Authors: Cassandra Cole
CHAPTER SIX
Eve backtracked her way to the rental car and thankfully found Cooper leaning against it with his arms folded over his chest. He watched her approach, but made no move to greet her.
"Cooper, I'm sorry about that..." she said breathlessly.
He shrugged without looking her in the eye. "You didn't mention you were involved.”
"I'm not involved!" Eve exclaimed.
“It sure looked like
he
was involved.”
"He's the director at the museum where I’m doing my doctorate work," she said desperately. "He's a flirtatious ass, but he’s harmless. I swear, there's nothing between us. Nothing!"
"If you say so,” Cooper said with an apathetic shrug. “But I saw the look in both of your eyes.”
“Cooper, please…”
He held up a hand. “Hey, it’s none of my business. I barely know you and you don’t know me at all. I just thought you’d have better taste, that’s all.”
And with those words, Eve felt their connection slipping away. She knew what Cooper thought, but she wasn't sure what to say that wouldn’t make her sound like a fool. After all, she and Cooper had only known each other a day. There was nothing between them but a little flirtation. But if that was the case, why did she suddenly feel completely heartbroken.
Cooper opened the passenger door and started around to the other side.
"Are you still coming with me to Pulomilo?" she asked, biting her lip to force back the tears. She checked her wristwatch. “I’m supposed to meet the tour guide in fifteen minutes.”
"That’s what you’re paying me for," he said without emotion. He got in behind the wheel and started the car. Eve was dumbstruck, his words stinging as if she had been slapped. She got in the car and closed the door.
They rode in silence to the tour guide’s office. Thankfully, it was a short drive. Cooper followed her inside and sat sullenly while Eve went to the desk and asked for Mr. Dutta, the guide charged with taking them to Pulomilo.
"Mr. Dutta is away for two more days," the woman at the desk said in heavily-accented, but fluent, English. "He sends his apologies, but there was a broken motor on his boat."
“What? Oh no, that can’t be,” Eve stammered, feeling her situation go from bad to worse.
The woman handed across a telegram from Mr. Dutta, addressed to Eve, repeating what she had just been told by the receptionist. Eve turned to hand the fax to Cooper, who glanced at it and handed it back.
The woman behind the counter gave them a broad smile, as if things had just gotten better. “Mr. Dutta wishes for me to apologize profusely and ask that you accept his gift of accommodations at the beachfront resort on Jolly Bouy Island until he returns.”
Eve felt overwhelmed. She started shaking her head and waving her hands to slow the woman down. She started, “What?” I don’t think that’s a good idea…”
“I think it sounds like a grand idea,” Cooper said, getting to his feet. He smiled at the woman. “We have a rental car. Just tell us how to get to the boat.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The woman gave them a map that led them to a tiny port further north of Port Blair. The boat to the island was fast. It didn’t take long to swoop them around the tip of the main island to a sliver of land surrounded by pure white beaches and shallow aqua water.
The driver of the boat beached the small craft on a pristine white beach. Beneath a small grove of coconut trees was a white tent, its sides staked into the sand.
The white fabric billowed slightly in a gentle breeze. A hammock was hung between two of the coconut trees and a table, built from honed driftwood, was set with dinner for two. There was a bottle of champagne on ice in a washtub on the sand.
"Wow, I thought we were going to a hotel," Eve heard herself say. She was about to step out of the boat into the gentle lapping waves, but before she could, Cooper stepped off in front of her, scooped her up and placed her down onto dry land.
"Does this mean you’re not mad at me anymore,” she asked as her feet hit the sand.
“I’m not as mad as I was,” he said without smiling. She couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. His actions were playful, but his eyes were still dark and brooding.
Cooper turned back to the driver of the boat. "There's only one tent?"
"Yes. One tent," the driver replied. He picked up the luggage they had brought for the trip and handed it out to Cooper.
Cooper threw his duffle bag over his shoulder and held Eve’s suitcase over his head to wade from the small boat to dry land. Eve watched as he stalked over to the tent and carried the load inside.
The driver hopped off the boat and came onto shore. He gave Eve a confused look, probably assuming he was dropping a couple off on their honeymoon. He pointed to a path and said, “There is a main house with bathrooms, showers and staff a mile up the beach if you need anything. Mr. Dutta will pick you up here in two days and take you to Pulomilo.”
