Operation Date Escape

what?”
    “I think I love her.”
    “Think?”
    “I do.”
    “Hell, why are the best friends always the last to know about these things?”
    Cole’s frown deepened. “There wasn’t anything to tell. Kelsie ended things the night she walked out. How I felt didn’t make a difference after that.”
    “Tell me something, Cole. You didn’t by any chance use the word ‘think’ when you told Kelsie how you felt, did you?”
    The words had come out so unexpectedly it took him a moment to recall exactly what it was he’d said to her that night. “I told her that I thought I was falling in love with her.”
    “Well, there you go,” Joe said, as if he’d just solved everything with one simple question.
    “I’m not following you.”
    “She’s afraid to let her guard down because she’s already done that once and had her heart broken. The word ‘think’ implies that you’re not sure about your feelings.”
    “That’s not how I meant it,” Cole argued. “I am sure.”
    “ Put yourself in her place. All she heard was you weren’t certain about your feelings for her. So rather than risk her heart again, because she likes you a lot, according to Nanci, she’s headed for the hills.”
    “ Damn it. I should have thought about that.”
    “Don’t sweat it, buddy. Men have a hard time thinking right before, during and after sex because all the blood in their brain has headed south.”
    Cole reached for his cell phone.
    “What are you doing?” Joe asked.
    “Calling Nanci.”
    “Again?”
    “Yes, again. However many times it takes to get in touch with Kelsie. I have this feeling that Nanci’s hiding her.”
    Joe snorted. “Hiding her? Are you crazy?”
    “About Kelsie, yes. And I intend to do whatever it takes to make things right again.”
    * * *
    Kelsie paced the hardwood floor of the bed and breakfast she’d been staying in. She’d done a lot of thinking while she’d been there, working hard to mentally untangle the mess her life was in because of her commitment issues.
    Each pass by the antique four-poster bed drew her gaze to the cell phone charging on the nightstand. She wanted so badly to call Cole, but couldn’t. Not yet. Her leaving Worthington the way she had, right after he’d expressed his true feelings for her had to have hurt him deeply. She wasn’t going to risk hurting him that way again. When she finally called Cole, it was going to be when she had her head screwed on straight.
    Giving in to the need to speak to someone, she flopped onto the bed and grabbed her phone, punching in Nanci’s cell phone.
    Three rings later her friend answered. “Kelsie?”
    “Hi.”
    “Hi, hell,” she snapped. “I was afraid some serial killer had chopped you up into tiny little pieces and was calling me from your cell phone.”
    Tears stung her eyes. It was so good to hear a familiar voice, even if that voice was edged with anger. “Nope. All body parts still intact.”
    “They won’t be once I get my hands on you. Where the hell are you?” she demanded from the other end of the line.
    Kelsie shifted the cell phone to her other ear. She couldn’t blame Nanci for being a little pissed at her for leaving the way she had. She would have felt the same way if she’d been in her place. “Up north.”
    “Up north where? As in Alaska?”
    “Not quite that far , but I did go out of town.”
    “I sort of guessed as much.”
    “I left messages on yours and my mother’s answering machines so you wouldn’t worry about me.”
    “Yeah, we got them. Messages saying that you had to leave and weren’t sure when you’d be back. No mention whatsoever of destination or why you were leaving and we weren’t supposed to worry?”
    “I didn’t even know where I was going at first,” she said with a soft sniffle. “When I finally found a place I didn’t want anyone to know where I was.”
    “ Are you okay?”
    Kelsie brushed a tear from her cheek. “A little confused.”
    “ Obviously, or you wouldn’t have taken off the way you did. Your mom and I have called your cell phone about a zillion times, but we keep getting your voice mail; which is full by the way.”
    “ The ringer was shut off.” She was afraid Cole would try to reach her and she couldn’t bear to hear the hurt she’d caused him in his voice. “I needed some time alone to sort things out.”
    “Well, I hope your little getaway is helping you because your mom and everyone at the office, myself included, have all been