Chapter 24 #2
He sighs. “Rebekah looked good. She looked healthy. Naomi said she’d like to do a sleepover with her.
I said I’d think about it, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea.
But she’s also working for it, you know?
She’s my sister, but Naomi is my priority.
I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Naomi should know her mother, but if Rebekah isn’t going to be that for her, then I don’t know if I can let her keep visiting. ”
I listen closely, letting him talk through it all.
It doesn’t feel like I have any place to give my opinion.
Naomi is not my daughter, and Cooper and I are …
well, I don’t know what we are. We’ve been on a handful of dates, that hardly makes me qualified to give an opinion, let alone one that has anything to do with his daughter.
Our food comes, and Cooper thanks the waitress before giving me an odd look.
“What?” I ask.
“This is what I was talking about. I don’t want to burden you with this, and I’m ruining our night. I’m sorry,” he says.
I shake my head, trying to come up with the words to tell him that’s not the case. I’m honored he wants my opinion.
“I don’t know what to do. I know I’m her dad, but I don’t know what the right thing is,” he says.
I can see the exhaustion plain as day on his face. I want to relieve it, and the feeling startles me.
“Have you talked to Rebekah about this?” I ask him.
Cooper shakes his head. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
“You’re putting Naomi first. That’s what matters. But you’re right, if Rebekah is willing to be her mother, then maybe she should have that chance.”
He picks at his food, and it feels like I told him the wrong thing.
“If it were me, and I know I don’t know all the details. But if I had to leave my kid for some reason and then I was able to come back. I would do whatever it takes. It’s possible Rebekah will too. And I would want someone to give me the chance to live up to the expectation.”
“But what if she doesn’t?” he asks me.
My heart aches just looking at him. I can’t imagine having to make this decision, let alone one that could end up hurting multiple people you love.
“Have you talked to the rest of the family about it?” I ask him.
“A little, they know what’s going on, but they don’t know about letting Rebekah further into Naomi’s life.”
“Their opinion may help.” I suggest.
He tilts his head with amusement in his eyes, and he grabs my hand, bringing it to his lips. “Yours does. Thank you,” he says.
“You’re welcome,” I say, even though I don’t believe I did anything.
Cooper manages to change the topic. We talk and eat and then he convinced me to dance with him.
As he pulls me onto the dance floor, a pop song comes on, but leads us while we two-step.
“I’ve never been much of a dancer, and the clubs don’t count,” I tell him.
Cooper gazes down at me. “Really? You’re pretty good,” he says.
“I mean, it’s not hard to dance to the beat. But I’m talking about this,” I say, gesturing between us.
He wiggles his brow and tips the brim of his hat back a little, and kisses my cheek. “Maybe it’s because we work really well together.” He fixes his hat and places his hand back in mine.
I roll my eyes, attempting to hide my smile.
“So I’ve been thinking,” he says.
The song changes to Missing You by John Waite, and it takes everything in me not to roll my eyes. God’s sense of humor has been ever-present lately, and it’s screaming at me now.
“What are you thinking about?”
He peers at me. It’s so easy, falling into his lead. As silly and cliché as it is, it feels like we’ve been doing this for years.
“I’m going to convince you to stay in Paxton,” he says with absolute determination in his voice.
The ache of desire fights the surprise squeezing my chest. I look away focusing on the other couples, noticing a few people who have come into the shop. A man who bought his wife flowers for her birthday tips his at to me.
Could I see myself staying here?
“Paxton looks good on you, stubborn,” Cooper says.
I peer up at him from under my lashes, and he pulls me tighter into his chest. “You don’t have to worry about the how or why, or when. That doesn’t matter right now.”
I huff. “How does that not matter? That’s a big decision, and there are other factors to consider.”
“I learned when Naomi was put in my arms and her mother drove away that a lot of things don’t matter when the few that do make themselves clear. My list is short, Mae.”
The food in my stomach churns.
“We’ve been on a few dates.”
“So what? Time doesn’t matter right now, remember?” he asks.
“But—”
Cooper silences me with his mouth, and I drop his hand to wrap my arms around his neck while he still manages to spin us around.
He brands his mouth to mine in a passionate kiss, and I forgot what I was about to say.
“You ready to get out of here?” he asks.
I nod, and he takes my hand, leading us out of Perry’s to his truck.
