Page 46 of Well, Actually
“You don’t have to pretend that was okay,” he says softly. “You can admit it was unfairly brutal.”
“No offense, but your shoulders aren’t nearly broad enough to be ones I’d cry on.”
Cooper laughs, rolling his eyes. “Or use humor to cope. That’s fine too.”
“Why do you put up with me?” I ask suddenly. I want to snatch back the vulnerable question, force the words back down my throat and slap my hand over my mouth for good measure.
Cooper swallows, and I trace the bob of his Adam’s apple. He adjusts his glasses, drags a hand down his jaw. “Because I like you, Eva.”
I suck in a breath. “You—”
“I like listening to you. I like never knowing what out-of-pocket thing you’re going to say next. I like hearing about your ideas and your thoughts and then reading how you piece them together. I like that you’re a little bit feral and that sometimes you let me get away with teasing you.”
Each word is tapped into the blank page of my skin, inking deeper and deeper until I feel covered in his confession. “I like when you tease me,” I whisper, my admission feeling both too intimate and too inadequate.
Cooper’s grin is radiant, so warm I can feel it in my chest. “Well, that’s good, because I can’t seem to help myself when it comes to you.”
“I just assumed it’s a defense mechanism for my bullying,” I respond in an attempt at levity, trying to snip the cord of tension wrapping around my chest, tugging me toward the screen.
Cooper presses his lips together in a crooked line, but itcan’t hold back his next laugh. “Well, I suppose that’s part of it too.”
The way he’s looking at me is far too tender, too kind. He’s looking at me like he sees more than there is. I know he’ll be disappointed if he looks any closer.
I cough and start fiddling with my mouse, figuring out the best excuse to escape. “Well, this was, uh, an awful time, but I better—”
He cuts me off. “What are you doing tomorrow at four?”
“Lighting my Rylie Cooper doll on fire.”
His smile should be considered unholy for the flood of sensations it releases low in my belly. “I hate to interrupt something so important, but would you be willing to move things around to go on a date with me instead?”
I try to cage the butterflies erupting through me. “Can you promise the same amount of pyrotechnics will be involved?”
“Oh, Kitten, you know I always make sparks fly.” He winks, and I smile in spite of myself.
“Yeah, I can do tomorrow. What do you have planned?”
“You’ll love it. It’s the most romantic thing in the world.”
“You’re going to play guitar at me while aggressively making eye contact and I have to bob my head along like I’m enjoying it?”
Cooper’s mouth twists to the side. “Okay, the second most romantic thing in the world.”
I laugh, trying to tame the wild giddiness pulsing through me. How does he do it? How does he perk me up when I’m so low? “Just tell me. You can’t be trusted with surprises.”
“I’m taking you…”
He draws out the moment, eyes glinting, my heart hammering.
“… to couples therapy!”
My jaw crashes to my keyboard.Couples therapy?
“Cooper, what the fu—” He logs out of the meeting and leaves me staring at my own bewildered expression.
Chapter 12
“You know we aren’t actually a couple, right?” I say in greeting as Cooper shuts his front door behind him and meets me on the sidewalk.
