Free The Falling Kind by Randileigh Kennedy Page B

late,” he said with a boyish grin. “We do it every month. It’s no big deal if I get a late start. Do you want me to pick you up?”
                  “Yes!” I said excitedly. “Is seven fifteen too late? That way I can go home and change real quick after work. Will we miss it?”
                  “Nah, that should be perfect timing,” he said thoughtfully. He grabbed my hand again and we headed back down the beach towards his truck.
                  “Are you going to let me look at your arm tonight?” I asked, genuinely concerned about it. I wasn’t entirely confident I bandaged it up well enough in the first place. Not to mention there was a part of me that wanted to extend our evening beyond just dinner.
                  “That would be great,” he replied politely, still keeping a firm grip on my hand as he led me back across the street to his truck. “First let’s go somewhere else. You don’t seem like a drinker, so a bar is probably not a great idea. Do you want to go get some dessert somewhere?”
                  “I have an idea,” I suggested as we climbed into his vehicle. “Why don’t we swing by and pick it up to go?”
                  “Where am I taking us?” he replied with a sexy grin.
                  “Well, you already took me to one of your favorite spots. So let’s go to one of mine.” He started up the truck and pulled out of the lot.
                  The expression on his face looked innocent, yet like trouble all at the same time. For a girl denying any romantic intentions earlier… I had a feeling that was all about to change.

CHAPTER 6
     
                  We stopped by a bakery called Sweet Cheeks and picked up some carrot cake, a piece of chocolate pie, and some type of peanut butter parfait. It was definitely overboard, but we had a hard time narrowing down all of our choices. As we drove away, I gave him directions that led back to my apartment.
                  “Ah, I get it. You con me into getting you enough dessert to last you a week and then you want to be dropped off at your own house to eat it all by yourself. I’ve been duped,” he said playfully.
                  “I want to show you something,” I said, giving him mischievous eyes this time. We unloaded from the truck and he carried our bag of desserts inside. I quickly checked on all of the animals, adding some water to the tortoise’s area and giving Dexter a good belly scratch followed by a bowl of food. He already ate before I headed out, but it just seemed cruel to head upstairs with a huge bag of desserts while he was left alone again.
                  Cole followed my lead up to the second story, then up another small, narrow stairway to the roof of the condo. The door opened to a furnished rooftop area complete with a sofa, a couple lounge chairs, two side tables, and a small fire pit table in the center. The couch faced towards the lake. At night the actual water was hard to see unless the moon was shining right on it, but the stars looked magnificent from here and the lights from downtown twinkled in the distance. It was my absolute favorite spot to sit and unwind.
                  “This is your view?” he said in amazement, looking around each direction. “It’s incredible up here. You have a view of the lake? This is unreal.”
                  “I feel like I spend more time up here than I do inside,” I admitted, setting the desserts on one of the small tables. I turned the fire pit key and a soft orange glow illuminated from the table in front of the sofa.
                  Cole sat down next to me on the couch. His leg rested against mine, and I had no desire to protest his proximity. At least half the couch was still open, but I didn’t mind.
                  We dug our plastic forks into the