Chapter 13 – Cooper
Chapter Thirteen
Cooper
S omething is very wrong with Ramona. We were joking around and having what I thought was a pleasant conversation, and then her entire demeanor changed. Her knee is bouncing a mile a minute as her hand tightens around mine.
“Beauty,” I whisper, pulling my truck to the side of the road. “Please tell me what’s wrong.”
As soon as we come to a complete stop, she unbuckles her seat belt and slides closer to me, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck. Her entire body is shaking as I wrap my arms around her, pulling her onto my lap. She’s spiraling quickly. I might not know exactly what triggered such an intense reaction, but I know the signs.
“Tell me what to do.” I’d burn down heaven and earth right now if it would stop her from shaking in my arms.
“Just hold me.” She sniffles, burying her nose into my chest. My shirt is damp from her tears, but I don’t care. Nothing else matters besides making all her pain go away, even if it’s only for a little while.
“That I can do.” I rest my head on top of hers, breathing in deeply. I want her to feel each breath I take, giving her something to focus on other than the ghosts in her mind. We stay like this for a while—I’m not entirely sure how long—but the shaking in her body lessens. It doesn’t go away completely, but this is a start.
I want to ask her what happened, what demons in her mind caused such a visceral reaction in her body, but I don’t. Just like she did earlier, I choose humor instead. “Did you know incest is legal in New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Ohio if it’s between two consenting individuals over the age of eighteen? Sixteen if you live in Rhode Island.”
Peals of laughter fill my truck as Ramona throws her head back in pure elation. Tears stream down her cheeks, not from fear this time, but my guess is relief. “Ah, you have been on the receiving end of one of Alise’s random disturbing facts, haven’t you?”
“Yeah. In the grocery store, of all places.” I chuckle, brushing my lips against her forehead. “I don’t know where she gets her Google ideas from.”
“Me either, but I’m not sure I want to know either.” She plants a kiss on the tip of my nose and smiles. “Thanks for this, Cooper.”
“You’re welcome, Beauty,” I respond, catching the glimpse of someone waiting impatiently outside my building. I wasn’t being dishonest when I told Beauty I was taking her to one of my favorite places in the city. We just needed to make a pit stop first. “You’re lucky we were already here, or we’d have been late. Oliver would’ve never let me hear the end of it.”
Ramona turns her head, not moving from her place in my lap, when she notices who’s waiting for us. “Is that Oliver James? The executive chef at The Silver Spoon right here in Portland?”
I shouldn’t be surprised that she knows who Ollie is. Everyone does, if I’m being honest. He’s more famous than some movie stars. So famous that people from other countries come here for a chance to eat at his restaurant. “So you know chefs but not hockey players?”
“Correction. I know chefs but not any sports players of anything. I need food to survive, not a puck like some people.”
“Want to meet him?”
“Hell yeah!” Ramona squeals, grabbing her bag as she clambers out of my lap and opens her door.
Jealousy bubbles in my stomach, wanting nothing more than for her to be that excited to see me someday. Which is completely ridiculous. Not only is Oliver in a very committed relationship, but women really aren’t his thing, if you get my drift. I need to get my emotions under control because I don’t have time for this. No matter what asinine feelings I’m dealing with, today is about Ramona. If what Beauty wants is to simp over a famous chef who happens to be a good friend of mine, then that’s what Beauty gets. I don’t have to like it, which I don’t, but I have to deal with it.
I inhale deeply before climbing out of my truck and making my way over to the passenger side. She’s practically vibrating with excitement, bouncing from foot to foot like a toddler waiting patiently for me before going over to meet my friend. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were excited to meet him or something.”
“Or something, for sure.” She rolls her eyes at me before grabbing my hand and practically dragging me toward the entrance to my building.
Oliver waves as we get closer, a bright smile spreading across his rich brown skin. He’s wearing his stark white chef coat buttoned and black pants. His hair is cut into a close fade because the chance of his hair falling into anything he is cooking is unacceptable. However, that doesn’t stop him from having a neatly trimmed beard.
Oliver wastes no time gripping her free hand, pulling it to his lips and planting a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. “And who might this ravishing beauty be?”
