Book 24 Temptation After Dark #13
“She’s afraid,” Nikki says. “She’s learned the hard way that she can’t trust anyone except the very small circle of friends she allows to get close to her.”
“I’ve tried in every way I can think of to let her know she can trust me.”
“Now, you’re going to have to take a step back and wait for her to come to you,” Jordan says.
“Let me ask you this,” Nikki says. “Was she crying when she said it was over?”
“Yeah.” Her tears had wrecked him. “Big-time.”
“Gigi doesn’t cry,” Jordan says. “Like, ever.”
“If she was crying as she ended things with you,” Nikki says, “it’s because she cares too much about you and isn’t sure what to do about it. I completely agree with Jordan’s plan for you to chill and give her time to come around on her own.”
“Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.”
“In case you haven’t noticed,” Jordan says, smiling, “we’re on Team Cooper. We’re rooting for you guys to figure things out.”
“Means a lot to me that her two closest friends want us to be together.”
“She’s happy with you,” Nikki says. “Anyone can see that. The problem for her is she doesn’t know what it’s like to be truly happy, so she’s resisting it out of fear of everything going bad and ruining the life she’s created for herself.”
“Strangely enough, I get that,” Cooper says. “All I want to do is make her happy. I already told her I’d never hurt her or let her go if she takes a chance on me.”
“It’s freaking her out that she can’t find any good reason not to take that chance,” Jordan says.
“She feels things so deeply, and she’s been burned by that in the past, starting with the parents who couldn’t have cared less about her even as they said all the right things and two idiots who convinced her they were madly in love with her when they were only in love with themselves.
She’s learned to be wary when people make big promises. ”
“I mean every word I’ve ever said to her.”
“And she knows that.” Nikki squeezes Cooper’s arm. “Now give her the time to decide for herself that she wants you in her life.”
Cooper hears what they’re saying and even agrees with their advice, but how in the world will he find the patience to stay away from her when he wants her more than he’s ever wanted anything or anyone?
At home, he finds Jared on the pool deck. By this time tomorrow, he and Lizzie will be parents. They’re just waiting for Jessie to sign the papers. Cooper tells Jared that Gigi broke up with him, which Jared finds hard to believe.
“They finish filming on Monday and are scheduled to go back to LA on Tuesday. Jordan and Nikki say she’s freaking out about the summer ending as this thing with me has become more serious than expected. They say I need to give her space to come around on her own.”
Jared agrees with Nikki and Jordan. “Hang in there, bud. I’m sure you’ve done all you can to show her how it could be between you guys, and if that’s what she wants, she’ll be back.”
“I hope so.”
“I do, too, but I have to say, it’s good to know you’re mortal after all.”
“Haha, very funny. I’ve been waiting for you to remind me I had this coming.”
Jared’s low chuckle makes Cooper smile for the first time in hours.
“How’d the meeting go with the McCarthys?”
“Better than expected.” He tells Jared about the wedding package deals the family is thinking about offering and how his business could be included.
“That’s awesome. You can’t pay for that kind of free publicity.”
“I know, and Mr. McCarthy’s friend Ned Saunders talked to me about getting involved in some real estate investments, too.
Apparently, that’s been his main hustle for forty years, and he’s looking to take a step back and spend more time with his family.
He needs someone who might be interested in stepping into that game. ”
“That’s an incredible opportunity, Coop. He’s made a fortune buying and selling houses on the island. So your day didn’t totally suck.”
“The first half was pretty awesome.”
“Hang in there, brother. Gigi knows by now that you’re a good guy. Give her time to think about it and try to have some faith.”
He’ll give her the space she needs even as he worries he might’ve lost her forever.
Gigi throws herself into filming the last episode. She packs up her belongings, and on Tuesday, she calls a cab and leaves the James estate without looking back because if she does, she won’t be able to leave.
Cooper watches her leave from the living room window. He can’t believe she left without saying goodbye. He goes to the pool deck to catch up on his portfolio for the first time in days.
A short time later, a sleek Learjet takes off from the airport and goes right over the house, taking the woman he loves with it. His heart sinks as he watches the plane climb out over the island. She’s gone. It’s over. And now he has to figure out how to live without her.
Half an hour later, he’s forcing himself to focus on work, so he won’t howl from the pain of losing her. He’s deep in the weeds of charts, graphs, prospectuses and trades when a car pulls into the driveway.
Cooper keeps his eyes on the screen until the click of heels and the unmistakable scent of his love surrounds him in a cloud of sensation that has him finally looking up.
As he blinks at the sight of Gigi dragging a full set of Louis Vuitton luggage onto Jared’s pool deck into focus, he can’t believe what he’s seeing.
“Funniest thing happened at the airport,” she says.
He’s afraid to so much as breathe, let alone speak. But as he studies her one-of-a-kind face, he sees the ravages of the last few days in swollen eyes, dark circles and unusually pale cheeks.
“I realized I’d left the most important thing in my life behind, and I had to come back to get it. I had to come back to get you, Cooper.”
He puts his laptop on the chair next to his and holds out a hand to her.
She takes his hand and lets him draw her down onto the lounge with him. “I’m sorry, Coop.”
“Don’t apologize. You had to come around to this in your own way and in your own time.” He puts his arms around her, and when she snuggles into his embrace, he’s able to breathe for the first time in days. “Have you come around to it? To me and us?”
“I think I have.”
“I need you to be sure, sweetheart, because the last couple of days were hell.”
“I’m sorry I put you through that.”
“You’re not apologizing, remember?” He tips her chin up so he can kiss her. “There’s something I never got the chance to tell you before you dumped me.”
She cringes at his choice of words. “What’s that?”
“I love you, Gabrielle Gigi Gibson.”
“I love you, too, Coop. I really do, and that’s why I freaked out. I don’t know how to do this.”
“This is a first for me, too. How about we figure it out together?”
“I’d love that.” She rests her head on his chest and lets out a deep sigh. “You were right here, and I was right there, and I missed you so much.”
He strokes her hair and rubs her back. Now that he’s allowed to touch her again, he’ll never stop. “I missed you, too.”
“Cooper, will you come home to LA with me this winter and possibly on location to shoot the show from somewhere cool, and then bring me back to this magical place next summer to start your business on Gansett while I hang with my girls?”
“I’d love nothing more than to live that life with you, sweetheart.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
In the short story, McCarthy, Party of Seven, Mac and Maddie bring their twins home to Gansett Island!