Page 81 of Play the Game
I lift my head so I can look at him and the absolute and utter devotion in his eyes—the calm and sincerity and the way he looks at me like I’m the only person in the world and doesn’t press me for more than I’m ready to give even though I’m sure he has a million questions—has my heart racing in my chest. “The winter ball really sucks. I can get you out of it if you want me to.”
He shakes his head. “No fucking way. First of all, ball means fancy, and if you think I’m giving up the opportunity to see you all dressed up, you’re out of your damn mind.” I let out a genuine laugh, and it feels really good. Cooper slides his hands up to cup my face, stroking his thumbs over my jaw. “Truth time. I protect what’s mine, and you and this baby? You’re both mine. You don’t have to give me all the details about your relationship with your mom for me to know that what she said upset you and that this is far from the first time. You don’t owe me or anyone an explanation of your relationship with her, but if having me there with you will make it easier for you, then I’m there.” His eyes go intense, boring into mine. “I’m there, Evan. For all of it.”
I understand that he means more than just for the ball, but my brain can’t compute the implications of that right now. “Okay, but you asked for it. When my mom is grilling you about what you do and who your family is and demanding to meet your people so she can see if they’re up to her standards, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Cooper laughs and kisses my forehead. “Let her try. My family is excellent, and Pam Wyles will not give one single shit what your mom thinks of her.”
Thinking of the formidable and irreverent Pam Wyles going toe to toe with my mom has me laughing too. “I think maybe I’d like to see that.” Reaching back for my phone, I glance at the notifications from my work inbox littering the screen and sigh, exhaustion weighing me down. “I guess we should get back. Now that Austin knows I’m pregnant, I’m sure he’ll be even more of a demanding asshole than usual. He’s not a big enough idiot to actually fire me for being pregnant, but he can make my life hell while I am.”
“What if we didn’t?”
“What if we didn’t what?” I ask, tossing my phone in my bag.I start to stand up, but Cooper takes my hand and tugs me back down.
“What if we didn’t go back?”
I frown at him. “Like, ever?”
He laughs. “No, although that does hold a certain amount of appeal. What if we didn’t go back today?”
I want to ask him more about why he seems so ambivalent about his job, but that feels like a bigger conversation than we should be having while sitting on a bench in a crowded lobby. So, I go for the low-hanging fruit instead. “It’s a workday. We have to go back. We both have work to do.”
Cooper turns, swinging a leg up on the bench so he’s facing me. “The work will still be there tomorrow. Break the rules and play hooky with me, Ev. Let’s go do something.”
“Do what?” I ask, entirely confused by this about-face.
He shrugs. “Literally anything. Take a winter walk on the Common. Buy shit we don’t need on Newbury Street. See a movie. Wait, that’s it,” he says, broad grin on his face. “Let’s go to the big movie theater right by the Common. We’ll buy all the snacks and find the dumbest movie playing.”
“Why the dumbest movie?” I ask, my brain working hard to keep up with him.
He grins widely. “So when I kiss you in the dark, we won’t be mad we’re missing the movie.”
His voice is so earnest that I have to laugh. “What makes you think I’ll let you kiss me in a movie theater?”
Cooper shrugs. “Hope and unwavering persistence?”
As he waits for me to respond, I consider what it would be like to take a whole afternoon off. For once in my adult life, to say fuck it and ignore all my responsibilities and everything on my carefully curated to do list and all the emails and messages that are surely waiting for me on my desk. To not have to see Austin’s face until tomorrow. To piss him off and let him wonder where I am. To not be perfect, ambitious Evan, striving to make partner and never putting a single wrong foot forward. To get todo all that with this man. The one I’m beginning to think is the only person in the world I want to lean on and tell my secrets to. The one I think, if I’m not careful, I could fall straight into love with.
Suddenly, careful seems really overrated.
The freedom that gusts through me at the thought is too strong to be ignored.
“Okay.”
Cooper beams at me. “Seriously?”
I can’t help but smile back at him. “Seriously. Let’s play hooky and go see a bad movie. But you’re buying me a cherry slushie. And peanut M&Ms.”
Cooper bounces up from the bench, pulling me up with him and wrapping an arm around my waist, kissing me until my head spins and butterflies swarm my stomach. “The biggest ones they have,” he says, smiling against my lips and then kissing my nose.
Taking my hand, he leads me back out of the building and onto the street, and, side by side, we head out into a winter day that is suddenly bright with possibility.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
EVAN
“Stop it! You did not tell him you had a read receipt on his email!” Hannah cackles as she leans forward and grabs her margarita glass from the coffee table.
“It’s savage, Ev, and I freaking love it.” Jo pops a Fireball in her mouth and tosses one to each of us. I surreptitiously slip it into my pocket because I love Jo, but right now eating Fireballs feels like dumping gasoline in my esophagus. The pregnancy joys just never cease.