His voice drops to the perfectly crafted deep baritone that usually gets him whatever he wants, and right now, he’s using it on Ramona.
“I-I-I…” she stutters, a tinge of pink appearing on her brown skin.
Jesus. I love this man like a brother, but right now, I would love nothing more than to break his jaw, and Oliver knows it. Nothing good could come from him having this information. Not only is he probably never going to let me live it down, but he’ll also head straight for a phone and call Beau, at the very least. At the worst, my mother. Neither of whom I want anywhere near Ramona until I figure my shit out. They’ll have too many questions that I don’t even have the answers to myself.
“Hi, I.” He winks at her, and she giggles like a schoolgirl.
I wait for Beauty to respond to him, to tell him her name, anything, but she continues to stand there, frozen in place. I resist the urge to roll my eyes and give her hand a squeeze to get her attention. Apparently, introducing her to the first African American chef to win a Michelin star renders her speechless. Good to know.
“Her name is Ramona King. Ramona, this is my friend, Ollie.”
“Pleasure to meet you.” He winks at her before releasing her hand and putting some much-needed space between them.
“Cut it out or I’m going to tell Jericho.” I groan, wrapping my arm around Beauty and pulling her into my side. Why don’t I just piss on her to mark my territory? Jesus, I don’t know what is going on with me. Everything changed the moment I laid eyes on her. The verdict is still out on whether this is a good or bad thing. The only thing I know is that I need to keep her as far away from Oliver as possible.
“Please do. It will serve him right for leaving me alone all week to go gallivanting in Rio. I’d risk his wrath for a chance to spend time with Ramona.”
“Stop flirting with my date,” I growl, unable to keep my jealousy under control.
Way to go, Hendrix. The perfect way to get a beautiful girl’s attention is to act like a damn caveman in front of someone she clearly has a thing for. The question is what kind of thing it is.
“Is this a date?” She turns toward me, her eyes narrowed slightly as she tries to make sense of what’s happening. Out of all the things she could ask me: How do you know Oliver? Is this my surprise? Where the heck are we? She asks if this is a date. Holy shit, did I get this all wrong?
“Coop. I assumed you knew the correct order of things. You first have to ask a woman on a date for it to be a date,” Ollie chuckles. There is no way I’m ever going to live this one down.
“I didn’t ask her. She asked me,” I respond triumphantly, planting a kiss on the top of her head.
Am I ashamed that she beat me to it? A little, but either way, I’m having lunch with Ramona. I consider that a win, wouldn’t you?
“I did?”
Things are not looking good for me right now. Beauty doesn’t even remember she asked me to go out with her. “Did you or did you not ask to have lunch with you, after you told me today was your birthday?”
Her head tips to the side, her eyes scanning my face as she tries to remember our conversation from earlier. It doesn’t take long before realization dawns on her face, her cheeks pinking for the second time. “Oh, I did.”
Our eyes remain locked on each other as the air crackles between us. It’s been like this ever since the first moment I laid eyes on Beauty on my way into town. This connection is insane. How can someone I just met feel so familiar? It’s as if there’s a part of me that knows her. That finally became complete the moment I laid eyes on her.
“Then that means it’s a date, my dear.” The sound of Ollie’s voice breaks the spell. “Which is a good thing because this one needs someone to show him there is more to life than ice and sticks.”
“I know there is more to life than ice and sticks,” I grumble, turning my head away in embarrassment. I always knew deep down that it was possible Beauty thought I was nothing more than a dumb jock, but I thought… I don’t know what I thought, if I’m being honest.
“Aww, did he hurt your feelings? Come here so I can kiss it all better.” Ramona giggles, pressing up on her toes and brushing her lips against mine. Every nerve ending in my body comes alive with need, wanting, no—needing to be closer to her in every way possible, but now isn’t the time or the place.
Ollie must pick up on the tension in the air before he claps me on the back before giving my shoulder a tight squeeze. “And on that note, I have a restaurant to run.” He hands me a wicker basket. “Everything you asked for is in the basket.”
“Wait. What?” Beauty freezes, her eyes shifting between the two of us, trying to process what he just said. “I get to eat your cooking, too?”
“Umm, yes?” His eyebrows pull down in confusion as I take the basket from his hands.
