Chapter 11
Cooper had never wanted any woman the way he wanted her—and not just because she was hotter than the sun.
It was also because of the way she took no prisoners and blazed through life on her own terms, following her own rules.
Before he’d met her, he’d had no idea how sexy those traits would be to him.
Most of the women he’d met were far too concerned with the approval of others to blaze their own paths.
Gigi didn’t give a rat’s ass what anyone thought of her, and he loved that about her.
When he went inside to get a beach towel and the sunscreen he’d bought before he came to the island, he was glad the baby had gone quiet, but there was no sign of Jared or Lizzie. He texted Jared. Gone to the beach with Gigi. Let me know if you need me.
Since she was driving, he left the keys to the Porsche on the kitchen counter.
It was a relief not to have to use that car.
He might never ask his brother to use it again after the other night.
His shoulders, arms and hands still ached like a bitch, but not as badly as his ribs.
Before he left the house, he popped a couple of painkillers and chased them with a full glass of water.
Outside, Gigi leaned against the car, checking her phone as she waited for him.
“Ready?” he asked.
“I was born ready.”
“I’ll bet you were,” he said, grinning as he walked around to the passenger side, eyeing the low-slung car with trepidation. This was going to hurt. He lowered himself carefully into the passenger seat, holding his breath in anticipation of the blast of pain that left him panting and sweaty.
“Shit, Coop. Are you okay?”
“Yep. As long as I don’t move or try to get into a sports car.”
“God, that sucks.”
“I’m fine. Anyway, back to what I was saying before. I bet you were hell on wheels from the minute you were born.”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t know?”
She backed the white Mercedes out of the driveway. “No, I don’t know.”
“Oh.”
“If I tell you my deep, dark secrets, it won’t make things weird between us, will it?”
“I won’t let it if you don’t.”
She drove for at least a mile before she spoke again. “I was born to a crack addict, which means I was born addicted.”
Cooper blew out a deep breath. Wow.
“I was put into the foster system and don’t really have much info on my life before I was adopted at four.”
“The family who adopted you… They were good people?”
“They weren’t cut out to be parents.”
“How do you mean?”
“They were super-ambitious Hollywood types who were perfectly fine to leave the raising of their child to a progression of nannies. He was a producer, and she was a studio executive. I was about thirteen when I realized I was just a box they’d felt the need to check on their path to world domination.
Get married. Check. Have a kid. Check. Take over the world.
Check. They liked to stage elaborate photo shoots of the three of us, as if we were some sort of sweet little family when I hardly ever saw them except for when they decided they needed family time. ”
Cooper had no idea what to say.
“I first became interested in the law when I was fifteen and decided to sue for emancipation from them. I got tired of them wanting nothing to do with me until it suited their purposes.”
“Did you win?”
“Hell yes, I won—with a financial settlement that allowed me to finish high school with my friends and get my own apartment.”
“When you were fifteen.”
“I was sixteen by the time it was finalized.”
“So, you were on your own at sixteen.”
“Yep, and I’ve never looked back. I became a lawyer so I could take care of myself financially and legally. I never wanted to be in another situation where I had to rely on other people to take care of things for me. I wanted to do it myself.”
“I’m amazed, Gigi. You’re incredible.”
She shrugged. “You do what you have to.”
“Have you ever seen your parents again?”
“Occasionally. I had no desire to be estranged from them. I just didn’t want them telling me how to live my life when they had so little to do with me.”
As they stopped at the deli in town to grab lunch, Cooper’s heart ached for the young girl who’d had to grow up far too soon.
He’d never been prouder of anyone than he was of her, except for maybe Jared.
But as much as Jared had achieved, he’d done so with the safety net of a loving family to catch him if he fell.
Gigi had already been on her own for thirteen years and had turned her life into a success story all by herself.
“Tell me the truth.” She glanced at him when they were back in the car.
“You’re horrified to hear my shitty life story, right?
” She laughed. “I don’t even know why I told you.
I never talk about any of it. I’m so thankful the press hasn’t uncovered this stuff.
My lawyer was thorough. It’s buried pretty deep. ”
“I’m not horrified. I’m impressed. My biggest concern when I was fifteen was trying to hide my constant boners in school.”
Gigi laughed hard. “I love that.”
