“Is that why you don’t want me to meet them? Because it might send them the wrong signal, that you’re changing to be more like them?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest in a clearly defensive pose.
“I just don’t understand why you’d want to.” She recalled making the same statement when he’d accepted her grandmother’s invitation to dinner.
That time, he’d said he wanted to get to know the person she loved and admired so much. She wondered what his reasons were now.
“Let’s call it curiosity. I want to see what makes you tick.”
She should have guessed that was his motivation. And she would have still insisted he not attend, except he said the words with a definite challenge in his tone.
And her reply flew from her lips without the consent of her brain. “So, fine. Come. See why Lexie runs.”
The minute the words were out of her mouth, she muttered a very unladylike curse because he’d set the trap and she’d taken the bait.
Coop grinned. “Just let me know what time. I’d be happy to pick you up and take you there.” His Cheshire cat smile confirmed her hunch.
“Grandma’s coming, too,” Lexie warned him.
His smile widened. “The more the merrier.”
“Great,” Lexie muttered. “Just swell.”
From the unintentional sexy pout on her glossed lips, Coop knew she was annoyed. He wasn’t thrilled with himself, either. He’d gone from wanting to keep an emotional distance to insisting he meet the rest of her family. It was one thing for him to decide to pull back, but another to hear her minimize what they shared.
Hearing her tell her father it wasn’t like they were serious had pissed him off. To the point where he wanted to rip the phone out of her hands and kiss her hard enough to make her eat those words. He wanted to touch all those sensitive spots on the body he knew so well, make her come and then let her tell him they weren’t all that serious. He broke into a sweat just thinking about it.
Instead, he was going to meet her family. When she wanted nothing more than to get on a plane and leave as soon as possible. Fucking swell.
His pride at manipulating her into agreement quickly turned to disgust with himself. Well, what’s done was done. He’d deal with it tomorrow when dinner rolled around.
Right now it was time to change the subject. “My father said he’d get us into the file room where the cold cases are stored.”
As expected, he captured her attention and her eyes sparkled with excitement. “That’s great!” She jumped up from her seat. “When can we go?”
“No time like the present.” He glanced at her white shorts and frilly top from the day before. “The file room is in the basement of an old building. You probably want to put on jeans and an old shirt.”
She glanced down and frowned. “I hate for us to have to lose time by going to my grandmother’s first, but I guess we have no choice.”
“I don’t mind.”
He almost suggested that while she was at her grandmother’s, she pick up some things to leave here. To make things easier in the future.
He bit back the words. He wasn’t sure what worried him more. Her reaction to that suggestion or what his response would be if she said no.
COOP DROVE TO HER grandmother’s so Lexie could change. He was quiet in the car ride over and Lexie remained silent, too. She wasn’t sure how to broach the subject of the travel sites he’d seen or how to explain her need to pick up and go.
There were surprisingly few people in the world who understood—at least in Lexie’s experience—and nothing she ever said or did made a difference. Too often she didn’t understand it herself. What had started as a flight mechanism had grown into something she not only enjoyed doing but needed to do. She didn’t always understand why, but she accepted that part of her. It hurt more than she’d anticipated to realize Coop couldn’t do the same.
When they reached the apartment, to Lexie’s surprise, her grandmother was nowhere to be found. She knocked on Sylvia’s door, too, but the other woman wasn’t home, either. Lexie figured they’d gone out for the day.
She wrote a note telling her grandmother she’d be home later and informing her that the three of them would be going to her parents’ home for dinner Saturday night. Which, Lexie realized, was tomorrow.
She called her father and left him a voice-mail message letting him know they’d all be there, prompting an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. Suddenly all areas of her life seemed to be crowding in on her and she yearned for a trip to the top of the Empire State Building instead of one to the bowels of a NYC police precinct.
By the time they headed back downtown, stopped for a quick lunch and reached the station, it was late afternoon.
Once at the main desk, Coop asked to speak with a man named Ed Potter.
A few minutes later, a burly, older guy in uniform who walked with a cane strode toward them and shook Coop’s hand.
“Who’s this lovely lady?” Ed asked.
“Lexie Davis,” she said, and extended her hand in greeting.
“Nice to meet you.” He gripped her palm in a firm shake.
“How have you been, Ed?” Coop asked.
The older man smiled. “Can’t complain. When it’s not raining, the old injury doesn’t bother me as much.” He patted his left leg with his hand. “How ’bout you? It’s been a while. Last time I saw you was at your mother’s funeral. Quite a turnout for quite a lady.”
Coop bowed his head. “Thanks. She was special.”
Lexie heard the ache in his voice and her throat closed up a little. She wished she could have known the mother he’d been so close to.
“How’s your dad doing?” Ed asked. “’Cause I’m sure I don’t get the truth out of him. Always claims life’s great.”
Coop grinned. “He’s doing all right. Never moans and groans. I wish he’d meet someone to keep him company, but so far the right woman hasn’t walked into his bar.”
Ed nodded. “Whoever she is, make sure she’s more understanding of guys’ night than my wife, Gretchen.”
Coop laughed—a deep, gruff sound Lexie always enjoyed, and one that never ceased to send shivers of awareness through her body.
“I take it that explains why we don’t see you around Jack’s?” Coop asked.
“You got that figured right.”