Page 75 of The Wrong Bachelor

“Madi … if there’s something I’ve done.”

My eyes flicked back to look at his.

“You’re right. There is something you’ve done,” I admitted.

He slowly nodded, his lips tensed and a trace of unease entered his eyes. “What?” he whispered, like he wasn’t sure he actually wanted to know.

“You changed,” I replied. “You were supposed to be my enemy, and then you went and started acting differently.”

“And you’re angry at me for that?”

“Yeah, I am,” I replied, folding my arms across my chest as my confusion and annoyance with him swirled stronger inside of me. “I’m angry that you went and reminded me of the sweet guy who was once my friend. I’m upset because you forced your way back into my life. And I’m confused as hell because you made me have feelings for you. Feelings that I’m not supposed to have; feelings that make me crazy because I’m stuck in some stupid contest where I’m not the only one who’s dating you. So, yeah, you’re the reason I’m upset.”

His eyes grew wide at my confession, and his face was blank. Several moments passed and he didn’t respond. I’d pretty much laid my heart bare to him and he didn’t have a word for me.

I took a breath before I finally gave up waiting for an answer and walked away. I was embarrassed by my revelation and wasn’t going to stick around if Cole didn’t feel even slightly the same in return. He couldn’t even find the words to turn me down.

I’d only taken a couple of steps away from him when he called after me.

“You owe me a kiss!” he shouted through the rain.

I paused where I was standing and slowly turned to face him. “You think I’m going to kiss you after I told you all of that and you said nothing in return?” I shouted back at him.

He closed the distance between us with powerful strides. “No,” he said, stopping before me, only a millimeter away. “I think you’re going to kiss me because I can’t stop thinking about you. Because you drive me crazy too. But mostly because you’ve been stealing pieces of my heart since the moment we met and it’s about time you gave me some of yours in return.”

All of my responses left me as I stared at him. His words warmed me; they broke me; they pulled me apart and put me back together again. His eyes stared so deeply into mine as he waited for me to process what he had said.

“You like me?” I asked, still not quite able to believe it even after all he’d said.

“Madi, I’m crazy about you, and only you could be blind enough not to see it.”

The words had barely left his mouth when I closed the small distance between us and pressed my lips against his. Cole responded by reaching out and taking hold of my waist. He pulled me to him so I was enveloped in his arms and deepened the kiss so that I felt the tingle from my lips to my toes.

The kiss was every bit as heartfelt and passionate as Cole’s words had been, and I felt every fiery emotion buzzing through my skin at his touch. His lips were warm despite the cold water that ran down our faces, and his body was hot as it pressed against mine.

My heart raced as we clung to one another. The weather was raging around us, and I felt like we were at the intense epicenter of the storm. I was feeling every strike of lightning and every boom of thunder deep in my chest, and I never wanted the downpour to cease.

When Cole finally pulled away from me, I felt changed. He had come and claimed a huge piece of my heart, and I wasn’t sure if I was ever getting it back. He lifted a hand to cup my face and stared into my eyes. A cyclone could have touched down beside us and I don’t think either one of us would have noticed.

“I don’t ever want to stop doing that,” he said.

I smiled up at him, a feeling of elation and warmth still rushing through me after our kiss. “That could make life super awkward. Nobody likes too much PDA.”

He laughed, and the sound hit me in the gut. It was deep and filled with so much affection and happiness. Wow, I loved it when he laughed like that.

He shook his head at me. “I didn’t mean literally all the time.”

“I should hope not,” I replied.

“Just most of it,” he added.

A shiver ran down my spine as a breeze of wind swept against us. Despite the warmth of Cole’s body next to mine, my clothes were fully saturated from the rain and they clung uncomfortably to my skin.

As if he had only just noticed the rain, Cole’s eyes clouded with worry. “Madi, you’re soaked,” he said.

“Well, yeah, some idiot insisted on talking in the rain.”

He didn’t laugh at my joke though. Instead, he dropped his hands from my cheeks and took my hand in his. “Come on. I’ll walk you home.”

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