Page 47 of Muddy Messy Love

A deep laugh escapes his throat, and the dimple puckers his cheek. “I can promise I’ll try.”

God, he’s handsome.

I stare at him, stuck in his magnetism, entranced by the quiet power he emits.

“So tell me something real,” he says, resting one forearm on the table while he traces little circles on the cloth with his finger.

“Real?”

He nods. “About you.”

I swallow. If that isn’t the scariest request he could make, I don’t know what is. “Well… I’m finding the fact we’re having lunch incredibly surreal.”

He examines me with complete seriousness. “Why?”

I squirm in my seat, the serviette now mangled in my hands. “I just don’t understand why you’re wasting your time with me.”

The concern etched on Cole’s face makes me wither. “I’m not wasting anything,” he says with a gentle firmness that makes me feel contained—protected.

I glance around the café as people pour in through the accordion doors. “Why are we here, then?”

“Why do you think?” Cole’s voice is softer, his expression imploring.

“I don’t know.” But I think I do. This pull between us is undeniable, and Cole Benedict, for whatever crazy reason, can’t stop thinking about me, just like he said. Despite Miss Blue Satin Sparkles being clearly more his class.

Men have two brains, Avery Lee, and fortunately, women like us activate the most profitable one. Use it to your advantage.

I cringe. God, I hope he isn’t that shallow, but what else could Cole see?

“Do you always blush when you lie?”

His knowing smirk is devilish, and blood surges to my cheeks with a vengeance, but I push aside the remnants of my serviette, then interlock my hands on the table, tilting my chin like a shrink. “Does your ability to psychoanalyse people make you feel superior?”

Cole huffs a laugh as if I knocked the air from his chest. “I deserved that.”

But I wince.Duct tape. That’s what my snarky mouth needs around this man. If he didn’t appear to enjoy it, that is.

With impeccable timing, a server appears. I order a latte and polenta fries from their smudged blackboard menu, while Cole settles on a cappuccino, focaccia, and table water.

His eyes glimmer, but I wish he’d stop looking at me like that. As though I’m a golden equation worth solving. I’m not that deep or complex—just damaged and flawed.

“How are you finding Mini-Bees?” he asks, and my shoulders loosen. At last, a reprieve.

“Great. The kids are so special. And Hannah—well, she’s amazing.” I don’t mention Tej, his mad talent or affinity with the kids, nor the fact it would have broken my heart had Cole let me quit.

“I’m pleased,” he says. “You seem like a natural.”

Sunshine fills me up. “Children inspire me. Especially the little ones.” That’s why two clay toddlers already sit on my studio bench.

“How so?” Cole asks.

“Well, they’re brutally honest for one, which is refreshing. They’re not afraid to tell you what they want and don’t. They know who they are and have so much trust in people—in the world. It’s amazing and horrifying all at the same time.” With a shrug, I tuck my rain-damp hair behind my ear, an action Cole seems to carefully watch. “Sometimes I wonder if I used to be that…whole. If I knew who I was and what I wanted but somehow forgot along the way.”

Cole’s forehead furrows, and the vertical line makes yet another appearance. I twist my lips into a secret smile, and he searches my face. “What?”

“You have a WTF line.”

He frowns more, and I chuckle.

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