Page 11 of Ice Cold Heart
He jerked his chin at the sun sinking below the tree line. “It’ll be dark soon. I’d get my white knight card taken away if they knew I left a beautiful woman to walk alone across campus after sundown.”
My chest gave an annoying flutter at his compliment, but I’d been around charismatic people my entire life. I knew words meant nothing. I also knew he was going to wait even if I protested. Part of me was tempted to take my sweet time at the newspaper office. I was just petty enough to get pleasure out of turning Cole’s outdated chivalry against him. Despite the near certain knowledge, I tried to convince him otherwise.
“I’m perfectly capable of walking across a campus by myself. I’ve been doing it for years without you.”
He grinned. “Sure, but you’re not without me now.”
Warmth spread at his smile, and I gave up after one pitiful attempt to reason with him. “I don’t know how long this will take. It could be a while.”
Cole tilted his head at me. “I have time.”
Fantastic. Now I could look forward to another stroll through campus trying not to sniff my dad’s mostly perfect hockey superstar. I should have been pissed at Cole. He didn’t need to go through Dad to ask me for help. Our friendship may have been new and fragile, but I wouldn’t have turned him down if he’d simply asked.
It was the disconnect between the way I should have felt and the disappointment floating around in my chest that made me ask the question instead of silently seething.
“How did you know I did English tutoring?”
Cole glanced at me in surprise. “I didn’t. Coach knew I had trouble with this lit class and refused to use the athletic tutors. He said he had a solution. I had no idea the solution was you until you walked in.”
The dip in his voice when he mentioned the other tutors told me there was more to the story, but I wasn’t ready to get involved. Yet.
“So it was a coincidence you texted me earlier and then showed up in Dad’s office?”
His jaw tightened. “I know how it sounds, but yes. How about you keeping your dad a secret? I feel a little stupid not connecting the dots before now, but you could have said something.”
“A little stupid?” I teased.
He sent me a half-smile. “Entirely your fault. You make one hell of a first impression.”
The McFadden building rose ahead of us at the end of the street, and I was frustratingly disappointed the walk was almost over. Cole had this ability to suck me into his orbit—to make me forget his three strikes and the hard-earned lessons from my past. He’d succeeded in lifting me out of my dark mood, and to be honest, I was tired of fighting his charm. Didn’t mean I was ready to stop tormenting him though.
“Okay, if you insist on escorting me around, you need to tell me something you’ve never told anyone else so I know you’re not secretly planning to murder me.”
He raised a brow. “Your city girl is showing.”
“Your country boy is going to get you killed,” I shot back. “You don’t even know if I’m from a city. I could have grown up in small town USA with the fruit festivals and the pig races.”
Cole laughed, a deep, throaty sound that did melty things to my insides. “I’ll tell you one of my secrets if you tell me one of yours.”
I waved for him to continue. “Proceed.”
We crossed the last intersection and stopped in front of the double glass doors, where he turned to face me. “I’m obsessed with your lips, and when Coach finds out I kissed you, he’s going to make me bag skate until I puke, but I wouldn’t change a thing. That’s a new secret as of about thirty minutes ago, so it belongs solely to you.”
“I kissed you.” My mind refused to focus on any other part of his secret.
“Good point. I’ll make sure to bring that up between sprints.”
“It’s none of his business who I kiss.” The embers of my earlier anger threatened to flare up, but I maintained the death grip on my composure. “And it won’t happen again, so I think you’ll be fine.”
His eyes shuttered for a split second at my reminder. “Fair enough. Was my admission good enough to ease your mind?”
I looked him up and down, considering. “I suppose, though being obsessed with my mouth doesn’t really go far in convincing me you don’t plan to wear my skin like a coat.”
Cole leaned closer, and I thought he might be about to call my bluff—because I may have started that kiss in the library, but he’d finished it. If he kissed me again, I was definitely not pushing him away.
Instead of testing my boundaries, he reached past me to grip the handle on the door, slowly opening it. “You owe me a secret.”
I wanted him to touch me. The sudden realization zipped up my spine like an electric shock, and I ordered my mouth not to share that tidbit. I wrenched my attention away from his distracting face to walk into the empty lobby of the building.