“This is part of your surprise. I couldn’t take you to his restaurant, but I could bring some of the best comfort food in the city to you.”
I chuckle as her eyes light with excitement, but that quickly disappears. “I told you I could’ve changed.”
She motions down her body. There was no way in hell I was letting her change. My jaw figuratively hit the ground the moment she climbed out of her tin can of a car. Those orange pants looked like they were painted on, made specifically to fit every contour of her body. Her copper-colored skin was hidden beneath an oversized sweater. I wanted to run my thumb across it and place gentle kisses along it before making my way up her neck and taking her mouth. Hence the need for us to take two cars. Well, that and the fact I wasn’t sure how I was going to contour my body to fit my six-foot-and-some-change frame into the car. I’ve tucked myself into smaller spaces than that, but just the thought of being that close in proximity to her for the entire drive to Portland was more than my self-control could handle.
“You’re dressed to perfection. No need for you to change on account of anything.”
“However, what Coop isn’t saying is that our reservations are booked months in advance. There was no way I could get you a table on such short notice, even though that’s what he wanted.”
“How in the hell did you do all this so fast? I was in the house with my mom for like five minutes, tops.” Ramon questions.
“He called me all frantic, begging me to drop everything I was doing so he could make sure the most gorgeous woman he’d ever met had the best comfort food in the city for her birthday.”
Now, Ollie, I thought we were friends. I don’t think telling the woman I’m trying to impress that I was tripping over myself, trying to impress her, is cool. You could’ve at least made something up that made me look better.
“The most gorgeous woman you’ve ever seen, huh?”
I could lie, but what’s the point? “I said what I said.”
“Okay, then. I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it.” Ollie gives us a mock salute before pulling Beauty from my grasp and pulling her into a tight squeeze. He whispers something in her ear before pulling away from her with a smile. “It was very nice to meet you, Ramona.”
“It was nice to meet you, as well, Mr. James.”
“Call me Ollie. All my friends do. Any friend of Coop’s is a friend of mine.”
Friends. Is that what we are? It’s a start, but I would really like to be something more than friends with Beauty.
“Goodbye, Ollie.” I stride toward them, pulling Beauty out of his grasp.
“Goodbye, Coop.” He pulls me in for a one-armed hug before turning to leave, waving at us over his shoulder.
Ramona raises onto her toes and plants a kiss on my cheek. “Thanks for all of this, Cooper. “
“Anything for you, Beauty. Anything for you,” I say without hesitation, knowing in my heart that it’s irrevocably true. “Are you ready for the next stage of our date?”
“Lead the way.” She laughs softly, threading her arm through mine.
I meant what I said when I told her I was taking her to one of my favorite places in the city. Washington Park is one of the true gems in the city of Portland. I don’t spend too much time in the park itself just being, but I usually take my morning run before practice through the park. The scenery is much better than the treadmill in the team gym.
The walk from my condo in Arlington Heights to the International Rose Test Garden doesn’t take longer than a few minutes. I made another call to Alise, my resident Google expert, and discovered this place. She said it was the perfect place for a romantic lunch. Fingers crossed she’s right. We stroll through the park, taking in all the gorgeous roses in full bloom. Red, pink, and white roses of every variety line the walkways as we head toward the park amphitheater. Every turn we make, I look for the perfect place for us to take a seat to enjoy the amazing lunch Ollie packed for us.
“Are we having a picnic in the park?”
“Too cheesy?” I chuckle, pulling her to the right toward a space of luscious grass, the perfect place to set up. “It was a little short notice, as you know.”
Her eyes fill with tears. Fuck. What did I do this time? I open my mouth to ask that very thing, but she waves me off, swiping at her cheeks. “Don’t mind me. This is just the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a while.”
I place the basket on the ground before pulling her into my arms. This is the second time something has caused her emotions to spin out of control, and I have a feeling that it has nothing to do with me or my plans for the rest of the day. There’s a pain in her eyes that I know all too well. Pain like that doesn’t just go away. It’s deeply rooted in your soul, so deep that no matter how hard you try, you’ll never get rid of it.
“I’d do anything for you, Beauty. All you have to do is ask.”