Crazy in Love (Blue Lake #3)(21)

“Have you ever been in love?” he countered.

“Wow, now we’re really getting personal.”

He laughed. “You’re the one who breached the topic of the ‘L word’.”

True.

“Yes,” she answered. “Too many times to count, though since those guys are long gone from here, I’d say I was mistaken. It wasn’t really love at all.”

He ordered another two rounds of Jameson and brought them over.

“To the damned ‘L word’,” he said, holding out his glass.

“To love.”

Glass clinked against glass. The drink warmed Rachael’s insides on its way down, buzzing as it settled in her stomach. As their gazes collided over the rims, Rachael studied the warm flecks in Cole’s honey-brown eyes. There was more to him than a crude mouth and a set of drool-worthy abs. She was sure of that now. There was something deeper flowing beneath the surface of his rock star persona. He had determination to succeed mixed with a solid work ethic; she truly admired that. Plus, she got the feeling he regretted how things ended with Tori West.

An Adonis body with a steel resolve and a sweet heart?

She might’ve hit the jackpot…or maybe the Jameson made Cole Turner seem dreamier than he really was.

Cole took a shot at one of the last striped balls on the table, and missed. His angle was off.

“So? Did you love her?” Rachael’s stomach flipped. Did she really want to hear?

“Probably not.” Even from the opposite end of the table, Cole’s whiskey-brown eyes smoldered. “But she ruined any chance of figuring out if we could get there when she tried to make me profess my feelings in front of everyone. The last thing I need is my private life to collide with my professional one.”

Rachel walked around the table and bumped into his shoulder, sending chills ratcheting down her arms. “We’re not so different after all.”

“How’d you figure?”

“I’ve dated a few guests who’ve stayed at the inn, and I think I’ve loved a few of them.” She bent over the table to take her shot. Her vision blurred and suddenly there were two balls with red stripes. “It’s all fun and games while they’re sleeping two doors down, but then they leave and go on their way. I’m left with the memory of a great week. That’s it.”

His gaze bore into her back. “I see.”

“That’s why I can’t date someone who stays there.” She fired the stick through her fingers. And missed. “It’s how I protect myself. Probably the same reason you date woman after woman without getting serious with any one.”

Before she could take her next shot—or was it his turn?—Cole was standing beside her. The crisp aroma of his aftershave and the smell of rich leather tickled her nose. His body radiated heat and hers responded, the blood in her veins heating to molten lava.


Slowly, he took the pool stick out of her hand and rested it behind her. He planted his arms on the edge of the table, pinning her within the strong cage of his body. Her eyelids fluttered closed and her lips pouted, but not because she was trying to be cute. It was the alcohol, the way it made her warm in her belly and weak in the knees.

Okay, okay…it was him.

“I didn’t realize this was a problem,” he said, his voice a lover’s caress against her ears. “But I’ve had my eye on you since I came into town and you caught me in my towel.”

She shuddered from the memory.

“Consider this my notice.” He leaned in, his breath fanning warm against her cheek. “I’m checking out early. Like now.”