“It was a nightmare and the ultimate paradox. When you don’t want boners, you have them all the time. When you’re old, you have to take pills to get them. Why can’t we store boners for when we need them later in life?”
“That is a question for the ages.”
“I’d really like an answer. We need a storage facility for boners where you can bank them for later and withdraw as needed.”
“Now that’s a business idea that’d make you a billionaire.”
“Boner Bank. I need to get that trademarked before someone steals my idea.”
He loved the sound of her laughter.
“Will you have a drive-up window at the Boner Bank?”
“Hell yes, with one of those plastic tube things that shoots you out a boner any time you need one.”
She laughed so hard, the car swerved out of the lane. “Thanks for the laugh. I needed that.”
“I like when you laugh.”
“I like people who make me laugh.”
“What happened today?”
“What makes you think something happened?”
“The rage-swimming was my first clue. But then you told me stuff you said you don’t tell just anyone, and that has me wondering what happened that has you thinking about the past.”
She gave him an odd look that he could read by the way her brows arched over her sunglasses.
“What?”
“You’re rather insightful for a boy your age.”
“A boy,” he said with a snort. “I’m all man, sweetheart. I’d be happy to prove that to you any time you’d like.”
“After a pickup at the Boner Bank?”
“Nah, I’m still getting plenty of them all on my own. Such as whenever I come upon you in the pool in that white bikini. You’re giving me a lifetime of spank-bank fantasies.”
“Oh, Boner Bank and Spank Bank ought to go into business together.”
Laughing, Cooper said, “That’d be one heck of a partnership.” Thankful that the pain pills were starting to work, Cooper put his head back against the headrest and looked over at her. “I haven’t forgotten my original question. What happened today?”
“Jordan found out she’s pregnant,” Gigi said, sighing. “I’m so happy for her.”
“What else?”
“Nothing. That was it.”
“No, there’s more. You’re happy for her, so why were you rage-swimming?”
Hesitantly, she said, “It’s not rage so much as fear.”
“Of what?”
She pulled into the town beach parking lot and took a spot at the far end, which was usually less crowded.
After shutting off the engine, she kept her hands on the wheel as she stared at the water.
“When you have no real family of your own, your family becomes the one you choose for yourself. Jordan and Nikki are my family. Their grandmother is mine.” She swallowed.
“They’re making lives for themselves here, which means they’ll be staying when I go back to LA. ”
Cooper began to get the picture. “Nothing says you have to be there if your family is here.”
“I can’t live on Gansett Island, Cooper.”
“Why not? A thousand other people do it year-round. They seem to love it. Look at my brother and Lizzie.”
“I’d go stark raving mad here year-round.”
“Okay, so then live in LA part of the year and spend the summers here with your girls.”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you going to tell me that the girl who sued her parents for emancipation at fifteen can’t figure out a solution to this challenge? I refuse to believe that.”
“When you put it that way, it does seem far less daunting.”
“You’ll work it out.”
“Thanks for listening. It was an eventful half day at work, and I was still processing it while I was swimming.”
“Is Jordan excited?” he asked as he got out of the car, took a second to catch his breath from the pain and then carried their beach chairs to the boardwalk.
He gestured to a spot several yards from the nearest group. “How’s this?”
“Perfect. I don’t want to people.”
“I’m sure you do plenty of peopling in Los Angeles.”
“I can’t go anywhere anymore without being mobbed by paparazzi and fans, which I’m told is a good problem to have.”
“Until it happens to you.”
“Exactly, and you need security to leave your house. The drive-up window at Starbucks has become my best friend.”
“We’ll serve coffee at the Boner Bank for our female customers.”
“So you’re saying the ladies can’t buy themselves a boner with no man attached, because if so, you’re missing out on a crucial demographic.”
“You make a good point.”
“Hahaha, a good point. Nice pun.”
“I’ll see what I can come up with next.”
“It’s hard to think of a good pun.”
“At the Boner Bank, we’ll be all about the dick puns. I wish I’d had this idea in grad school. Imagine the fun I could’ve had with that as my business plan.”
“Men everywhere would be flooding to your Boner Bank to drop off unneeded boners for use later on.”
They laughed so hard, Cooper had tears in his eyes. “You’re good at this.”
“Everyone has their talents. My talents apparently include dick jokes. I get enough dick pics to stock your bank for years.”
“Ew, do you?”
