The Right Side of My Pillow, стр. 32

Michael slapped Cole on the back. “Well because you’re our boy, we won’t make a move on your girl.”

Holding in his laughter, Jay nodded then turned to Michael. “We should try to get a game of basketball in before Ms. Nash shuts us down for the afternoon. We’ve got laundry duty.”

Cole turned serious. “Hey, wait a minute. Before you two head out of here, I want to make sure that both of you will review what we covered today before you take the test on Tuesday.”

In unison, they responded. “We will. Thanks, Mr. Thornton.” They each bumped fists with Cole before leaving the study room.

Cole started packing up his things as he thought about what Michael and Jay had said about Jade. They called her a hottie. He supposed he could understand why. The transformation from a girl to a woman was pretty impressive. It would be difficult for anyone to ignore Jade’s hourglass figure. When he held her in his arms, even he couldn’t help but notice that she was firm and soft in all the right places. The curvature of her slim waist, toned stomach, and rounded bottom couldn’t be hidden underneath her work uniform. Wait? What the hell? Why was he thinking about Jade like that? He wasn’t some kind of perv! Cole shook off those thoughts. Crazy.

One of the reasons he’d brought Jade along today was because she had been on edge since the moment she’d come back into his life. It had made re-connecting difficult. He’d been feeling a little blue earlier in the week because of it too. Serenity House always made him feel better. He hoped it had the same effect on her as it did for him.

*****

When Cole entered the reading room, Jade had several children sitting around her feet completely engrossed in whatever story she was reading. He leaned his shoulder up against the door to watch. Her face was completely animated as she read out loud. Her arms were going in all different directions in an attempt to add more drama to the story. For the first time, she looked like she was actually enjoying herself.

As Jade was finishing up the book, she gazed up to catch Cole watching her. Suddenly, it was just a little harder to breathe, but somehow she managed.

It took some time to extricate herself from the little ones when the book was finished. They all wanted just one more story. She was only able to get away by promising to come back.

As Jade walked to the back of the room, Cole looked pleased. “It seems like you might have won them over.”

Jade couldn’t hide the joy from her face. “I hope so. It was fun. They are a great group of kids.”

“So, you’d be willing to come back?”

“For sure. I think I probably had a better time than they did.”

“I certainly know that feeling.” Cole didn’t know why but he was feeling a little nervous. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I was wondering, did anybody get a chance to show you around?”

“No, not really. I spent some time in the kitchen baking cookies and then I came here.”

Cole couldn’t put his finger on it, but something else was different too. The tension that usually stood between them like a brick wall didn’t seem to be present. Usually, Jade was always looking for the nearest exit when he was around. He figured he’d press his luck since she was in such a good mood. “Are you up for taking a walk around the grounds?”

She scrunched up her face. “Um…like outside with all the animals?”

“What scared?”

She raised her chin and looked him directly in the eyes. “You think that still works?”

“Yep.”

Jade shook her head. “You can take the boy out of the group home, but you can’t take the group home out of the boy. Let’s go.”

*****

Cole and Jade had visited practically every place on the estate. Their final stop on the way back to the house were the horse’s stables. After watching the horses intently for a while, Jade was finally convinced by Cole to not only touch one, but to run her hands down Jasper’s head and mane. He was a beautiful black and white saddle horse. He loved the attention, and it only took a moment for Jade to fall in love.

Absentmindedly, Jade asked Cole something that had been on her mind. “Elise must really love this place.”

Cole grabbed a piece of hay from a bale behind him and started to chew on it. “Dunno. I’ve never brought her here.”

Jade managed to tear her eyes away from Jasper to stare at him. “What? Why?”

He shrugged. “This is a part of my life that I keep to myself. I haven’t shared this place or my childhood with her or any of my friends.”

“Cole, where we come from is nothing to be ashamed of. Look how far you’ve come since those days. It’s nothing short of amazing.”

“Another compliment from Ms. Jade Anderson. I’m not going to know what to do with myself if you keep this up. Anyway, I’m not ashamed. It’s just something I choose to keep for myself.”

If only she could be Jade Anderson for five minutes. That person was dead and gone. Although today was the closest she’d felt to her in years. Since the energy between them had been so good, and the day was going so well, she didn’t have the heart to tell him that. Instead, she smirked and re-focused her attention back to Jasper. “Don’t get used it.”

It was getting late in the afternoon, and the way the sun shined behind Jade’s head formed a perfect halo. He tampered down a strong temptation to touch the side of her cheek. What was wrong with him? This was Jade…Jade! Cole needed to get a grip. He cleared his throat. “I hate to interrupt this love fest with Jasper, but you’re going to have to come back to visit him. We should probably get going.