OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE (28 page)

“We do,” she
cried out.

He shook his head with a frown. 
“I’m not buying it.  I know better.  The proof is right here.”  Taking the paper from her hand, he held it up for her to see.  “Admit it.  I was nothing more than another research project for your date escape book.”

“That’s not true,” she said in a choked voice as she fought to hold back the tears. 
It hurt to have him think so badly of her.  “I didn’t run out on you to fill up some chapter in my book.  I did it because you weren’t the only one who realized they were falling in love.”

“But
I
didn’t run out on you.”

“
You made me feel,” she admitted with a sob.  “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Sorry to put a kink in your plans.”

“Falling in love with you terrified me.”

His angry expression eased. 
“Loving someone isn’t supposed to be a bad thing.”

She
nodded.  “I know that.  And it’s not.  When I’m with you it’s the most wonderful feeling I’ve ever known.  And I’m not just talking about in bed.  Though you’re really, really good there, too.”

Cole shifted, a slight grin tugging at his lips.  “It’s good to know
that it wasn’t my lovemaking that sent you running.”

She shook her head.  How could he even think that?  “Not at all.  I just needed some time away to think.  Time to convince myself that it really was safe to let you into my heart.  That you’d never hurt me the way Kyle had.”

He heaved a long, tired sigh.  “How many times do I have to tell you that I’d never treat you the way your ex did before you believe me?”

“I do believe you, but...”

“But you didn’t trust me enough to stick around and find out.”

She met his gaze.  “I do trust you, Cole.  It’s myself I have trouble trusting sometimes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the book?”

“Writing OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE was my own personal form of therapy.  It helped me take control back of my life after my divorce.
”

“Dating idiots, myself excluded, helped you?  How?”

“I never realized there were so many bad apples out there until my mother and Nanci started on their fix-Kelsie-up-with-blind-dates kick.  That’s when I began making notes of ways to get out of those bad date situations.  The notes I made ended up becoming chapters in a book.”

“Operation: Date Escape.”

She nodded.  “I wanted to help other women.  To give them ways to get out of bad dates.  There’s even a chapter on not settling for the wrong man.  Like I did with Kyle.”

“
You ran from me.  Does that make me a bad apple?”

“
Far from,” she told him.  “All apples should be like you.”

“Thanks
,” he said with a slight grin.  “I think.”

“I know you might find this hard to believe, but I’m crazy about you.”

He snorted.  “So much so you left town to get away from me?”

Cole had put a wall, a very thick wall,
up around his heart.  One she was going to have to work very hard to break through.  “I know my leaving town the way I did hurt you and I’m so very sorry for that.”

“Don’t lose any sleep over it.  I’ll survive.”

Unshed tears blurred her vision.  “It wasn’t until I met you that I realized good guys did exist and you were definitely one of them.”

He arched a dark brow. 
“You sure have a funny way of showing a guy he’s a good catch.”

“
You came along,” she continued, “everything a girl could ever want in a man.  Kind.  Tender.  Patient.  Passionate.  Whenever I was with you the world felt right.  I knew my heart was in trouble.  Then you said you were falling for me.”

“I meant
it,” he said.

“I know.  That’s why
I had to get away.  I needed to make sure what it was I felt for you was real.  That it wasn’t just the really great sexual chemistry we have together drawing me to you.”

“
And what did your time away tell you?”

“
That what we have together is definitely real.”

“Was,” he corrected.

She looked up at him questioningly.

“What we had
together
was
real,” he explained.  “You and I both know you can’t have a relationship without trust and I’m not sure I can trust you not to run out on me again.”

Kelsie’s muffled cry tore at Cole’s heart.  He hated like hell to hurt her, no matter what she’d put him through.  But until she could get past her fears there would be no real future for them.  As much as it killed him to admit that to himself.

“I understand,” she said with a tearful sniff
le.  “I know I screwed things up between us.  I would give anything to make it right again, but I can’t change what’s happened.”

“Guess not.  What’s done is done,” he said, trying to be strong.

She lifted her chin and offered him a quivering smile.  “I really hope you find the happiness you deserve.  I’ll never forget you.”  She turned and walked away, taking his heart with her.

