Page 53 of Friend Zone to End Zone

My eyebrows knitted together.

Me:So I could wear my pajamas and that would be just fine??

Cole:Yes.

I pursed my lips, so confused. We wouldn’t be eating until 7:30, and if it didn’t matter what I wore, did that mean we’d be cooking dinner at his house?

That sounded a lot like what we usually did when we were together, so it wouldn’t seem much like a practice date to me, but maybe that was what he would do with a girl he was interested in dating for real? He had said he wanted to be good friends with his future wife.

I glanced over at Ms. Hazel who was still sitting under the dryer. She was chatting happily with the lady next to her like they were old friends. Which I was sure they were, since Ms. Hazel was one of the most beloved ladies in the small town of Sutton Creek.

After deciding that she probably wouldn’t mind waiting a few more seconds, I quickly searched the gif search bar on my phone and found one of a girl wearing way too much makeup and clothes from the eighties. I typed:I hope you’re ready for me to look like this.

And then I slid off my chair to take care of Ms. Hazel.

Cole pulledinto my driveway right at six.

Normally when he picked me up, I’d just head out the door to join him in his Land Rover. But since this was a practice date, I decided to test him and see if he knew the proper dating protocol.

I peeked through the blinds in the living room, watching to see if he was going to honk for me to come out like Chad had always done when he was in a hurry. But the sun glared on his windshield, blocking my view of him. Then, after a few seconds, he stepped out of his vehicle on to the pavement.

And he was wearing a suit.

Not justanysuit, but the Giorgio Armani two-piece suit in high blue sharkskin that I had helped him pick out for an awards gala he’d gone to last winter.

The brown Berluti script leather dress shoes he had paired with the suit caught my eyes next. Those babies cost over two thousand dollars.

Where the heck was he taking me?

I looked down at the yellow chiffon mini dress I had put on after work and suddenly felt extremely underdressed.

Why did I let him stick with his plan tokeep everything a surprise?

I set my purse on the couch, deciding to run upstairs real quick to change into the black off-the-shoulder dress I had almost put on. He always complimented me when I wore it. But before I could get very far, the doorbell rang.

Crap!

Well, I guess he could just see what it was like to have a date who was running late. I could pretend this was just another dating-coach test of mine.

I opened the door. I didn’t know if it was the late afternoon sunlight streaming through the trees just right or what, but when I took him in, my heart literally flipped in my chest.

He had styled his hair in exactly the way I’d imagined it when I’d first decided to give him that haircut. And his light brown skin practically glowed against the color of his suit.

He looked good.

Like, really, really good.

As I tried to catch my breath, I found myself wondering why in the world I had never tried to make him my boyfriend. I must have been blind when I first met him or something because he was about one hundred times more good-looking than Chad.

He smiled, probably noticing how his appearance had dazzled me into silence. “Are you ready to go?” he asked.

“I…” I tried to speak, but apparently my tongue forgot how to form coherent sentences when face to face with a guy who could rival any Greek god.

Cole’s smile widened and his eyes lit up even more. “Surprised I know how to put on a suit?” He arched a dark eyebrow, taunting me.

When I finally found my voice again, I said, “Of course I know you know how to put on a suit. You just wore one at Emerson and Vincent’s wedding last week.”

“Then why are you just staring at me like that?”

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