Cole's Mistake (Haven, Texas 8)

She gave them both a big smile, aware she was totally overcompensating because of the tension between the two of them. “Shall I make breakfast?”

“No,” Julian told her. “I’ll, uh, make breakfast.”

Cole raised his eyebrows.

“I’m a terrible cook,” Keira told him cheerfully. “I’d probably give us all food poisoning.”

Cole grinned. “Um, probably best you don’t cook then.”

Julian started preparing the pancake batter as she sat there, her gaze going between him and Cole. Cole poured them both a coffee. “How do you take it?”

“With the Cinnabon creamer in the fridge,” she told him. “Julian takes his black.”

Cole handed over her coffee after adding the creamer and silence descended once more.

“Sooo, last night was nice.”

Nice? Nice? Jesus, Keira, you’re an idiot.

Both men looked over at her. Julian rolled his eyes while Cole just shook his head with a smile.

She sighed. “I know, I’m such a dork.”

“Hey, no calling yourself names,” Julian told her.

“She does that often, doesn’t she? Puts herself down,” Cole mused.

“Yes. And I don’t like it.”

Uh-oh. She’d wanted them to talk, but she hadn’t wanted them to gang up on her. She attempted to wiggle off the counter.

“Stay where you are,” Cole commanded, placing his hand on her thigh. She took in a sharp breath at his touch. Holy crap. “How is your leg feeling now?”

“It’s fi—” She quickly stopped herself from using that word as Cole gave her a look.

Shit.

“She does that a lot too,” Julian commented as he poured pancake batter into the pan. “Says she’s fine when she’s not.”

She frowned. “What is this? Pick on Keira day?”

“No,” Cole told her. “This is about taking care of Keira always.”

Well, when he put it like that it didn’t sound so bad.

“She likes to deflect from what’s going on with her. She smiles and says she’s fine no matter how she’s feeling.”

Cole crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s going to stop, Keira. How’s Julian supposed to take care of you properly if you don’t tell him what’s going on? He’s not a mind reader.”

“How about you?” she whispered bravely.

“Am I a mind reader?” he asked, looking confused.

“No, do you want to take care of me?”

“Don’t you know the answer to that?” He cupped her face between his hands. “I want that more than anything.” He straightened, removing his hands. The loss of his touch was like a punch to the gut. “I hope the two of you know where I stand. I want you both. I feel sick over what I did. That it took me so long to find you. But now that I have, I hope like hell I can make it up to you both. That I can prove to you that you can trust me.”

“Don’t know how you’re gonna prove that,” Julian rumbled.