Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 73817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
I cross the room and stop right in front of him, so close he has to look up at me. “Let me say a few things, Coop.”
His eyes are so small when he stares up at me, like I’m the adult now and he’s the lost boy. “Okay.”
“I know what you’re trying to tell me. The guy showed up. You’re thinking things. You know I’m not him, but it’s so easy to listen to the fear in your heart instead of the guy right in front of you, the guy who’s saying he’s met all of these guys my age on this island. You think I should spend time with them instead of you. To have fun with them. Go out with them. But you said it yourself: my needs are not like theirs. Not like this dart-throwing dick from your past. Cooper, you don’t know what I want—what I really want. You think you’re holding me back or … or depriving me somehow … or keeping me all to yourself. Like you, I’ve met hundreds of men out there, men who play games, men who have needs, men who lie. You are nothing like them.”
I bring my hand to the back of Cooper’s head, gently cradling it. His lips part. His eyes never leave mine.
“Cooper … I want to keep my promise to you, but you have to keep mine, too. To keep both our doors wide open to the possibility of anything.” My heart swells as all of my words come out. “I don’t want to keep wandering aimlessly. I’m tired of being afraid. If what we have is just a spark, and all we’re destined to be is a stray and the man who took him in … so be it. But we won’t know that after just one weekend. We need time. I want as much of it as you’ll give me. I want to stay here as long as you’ll have me. I want to make a life here.”
Cooper rises from the chair right then. He brings a pair of fingers to my forehead, brushing away bangs. He seems deep in thought. “Doors wide open,” he finally says.
“Doors wide open,” I agree. “To anything. And if that dart-thrower comes back to your bar, you tell me.”
“Sean …”
“I’ve learned things out there, how to deal with guys, how to deal with liars and cheats like him.”
“He won’t be coming back. He wanted me to go to his room at the Sunnyview to chat … but I didn’t. I told him to leave my bar, and he left, and he won’t come back.”
I slide my hands around his waist, pulling him against me. “About time someone protects you, too, Coop. Maybe I’m not the only one who needed saving.”
He gazes into my eyes, appearing sensitive and soft.
Is this what he looks like with all of his walls down? Have I finally found the real Cooper?
“Only time will tell if this can work,” I say. “If there’s something here. Something real.”
After another moment of stargazing through my eyes, Cooper leans forward and puts a kiss on my forehead, then smiles at me. “Here’s to looking after each other’s hearts.”
Bathed in lamplight with the wind beating fiercely against the window, we hold each other. I feel safe within his arms—wanted, hopeful, and safe.
I hope he feels the same way in mine.
Chapter 15 - Cooper
A single month can really change a person.
Honestly, I had my doubts about this working out, ever since that night we held each other in an embrace that felt like it could last forever. The final week of Pride. The night Drake slipped into and ran out of my life for the last time. The day I was certain I’d be bidding farewell to Sean.
And now a month later, he’s still under my roof.
Nagging me. Teasing me. Needing me.
Loving me.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Are we doing dinner tonight?” I ask him.
We’re sitting on the porch facing the water where we just enjoyed breakfast in the company of my plants and the crashing morning waves. He takes a sip of his orange juice and smiles. His face has filled out more. His skin is healthy and shiny from the sun. His eyes are bright and relaxed, too. Whenever he smiles, I see no hint of distress. He is at his most peaceful, his most inspired, his happiest.
“We can do Desert Moon again,” I suggest. “Or even try something new on the mainland. There’s that restaurant that just opened up near campus.”
“Last night was amazing,” Sean admits. “I didn’t think I’d like oysters. They always looked gross to me.”
“Life in a beach town, you’re doomed to try every kind of seafood. Maybe I can finally convince you to try squid.”
“It’s bad enough eating something with no face. Now you want me to eat something with nineteen arms?”