“Goodnight, Willow. See you first thing in the morning, bright and early.”
“I’ll be waiting,” I said as dryly as possible, wishing my pulse would slow down and that I didn’t feel that infuriating pull between my legs.
As he walked out to a newish Jeep Wrangler, I stared after him for far too long. Our eyes connected once more before he drove off and he gave me a half-smile. I slunk back inside, resigning myself to an evening of loneliness with whatever healthy bullshit Kevin had had delivered to the house.
At least tonight, for the first time, Cooper had called me Willow without mocking me. That had to count for something.
Chapter Four
True to his word, Cooper showed up at my rental at 5:30 in the morning. Wiping the sleep from my eyes with the backs of my hands, I met him at the door wearing nothing but a signed t-shirt that had belonged to Gavin, my pre-rehab boyfriend who’d broken up with me via a letter sent by someone working for the network that aired his lame boy band TV show. The shirt barely covered my thighs and as Cooper’s bright blue eyes combed over my body—starting at my bare feet and working his way up—I snapped completely awake.
Snorting, I pulled the door completely open. “Not very discreet, are you?” It was still dark outside, and I groaned out loud as I gestured for him to come in. He shook his head from side to side and took a step backward onto the veranda. I stretched my neck to see his Jeep was still cranked. Frowning, I asked, “In a rush?”
“Overslept,” he said. “So yeah, guess we are.”
I leaned my weight against the door frame. “Sleep is good for you sometimes.”
He worked his jaw back and forth. “Didn’t get too much of that after I left here.” Those blue eyes seemed to stare right into me, as he waited for some kind of response. Did he mean that he couldn’t get our kiss off his mind or that he went somewhere else? To sleep with someone else?
“Hard night of partying?” I asked in the most nonchalant voice I could muster, pulling my fingertips through my messy hair. Then, I yawned into my palm to show I didn’t care. Because I shouldn’t care. I shouldn’t be drawn to Cooper when I needed to focus on getting myself back on track.
But the idea of him saying he’d left my place to screw some other girl made my stomach harden.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he shrugged. “Not really. Listen, I’m going to wait in the Jeep. Meet me out here in ten minutes.”
I narrowed my eyes and, tugging the hem of my t-shirt down, stalked barefoot across the lanai until I was so close to him our toes touched. Though he sucked in a gasp of air, his relaxed expression never faltered. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I demanded. One of his eyebrows lifted up high.
“What?”
I pursed my lip, biting the inside of my lower one. He raked his bottom teeth over the corner of his mouth, and my mind was immediately pulled back to the way he’d done the same to mine last night. The weight in my stomach changed from jealousy of thinking he’d spent the night with another girl to something entirely different.
Need.
God, I was a wreck. I’d spent so many years dulling away emotions, going through the motions without feeling, that now I couldn’t even handle being attracted to someone. “Nothing,” I said, spinning around to head back inside. When I turned to close the door, he stood right in front of me, with a confused look on his face.
“What?” he asked once again.
I rolled my eyes. “You figure it out. I’ll be out in fifteen minutes and you can—”
Cooper shoved his foot into the house. “Stop,” he ordered. He pushed the door open far enough to step inside. Anger mixed with the need I still felt, surging through my body, compelling me forward.
I pointed past him, at the idling Jeep. “I thought we were running late.”
He glanced down for a second, as if he was trying to come up with just what to say, and when his head popped back up, there was laughter in his blue eyes. Screw him for mocking me.
“We are running late, but the answer to your question about me enjoying this is no. No guy enjoys getting worked up just to have to go home and lie in bed with a hard-on.”
My mouth fell open, but I quickly recovered. “That was your own damn fault. Shouldn’t have gone testing theories,” I said.
He was holding back a grin—I could tell by the way his lips quivered. Giving me an intense look that made the edges of my senses blur, he said, “You’re right.”
He was agreeing with me. What. The. Fuck? Before I could say anything, he curved his hand around the back of my head, drawing me in to him. “Don’t,” I whispered. But the sad part was I wanted Cooper to kiss me again, just like last night.
Except, nothing happened. He and I just stood there, our bodies practically wrapped around each other, our lips an inch or two from crushing together. He tangled his fingertips gently into the hair at my nape, and the pit of my belly flooded with warmth. I sighed, twisting my head slightly to one side.
“You’re right, I shouldn’t. We’ll do this when there’s not work to be done,” he whispered, his breath fanning my mouth. Then he pulled away. “See you in ten minutes.”
I watched as he jogged to his Jeep, angry at myself for being so disappointed he hadn’t kissed me. When he climbed into the front seat and flashed me a grin, I finally slammed the door, rattling it on the hinges.
Pull it together, Willow, I warned myself.
Twelve minutes after I changed into a one piece swimsuit, a neon green tank top, shorts, and flip-flops, I shuffled outside. Cooper’s Jeep smelled like coconut; like his hair, and I shivered as I thought of the way I’d pulled my fingers through it the night before.