Chapter Seventeen – Gone with the Wind #2
Andie laughed at my obvious surprise. “Right? Completely over the top. But the client gets what the client wants.”
Andie hurried over to a long L-shaped bar pressed up against the far windows.
It was made of the same imitation wrought iron as the building, blending in almost as an extension of the walls themselves.
She took a photo of a stack of handblown martini glasses in vibrant colors, texting the image before turning to face me.
Neither of us said anything for several moments, and the air instantly grew heavy, full of all the emotions that routinely lingered between us. Desire. Doubt. Indecision.
I was the one to break the silence. “The party is tonight. I want to leave around five so I can help my parents with any last-minute prep.”
Andie looked down at her clipboard, setting it and her phone on the bar top. Instead of the scar on her chin, she ran her finger along a martini glass, but the move still gave away her nerves.
“Even with Misty’s assistance, I have a lot to do right now for this wedding. I’m going to be here late tonight and all day tomorrow. It’s just not a good time.”
I eased into the opening of the bar, blocking her escape.
“Can I ask you a question?”
She looked away before responding. “Whenever someone asks that, they really mean, ‘Can I invade your personal space with something inappropriate?’”
My lips twitched. She wasn’t wrong. “Why did you buy your house?”
Surprise jerked her gaze back to mine. “What?”
“Unless I’m wrong, buying the house was your way of claiming a life outside the ranch.”
She remained quiet, searching my face as if trying to figure out where the conversation was going.
“And you hired Misty to take some of your responsibilities so you had time to enjoy whatever life you built that didn’t involve the Harringtons.”
“I never told you that.”
I raised a brow and pointed to my chest. “Cop. Finding things out is what I do.”
She huffed, running a hand over her perfectly assembled updo.
“You have a dog you barely see and a house where you haven’t painted more than a single room in nine months. As far as I can tell, you barely spend a few hours a day there, and most of that time is spent sleeping or getting ready to come back here.” I waved at her dress.
“Have you been watching me?” she demanded, hand going to her hip.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve been watching you. I’d say, as your neighbor and the father of the kid who’s helping care for your dog, I’ve noticed things.”
“I don’t need or want you dissecting my life, Cooper.”
“I bet you’ve gotten really good at telling yourself that over the last eight years.
That you don’t need or want anyone interfering.
For someone in hiding, keeping to yourself and staying under the radar…
it’s been a necessity. Not getting close to anyone has been a way to guard others as much as to save you from the pain of caring for someone and then having to up and leave. ”
She inhaled sharply. “You’re making assumptions about me—”
“I’m speaking the truth as I see it.”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, but she didn’t respond.
“I think I can help with some of that.”
She flung her hands out. “Why?”
It was the same question she’d asked me in my yard on Halloween, but I guessed my answer hadn’t been clear enough. So I did what I could to rectify it by giving her more of my truths.
“I won’t lie. It’s my nature to want to help when I see someone in need.
I never want to see the terror I witnessed the other night in your eyes again.
I want you to know, with an unshakeable certainty, that whoever you’re running from can’t hurt you.
” I let my words sink in before closing the deal.
“But that isn’t why I want you with me tonight.
I like what I see when I look at you and want to discover more.
I want to peel back this sexy, professional exterior and find out if the fire I think lies underneath is as intense as the one burning in me. ”
I eased in closer, until our hips brushed, and her gray eyes turned a shade darker. Her eyes dropped to my mouth, and when she didn’t tell me to back the hell away, I did what I’d been wanting to do for weeks—I leaned down and touched my lips to hers.
She was soft and lush and tasted like coffee and cinnamon. Like the warm welcome of home and the heady rush of leaping into the unknown combined.
My body, already on alert, went instantly hard.
I groaned, cupping her face and angling it so I could sink deeper into the kiss, dragging my tongue along the seam of her mouth and rejoicing when she opened for me.
Raw instinct took over, a craving so strong I thought it would consume every fiber of my being.
A hunger unmatched by any kiss I could remember.
Andie’s hands tangled in my hair, tugging at it while pressing her body closer and setting off a whole series of flash-bangs deep inside me.
I’d had plenty of damn good sex in my lifetime, but this nearly feral need encompassing me was new, enthralling, and a bit terrifying.
I could imagine myself falling completely and utterly under her spell.
Could see myself giving her every piece of my torn soul that I had left for just the promise of another sip.
Lost in the scent and heat of her, I didn’t care enough to save myself from the pain of the landing. I only wanted more. To forget everything and anything but the delightful little hum that rose like the reverberation of a song from deep inside her.
A throat cleared behind me.
And I didn’t give a damn. I simply continued ravishing the depths of her mouth, eking out every ounce of pleasure soaring between us.
It was Andie who broke the trance.
And when she hauled her mouth from mine, I felt the loss like a punch to the gut. Her eyes were dark, her cheeks flushed, her freckles nearly glowing. She pulled her hands from my neck, placed them on my chest, and shoved.