Cooper grabs my hand, and when I look at him, he leans down and kisses me with the same fire and passion as earlier. I press my bare chest against him as he takes me down on the bed and covers my body with his. The weight of him on top of me is heavy and perfect.
He jerks back and curses as he looks into the living room. “That’s the station,” he says before letting go of me and getting up. It’s then I realize his phone is going off.
“This better be important,” he snaps into the phone once he grabs it off the floor. I watch as tension starts to fill his body, and he looks back at me. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Everything okay?” I ask when he hangs up.
“I’m not sure.” He walks back to the bed and grabs his shirt. “I can’t believe this is happening now.”
I try to hide my disappointment because this is his job, but the timing couldn’t be worse.
“Can you tell me?”
“There’s an issue out at the Blair house.” I scrunch my nose at the sound of that name. “What?” He waits for me to explain as he puts his shirt on.
“That woman hates me, but her son is nice enough. They both come into the diner a lot.”
“How can anyone hate you?”
“Right?” I agree, and he smiles as I get up from the bed and put on my robe.
Hate is putting it nicely. I once heard her call me a witch. Every time she comes in she’s got a hand pressed to her chest as she watches me like a hawk. It’s like she thinks she’s protecting herself from my witchy ways. Her son isn’t too bad, but he’s always so shy and hardly ever says a word. How could you get a word in edgewise with a mother like Mrs. Blair?
Cooper comes over to where I’m standing and cups my face before his hands dive in my hair and he grabs me there. His hold is tight as he tilts my head back and kisses me again with that same heat. I can still taste myself on his lips, and I moan at the thought of Cooper walking around town doing the same.
“I’ll be back.” I can tell from his hold on me he doesn't want to leave.
I thought I had a giant crush on Cooper, but with the way he’s acting now he’s going to send me head over heels in love. He’s being possessive and sweet, which is something I didn’t know was possible.
He kisses me quickly once more before he smiles. “By the way, I love the nose ring, baby.” He gives my ass a squeeze and then smacks it. “Come lock the door behind me.”
When I follow him out, he stops by the front door and picks up my keys. He shuffles through them and then holds one up.
“Is this for the building?”
“Yeah.” I scratch the back of my calf with my toe, wondering what he’s doing.
“Good.” He takes the key off and then puts it in his pocket.
“Hey! Giving keys is a big step in a relationship.” At least I think it is, unless you're my best friend Lux. She jumped right into having it all instantly. “We’re not even boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“Juno, I will never be your fucking boyfriend.” He shakes his head. “Lock the door.”
I stand there for a moment after he walks out, and then I hear him snap at me to close the door on his way out. I stomp over and flip the lock, but out of spite I put the chain on too. Now let’s see how his key works when he tries to come back. If he even tries.
What the heck does that even mean that he won’t be my boyfriend? What the heck are we then? I plop down onto the sofa and think about what happened before we were stopped. I’m pretty sure we were about to go all the way, and I chew on my bottom lip as my mind spins.
After a long moment I decide to get back to work so I can stop obsessing over Cooper’s words. I want to get this place together before all the construction downstairs starts next week. Once I get it all done up here then I’ll let myself finish designing the sign I want put on the front of the building.
I pause when I hear tires screeching. A moment later I hear glass shattering, and it sounds like it came from below. Running to the front door, I quickly get the locks and grab my phone. What if a car crashed into the front of the building and I need to call for help? I send off a text to Cooper, telling him I need him and rush down the stairs. By the time I get to the front of the building, my phone is buzzing in my hand. But all my focus is on the large front window partially shattered with a giant hole in the center. There’s a red brick lying on the ground with broken glass all around it. The word WHORE is written across it in white.
What the hell? I stand there in shock that someone would do this, and my eyes burn with tears. The sound of sirens grow louder until Cooper’s SUV comes sliding to a stop in front of my building. Another patrol car pulls up right behind him, but I’m almost numb.
“You answer your phone when I call!” Cooper shouts as he gets out of the car. He uses the key on the front door before he’s right in front of me, and finally the tears escape.
“Fuck, baby. I’m sorry.” He cups my face and tilts my head back so I look up at him. I can see the worry in his eyes, and he softens. “I didn’t mean to be harsh. You scared the hell out of me.”
“It’s okay.” I texted him that I needed help and then didn’t answer when he called. That would freak anyone out.
“Don’t cry.” He kisses my cheek. The act is so sweet it only makes me cry more. “It’s a window. I’ll have it fixed tomorrow.” I shake my head as he drops his hands.
“It’s not the window I care about.” I point to the brick that two other uniformed officers are staring down at. Once he reads it, Cooper’s whole body goes rock hard.
“Don’t touch anything,” he says to the men before he wraps his arms around me and walks with me upstairs. Once there, he helps me down on the sofa and kneels in front of me.
“Get dressed. You shouldn’t be running around out there with only a robe on.” I roll my eyes at him. “And pack a bag,” he throws out as he starts to head down the stairs.
“What? Why do I need to pack a bag?” I shout, but he’s already gone.
I grit my teeth. If he keeps walking away from me like that, he’s going to find himself alone. I’m not the kind of woman to do what I’m told without asking questions. And I’ve got enough of my own after that incident downstairs. Cooper Cross might be ready to claim me, but he better be prepared to hang on.
7
Cooper
By some luck when I got called out to the Blair house at the edge of town, the patrol from the next town over was already there. Betsy Blair is an older woman that lives almost on the border of two towns, so when she calls we always go. We don’t want there to be a time when she needs something and the other town doesn’t show up.
In this instance it helped because when I got the text from Juno that she needed me, I grabbed the guys, and we hauled ass back to town. I was there within a matter of moments, but it felt like forever.
“We’ll send it off to the lab and hopefully have something back for you by tomorrow,” Terrance, the other town's chief of police, tells me.
“I appreciate you coming, and I’m thankful for anything you can do to help me out.”