Chapter Thirty-one – Hanging by a Moment #2
My gut seesawed until he returned, and the grim expression he wore when he returned caused it to bottom out. My gaze dropped to a piece of paper he held carefully clasped with the sleeve of his jacket.
He turned it for me to read.
You might have tricked the cop into thinking you’re a saint, but I know the real you.
Thief. Whore. Killer. Give me the money you stole, and I’ll let you leave Rivers alive.
You have until Friday. If you don’t turn it over, everyone will know the truth, and I’ll kill you and anyone who stands in my way. Even the kid and the dog.
With every word I read, the pressure in my chest grew. But it wasn’t panic. It wasn’t even fear. The tremor that ran through me was fueled by fury. How dare they threaten innocents!
I raised angry eyes to his.
“What can I do to finish this?” I demanded. “Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it. Because I will not simply stand here while they threaten Luca and Akela. I know I wasn’t very good at protecting either of them today, but I will, Cooper. I swear to God, I wouldn’t let—”
Cooper cut me off with a heated kiss powered by frustration and fear and determination. Not at me… I knew enough about him to know it was simply because he felt like his hands were tied.
But the longer we stood there twined, both of us battling with dark emotions as our mouths collided with a ferocity I’d never encountered, the more the anger faded, allowing hope and desire to snake their way back in.
To allow them to burn away everything and anything but a desire so large it threatened to incinerate me.
And once the tide had changed, every lick, every nip after seemed loaded with something more. Something bigger. Something that shouted about all-consuming love. A permanent claiming that would remain no matter what fate tossed at us.
Cooper was the one to break the kiss, resting his forehead on mine, breathing heavily.
“Thank you,” he said softly, throat bobbing. “For wanting to protect my son. For him being your first thought, not only right now but earlier today. That’s who you are, Andie. Don’t let this bitch ever make you think less of yourself.”
“I want it to be over.” The strength of that wish almost left me as breathless as the kiss. “But I refuse to let any of you be hurt in the process. So tell me how we do that. How do we end this without risking any of you?”
He rubbed a thumb along my chin, over the scars I hadn’t hidden with makeup today because I hadn’t expected to be out of the house for longer than a walk.
His eyes searched the house. “I don’t have an answer for you yet, especially not here.”
I’d forgotten the potential cameras. But I hoped whoever it was, if they really were watching, would see I wasn’t scared. Instead, I was practically vibrating again with indignant rage.
“For the last twenty-four hours, I’ve been focused on what happened at the artist colony and the drug case.
” He dropped his head, mouth close to my ear, whispering, “But maybe, letting this play out is the best way to drive this person out of the shadows. Maybe it’s as simple as putting together a bag of pretend money and waiting to see who retrieves it.
I need to give it some more thought, and I can’t do that on the one brain cell I have left after being awake for going on forty-eight hours. ”
He scanned the walls once again and then said louder, “Let’s grab what you need and go home.”
Guilt hit me once more. He was exhausted. He’d been running himself ragged for days, and all I was focused on was ending things for me. Except, it wasn’t just for me. It was for us. To keep them all safe and to have a chance at the future Cooper saw so clearly for us.
For tonight, I could give him what he needed, which was rest. Respite from the responsibilities that weighed on him.
So, I hurried toward my bedroom and picked an outfit for the next day before grabbing the hamper I’d stuffed with all the clothes that had been strewn from the dresser.
Cooper took it from me, and as we left the darkness of my house behind and stepped into the warmth of his, filled with a medley of items that screamed family, I let myself believe I could have a future here.
I let myself believe I could come home to their love.
And it gave me a strength I didn’t have before. This wasn’t just about surviving. This was about demanding something more for myself. I wouldn’t run away this time. I would take a stand and claim what belonged to me.
I followed Cooper to the laundry room. He set my things down and said, “I’m going to grab a quick shower while you start the wash. Come find me when you’re done?”
I nodded, watching him as he strode down the hall.
I’d never wanted to keep something more. It was time I anted up. Time I took a gamble that I’d been dodging for too long now. Time I took the stand Dawson had wanted me to take a decade ago.
I’d scurried away like a cockroach from the light back then. I’d done it to survive, but I also hadn’t believed I’d deserved more than the dark shadows that existed in the corners of everyone else’s life.
Now, I wanted Cooper. This family.
I could barely focus on sorting clothes and starting a load with the force of the desire and determination that coursed through me. I barely remembered to hit the start button before I nearly sprinted to Cooper’s room.
The air smelled like steam and the heady, quintessential scent of wood and musk that was Cooper. The lights were off, but the television was on, and he was sprawled out on top of the covers. In the flickering lights, his closed eyes and the slow rise and fall of his bare chest greeted me.
He’d already passed out.
Disappointment washed through me before I brushed it aside. He needed rest.
In nothing but a pair of sweats, with his chest and feet bare, he looked…
vulnerable and unguarded. It reminded me of what Lydia had said about what Eden had done to Cooper.
In the last few days, I’d caught glimpses of the man Eden must have met—the serious cop with his heart on his sleeve—but she’d stolen that from him and left behind someone extremely guarded.
As he’d slowly unfurled those hidden pieces of himself and handed them to me, what I saw appealed to me far more than his gorgeous exterior ever could have. I wanted that man who’d first given his heart and hoped for a love like his parents had.
And I knew, with a certainty that was overwhelming, I could have it. If I could finally close the door on my past.
I moved quietly through the room, picking up a discarded long-sleeved Henley of his from the chair and heading for the bathroom to wash up. When I came out, he still hadn’t moved.
Afraid I’d wake him if I tried to get under the covers, I simply slid onto the bed next to him, lay on my side, and watched him breathe.
The slope of his nose was slightly askew, as if it had been broken at some time in his life, and the sharp jut of his determined chin was hazy with scruff.
His wide chest was defined, lined with muscled cuts and grooves that spoke of strength and fortitude.
Other than a few gray hairs at his temples, he didn’t look like he was in his forties.
I’d sworn I’d never fall for an older man again.
Freudian psychologists would have a field day with me—a textbook case of a woman needing the fatherly love denied her growing up.
But in this case, Cooper’s age was one of the reasons I’d resisted him.
After all, our eleven-year age difference was even more than the nine that had existed between Eddie and me.
At forty-two, with a teenage son, would Cooper want more kids?
My chest squeezed. Did I want kids?