Page 29 of Flirty Thirty

“Jim, I can’t,” I grunt out as the wheels on my suitcase get caught on the door jam. Tom’s claws dig into my shoulder as I juggle him, my luggage, and my phone all at once.

“I’ll pay you,” my brother says over the line, his voice drowning in desperation. “Katieneedsa day off.”

“Then why don’t…” I pause to mouth a thank you to Cooper who has magically appeared in the doorway to help me out. “Why don’t you watch them and give her a spa day?”

A frustrated growl mixed with an impatient sigh fuzzes over the phone, and if my cat wasn’t giving me a few new piercings, I’d probably laugh at whatever sound my brother just made.

“Look, it’s been… a while. Between two hour intervals of feeding the baby and potty training the devil spawn, along with the fact that it was kicked off with a verylongsix weeks celibate, both of us could use a breaktogether.”

Wow. He must be really desperate if he’s being so open about his sex life. While my sister spouts off her bedroom secrets as if they’re common knowledge, my brother tends to keep those things to himself. Thankfully.

My eyes flick up to Cooper patiently waiting for me to end the call. He offers up a grin, though the look in his eyes as they pass over my cats tells me he’s not exactly thrilled with my plus-twos.

“Jim, I would. Trust me, I would watch your kids in a heartbeat, but I’m house-sitting with a…” I drift off, amusement raising my eyebrow as Cooper wildly waves to get my attention.

“It’s okay,” he mouths. My head tilts as I study his expression, wondering if it’s genuine excitement resonating in his grin overbabysittingor if he’s just being nice. I’m assuming the former with his kid obsession.

“Maya?” Jim says, pulling my attention back into the conversation. I let out a sigh, giving in to the two men who completely ganged up on me.

“Are you okay with dropping them off?”

“Yes, yes,” he says, and I can actually hear the smile I’ve put on his face. “Katie and I will probably just stay in anyway. Clean the house.”

Sure.“I’ll text you the address.”

“Thank you, thank you, Maya.”

I swipe the red button on my phone to end the call, shaking my head at the screen. “So much for using you as my ticket out of that one.”

Cooper grins, pushing up off the suitcase he was leaning on. “How old are they?”

“Almost two months and just over two years.” I snort, tucking my phone into the band of my yoga pants. One day they’ll put pockets in these things. “You’re in for it with that toddler. Even her father just called her ‘devil spawn.’ I couldn’t disagree with him.”

The smile that spreads across his face is equal to that of my devil spawned niece when she found the stash of Halloween candy two weeks early. “I can’t wait.”

“You’re a very strange man, Cooper Sterling.”

“Thank you.” He grips the handle of my suitcase and lifts it up onto his shoulder. I gulp back a squeak of surprise… and arousal. That bag would never make it past checking with how many shoes I packed in it. “Which room do you desire, Miss Baker?”

“The big one,” I joke. I hardly expect the master suite, but Cooper gives me one sharp nod and starts charging up the stairwell before I can give him a serious answer.

I grapple for Kat’s carrier and make sure I have a good grip on Tom before following Cooper up. He’s definitely in better shape than I am, not that I’ve done much to compete with him in that arena. If I were to lift anything, it would sooner be a forkful of cake than a barbell—though carrying my very obese cat up all these stairs should count for something.

“I was… not really being… serious—” My voice cuts off in the middle of my labored breathing. While the extravagant room is worth a shocked reaction, it’s not the decor that I can’t take my eyes off of. Cooper sets my luggage down, the muscles in his arms chorded with the physical exertion. The moon streams in from the window, lighting up the handsome and knee-weakening features of his face—the boyish grin, the trimmed scruff, and the oceanic blue eyes. The reality of staying with such a tempting man hits me hard in the stomach, knocking the wind straight out of me. Heat fills me up from the inside out, dousing me in unexpected flames. I’m surprised I don’t drop the cats and jump directly into his arms.

I knew this week would test my self-control, but I didn’t realize it’d be immediately after I crossed the threshold.

“You sure?” Cooper teases.

“Huh?”

“You want another room?”

I nearly spit out that I’d like whatever room he’s standing in, but I manage to keep that to myself.

Tom leaps from my arms and onto the king size bed, making himself right at home. Kat mewls from her carrier, scratching at the metal on the door. I set her down and let her out, and she starts clawing at the first pillow she can find.

“Unlessyou’drather room with them?” I nod to my fur babies who have clearly already set up camp.

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