“Yep. I had to hire someone to manage my social media—and Jordan’s—to deal with the dudes who think we want to see their junk. Among other things.”
“Gross.”
“You have no idea. Dick pics and prisoner mail. Apparently, that’s how you know you’ve made it in Hollywood. That’s why I pay someone to manage our social media.”
“Good call.” He handed her the salad with chicken she’d chosen at the deli and dug into his roast beef sandwich with mustard, horseradish, onions and hot peppers.
As he devoured the first half, he realized the onions might’ve been a mistake, as he’d very much like to kiss her again as soon as possible.
He picked them off the second half. “Thanks for telling me the things you shared earlier.”
“Thanks for not making a big deal out of it.”
“People usually do?”
“Most people don’t know, but those who do feel ‘so bad’ for me, and I don’t want that. I was raised in a mansion in Beverly Hills. A lot of people had it way worse than I did, especially the kids who spent their entire childhoods in foster care.”
“Yes, I’m sure a lot of people had it worse, but your situation was no picnic.”
“No, but I always had what I needed.”
“Did you?”
She shrugged. “The important stuff. I don’t dwell on any of it. That was years ago. I have a whole new life now.”
“Which is going to change if Jordan permanently relocates here.”
“Yeah, but hey, I’ve seen that coming for months now. She and the tall-as-fuck fire chief are madly in love, and it’s not like he’s going to suddenly quit his job and move to LA to live with her.”
“Did you maybe kinda sorta hope that’s what they’d do?”
“It was always a long shot, and it’s fine. I want her to be happy. She deserves that after her nightmare marriage to Zane the dickhead.”
“Was it as bad as the tabloids made it out to be?”
“It was way, way worse, especially the part where he came here and took Nikki and their grandmother hostage while we were in LA. That was one long-ass flight to get here.”
“I meant to ask before how you managed to keep that quiet.”
“We made that a condition of him being charged with lesser crimes in exchange for a serious stint in rehab. The last thing Jordan needed was another firestorm involving him. The incident in Charlotte was more than enough.”
“I saw on Twitter that he asked his fans to leave her alone and took all the blame for the problems in their marriage.”
“That was also condition of his deal, to call his lunatics off her. They were relentless toward her after he put her in the hospital in Charlotte.”
“Sounds like a prince of a guy.”
“He’s an asshole, and I hope we never see him again. And when I tell you I’m happy she’s with Mason, I mean it. He treats her like a queen, which is what she deserves.”
“You deserve that, too.”
“I don’t need that. I can take care of myself. I don’t need some man to make me feel complete.”
“And she does?”
“No, but that’s what she has with Mason. They’re very cute together. I couldn’t be happier for her.”
“But you’re sad for you.”
“‘Sad’ is a big word. It’s going to be an adjustment to be at home without her and Nikki. That’s all.”
“It’s okay to be sad about it. You know that, right?”
“I don’t need you to shrink me, Coop.”
“That’s not what I’m doing. I’m simply pointing out that the changes your friend is making are going to affect you, too, and it’s okay to feel the way you do about that.”
“I’ll be okay. I’m like a cat. I always land on my feet.” She jumped up. “Let’s swim.”
Cooper took a second to put their trash in the bag and tie it off so the seagulls wouldn’t get it.
Getting out of the beach chair was even more painful than the car, and by the time he made his way to the water, she was already out past the breaking waves.
He moved carefully, turning his uninjured side toward the crashing waves, but even that hurt.
Worst time ever to be injured, he decided, with a woman like Gigi around. Under normal circumstances, he might swim out to join her, put his arms around her for a kiss. Under these circumstances, he didn’t dare do anything more than stand in waist-deep water and hope she’d come to him.
When she seemed to realize he wasn’t coming out any farther, she caught a wave that brought her right to where he stood.
She looked up at him, smiling. “What’s up?”
“Not much. I was just standing here minding my own business until this sea nymph showed up in a white bikini. My day just got a whole lot better.”
“Are your ribs hurting?”
“Like hell. I was afraid to go out any deeper.”
“I’m sorry you’re hurting.”
“It’ll feel better in a day or two. I hope.” He held out a hand to her.
She looked up at him, her expression unreadable as she took his hand and stood.
Cooper put his arm around her as they walked out of the water and returned to their camp on the beach.