Cole closed his eyes, listening to the sound of her
high-heeled sandals clicking on the sidewalk as she moved further away.  She was walking out of his life again, this time for good, but not because she’d wanted to.  This time he’d made the decision for her.

He
opened his eyes once more, unable to take his eyes off her departing form.  Her slender shoulders shuddered as she sobbed quietly.  Tears he’d caused.

Damn.

What was he doing?  He was a ‘good apple’ and ‘good apples’ didn’t let the woman they loved walk out of their life.  He took a step forward, calling out to her, “You can still change things, you know.”

She stopped and turned to him,
her cheeks damp with tears.  “W...what?”

He
started toward her with renewed determination.  “I said you
can
change things.”

“How?”

“You can stop running away and give real love a chance,” he told her as he reached out to wipe a tear from her cheek.

She nodded
.  “I’m done running, Cole.  I swear.  And if it’ll make you happy, I’ll turn down the offer on my book.  All I want is to spend the rest of my life proving to you just how much I love you.” 

“I don’t want you to turn the offer down.” 
He drew her into his arms.  “But you should have told me about the book.”

“I know that now.”

“Another thing you should know is that I’m not about to let the only woman I’ve ever loved
escape
from my life again.  If I have to, I’ll write my own book on how to get a beautiful, green eyed China doll to the altar and keep her there until the preacher pronounces them husband and wife.”

She gasped.  “Cole...” 

“Yes?” he said with a grin.

“Are you proposing?”

Her question was followed up by eleven very male voices hollering at him in unison from the two open firehouse windows above, “Get down on your knees!”

He laughed and nodded toward the faces pressed against the window screens.  “I
believe you’ve already met my family.”

She
laughed softly and then gasped, her hand flying to her mouth, as he dropped down onto one knee in front of her. 

He looked up
into her eyes, the tenderness she remembered so well back in his.  “Kelsie Collins, you make me crazy.”

“I
know,” she said with a soft sniffle.

“
But it’s the kind of crazy I can’t seem to live without.”  He reached for her hand.  “I have the ‘perfect’ solution for all those bad dates you’ve been going out on.  A surefire way to never have to suffer through one ever again.”

“And that would be?” she asked with a smile.

“Marry me, Cupcake.”

“Cole, b
e serious,” she pleaded.

“I
’ve never been more serious.  I love you, Kelsie Collins.  I want you in my life.  To make me crazy.  To make me smile.  To keep me on my toes.”

“And on his back!” Joe hollered.

“That, too,” Cole agreed with a grin.  “Say you’ll marry me.”

“Marry him!”
His crew bellowed from above.

“
I’d love nothing more,” she said, her words taut with emotion.  “Yes, Cole, I’ll marry you.”             

He
stood and pulled her into his arms.  “I love you, doll.” He brushed his lips over hers lightly a first and then cupping the back of her head he deepened the kiss.

When the kiss
finally ended, she looked up at him.  “You know, Cole, for a ‘good apple’ you really know how to kiss.”

He gave a husky chuckle and then bent to whisper against her ear, “You
haven’t seen anything yet.”

“
What’d she say?” Stubby called down amidst the hoots and hollers of the other men. 

Cole looked up at them with a wide grin, “Would I be kissing her if she
’d said no?”

“I don’t know, Cole,”
Joe said.  “With a girl that looks like that I think I’d be kissing her whether she agreed to marry me or not.”

“Back off, Joe,”
he warned playfully.  “You’ve already got a girl.”

“Hey, Kelsie,
” Nate chimed in.  “Forget about Cole.  I’m a much better catch.”

“Sorry, Nate,
” she told him with a smile.  “It seems I’m officially off the market now.”

“You sure?”

She nodded happily.  “Absolutely.  I’ve finally found the ‘perfect’ man for me.”

“Some guys have all the luck
,” he muttered.

“Don’t we though,” Cole
said as he drew his beautiful fiancée to him again for another kiss, one that promised a lifetime filled with love and laughter and, according to Kelsie, some really great sexual chemistry.