He takes off into the night, keeping his hand on my thigh, while we ride in silence, and I’m glad for it because I’m flooded with so many emotions I need a minute or ten to process. But what strikes me the most is that I finally know what it feels like to be pursued.
Cooper turns the truck onto my gravel driveway and parks in front of the garage. The engine is still running, but his hand hasn’t moved, and I don’t want it to.
“Do you have to get back to Naomi?” I ask, throat tight, heart nervous.
He squeezes my thigh and shakes his head.
“Do you want to come in?”
“I’d love to,” he says, and flips the truck off before jogging around the front to open the door for me and help me down.
He closes the truck door with my hand still in his, while his other grabs my hip and pushes me against the metal, making my breath hitch.
It’s dark, the inside light from the truck still on, glowing against his face. Hearts race, blood thrums, and heat blooms between us.
He leans in, brushing our noses together, and my knees go weak.
The interior truck light times out, plunging us into the moonlit night. The darkness and the heat of his body against mine makes everything feel more intense.
His large palms slide down my sides, and I’m putty in his hands. He could do whatever he wants to me, and I will thank him for it.
He squeezes my side, teasing me, as if he refuses to move first.
He’s waiting for me. He wants me to take the lead. I have to choose him.
I push to my toes and tentatively press my mouth to his. Cooper groans and grabs the back of my head, tilting it back. I open my mouth, giving him more access, and he consumes me until I’m dizzy.
He relents, and I struggle for breath as he trails kisses down my neck and grabs my knee, trying to lift it to his hip.
“My skirt is too tight,” I mutter, barely aware of his hands because his warm lips are distracting me to utter delusion.
“I’d ask you to take it off, but I’d rather do that myself,” he says, searching my eyes in the dark.
“Then take me inside,” I breathe.
He takes my hand, leading me to the front door, and steps behind me, snatching my purse, and sliding his arm behind my knees, picking me up. I yelp, wrapping my arms around his neck, and he chuckles, walking up the stairs.
“You’re a lot stronger than you look,” I mumble.
He stops in front of the door, and I turn the knob, pushing it open.
“You didn’t lock it,” he says with a grim look.
“I was hoping the same guy would break in again,” I mutter and kiss his jaw.
He slams the door shut and flips the deadbolt. Heat shoots through my sternum and collects between my thighs. I reach around him and flip a light on.
Cooper sets my bag on the floor and takes us into the living room. I gasp at the sensation of being weightless for a second as he falls with me onto the couch.
“Where were we?” he asks.
I smile and roll off his lap to stand in front of him.
His heavy-lidded gaze coats me in honey as he settles back into the cushion, knees spread wide, watching me slide my skirt up my legs and climb back on.
“You drive me crazy,” I murmur across his lips.
He tilts his head back as I sit slightly above him, taking his hat off, setting it to the side, and run my fingers through his hair. He nips my lower lip and slips his hands under my hiked-up skirt, squeezing my thighs.
My back instinctively arches, pressing my hips into him, and his belt buckle grazes the warm skin of my inner thigh, sending a shiver over my back.
I toy with the hair at the base of his neck, and his eyes close.
I study him, noting every freckle, scar, and the way his mustache covers his lip, the way his lips part on a hot breath.
With his eyes still closed, I lean in, ghosting my lips over his.
Our noses brush and my pulse flutters, and I kiss him, lightly grazing my tongue against his, and he leans in, moving to catch up with my retreat.
Then his hand clasps the back of my neck, holding me in place, and a husky moan burns its way through my lungs.
Cooper releases me, giving us a chance to breathe, and he frowns. “You’re shaking.”
I take my hands off his shoulders and clench them behind my back. He leans forward, mouth grazing my jaw as he takes my wrists and guides my hands to his chest. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. I’m at your mercy,” he says gently.
“What do you mean?” I ask him.
He slides his hands up and down my thighs. My hands finally stopped shaking, and he looks at me with adoration in his lush green eyes and shrugs. “Whatever you want,” he says.
“Is this your way of getting me to stay? Are you trying to rope me in with your gentleman in the streets and freak in the sheets play?”
He throws his head back, laughing. “I appreciate you think I’m capable of being that smooth, but no, that’s not what this is. I meant what I said, and I say what I mean. You could tell me to get on the floor and bark like a dog, and I would.”
I snort looking down at him. “I’m not going to tell you to do that.”