“Thank you,” Eve said, digging a ten dollar bill out of her pocket. “Tell Mr. Dutta we’ll be waiting for him.”
She watched him push the boat back into the water. He hopped aboard, gave her a wave, and sped away; no doubt wondering if the odd couple might kill each other before Mr. Dutta could return.
When she turned around she saw Cooper lying on a hammock with an arm draped across his eyes. Eve fought the urge to flip him out of the hammock and beat some sense into him with the champagne bottle.
She was disappointed the day was ending like this, especially after the pleasant morning they had walking around Port Blair. She had paid him to accompany her to the dig site, but now she was having second thoughts. It would probably be best for her to go on alone and let him return to Frank’s house in Burma; so he could take out his frustrations on the remaining teak library shelves.
Eve ducked into the tent without acknowledging him. Once inside, she was awestruck by what she found. This was no ordinary pup tent. The tent was probably ten by ten and tall enough for someone Cooper’s size to stand upright in.
There was a plank floor and a double canopy bed along one side. There were zip-down windows on each side to let the island breeze flow through. There was a small wet bar stocked with liquor and a bean bag large enough for two to cuddle in. There also a small flat panel TV mounted on a stand with cables that ran to a portable satellite dish that was mounted on a tree outside.
“Wow,” she said. Eve had slept in lots of tents at dig sites, but she’d never seen anything like this. She slipped out of her shoes and left them at the entrance so as not to track sand in.
She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes. Maybe Cooper had the right idea. She was too tired to eat, too tired to fight, too tired for most things…
She drifted off to sleep with the sound of the ocean and the breeze whispering in her ears.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Eve was pleasantly surprised to find that she had slept through the entire night. When she awoke the next morning, she opened her eyes and looked to the other side of the bed, which was untouched. Guess we still haven’t slept together, she thought with a smile.
She stretched her limbs out as far as they would go and gave a loud grunt. She felt more rested than she had in days. When she finally pushed herself out of the bed, she stumbled barefoot outside.
The sun was well above the horizon, but Cooper was still in the hammock sound asleep. The champagne bottle was on the sand beneath him, empty. She picked it up and shook the sand off it, then dropped it on his stomach. He came up with a start.
"Did you drink that whole bottle by yourself?" she asked with a grin and he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"Apparently so,” he said with a yawn that made him grab his head in pain. “Shit, headache…”
“I have aspirin in my bag,” she said. "Why did you sleep outside?"
"Where else was I going to sleep?" he asked. He rolled off the hammock and found himself struggling to stand up.
"You could have slept in the tent,” Eve said, exasperated.
“You were in the tent,” he said. He tugged up his baggy pants and started toward the trees. “I gotta pee.”
"That's it!" Eve screamed, loud enough to make him stop in his tracks. "You're fired! You don't need to come any further on this trip. I can take it from here."
He turned to look at her through bloodshot eyes. "I'm fired?"
"Yes," Eve replied firmly, propping her hands on her hips. "I’m tired of dealing with your moods, Captain Cooper. You are fired, dismissed, let go!”
“But, you need me to—“
“I don’t need you for anything!” she raved. “I’ll have Mr. Dutta escort me there and back! As soon as the boat comes back tomorrow I want you to get on it and go back to Port Blair!"
He set his jaw and crossed his arms over his chest. “Anything else?”
“Yes, you can tell Frank I'm sorry that I found you to be more of a pain in the ass than an interesting challenge.” She turned and trudged up the path in the direction of the main house. She needed something to eat and the strongest pot of tea she could find.
* * *
Eve walked the path for a few minutes, then stopped and sat down hard in the sand just off the side of the path. She felt like a little girl, sulking, but she couldn’t bear to be around Cooper anymore. She would stay at the main house and keep her distance until they parted ways tomorrow.
Shit, my bag…
She walked back to the tent to retrieve her bag, but paused to look at the ocean coming in to the beach. It was beautiful, inviting. Maybe a swim would calm her down. She didn’t see Cooper anywhere, so she ducked into the tent and quickly changed into the bathing suit she’d packed, just in case. She retrieved a book and a towel from the bag and made her way down to the beach.
The sun was high in the sky and the warm breeze kissed her skin as she lay on her stomach with the book open in front of her. Occasionally, she looked toward the tent, but still no sign of Cooper.
