Page 15 of You Can Make Me
“No. It’s okay. I’m fine. I can get up.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Well, you’re already out here. How about you join me?”
He froze for a moment.”I’m…not sure.”
“Tell me what you’re thinking.” I’d used this tactic many times to avoid asking leading questions or to avoid him assuming I was judging him. Sometimes it worked, and I got a one- or two-word answer.
Come on, Coop. You can say anything to me.
Cooper let his hips rest on the ground and straightened out his legs, probably to ease the pull on his healing wounds. He’d only been able to sit without much pain the past few weeks.
“You know I don’t like being uncovered.”
I did know, and it broke my heart. This once proud man, who had been so confident in his attractiveness that he’d attempted to seduce a lifelong straight man, now believed he was hideous, some kind of monster.
“Idoknow that. But you wouldn’t be. You’d be naked under the cover of darkness, and then underwater.” I gave him my most winning smile—and it actually did the trick.
He laughed slightly, but the sound was thick with tears.
“I hate this,” he whispered, but he began to slowly pull his arm through his long-sleeved t-shirt.
“You need help?” I stood on one of the strategically placed rocks to climb out if he needed me, but he shook his head.
“I can do it,” he muttered.
I watched helplessly as he fought with his clothes, breathing heavily from the exertion. He got down to his briefs and paused. With the lights from the house behind him, I couldn’t make out his expression.
“Can you scoot forward? I’ll steady you.”
He grunted softly as he pushed up with his hands to lift his hips off the ground, and then he sucked in a breath and winced.
“Did that hurt? I’m sorry,” I breathed. I started to climb out again, but he held up his hand. He pushed himself once more, and it was close enough for him to dip his feet into the water.
“How’s the temperature?” I knew sometimes he still got pins and needles in his feet. The doctors couldn’t say how long the neurological symptoms would last from that crack on the head, or if they’d ever completely disappear. The water wasn’t too hot, or else it might bother him.
“It’s nice,” he said softly. He scooted forward once more and dipped his feet and calves into the water.
I stood right in front of him, the water at my waist.
“You want help in?”
He shook his head, avoiding eye contact. “This is fine for now.”
I stepped back with a sigh and lowered myself into the water, leaning back against the far side, letting the water support me. He nervously glanced around the area a few times, as if he worried The Creature from the Black Lagoon was coming any second.
“I haven’t seen people on the river at this time of night. I’d hear it if someone came through the bushes, and if they come from the direction of the house, the motion sensors will activate. I have my weapon. We’re okay back here.”
“You’ve done this before?”
I smiled. “Yeah. I usually come out later…”
“Oh.”
The silence weighed so heavily between us, I wanted to scream. It had been so easy between us before. He’d been the easiest person to talk to that I’d ever met. His curious questions, his laugh… I missed them so much. I missedhim. I had no idea whether he’d ever be himself again. Having him right in front of me but so far away was agonizing.
I studied his profile in the dim light and inwardly cringed at how much weight he’d lost. He’d always been on the slim side, but now his clavicles jutted out, and I knew if there was a little more light, his ribs would be visible and his muscle tone gone. His cheekbones were dramatic before, but now they were sharper, with hollows beneath them covered in darker blond than on his head, mixed with auburn and rust. The beard worked for him, but he didn’t smile anymore, which, along with the dark circles under his eyes, gave him an austere look.
I couldn’t stand the quiet.
