Page 45 of Honey Bee Library
I didn’t pull my hand back. Instead, I shifted my fingers so they threaded through his. I let him linger for a moment longer, staring at his sleeping grandmother, before I glanced up at him.
“Ready?” I asked.
His gaze dipped down to meet mine. He studied me before he slowly nodded.
It wasn’t until we were in the car, driving away from the memory care unit that I broke the silence between us.
“Who is Bethany?” I asked.
Cole had his wrist resting on the steering wheel. He glanced over at me before returning his gaze to the road.
“My mom.”
14
COLE
I’d spentmy whole life being cool under pressure. You don’t get to be the owner of one of the most exclusive night clubs in Miami by folding at the first sign of trouble. I could broker million-dollar deals with celebrities. I could handle fights. I could spin scandals in a way that would make a breakdancer sigh.
What I couldn’t handle was watching Willow hold my grandmother’s hand and smile at her as only a woman could. I’d already witnessed Willow mother her son, and it was one of the most attractive things I’d ever witnessed. But seeing her caring for my grandmother? A stranger?
I was in trouble. Deep,deeptrouble. The kind of trouble that I doubted I would be able to get myself out of. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
I could feel Willow’s gaze on me as I drove down the road, away from Seabreeze Memory Lodge. I wasn’t sure where we were going or what she wanted to do. I could tell that Miami startled her. It was a far cry from the narrow roads and cheerful smiles on Harmony Island.
I felt like an idiot, wondering if she could actually find comfort in the place that I called home. If she could see Miami as a place to live, then maybe there was a chance that she could see me as something more. Because I wanted to be a lot more to her.
But the memory of how quickly she’d told me she was leaving at the airport came flooding back. She was determined to get back to Harmony as soon as she could. I may want her to stay, but that wasn’t what she wanted. I’d been around that woman long enough to know there was little I could do to sway her once she’d set her mind to something. So I flipped on my blinker and merged onto the freeway.
“I can take you back to the airport, now,” I said, my voice low with emotions. I feared the tone would give me away, but I was too tired to try to hide it.
When Willow didn’t respond right away, I glanced over at her. She was staring out the window. Her shoulders were soft and she looked relaxed. Such a stark difference from the first time she was in my car.
“Willow?” I asked, leaning forward to catch her attention. That seemed to work.
“Hmmm,” she said as she shifted her weight so she was facing me.
“Do you want me to take you to the airport?” It was taking all my strength to not ask her to stay with me. Especially when I knew she thought staying with me was worse than sleeping upright in her desk chair at the diner.
She glanced back at Jasper for a moment before she turned to me. “We can stay the night…if you want.” Her gaze was shy as she brought it up to mine.
The words echoed around the car. My ears were ringing as I tried to decide if I’d heard her right. My heart pounded in my chest, making it hard to concentrate on the road in front of me. My hands tightened around the steering wheel while I tried to gain control of my emotions.
How was I supposed to tell her that I wanted her here with me without sounding too eager? My entire body felt like it was exploding, and the last thing I wanted to do was scare her off.
So I cleared my throat, relaxed my body against the back of the seat, and nodded. “Yeah, sure. I mean, you can stay.” I closed my eyes as my words finally registered in my ears. I sounded like a complete idiot. If Willow changed her mind, I wouldn’t blame her. I was embarrassed for myself.
But Willow didn’t say anything. She wrapped her arms around her chest as she returned to staring out the window. Confidence grew in my chest that this woman was actually going to come back home with me, so I redirected the car to take us to my beach house instead of the airport.
Fifteen minutes later, I was pulling through the gate after waving at Alfred, the security guard. I drove the familiar streets of my community until I got to my home. It was the last house on Candy Cane Dr. I pressed on the garage door opener as I pulled into my driveway and waited to pull into the garage.
I peeked over at Willow, wondering what she thought about my place. I wanted her to like it more than I wanted to admit. She must have felt me staring at her because, a moment later, she looked over at me.
“You definitely have a type,” she said with soft laughter in her voice.
I stared at her. If she only knew. “I do,” I said, my voice low.
I studied her profile as she turned her attention back to my house. I loved the way her lashes framed her eyes. I loved the way her cheeks flushed when she knew I was watching her. And I loved how her bottom lip jutted out like she was pouting. The sudden urge to press my lips to hers and take that lip between my teeth to gently nibble rushed through me.
