Speed of My Heart Read Free Page A

realized I was looking into warm chocolate brown eyes instead.
    Standing beside me was the hot guy that had been making no secret of checking me out, and the same one I‘d been trying desperately to ignore.
    Concern flickered in his expression. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." His voice was just as sexy as he was.
    I smiled sweetly, dismissing the concern. "No problem, I'm just jumpy sometimes."
    I took a second to do a quick once over on him, since he obviously had done several on me. He was tall and slender, but muscular, and he emulated a steely confidence. His teeth were even and white, and his chiseled face immediately brought a Ralph Lauren model to mind; though he wasn't quite that clean cut. Maybe it was the wavy mess of dark hair, or the fact that he looked like he hadn't shaved in a day or so, that kept him from looking like he'd just stepped off the pages of a catalog. As my eyes did a quick survey of his body, I realized that on his right arm, peeking from beneath his long sleeved t-shirt and wrapping between his thumb and fingers, was a dark blue cast.
    Immediately, I felt my face softening. Injured guys were kind of like kittens and the elderly to me; I just couldn't resist the vulnerability.
    When he saw me looking at his cast, he shrugged and then momentarily blinded me with his mega-watt smile. He held his casted arm up.
    "Car accident," he said in way of explanation.
    I nodded, giving him a sympathetic look. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad that you weren't injured worse. Were you driving?" I asked, curious.
    He grinned. "Uh, no," he said, as if I were missing some sort of inside joke. "Not this time."
    I raised an eyebrow. "So, you get in a lot of car accidents?" I was pretty sure I was missing something here.
    His grin spread into a full out smile. "You could say that." He motioned to the seat across from me. "You mind having a little company?"
    I paused, slightly weary. I didn't know anything about this guy, except that I'd never seen him before. And I'd been coming to this coffee shop weekly for years. But something about him, besides his shockingly good looks, intrigued me. He brought to mind the old saying that a person's eyes were the window to their soul. His eyes held all kinds of depth that made me want to know more about him —starting with his name.
    As if he’d read my mind, he introduced himself, "I'm Cole, by the way."
    I smiled back at him. "I'm Mara. I've never seen you here before. Are you from Jamestown?" I asked, even though I didn't think he was. His accent was a little more southern than what I was use to hearing.
    He shook his head. "No, I'm from North Carolina. I'm visiting family for a little while. How bout you?”
    I nodded. "Yep, Kentucky born and raised. I'm actually from Russell Springs, which is about a half hour away. I just make the drive to dance at a studio a few blocks from here, so I stop by a lot for coffee." I surveyed the cozy interior of the cafe with regret. "I'll kind of miss this place when I leave for college in a couple of months."
    "Oh yeah? What college are you going to?" he asked.
    I grinned at the irony. "Would you believe ECU, in North Carolina ?"
    His raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess. For performing arts?"
    "The dancing thing gave me away, didn't it?" I said, gesturing to the dance gear I was still wearing from my workout. Inwardly, I cringed at the thought of the messy bun still piled on top of my head. Why couldn't I have met this guy when I wasn't such a mess?
    His eyes raked over me, and I felt a delicious flipping sensation in my stomach. I could feel a blush warming my cheeks again.
    "Yeah, it's pretty obvious you dance a lot. I think the killer dancer's body would've given you away even if you hadn't mentioned it."
    This made me want to smile ridiculously big, but instead, I shrugged off his complement, and kept my smile more in the normal range. "Thanks. So what do you do, besides visit your family in Kentucky?"
    His face clouded