Page 40 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

He was being protective of us. Whether he realized it or not, that’s what he was doing. If someone had told me a month ago that Cole Garrett would be trying to take care of me and Ashton, I’d have probably had an aneurysm. Now, after seeing the way he interacted with Ashton and the worry in his eyes… it tugged at my heart a bit. A small, almost imperceptible spark of lust tried to burst into flame within me, but I quickly tamped it down before it could go further than the first fleeting images at the back of my mind.

The fact that I’d even entertained that idea for a second annoyed me, and I let my irritation show when I spoke again.

“Sorry, Cole,” I said. “But we’ve survived without your help for fifteen years. No need to start changing things now.”

Cole flinched, almost as if I slapped him, and my anger turned to shame. That was a low blow.

“I’m sorry, Cole,” I said quickly. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s okay. I understand.”

He looked like a dog who’d been kicked right when he thought it was gonna get ear scratches.

“I abandoned you,” he said after a moment. “You had to raise Ashton on your own, figure out everything alone, and that isn’t fair. I wish I could go back in time and slap my younger self, but I can’t. All I can do is work for the future. I want what’s best for Ashtonandyou. I want to help, but the only way that can happen is if you work with me.” He peered at me with sad eyes that again tried to pierce the armor I’d put around my heart. “All I want is for you guys to be safe and to get Ashton through his first shift. Can you work with me on that?”

I nodded, feeling like a bigger ass by the second. Glancing over my shoulder at the house, I made sure Ashton wasn’t peeking through any windows before looking at Cole again.

“I can do that, Cole. Again, I shouldn’t have tried to make you feel like shit. I apologize.”

“Nothing to apologize for. I fucked up.” He smiled sadly. “There’s no denying that. I had my reasons for leaving like that, but looking back, it seems a lot less important than it did at the time. Hopefully, one day, you’ll let me explain, and you’ll finallyget some answers. For now?” He pinned me with his gaze. “I want to fix things.”

From the way he was staring at me, I got the feeling he was talking about more than fixing things with Ashton. That was a big part of it, but there was more he wasn’t saying. A deeper meaning to his words.

The serious look on Cole’s face vanished as he snorted a laugh.

I blinked in surprise. “What?”

“You’ll never change,” he said, and reached forward.

Before I had time to realize what he was doing, his fingers were gliding along my neck, his skin warm on mine as he tugged at my collar.

“You always had your collar crooked,” he said as he finished fixing it. “You’d think a lady would be more aware of that stuff.”

A hesitant smile formed on my lips. How many times had he done that when we were dating? I was always too worried about getting to school or my college classes on time to worry about my clothes. He’d adjusted collars, redone missed buttons, and helped rethread belts through missed loops. After Ashton was born, I’d taken more care to make sure I was properly put together, but I still regressed sometimes. Him remembering that, along with the echoing memory of his hands on the back of my neck, had that little spark of lust rearing its head and nudging me toward something I wasn’t sure I wanted to face. It threatened to open doors to memories of the love we’d once shared.

Cole stepped away from me. “Will you please think about the security system? Text me when you decide. Either way is fine, but it would make me feel better if you let me do this for you.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said. “I will.”

He nodded and walked to his truck. Before he closed the door, he waved to me. “See you later.”

I returned the wave, standing there as he pulled out of the driveway. I didn’t go inside until his taillights vanished.

The rest of the afternoon and evening went by in a strange, fuzzy blur. I listened to Ashton talk about all he and Cole had done, but very little sank in. Even as I cooked dinner and ate with him, my mind was on days long past and emotions long dormant.

“I’m going to bed,” I said to Ashton once we’d done the dishes.

He was sitting on the sofa, trying to find something to watch on the new TV we purchased a couple days before.

He frowned. “I thought we were gonna watch a movie.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I’ve, uh, I’ve got a headache. You pick something for yourself. I know you love horror movies, and I hate them.”

He smiled. “Sweet.”

“Just nothing too bloody, okay? And no boobs.”

“God. Mom. Gross. Can you please not say the word ‘boobs?’”

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