“My pleasure. I love all my kids, but having adult students can be so much fun. Once we get you through the basics, we can jam.”
I laughed. I’d never heard a ukulele “jam” before, but if anyone could make it cool, it was Mia Crane.
“Have you been teaching for long?” I asked as I packed up the instrument.
“For years. Ever since my kids started kindergarten. I was so bored and lonely while they were at school I decided to start teaching guitar during the day.”
“Do your kids play?”
“My daughter.” Her eyes softened. “Evie’s a music teacher at the high school now. But I never have been able to convince my son. He was always too active in sports and wasn’t really interested.”
A car door slammed outside and Mia’s smile got so big I couldn’t help but smile back. “Speak of the devil. I guilted him into coming over for dinner tonight.”
“Then I’ll get out of your hair.” I snapped the case closed and looped my purse over my forearm. “See you next week?”
“I’ll be here. And if you ever need to adjust your schedule for the restaurant, just let me know. It’s just me and my husband these days and he’s always working.” She grinned. “We can do a lesson later in the evening. I’ll supply the wine.”
I smiled. “I’d like that. And I’ll bring the chocolate.”
“I knew I liked you.”
We both were laughing as we stepped through the door from her studio onto the pathway that led toward the front of her house.
“Mom?” a man’s voice called from around the porch.
My feet stilled and my smile faltered. I knew that voice.
“Back here, Cole!” Mia yelled.
Cole was Mia’s son?
Yep. He sure is.
He rounded the corner of the house and stopped. The shock on his face mirrored mine, but he recovered first.
“Hey.” Surprise morphed into a slow grin as his eyes locked with mine and he started toward us again. He wasn’t wearing his normal sunglasses today and his eyes were bright in the early-evening sun.
“Hi.” Damn that breath hitch! I sounded like a lovestruck teenager.
My body’s natural reaction to Cole was not in line with my mind. In the week since I’d seen him, I’d been trying to make sense of Cole Goodman. Of how he made me feel.
I’d been trying with no luck.
Cole brought up a lot of emotions that I wasn’t quite ready to explore.
It bothered me that even after a week, I could close my eyes and still see his. That I could still smell his Irish Spring soap. Yet I couldn’t remember what Jamie smelled like anymore.
So I’d resigned myself to keeping some space from Cole—to getting some distance until I had this attraction under control. I’d keep our relationship strictly professional as he looked into Jamie’s murder case.
So much for my intentions.
I’d signed up for ukulele lessons from his mother.
“I see you know Poppy,” Mia said as Cole reached her side.
He tore his eyes from mine to smile at his mom, then bent to kiss her cheek. “Sure do. Hi, Mom.”
She patted his chest. “I’m surprised I even recognized you. How long has it been? A year? Two?”
He chuckled and pulled her into his arms. “So dramatic.” His smile was wide as he looked over her head to the ukulele case in my hand. “You survived her torture chamber? I’m impressed.”
“Cole!” Mia slugged him in the gut.
“Ouf. Jesus, Mom.” He pretended to be hurt, letting her go and stepping back to rub his extremely flat stomach. “And you wonder why I don’t visit more often.”
She laughed and I looked to my feet, taking a few seconds to banish all thoughts of Cole’s abs.
“So how do you two know each other?” Mia asked, looking between us.
“Uh . . .” How did I explain this? Your son was there on the worst night of my life. Your son is looking into my husband’s murder case. Your son makes me feel things I don’t want to be feeling.
Nope. Those wouldn’t work.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to explain because Cole came to my rescue. “Poppy came to the dojo the other night.”
“Karate and ukulele?” Mia asked. “And a business owner. I’m impressed.”
“Thank you.” My eyes found Cole’s, and I glanced back at Mia. “I’ll see you next—”
“You’ll stay for dinner,” Mia interrupted.
“Oh, no. Thank you, but I don’t want to intrude on a family dinner.” The ukulele case swung wildly at my side as I waved my arms.
Cole stepped past his mom and right into my space, and—damn it—my breath hitched again. Enough of that already.
“Here.” Cole reached down and took the case from my hand. The brush of his fingers sent a shudder through my shoulders. “You might as well give in now. She’s more stubborn than me and Dad combined. You don’t stand a chance.”
“But—”
“Come on, kids.” Mia marched toward the side door of her house. “Cole, you give Poppy the tour while I get started on dinner.”
“Okay, Mom,” he called and started to follow.
“I should really go.”
He just kept walking. “You heard the woman in charge. In we go.”
I stayed stuck on the pathway. I didn’t want to be rude to Mia but another personal dinner with Cole would only add more confusion to my already jumbled feelings.
“Poppy.” When Cole hit the doorstep, he glanced over his shoulder. “Dinner. Come on.”
“But—”
“If you don’t come in here, she’ll come after you, and trust me, you don’t want that. It’s just dinner.”
It’s just dinner.
I had told myself that weeks ago when Cole had eaten dinner with me at the restaurant. Except it wasn’t just dinner. It was dinner with a man whose touch made me tingle. It was dinner with a man who seemed to bust right through my defenses. It was dinner with a man who stirred feelings I’d reserved for my husband alone.
“Hi, Son.”
I broke my gaze away from Cole’s back as another man rounded the side of the house. His necktie was
