Chapter Twenty-five – War Paint #2
But her text only magnified my worries. Just by staying with Cooper last night I could have sent a loaded gun in his direction.
Could I really just carelessly stroll back into his house tonight, knowing I could be drawing more fire?
Wouldn’t that make me as careless as Eden had been with their relationship, even if it was in a very different way?
I should just stay at the ranch where the security was top-notch. Misty hadn’t taken my old room, even when it had been offered to her. She was staying with her aunt. I could just stay here for a few days until I could get an alarm installed and Cooper’s friend could search for cameras.
If I wasn’t at Cooper’s, the woman after me couldn’t say I was breaking my vows to a dead man. Couldn’t use me as an excuse to hurt him.
ME: I can’t talk about this right now. I’ve got a lot to do for the wedding. But nothing really happened between Cooper and me. A couple of kisses, and I’m not sure it’ll happen again.
FALLON: That’s doubly disappointing. But I’ll drop it for now. Tell me what you need from me today.
I told her Misty and I had it covered and to just take care of her sick kiddos.
Then, I shoved my phone in my pocket and turned my attention to the job.
I couldn’t think about Cooper. I couldn’t think about the happiness I’d felt with him or the overwhelming sense of caring and affection he’d directed at me.
If I did, the longing I felt to be a part of his life would just about decimate me.
Dawson had convinced me to tell Cooper the truth, but we’d both forgotten that it wasn’t the truth that could do the most damage.
It was the person who had me in their sights.
In the heat of everything last night, I’d forgotten that.
I’d forgotten it and become a person I didn’t want to be— a person who thought of themselves first.
I wouldn’t be that person.
And it broke me a little, knowing what it meant for us.
I shoved that aside for now too. I’d focus on the tasks at hand until I didn’t have a choice but to face the music—to face Cooper.
? ? ?
The ceremony went off smoothly beside the rush of the waterfalls with the mist coming off them. The setting was breathtaking—almost romantic enough to make you forget the bite of cold air made only a bit more tolerable with the glow of the heat lamps.
While the wedding party disappeared in a flurry of last-minute photos, Misty and I climbed into one of the golf carts, heading back up to the marquee from the river.
The ride was short, but it gave my thoughts just enough room to start drifting where I didn’t want them to go, and it took considerable effort to drag them back to the remaining tasks at hand.
The restless energy Misty had carried all morning had finally burned itself out. Her shoulders sloped, her grip on the clipboard looser than usual. We still had hours to go, and she was running on fumes.
“You should grab some food,” I said. “And caffeine. Preferably both.”
“I’ll get my second wind,” she said, dragging her stylus along the sleeve of her jacket as if scratching an itch.
Darkness had fully settled by the time we reached the path to the marquee. Stained-glass lanterns lined the way, each one etched with an image of Anika and her groom. A stunning extravagance, but beautiful as the colors spilled across the gravel in fractured patterns.
I’d just parked the golf cart and swung my feet out when Cooper’s voice broke the night, calling my name.
Joy flared—quick and unguarded—before guilt and alarm rushed in to smother it.
“Is everything okay?” I asked as he and Lance caught up to us.
Cooper’s gaze flicked to Misty and back. “Everything’s fine. Lance and I were just talking about a few of the things you and I discussed this morning.”
“Is there a problem with the guests?” Misty asked, already shifting into fixer mode.
“Nothing to do with the ranch,” Lance said quickly.
My back stiffened anyway. Had Cooper told him? About me? About the parts of my life I worked so hard to keep sealed away? After I’d told him I didn’t want to involve the ranch? It was bad enough I was going to ask the security team to install an alarm. I didn’t want them tied up in this more.
Reading the tension that rippled through me, Cooper shook his head slightly, his hand brushing my arm with a quiet, grounding touch. It steadied me, even as it made everything I needed to do and say to him that much harder.
Lance studied us for a moment, curiosity flickering across his face, then he nodded toward the marquee. “One of the cameras is out. I’m going to take a look. I’ll keep you posted, Coop.”
He headed inside, and Misty watched him go, her expression thoughtful. When her gaze returned to us, an awkward silence descended. Finally, she lifted her clipboard. “I’ll double-check on the appetizers and cocktails.”
“That would be great. Thanks, Misty.”
She disappeared into the marquee, where laughter and clinking glasses were already spilling out into the night.
“Walk me to my rig?” Cooper asked.
I nodded and followed him with frustration, sadness, and a longing I didn’t know how to kill all twisting inside me.
We stopped beside the sheriff’s SUV he’d parked in the emergency zone. Cold crept through my half-jacket and sheath dress, but when I folded my arms, it was for armor more than warmth.
“You told Lance about me? After I said I didn’t want to involve them?”
Cooper leaned back against the hood, and with his attention completely fixed on me, drinking me in as if it had been weeks since he saw me, I couldn’t look away.
“I didn’t tell him about your past. That’s your story to tell, if and when you’re ready. But I did ask about the alarm system, and I told him you’d had a couple of break-ins that I was concerned were related to the ones happening in my parents’ neighborhood.”
It didn’t really ease the tension growing inside me. I wasn’t sure anything could. My thoughts had been on a tilt-a-whirl all day. Up and down and all around. Wanting him, knowing it was safer to let him go, and yet still wanting to keep him anyway.
A bitter wind whipped up the hillside from the lake, and I shivered again.
Cooper frowned, stepping closer and rubbing my arms, the touch sparking fire that attempted to chase the frigid air away. “Why are you always without a jacket? Where’s the one I gave you this morning?”
The simple fact he cared I was cold was like a drug, luring me in, sliding past all my defenses. How could I possibly end this before it had even had a chance to begin, especially after he’d sworn to stand by me?
“It’s inside the hotel,” I replied. “But it’ll be hot in the marquee, so I didn’t bring it. What did Lance say?”
He continued to rub my arms. “He agreed we needed to look at some of the staff for the break-ins, especially because of your missing house key.”
He was right. I hated that he was right. I hated that yet another place where I’d felt safe was suddenly not.
“You don’t really think my break-in and the ones by your parents’ house are related, do you?”
He shrugged. “No, but it was an excuse that I could give that wasn’t tied to you and your past. And it doesn’t hurt to have him keeping his eye out.”
What would Fallon say when she found out I hadn’t told her about the break-ins? Not as my boss, but as my friend? I felt like all the knots I’d so carefully tied were unraveling. Like I was moments away from losing everything I’d fallen in love with here in Swift Rivers.
When I didn’t respond, Cooper moved on as if I’d just accepted his explanation. And I had. What I was really struggling with was how to find the words to tell him it might be best for me to stay here tonight. To stay away from him completely.
“I’m heading over to Mom’s to pick up Luca and Akela. I’m sure she’ll insist I take half a dozen platters of party leftovers with me, so there’ll be food when you get home. You’re still thinking it’ll be about midnight?”
The idea of going home to him…to him and Luca and a dog we shared… It was just a beautiful mirage, and the ache of losing it before I’d really had a chance to claim it settled deep in my soul.
When I still didn’t reply, Cooper fished in the pocket of the thick coat he was wearing and held out a key. “I’ll likely be awake, but just in case, let yourself in.”
I just stared at it for far too long, overwhelmed at the trust and generosity the key represented. It killed me not to take it. But I didn’t. I held fast. “I’m going to spend the night here.”
A single brow raised. “What?”
“It’s better this way.”
“Better? Better for who?” His voice lowered, and in it I heard not only objection but hurt.
“Maisey saw us kissing on your porch this morning,” I tried to explain.
He looked more confused. “Okay.”
“Don’t you see? Whoever this is…they could have seen it too.”