“Please don’t.”
The sound of a crying baby had Jared up and out of his seat. “I’m going to check on them.”
“Text if you need me for anything.”
Jared nodded as he left the room.
Watching him go, Cooper feared that Lizzie wasn’t the only one becoming overly committed to the baby. The entire situation filled him with an unusual level of anxiety and concern for two people he loved more than most.
Cooper wandered outside and found his favorite goddess doing laps in the pool, wearing the white bikini that would forever be the thing of fantasies for him. He sat slowly and painfully at the shallow end, putting his feet in the water, hoping she’d notice him eventually.
While he waited, he watched her intently, noting her stroke seemed different today, as if maybe she was upset or something. He was so mesmerized by the way she ate up the distance between the two ends of the pool that when she finally popped up and saw him there, she took him by surprise.
“Stalker.”
“Goddess.”
She smiled. “You’re forgiven.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Huh? Why do you ask that?”
“You were angry-swimming.”
“That’s not even a thing.”
“Yes, it is, and you were doing it. Why?”
“Just working some stuff out.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“Nope.”
“You want to get lunch and go to the beach?”
“Yes, but only if I can drive.”
Cooper grinned at her sassiness. “Jared gave me the keys to the Porsche, but I’ll let you drive this time.”
“Give me ten minutes to get my stuff.”
“Sounds good.”
She lifted herself out of the pool, the sun making the water on her lean, toned arms glisten like diamonds.
Now she had him waxing poetic about her arms. He’d learned about such things in a literature class in college, never suspecting he’d one day wax poetic about a woman. But Gigi Gibson was no average woman. As he watched her strut across the pool deck to the garage apartment, his mouth watered, and desire beat through him like a live wire.
Chapter 11
Cooper had never wanted any woman the way he wanted her—and not just because she was hotter than the sun. It was also because of the way she took no prisoners and blazed through life on her own terms, following her own rules. Before he’d met her, he’d had no idea how sexy those traits would be to him. Most of the women he’d met were far too concerned with the approval of others to blaze their own paths. Gigi didn’t give a rat’s ass what anyone thought of her, and he loved that about her.
When he went inside to get a beach towel and the sunscreen he’d bought before he came to the island, he was glad the baby had gone quiet, but there was no sign of Jared or Lizzie. He texted Jared. Gone to the beach with Gigi. Let me know if you need me.
Since she was driving, he left the keys to the Porsche on the kitchen counter. It was a relief not to have to use that car. He might never ask his brother to use it again after the other night. His shoulders, arms and hands still ached like a bitch, but not as badly as his ribs. Before he left the house, he popped a couple of painkillers and chased them with a full glass of water.
Outside, Gigi leaned against the car, checking her phone as she waited for him.
“Ready?” he asked.
“I was born ready.”
“I’ll bet you were,” he said, grinning as he walked around to the passenger side, eyeing the low-slung car with trepidation. This was going to hurt. He lowered himself carefully into the passenger seat, holding his breath in anticipation of the blast of pain that left him panting and sweaty.
“Shit, Coop. Are you okay?”
“Yep. As long as I don’t move or try to get into a sports car.”
“God, that sucks.”
“I’m fine. Anyway, back to what I was saying before. I bet you were hell on wheels from the minute you were born.”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t know?”
She backed the white Mercedes out of the driveway. “No, I don’t know.”
“Oh.”
“If I tell you my deep, dark secrets, it won’t make things weird between us, will it?”
“I won’t let it if you don’t.”
She drove for at least a mile before she spoke again. “I was born to a crack addict, which means I was born addicted.”
Cooper blew out a deep breath. Wow.
“I was put into the foster system and don’t really have much info on my life before I was adopted at four.”
“The family who adopted you… They were good people?”
“They weren’t cut out to be parents.”
“How do you mean?”
“They were super-ambitious Hollywood types who were perfectly fine to leave the raising of their child to a progression of nannies. He was a producer, and she was a studio executive. I was about thirteen when I realized I was just a box they’d felt the need to check on their path to world domination. Get married. Check. Have a kid. Check. Take over the world. Check. They liked to stage elaborate photo shoots of the three of us, as if we were some sort of sweet little family when I hardly ever saw them except for when they decided they needed family time.”
Cooper had no idea what to say.
“I first became interested in the law when I was fifteen and decided to sue for emancipation from them. I got tired of them wanting nothing to do with me until it suited their purposes.”
“Did you win?”
“Hell yes, I won—with a financial settlement that allowed me to finish high school with my friends and get my own apartment.”
“When you were fifteen.”
“I was sixteen by the time it was finalized.”
“So, you were on your own at sixteen.”
“Yep, and I’ve never looked back. I became a lawyer so I could take care of myself financially and legally. I never wanted to be in another situation where I had to rely on other people to take care of things for me. I wanted to do it myself.”
“I’m amazed, Gigi. You’re incredible.”
She shrugged. “You do what you have to.”
“Have you ever seen your parents again?”
“Occasionally. I had no desire to be estranged from them. I just didn’t want them telling me how to live my life when they had so little to do with me.”
As they stopped at the deli in town to grab lunch, Cooper’s heart ached for the young girl who’d had to grow up far too soon. He’d never been prouder of anyone than he was of her, except for maybe Jared. But as much as Jared had achieved, he’d done so with the safety net of a loving family to catch him if he fell. Gigi had already been on her own for thirteen years and had turned her life into a success story all by herself.
“Tell me the truth.” She glanced at him when they were back in the car. “You’re horrified to hear my shitty life story, right?” She laughed. “I don’t even know why I told you. I never talk about any of it. I’m so thankful the press hasn’t uncovered this stuff. My lawyer was thorough. It’s buried pretty deep.”