Page 112 of Waiting Game

“Burrows,” Cole chides. “Did you put the seat warmer on?”

“Seeing as the back seat is currently in Outer Mongolia, I thought it was best, Korhonen.”

I chuckle, but I don’t move away which was totally proof he was playing a waiting game.

Cole smiles at me. “It’s good to see you.”

My own smile is shy. “It’s good to see you too.”

“So, this coffee shop we’re going to…”

“What about it?”

“It’s actually a bakery.”

“All right. I’m not averse to baked goods.”

He makes the sign of the cross on his chest, revealing a cacophony of ink on his forearm that looks like feathers. I’ve never wanted to lick a feather in my life until today. “Thank God for that,” he drawls, freeing me from my wet dream. “Because I reserved the private room.”

“The private room?”

“You know how restaurants have a chef’s table?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, this is like a viewing room of a bakery. This place went viral years back and ever since, the lines are insane.”

“So, you thought we’d go into the kitchen and that would cut the line?”

“Exactly.”

It sounds pricey…

Still, what a neat date.

Suddenly happy that I said yes, even without the prospect of carbs, I turn to him. “You put a lot of thought into this for an out-of-the-blue date.”

“I pulled some strings.”

“For me?”

He chucks me under the chin. “I let you down. You’d be a fool to waste time on me if I didn’t do something special.”

The flush of heat that rushes through me has nothing to do with the seat warmer and everything to do with being…cherished.

That’s how, in that one statement, he makes me feel.

My mouth works as I try to figure out how to answer but he doesn’t let me. He bows his head and presses his lips to mine.

It’s a soft kiss. Tender. Much as his earlier one was.

“Are you okay, Mia?”

Nodding, I swallow. “Yeah, I am.”

“Good.” That’s when he presses another kiss to my forehead this time, which has me wanting to meltandcry, which is too much for my body to handle, so I cuddle into him.

Let him hold me.

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