The book didn’t hold her interest. She rolled to her back and draped an arm across her eyes. In her mind, she replayed the time they’d spent together the day before, remembering the easy way he moved, his stern face that lit up when he smiled, and the soft touch of his lips when he took the sweet Indian dumpling from her fingers.
Eve felt a cool shadow passing over her. She opened her eyes expecting a puff of cloud to be blocking the sun. Instead, Cooper was standing over her, wearing sunglasses and a clean blue polo shirt with khaki shorts and flip-flops. His hair was wet and messy. She could see more of his arms and more of the tattoos peeking out from the sleeves of his shirt.
"You're blocking my sun," she said, feigning anger at him still, although she couldn’t keep the playful lilt from her tone.
"I brought breakfast," he said, bringing a basket of food from behind his back and holding it open for her. “Indian-style crepes, sliced fruit, fresh coconut milk. Hungry?”
As if on cue, Eve's stomach growled loudly.
"That looks incredible," she said eagerly. Cooper dropped to the sand in front of her and dished out the breakfast onto two plates. They ate in comfortable silence and when they finished, they stretched out side by side on the sand, basking in the sun.
Cooper sat up and Eve watched as he pulled the chain he wore around his neck over his head. He undid the clasp and pulled a gold infinity symbol from the chain, placing it between them on the edge of Eve's towel. She looked at him with suspicion.
"What's that?"
"When I was in Iraq, a few months into my tour, I started having nightmares. Pretty bad ones. Cold sweats, everything. I'd dream about my family and friends back home. About people I hadn't seen in years. It was never about the war itself, or about things that happened during my deployment, it was always about people back home." He paused for a minute as if gaining the courage to continue.
"So, three weeks into my second tour, my mom died. Heart attack. My dad was never in the picture, so it was hard. More than hard. After that, the dreams intensified, they magnified..." he reached out and touched the infinity symbol with one finger, pushing it off the towel and into the sand.
"So I started writing about them… to Ashley… my wife."
Eve felt her body grow cold in spite of the sun shining down on them. She tried not to react because she felt there was more to tell, but her stomach felt as if it was ready to give her the breakfast back.
"That..." he said, lifting the infinity ring from the sand, "is two wedding bands fused together."
Eve listened, but didn’t speak. She held her breath, waiting for him to continue.
"I stopped sleeping as much, some nights not sleeping at all. Ashley said she understood... at first. On my third tour, the letters from her were less frequent. Then one day I got a big brown envelope…”
He held out his hands as if to show Eve the size.
"There were divorce papers inside and her wedding band." He held the bound wedding rings up to the sun, examining them as if they'd tell him the reason why his wife wanted a divorce.
"Why?" Eve asked quietly.
"Why did she leave me?" He shrugged. "She told the attorney she was afraid of me.”
"I'm sorry, Cooper," Eve whispered, touching his arm.
"Me too," he said. Eve couldn't tell if he was sorry about his wife leaving him or sorry about the way he'd been acting. She imagined it was probably a little of both.
Cooper slipped the fused rings into his palm and clutched them tightly. Eve thought he was going to slip them back on the chain with his dog tags. Instead, he reared his arm back and threw the rings as far out into the water as he could. They watched as the little gold rings glinted in the sun before disappearing beneath the aqua waves.
"I've never even told Frank that story," Cooper said, "and he's like a father to me."
"I've never slept on a plane before I met you," Eve said after a few moments, still staring at the place where the rings disappeared.
“Why do you think that is?” he asked, his eyebrows lifting, his blue eyes shining.
She said, "You make me feel safe.”
Eve’s gaze came up to find him looking at her with a burning intensity. He slipped one hand into her hair and pulled her toward his face. His lips were soft and warm. His kiss was gentle at first, then more insistent.
Eve lay back and pulled Cooper above her. He gazed into her eyes for a moment, then leaned in slowly and kissed her with an insistence that was almost desperate.
A moan escaped from Eve's lips and she ran her fingers through his hair, pulling him in closer still. Quickly, they were ravishing each other, the full length of Cooper's body pressed against hers. His knee teased her legs apart, and she entwined them up and around his hips. He lowered to run a line of kisses across her jaw and onto her neck, and the tease of his lips across her skin caused Eve to moan again and shiver.
Just as Cooper slid one finger under the strap of her bathing suit and began to pull it off her shoulder, the sound of a car engine interrupted them. Cooper laughed, resting his forehead against Eve's shoulder.
