
“DADDY’S BEING MEAN!”
He holds up his T-Rex like it’s a witness to the travesty.
Cole appears in the living room doorway, blond curls in disarray.
“Noah, you can’t leave without breakfast.”
I give the rolls and the coffee to Cole and scoop Noah up. Then I flip him upside-down.
“T-Rex’s daddy is being mean?”
“No! MY daddy!” he shrieks, pointing at Cole for emphasis.
“I offered him oatmeal,” Cole explains.
“I’M NOT HUNGRY!” Noah insists, still upside-down.
I press my ear to his chest.
“Then why is your tummy roaring? Did you swallow Rex?”
Noah giggles. “NO! He’s right here!” He thrusts the dinosaur in my face.
“Then the roar must be hunger.”
Noah gives a world-weary sigh.
“I’m so hungry,” he whines.
Cole looks half-pissed, half-grateful as I set Noah down.
He bolts into the kitchen.
“Thanks,” Cole groans. “Usually I handle his hunger tantrums better, but I didn’t sleep much.”
“I’ll give him his breakfast. You go lie down, or relax and drink the latte.”
“How are you so perky at eight in the morning?” he asks, yawning.
I start buttering Noah’s toast.
“I noticed something about his eyes,” I say.
“Whose eyes?”
“They’re a treasure chest of emotions.”
Cole sits down.
“Antonio’s eyes. Got it.”
“And his hair,” I continue , pouring milk into a glass. “You think it’s just wavy? No. Absolutely not. It has its own personality.”
I put toast and milk in front of Noah and then, very matter-of-factly, place a small bowl of oatmeal and a spoon next to the toast plate. He doesn’t even blink. I sit down across from Cole and bite into a cinnamon roll.
“Feeling smitten, Hilfiger?”
“Very smitten. I’m going to marry him. If he’ll have me.”
Noah looks at Cole, a picture of sunny charm now that he’s eaten.
“Can I have more porridge, please?”
After Noah’s done with breakfast, Cole promises him fifteen minutes of cartoons.
“Have you seen Xaden?” I ask as soon as Noah has run to the living room.
Cole’s already blushing.
“On the beach.” He gives me a shy smile. “We flirted.”
“Really? Actual flirting or your version, which would be showing him a sliver of your bare wrist?”
Cole flips me off, but only after checking that Noah doesn’t see.
“Very funny. I told him I think he’s hot.”
He looks proud for a moment, but then he frowns, eyes flicking toward the window.
“Have you seen Willard lately?”
The topic change gives me a bit of whiplash.
Willard is Baywood’s sheriff, an obnoxious, power-hungry man.
“No, I haven’t. Why?”
“No reason,” Cole mumbles. “Do you ever get a feeling Baywood is hiding something?”
I think about our ridiculous little town. The Bloom sisters and their gossip, Earl with his dramatic flair, Ann-Sabrina’s sharp edges, and Steve’s inability to read the room.
I think about the invisible but unbreakable line between Baywood’s two residential areas: Bay Hollow, where Xaden’s from, and East Bay, where Cole and I grew up surrounded by comfort we didn’t even consider comfort.
“I haven’t really thought about it, but I’m pretty sure every small town hides something. Maybe Baywood covers its secrets with cinnamon rolls and good coffee.”
“Yeah,” Cole sighs into his coffee. “Maybe it does.”