Authors: C.T. Nicholson
"You weren't supposed to be here. I thought I was g
oing to pick you up for dinner in another hour." He ran his hands through his curly blonde hair.
"That's your excuse? I wasn't supposed to be here. I came to surprise you. I was ready to take us to the next level and the whole damn time you were with whoever that was and you planned on picking me up after your sick little play-date!" She was seriously going to throw up.
He stepped back. "I'm sorry, Sophia. I didn't know. You didn't really expect me to wait that long, did you? Michelle means nothing to me. I just needed some release."
"You couldn't show just a little restraint? I mean her, for Christ’s sake!" Then she did the last thing she ever saw herself doing. She slapped him. "I thought you would wait for the woman you care for but I guess it's all been a lie. Goodbye, Seth."
Getting in the Jeep and leaving felt great and she was proud at how she handled the situation. Like a pro. Then the pain hit and she wanted to cry.
Not yet.
First, she needed to go into the store for something strong to drink and some ice cream.
Once she managed to make it through the store wit
hout crying, she traveled for less than a minute down the road before the tears flowed. She should've called Ryan and decided against it since she couldn't handle hearing him say ‘I told you so’. She also couldn't go see her brothers or Cooper in the state she was in.
Instead, she headed to the one place where she could truly be alone and wallow in her self-pity for the night. The tree-house.
She still couldn't believe he cheated on her, but with Michelle? The woman slept with every walking being with the right parts between their legs. More than one marriage had been broken through her shenanigans, and now another relationship.
Only two shots of vodka later and she felt ready to face Cooper, Ryan, and her brothers without bursting into tears. She’d never been a crying drunk, so it worked out well. She climbed down from the tree-house and grabbed the ladder once her feet hit the moving ground. It also didn't take much to get her tipsy.
Even though his house wasn't far, she opted to leave her jeep by the tree house. She texted Ryan that she was on her way to Cooper's and kept walking toward his house. Tires on gravel sounded behind her and she turned to see Nick driving the golf-cart toward her with Jacob in front and Ryan sitting on the back.
Nick slammed on the brakes with a big smile until his gaze landed on the bottle of Vodka in her hand. "What the hell happened?"
They all jumped from the cart and searched her over. Jacob walked her toward the cart. "We'll take you home and then we'll go kill him."
"No! It's nothing. I want to go with y'all to Cooper's and just forget about it. Really, I'm fine." She so wasn't going there with them. There was the slightest chance she'd keep it from Ryan as well. Tonight needed to be about forgetting.
They glanced at each other before nodding. "Fine, but as soon as you're over this mood of yours, you need to tell us what happened so we can kill him."
She shook her head and laughed. "I'm fine. Let's get going."
Jacob jumped onto the back of the cart with Ryan as Nick took his seat behind the wheel beside her. Cooper's house stood only a half-mile from theirs and she shook at the thought of seeing him. She didn't have a boyfriend anymore and if she didn't have the alcohol already in the system, her nerves would be shot.
Now that she could have something with Cooper, it scared her even more. She didn't want to go through the pain of losing him again.
Her body jolted, forcing her to grab onto the dashboard of the golf-cart. "Sheesh!"
Nick flushed a little. "Sorry."
"I should've driven." Jacob punched Nick's shoulder.
She ignored them as the white two story house came in sight. Over the years, she'd walked to the house and let the memories take her to another time. It hurt, but she always tried to remember the good times she'd had there. Now s
he was back. And so was Cooper.
Cooper was anxious for them to come over. He'd already found out Sophia probably wasn't coming and it hurt, but he still couldn't wait to hang out at the pit like old times. He took a quick shower and threw on a clean pair of jeans, black t-shirt, and one of his favorite plaid shirts.
After rolling up the sleeves, he ran downstairs, grabbed a beer and was about to sit down when he heard someone coming up the drive. When he glanced out the window, he froze. The golf-cart headed his way and it wasn't the twins or Ryan in the back that caught his attention.
Sophia. She had changed her mind—and he was ready for her. Her face wasn’t clearly visible, but from what he saw she seemed flushed and had been crying. He was going to kill whoever put tears in her eyes.
Then all thoughts disappeared when she stepped from the cart. He stood there with his mouth dropped open and he swore drool actu
ally slid down his chin.
He had to adjust himself in the tight jeans. Maybe he should let them come in before the brothers noticed his situation. Instead, he walked to the door, and met them outside.
The thin dress she wore had flowers and other stuff, but all he noticed was the way her breasts were pushed high and showed just enough to make him bite his tongue. Even with her dress, she wore those sexy as hell boots.
He closed his eyes for a second to remind himself that she was in a relationship and that her brothers were there. Another truck pulled up and he ignored it and the others. Once he had more control, he made his way down the steps to hug the woman he was way too damn attracted to.
Why? He really had no clue. Her brothers were there and if they didn't already know how he felt about her, then he wasn't helping the situation. Surprisingly, she didn't shove him away.
"Baby Bear, you've been crying." It was the wrong thing to say.
She pulled away and just shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it."
One way or another, he'd get it out of her. He stepped away to give her room to breathe and walked over to Jacob and Nick. When Sophia walked up the stairs with Ryan, he spoke softly to her brothers. "What happened and do we have plans to kill someone?"
Jacob shook his head. "I'm all for it, but she won't tell us what happened. For all I know, she broke it off with Seth or maybe they're just fighting."
It shouldn't have caused a wave of happiness to flow through him, yet he stood there trying to keep the smile from his face. She was meant to be his and now he had his chance to prove it.
