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I stood in the pathway before him, my hands on my hips. “Yeah, I kind of do.”

He mimicked my pose, amusement playing in his eyes. “I’m just being polite. My mother raised me right.”

“Are you saying mine didn’t?” I growled.

“That depends.”

“On…”

“Whether or not you’ll let me walk you to your door,” he replied.

“Fine,” I grumbled. I took the last few steps to the front door of my house. “You’ve walked me to my door. Happy?”

He shrugged as he joined me on the porch, not giving any hint that he was about to leave.

“What now?” I asked. There had to be something else considering he hadn’t yet said goodbye.

Before he could answer, the door opened behind me. “Is that you, Madison?” my mom asked, as she pulled the door wide. She smiled when she found me standing there. “I thought I heard you come home.”

If I thought she looked happy to see me, Mom’s eyes practically lit up like Christmas tree lights when they landed on Cole.

“Cole, it’s so nice to see you!” she beamed. She never looked at Jake that way. It was bad enough that the entire school worshipped Cole; did my mom really have to join his fan club too?

“It’s nice to see you as well, Mrs. Matthews,” he replied, smiling at her warmly.

His pleasant expression made me want to gag. Could he be any more fake?

“I’ve just made some cookies; would you like to come in and have some?” she asked him.

I shot Cole a hard look. He better not say yes.

Cole completely ignored the warning in my eyes though. “I’d love to, Mrs. Matthews. It’s been so long since I’ve had one of your famous cookies. They’ve always been my favorite.”

Mom started blushing, and I wanted to smack her across the back of her head. “I think Cole actually has homework to go do,” I said, sending him another glare.

“Nope,” he said, stepping past me as he followed my mom into the house. “No homework at all tonight.” He turned back to look at me and winked. It was the same wink I’d seen him use on dozens of girls before, and I refused to be affected. At least, my mind tried to resist, but my stomach did a strange somersault in reaction, which only made my expression grow darker.

We walked into the kitchen and Cole made himself at home, sitting at the breakfast bar, while Mom slid the cookies out from the oven.

“Comfortable?” I asked, moving past him to stand on the other side of the counter.

“I am,” he smiled. “Thanks for asking.” His eyes practically glittered. He was enjoying this way too much.

“How was school?” Mom asked, glancing at me over her shoulder as she transferred the cookies to a plate.

“Fine,” I replied.

“Don’t be modest, Madi,” Cole interrupted. “It was more than fine. You were one of ten girls in the entire school to be selected for the True Love dating contest.”

I scowled at him. What was he playing at?

“You’re in the contest?” Mom squealed, her focus now completely off the cookies. From the way she asked the question it was as though she’d already heard about it.

“Yeah, Mom, I’m in the contest,” I replied.

She gave another excited squeal. “Oh, that’s so exciting, sweetie. I can’t wait to watch you. Who’s the bachelor?”

“Funny you should ask,” Cole replied. “I’m actually the lucky guy.”