Page 611 of One More Kiss

So much for my non-date.

I flicked an annoyed glance over my shoulder toward the ambulance. Cole would know where Paul would be taken. The total lack of care factor bothered me, but I supposed we were all getting used to it. A check back at Rennie showed the dumpy little director at least at the door to his hire car.

Something flashed there as Owen grabbed the light box and flicked off the power, leaving me in blinded in instant blackness. My phone was flat as a tack, and utterly useless, with nowhere to charge it all day. I counted a few steps into the voice as my eyesight adjusted. Where had it been—I flapped at the spikey ground, dew already coating the prickly blades. My hand slapped a plastic cover, one of the folders Rennie carried lay on the ground just outside the filming area.

I grabbed it and tucked it against my clipboard, found my own bag and turned to find Cole.

He stood alone a few steps away, watching the faint glow of the ambulance disappear up the highway. Thick arms were folded across his chest, his shoulders a hard line. The handsome Ranger’s sex-appeal tripled in a moment but something far darker lay beneath that. An impenetrableness, unyielding aura surrounded him.

I am a hopeless, terrible romantic.

I’d spoken ten words with him and was already half in love with the idea of the Texas Ranger. Pity I’d never be able to fulfill that fantasy.

“Cole, I’m sorry. I have to go to the hospital. If you can tell me which one to go to. And…where it is.” A flat phone boded ill for directions but surely I’d be able to find it.

“Not a problem.” He raised an open palm to Owen.

Who drove away…in the last remaining rental car. My lift. Thanks, Owen.My mouth twisted. Seriously had to be the worst organized work crew in the US. I scanned the slashed grass but the cars we’d arrived in were gone. The enormous, black truck that sat at the corner of the field was the only remaining vehicle. It had to be Cole’s…which meant I was begging for a ride.

I glanced up at him guiltily, already uncomfortable with the thought of asking, but there was no other way. I opened my mouth, but he beat me to it.

“Sure, no problem. Mind if I hang out with you there? I could murder a coffee.” His dark eyes held me for a moment, and he reached out a hand to wrap around my elbow. “Plus, I haven’t been much help today so…I’d love to actually be useful.”

“You were pretty handy back there.” I looked up at him as he walked alongside me across the field.

If it had been Owen or—god forbid, Rennie, I suppressed a shudder at the thought—I would have balked at the contact. But Cole’s touch warmed me where I hadn’t known I’d been cold. His shirt brushed against my arm as he strode along, keeping his step the same length as mine, and not dragging me along.

Could there be a more perfect gentleman?

“So, coffee, hospital, then dinner? If anything's open after that,” Cole squeezed my elbow gently and dropped it to open his truck door. He stood back just enough to leave space for me to climb in on my own. My heart thudded against my chest. I couldn't keep him. I didn’t live in the area. Hell, I was a North Carolina girl through and through. Texas was so far out of my ball park I was in a whole new land.

Which triggered my romantic side again.

“Damnit,” I murmured under my breath.

“Damn what?” Cole slipped into the driver’s seat with a single step.

“That I had to climb up like a kid who still has her training wheels on,” I grouched, but kept a smile on my face.

He grinned back. “Gotta give yourself more credit than that. You’ve got it all over those boys. And the odd girl I saw today.”

He’d watched me? Warmth burst in my belly, rising to the region of my heart. “You must have been so bored today.” I changed subjects, unwilling to be one. “You were a different man when Paul…when he—” My throat closed up.

Cole’s fingers wrapped around mine. “Girl, you’re freezing.” He flicked on the heat, his enormous hand wrapped around mine. “Is Paul— is he a friend of yours?” He cast me a sideways glance as he pulled back onto the main road that led back to Austin. The truck bumped on the verge a few times as we left the field but he didn’t let go.

“I’ve worked with the crew all season. I’m an intern,” I explained. “I graduated a few months ago and needed some actual work to build my CV. So, here I am.”

“You want to make reality TV programs on Texas Rangers?” His grin sent tiny zings through my hand.

I squeezed his tighter where he still hadn’t let me go, ignoring the goosebumps that rose along my arm in ripples. “No. I’d like to make…” My throat dried. “Um, I'd like to work for a few of the bigger family channels. Like the year round Christmas ones that always have a happy ending.” Hell that sounded so stupid even in my own ears. “And now I’m super embarrassed for having such childish life goals.” I expected him to laugh. Almost everyone else I knew had when I tried to pitch my career plan to family or the —ex—boyfriend.

He didn’t. Cole’s gaze flicked from the road to our joined hands. “That’s a decent goal. Good to know there’s still girls out there who value family. And a damn good Christmas tree.”

“And ugly sweaters,” I piped up. Mark Darcy featured in more than one non-daydream.

“And ugly sweaters,” he agreed. Cole’s hand shifted slightly, unfolding around mine.

Disappointment hit me square in the chest, but he closed his hand around my fingers, readjusting his grip to stroke his thumb over the back of my hand.

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