****
She wanted to blurt out to Cooper what had ha
ppened, but forced the words to stay put. There was no reason to tell him if she wasn't willing to tell anyone else. Getting hurt again was not on her future list and she’d obviously been wrong about how he saw her. Why else would he call her Baby Bear—a name her brothers called her? To hear it out of his mouth just reminded her of them.
Damn the man for managing to be even sexier than he did the last two times she'd seen him. Well, there wasn't much better than seeing him in only boxers. The jeans he wore didn't have as many holes in them, but they were light and fit just tight enough for her to notice the thickness of his thighs. Then she risked a glance when he was speaking to her brothers and damn. That man had a very nice ass and she never thought about men's butts.
The blue plaid shirt with some shading of black and white brought out his blue eyes even more than usual. She couldn't help but wish he'd left the shirt off and just showed bare skin. Man, she had become a pervert since he arrived in town.
She peered down at the floral dress she still wore and winced. She'd managed to tear a hole in it when she climbed into the tree house and it wasn't as clean anymore. Cooper was so handsome, and she didn't feel quite so attractive compared to him. All she could see him with was tall, skinny, and perfectly proportioned models. She didn't hate herself, but she definitely didn't feel like a model.
The alcohol in her system was wearing off way too fast. She thought she could handle seeing him and for some reason, she also thought she could resist. Idiot.
She closed her eyes and took a breath. The warmth lingered from his hands holding her hips. The thin material of her dress didn’t make much of a barrier from his touch.
"Are you sure you want to be here?" Ryan's higher pitched voice sounded beside her as he snaked his arm around her shoulder. "Are you going to tell me what happened at Seth's?"
She couldn't help but compare his voice to Cooper's deep
take me now
voice.
"No. So, how about those drinks?" Sophia inte
rrupted the reunion and started for one of the bags in Mike's hands. Not giving them time to react, she grabbed something she would drink from his bag—the Vodka from the golf-cart—and then headed inside.
The house smelled like Cooper. All male. The cleaning chemicals didn't take away from his addicting smell. She should've just gone home. His house hadn't changed a bit from the refrigerator down to the beige tiles.
A few boxes were packed up here and there, but the same look and feel of seven years prior had been retained. The folded blanket on the couch with a pillow on top told her that he hadn't made it to the upstairs yet.
She loved the house and unfortunately, she still loved him. As for Seth—their relationship felt comfort
able and…safe. How wrong she had been. Of course it was easier to keep from falling too fast for Seth, but with Cooper she couldn't prevent it. That problem started way too long ago and she saw no way of correcting it.
The orange flavor of one of the drinks didn't do much to tone down the vodka in it. She didn't care either way. The burn meant it would hopefully numb her from the pain she felt. It still wasn't as bad as the vodka straight.
"Slow down, Sophia. You're going to get wasted before we even pop the tops on ours." Mike nodded toward her bottle.
She gasped when she realized it was nearly empty. "It's not my fault you can't keep up with me."
"Oh, we'll see who can keep up. I've brought the good stuff, Crown and Coke." He pulled out two bottles from their purple bags.
Sophia rolled her eyes and grabbed her own Vodka. "I think I'm good."
"Why do you have that anyways? You've never liked the stuff in the past," Jacob chimed in.
"I don't want to talk about it." She bit her lip and prayed they didn't pry. Not yet.
Cooper walked into the room and all thoughts left her as her attention was drawn to him. With his cap gone, she had to fist her hands to keep from reaching out and running a hand through his messy brown hair. The disheveled look drove her insane. How awful was it that the man's hair turned her on? She forced herself to turn away and then fixed herself a little Vodka in a cup. Maybe a little much for a shot but she didn't care.
All eyes switched to her. Some narrowed and some widened.
"What are you doing?" It was Mike who spoke but the others probably wondered the same thing.
"A shot. What does it look like I'm doing?"
"You never drink anything other than your fruity drinks. You can't handle a shot of Vodka." Mike grabbed a red solo cup from one of the bags and then the Crown.
"I've already had two shots before Nick, Jacob, and Ryan picked me up." She smiled innocently at them all and winked at Ryan.
Mike laughed as if she was joking.
"She's not lying. I saw the bottle was already opened and a little low." Nick nodded.
Please don't ask why I was drinking.
She wouldn't be able to handle answering them. Luckily they all seemed to know she didn't want to talk and moved on to chatting with each other. She put the cup to her mouth and chugged it. The liquid burned on its way down. She savored the feeling and couldn't wait for it to start working its magic on her once again. The courage she had from the two shots she'd done earlier had already disappeared.
Ryan put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. "You knew you couldn't keep up with us men, so you decided to start before us, is that it?"
She smiled at him. He was the greatest friend and knew she wasn't ready to tell anyone what happened at Seth's. "Yep, that's exactly right."
From the way Jacob's gaze narrowed on her, she e
xpected he'd be talking to her later about what happened.
"I have a feeling I'll need to kick some ass after shift tomorrow." Mike took a swig of his drink.
Great. She hadn't thought about Seth working with Mike at the fire station. That's what she got for getting involved with one of his coworkers. She couldn't do that ever again. Of course, Cooper was definitely off limits since he was best friends with all three of her brothers.
"Hey, let's build a fire out back," Jacob said as he star
ted out the door and the others followed close behind.
She forced herself to peek up when she felt his eyes on her and found those gorgeous baby blues watching her. The focus he had on her didn't seem to falter even after she caught him. What was he staring at?