It’s his grin that gives him away. It’s not on the verge of a smirk, and it’s not prefacing a joke. He’s not lining up a line to tease me either. It’s simple and hits my heart in a way that none of his other smiles ever have.

“I thought you were a California boy?” I ask.

He moves aimlessly around the kitchen. It’s not really a pace but more of a thoughtful kind of way.

“Do you know what I love most about baseball?” he asks.

Random. “No.”

“Camaraderie. The teamwork. The way being a part of the team gives you a purpose and the satisfaction of working together toward a common goal.”

“Makes sense,” I say, although I’m struggling to follow along.

Cole stops moving. “That was the thing that I was missing ever since I retired. I wasn’t sure that I would ever find that again.”

His gaze penetrates mine. The intensity makes me shiver.

I grip the side of my chair and watch him. Breathing is a struggle. Surely he’s not going to tell me that he’s going to stay here. If he does, what does that mean?

I want to close my eyes and whisper a prayer that this is going the way I think it might. But I’m afraid to do either one—close my eyes or hope that hard. If I blink, this might prove to be a dream.

“We’re just getting to know each other,” he says. “But I think you feel the same way I do.”

Oh. My. Gosh.

My brain screams. Who ends a sentence like that? It’s like I’m being set up for failure. No matter how I respond, I could be wrong.

Crap.

“I feel a lot of things right now,” I say carefully.

My answer makes him laugh. “Okay. Well, is one of those things that our relationship has shifted a little bit?”

“Yes.”

Cole comes around the counter. I lean toward him instinctively. He wraps his arms around me, pulls me into his chest, and nestles his chin against the top of my head. I wrap my arms around his waist and curl against him, breathing in the comfort of his cologne and listening to the rhythm of his heart. Wishing this were my every day, not kissing Cole goodbye at the front door like last night.

What would life be like if I had him in it? If he was here to hold me, laugh with me, pick up dinner?

I twist my head until my forehead is against his chest and press a kiss into his abdomen. I want so much with this man. He pulls back just enough to look into my eyes again. This time, he doesn’t have to say anything. I know what he’s thinking.