"Shall we continue this later?" he asked, kissing her nose. Eve's heart was pounding too hard for her to answer. Cooper rolled off her smoothly and stood up, brushing the sand from his clothes. Just as Eve pulled herself together enough to stand on two shaky legs an SUV appeared through the trees. On the back were two sea kayaks.
The driver jumped out and unhooked the kayaks. He placed them in the sand alongside a bag with snorkeling gear inside and then handed a white envelope to Cooper before jumping back in the SUV and speeding away.
"What's that?" Eve asked.
Cooper handed the envelope over to Eve.
"It's from our pal, Dutta. Just says
enjoy!
" Eve said after opening the envelope and pulling out a slip of paper.
"I intend to," Cooper replied, stepping toward Eve. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a deep kiss. She sighed and turned her face into his kiss, accepting him completely. He cupped the top of her thighs with his large hands and lifts her easily to him. Eve giggled and wrapped her legs around him. He carried her, still kissing her lips insistently, to the tent.
Eve ran her fingers through his hair, gripping him, pulling him closer. A soft moan escaped her lips, and all at once she was consumed with a desire for Cooper to fill her completely.
She clung to him, and they fell on the bed. The weight of him on top of her was delicious, and she ran her fingers under his shirt and up his back. The skin was smooth, taut, interrupted only once by a scar that ran around the side of his body, low onto his hip.
It occurred to her that he hadn't mentioned being wounded in the war, but she assumed he must have been. Cooper was undressing her now, slowly, deliberately. His lips traced all of the places that his fingers touched as he peeled off her bathing suit.
She shivered as he nibbled her neck, and then gasped when his lips closed around her right nipple. Her thighs tightened around his body and she could feel the warm hardness of him between her legs.
She ground against him and the friction made him groan. He stood up and literally ripped off his clothes and tossed them aside. He positioned himself over her, his bright blue eyes looking deep into hers. When he entered her, the delicious warmth made Eve gasp. Cooper cradled her in his arms as Eve lost herself in the intense pleasure of his touch.
They spent the hottest part of the afternoon in the tent between the cool sheets, and then spent the evening paddling the shore in the kayaks and snorkeling among the beautiful coral reefs that were abundant in the shallow warm waters.
Their hands were constantly reaching out for each other. At one point, they beached the kayaks on a tiny beach tucked into a cove. Looming above was the highest part of the island, trees and shrubs clinging to the rock.
Cooper pulled Eve in tight as soon as she was out of the kayak. He pulled her down to the sand, kissed her lips, her neck, then collarbone before sinking even lower.
They made love on the beach, so tenderly and gently that Eve had to hold back tears as they lay in the surf afterward, holding each other. Eve traced a finger across the scar on Cooper's chiseled hip.
"How did this happen?" she asked.
"I was in a Black Hawk that went down outside of Tikrit. I was discharged after. I have a titanium hip," he says matter-of-factly.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. They got me stable on the ground, then flew me out to Germany for the replacement."
"Wow," Eve said, gently pressing her fingertips to his flesh. "Does it hurt?"
"Not really. It's a little sore when it's cold. That's why I'm here, it never gets cold," he grinned and pulled her in close for a kiss.
"No, I suppose it doesn't.” The mention of the weather made her think of Ireland, where she was born; and of England, where she lived. The thought of cold, misty mornings of winter made her feel anxious now. The easy way in which she and Cooper were lying here made her consider, for the first time, that she could fall in love with this man. She bit her bottom lip to hide a smirk as the thought that she probably was already falling in love crossed her mind.
"What are you smiling at?" Cooper asked, poking her in the side.
"Nothing. Just that you'd probably hate England and Ireland. It’s always cold and wet."
Cooper laughed. "England is nice, what little I've seen. Never been to Ireland, though,"
"It's even better," Eve replied with a smile.
"I'll visit you wherever you are," Cooper said. The warmth and honesty in his voice made Eve's stomach contract even further. Of course, he couldn't return to England with her. Or wouldn't. She wasn't sure at what point of the past three days she had convinced herself that a relationship with him might even be possible. Maybe this was just sex and nothing more.
"That would be nice," she said with a sigh. She wanted to say that he could come home with her, to live in the small mews house she had on the outskirts of Oxford, but she kept the thought to herself. At least for now.