Operation Date Escape

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