“I promise.” I squeeze her hand. “Your dog is welcome.”
Holly and Frank share a look, and their eyes take on a bright shiny glimmer.
“We’d love to check it out,” Frank says. “It’s ten minutes away?”
“A ten-minute drive.” I glance out the window, squinting at the motorcycle. I’ll have to call a cab.
“Give me a minute.” Cole steps outside and puts his phone to his ear.
“He’s really handsome.” Holly blushes, tucking a strand of short auburn hair behind her ear.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “He really is.”
Frank, who isn’t hard on the eyes either, shakes his head.
When Cole strides back into the bakery, he pockets his phone and meets my eyes. “Trace is sending his driver. The car will be here in a few minutes.”
He called Trace? That’s so…expected. My chest feels like it’s filled with sunshine and dimples, and I have the sudden urge to dance. Like jump up on the table and shake everything I have. But I refrain myself, settling on a smile.
“Thank you.” I reach out and grip his hand.
Twenty minutes later, we arrive at the shelter. Father Rick welcomes the family with open arms and gives them a tour. Cole and I tag along, so he can see the scope of the renovations that have been ongoing for the last six months.
“Danni and her fiancé funded all of the expansion.” Rick beams as he guides us through one of the new shower rooms.
He shifts his eyes to Cole, and his smile slips. Cole stands behind me, his jealousy blatant in the glower lining his face. I elbow him in the ribs, and he grunts. Then he wipes a hand over his mouth and grins down at me.
Rick regards us suspiciously. What must he be thinking? He attended my engagement party with Trace, and now I’m here without a ring, flirting with another man. I need to clear things up before we leave.
Continuing the walk-through, Rick shows off the remodeled kitchen, massive pantry, private rooms for families, and finally the dining area, where everyone congregates.
No one hangs out during the day, since they’re expected to be out and about looking for jobs.
“The doors will open in…” Rick glances at his watch. “About thirty minutes, and it’ll be a mad rush to feed everyone and get them settled in for the night.” He turns to me. “Are you sticking around for a while?”
“Yep.” I walk toward the little girl and her dog and bend down. “Do you like to dance?”
A smile struggles on her lips and flickers in her green eyes. “Yes.”
“Wonderful.” Rick claps his hands together and motions at her parents. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to Susie. She’s our job consultant. Then we’ll get you set up in one of the private rooms.”
They exit the dining hall, leaving Cole and I alone, grinning at each other.
“Did Trace give you hell when you asked for his car?”
“Nope. He was absolutely relieved to hear the sound of my voice.”
My eyes bulge. “Really?”
“No.” He grimaces.
“I hate that you two had a falling out because of me.”
“You’re worth it. He and I at least agree on that.” He looks around the large room. “When did you start volunteering here?”
“When you died.” My tone sounds more acidic than I intended.
I play it off and move to the table at the far wall where I had a stereo system set up.
“Danni.” He touches my lower back, his expression broken.
“It’s okay, Cole.” I power on the speakers and brace my hands on the table. “I was depressed and didn’t know what to do with all that negative energy. This place gave me purpose. I started volunteering in the kitchen. Then I got a wild hair up my ass to shake things up.”
“You dance here.” He takes in the small dance floor and music equipment.
“Line dancing.” I lift a shoulder. “I like giving sad people a reason to smile.”
“You’re pretty fucking amazing, you know that?” He brings my hand to his lips, kissing my fingers. “Whenever I’m with you, I feel like I’m flying. But you also scare the crap out of me.”
“What? Why?”
“You’re the best of everything. Your soul is so pure I don’t want to darken it.”
“Cole—”
“Beauty and love and freedom… That’s you, all wrapped up in a tiny seductive package. Christ, I want to indulge in every inch, inside and out.” He turns my hand over and presses his mouth against the inside of my wrist. “You taste like life.”
I step into him, hugging his waist and resting my cheek on his chest. “I missed you, Cole. So much.”
“I feel you, baby.” He embraces me tightly, pressing his lips to the top of my head.
A throat clears near the entrance of the dining hall.
Rick crosses his arms and cocks his bald head, probably wondering why I’m all up against a man who isn’t Trace.
“I never told him about you,” I whisper. “It was just too…hard. But I should—”
“I’ll talk to him.” Cole untangles from me and strides toward Rick.
I don’t mean to stare, but that predatory swagger, those low-rise jeans, the hard flex of his backside… Sweet sassy molassy, I can’t peel my eyes away. My legs twitch to chase him. My fingers itch to do things to him. Naughty things that shouldn’t be done in public, with a priest watching, or anywhere at all. Because we’re just dating. Without sex.
A groan sticks in my throat, but my gaze remains stuck to Cole’s ass. It doesn’t hurt to imagine him naked, to fantasize about the hard swollen length of him springing free as I unzip those jeans. I ache to feel him between my legs again, pounding, stretching, throbbing—
My eyes collide with Father Rick’s narrowed stare, and I turn away.
God help me, my mind is a slut. A fuckhappy, back-door Betty on the horizontal. Easy like Sunday morning.
But I want to be easy with Cole.
And Trace.
It’s the worst idea ever. I’ve banged more than one guy within the span of a few days, but they were just flings. Sleeping with two men who hold my heart is a whole other level of free love. I’m not sure I have the emotional dexterity for it, so I need to just get it out of my sluttenous head.
I distract myself with the stereo system, setting up the line dance song I’ll play on repeat for the next couple hours. Then I wait.
Cole returns just as the doors open, and the hall clamors with the shuffle of disheveled, hungry bodies. The shelter sleeps two-hundred homeless now, and it still fills to max occupancy every night.
It takes an hour to get everyone checked in and guided through the food line. Cole and I assist where needed, but the volunteers have a well-oiled system in place.
“How did your conversation go with Rick?” I lean against the wall beside Cole in a vacant corner of the dining hall.
“I told him the truth about us. How we met. Our engagement. My deployment and disappearance.”
“Then you gave him the cover story?”
He nods. “It has to be this way, Danni.”
“I know.” I release a breath. “It’s fine.”
“For a priest, he sure is smitten with you.” He forehead wrinkles. “And Trace.”
“Rick is not smitten with Trace.” I laugh.
“He admitted it took a while, but he eventually warmed up to Trace. He said your other fiancé spends a lot of time and money here.” His mood sours. “The Trace I knew wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this.”
I think back to Trace’s conniption fit when I gave Rick that first ten-thousand-dollar check. “People change.”
His lips flatten.
“Don’t read anything into that, Cole.” I rest a hand against the zipper on his leather jacket. “I love you just the way you are.”
His mouth bends into something beautiful and gentle, and I know my words bring him relief because I feel his happiness deep in my bones.
“Are you ready?” I walk backward toward the speakers, swaying my hips to a soundless tune. “’Cause it’s about to go down.”