“Why you up so early?” Cooper asked, his eyes still closed.
“Got a meeting with the producer. Don’t you have your thing with the McCarthys this morning?” He was pitching his business idea to Big Mac McCarthy, Luke Harris and Kara Torrington at the marina.
“Uh-huh. It’s in an hour.”
“You’d better get moving.”
“Only takes me a minute to get ready.”
Gigi got dressed in a sleeveless white dress and wedge sandals. “I’m coming back in my next life as a man.”
“That’d be tragic, sweetheart.”
Her heart ached in a way it hadn’t in years, since the dreadful months that led up to her taking the extraordinary step to emancipate from the only “family” she’d ever had. It had been easier to go it alone ever since then. That had worked for her until Cooper came along and offered her things she had no business being tempted to accept. But oh, how he tempted her in every possible way.
“You want to come to the surprise party for Chloe’s thirtieth tonight at the Wayfarer?” Cooper asked, sitting up now in bed and checking his phone.
“I’ll have to see what Matilda wants with us and whether we’re working tonight.”
“Let me know?”
“Sure. I’ll try.”
She glanced his way and caught him frowning as he stared at her intently.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Huh? Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me, Gigi. You’re all closed off and sealed up this morning. What happened?”
You happened, she wanted to scream at him. “Nothing happened. I’m just annoyed that Matilda called me out of bed to come to some unscheduled bullshit meeting.” She twirled her damp hair into an updo and captured it with a small clip.
“And that’s all it is?”
“Of course,” she said, turning to face him with a smile even as her heart continued to ache like a bastard with fear. She hated fear. It made her feel weak and pathetic. “What else would it be?” Before she left the bedroom, she went to the bedside table to get her phone off the charger.
Cooper reached out a hand to her.
Gigi was almost afraid to touch him. She put her hand in his.
“Last night was amazing,” he said, kissing the back of her hand. “Let’s do that again soon, okay?”
“Sure.” She had to get out of there and away from him before she shattered into a million pieces that could never be put back together into the person she’d been before he found her in his brother’s pool. “Gotta go. Matilda gets pissed when we keep her waiting.”
“Let me know about the party,” he said, pressing his lips to the back of her hand one more time.
“I will.”
He released her hand, but continued to watch her in that knowing, all-seeing way of his that made her feel naked even when she was fully dressed.
As she headed out of the apartment, she hoped the coffee was good at Matilda’s hotel, because Gigi needed a good strong kick in the pants to keep her from doing something really stupid, like falling in love with Cooper James.
* * *
She’s a goddamned liar, Cooper thought as he watched Gigi leave, fully aware that at some point, she’d retreated behind her wall and was looking for a way to end this thing with him. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon. What the hell had happened between her third screaming orgasm and that show she’d just put on for him?
Cooper sat on her bed, picking over every second of last night, trying to find the moment when things had gone wrong. But the only thing he remembered was pure bliss, and he had no doubt whatsoever that she’d experienced the same thing.
That was probably the issue. Too much of a good thing made Gigi skittish. She wasn’t accustomed to someone stepping up for her and offering to be her safety net under the emotional high-wire act she performed so effortlessly. She was so used to needing nothing and no one that she had no idea how to let him in.
He ached for her.
And he loved her.
Maybe it was too soon, but he couldn’t deny that the feelings he had for her were bigger than anything he’d known before. He’d certainly done his share of “research,” so he knew different when he saw it and felt it. Despite all his serial dating, he’d always hoped he’d find that one special person he could spend a lifetime with. Until Gigi, he hadn’t met anyone who’d come close to reaching the high bar he’d set for a lifetime companion.
He wanted a woman he could laugh with, someone he could be entirely himself with, someone who did it for him in bed and who he could build something lasting with. Gigi checked every one of his boxes and others that hadn’t been on his list until he met her.
His ribs hurt right along with his heart as he hauled himself up, got dressed, made her bed and left to see what was new with Jared and Lizzie’s situation while he tried to figure out what to do about his own problem.
Cooper walked into the kitchen, where Jared and Lizzie were seated with the baby in Lizzie’s arms as they stared at Jared’s phone, seemingly trying to will it to ring. “I’d ask how it’s going, but I can see you’re waiting to hear.”
“Mike is meeting with Jessie now, and we’re dying a slow, painful death waiting to hear from him,” Jared said.
At some point, his brother had become as invested in the baby as Lizzie was, Cooper thought. He prayed to God and every higher power there ever was that they got to keep the baby. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“I wish there was,” Jared said. “Isn’t your meeting with Mr. McCarthy this morning?”
Cooper reached his hand out to the baby, and his heart melted when she held on tight to his index finger. “It is. I’m going to shower and change.” The baby let out a squawk of protest when Cooper reclaimed his finger. She was so damned cute. “Keep me posted on what you hear from Mike?”
“Yeah, we will,” Jared said.
Cooper was concerned about the way Lizzie sat staring off into space as if she needed to escape from the reality unfolding in front of her. He couldn’t blame her. He could hardly bear it for her.
He showered and changed into khaki shorts and a polo shirt in deference to the island’s casual atmosphere. For the first time since he was injured, he shaved, avoiding the parts of his face that were still healing. It was still a mess, but not as much of a mess as it had been a few days ago. When he was ready, he gathered the proposal he’d put together and flipped through it one last time, even though he knew every word in it by heart. This plan had dominated his life over the last two years, and now it was show time.
Cooper returned to the kitchen, where things were exactly as he’d left them half an hour ago.
“You want to take the car?” Jared asked.
“Do you mind?”
“Not as long as you don’t go anywhere near the bluffs.”
Cooper stopped short at that. “How did you hear about that?”
“What does it matter?” Jared asked with a cocky grin. “I’ve told you before that your obsession with selfies was going to get you killed.”
“I think I’ve officially been cured of my obsession.”