Page 7 of Only Ever His

My heart fluttered, an instinctive reaction that I tried to shove down the moment I caught sight of him.

Cole. His tall frame filled the doorway, and he stepped in with that relaxed, quiet confidence, his eyes scanning the shop before they landed on me.

My pulse quickened despite my best efforts to stay composed.

“Tori,” he said with that faint smile that I’d been trying—unsuccessfully—to get out of my head since he’d walked in here a few days ago.

I nodded, keeping my expression neutral as I walked over to him.

“Cole. Did your sister not like the dress?” I asked.

His grin widened, and he shook his head.

“Quite the opposite, actually. She loved it so much, she insisted I come back and pick out a few more things for her,” Cole said.

I raised an eyebrow, trying to quell the warmth creeping into my cheeks.

I’d convinced myself I’d never see him again, that he’d just been passing through.

But here he was, and despite the warning voice in my head urging me to be careful, to stay distant, I felt myself melting just a little.

“She has good taste,” I replied, straightening the rack of blouses next to me to distract myself.

“If I had to be honest,” he said, his tone deepening, “I wouldn’t have minded stopping by, even without my sister’s request.”

I froze, forcing myself not to look directly at him, focusing on smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles in the clothing display.

I could feel his eyes on me, and my heart thundered in my chest.

When I finally glanced up, he was watching me with that same steady intensity.

A hint of warmth in his green eyes that made my skin flush.

“Well, since you’re here,” I said, clearing my throat, “I’ll show you some more options.”

I gestured toward a new selection of fall clothing.

“We just got a shipment in yesterday,” I added.

He followed, his presence filling the small space beside me, close enough that I could feel the warmth radiating from him.

Close enough to make me acutely aware of how long it had been since I’d felt this alive around a man.

I’d tried dating after Marcus, tried to convince myself I was moving on. But in the end, fear always crept in.

That deeply ingrained distrust I’d built up like armor after Marcus had taken pieces of me and left me hollowed out.

And yet, with Cole, that fear was tempered by something else—a cautious intrigue, a dangerous attraction that I wasn’t sure how to handle.

He slipped a tailored blazer off the rack, inspecting it with a surprising amount of attention to detail.

“This looks like her style,” he said, giving it a little nod of approval before glancing my way. “What do you think?”

I blinked, taken aback.

“You… know clothes.” My surprise slipped out before I could stop it.

He laughed, a soft, rumbling sound that settled somewhere deep in my chest.

---