CHAPTER NINETEEN
The gym was hot and muggy, and the boxing ring already had a layer of sweat from previous bouts, but that didn’t stop Cooper and Maverick from circling each other with grins on their lips and sparks in their eyes.
“Are you sure you’re up for this, boy? You’ve seemed a little off lately,” Maverick taunted him.
“Don’t you worry about it, little brother. I can still kick your ass,” Cooper told him, his feet dancing as he moved in closer.
“I’m not the one who should be worried.”
Before Maverick could mock him more, Cooper threw a left jab and cracked his brother in the jaw, then quickly followed up with a right hook.
“Damn, I guess you have your game back,” Maverick said, shaking his head as he bounced back to regain his balance.
“I told you,” Cooper warned, feeling much better now that he was sparring with his brother and getting out some of his extra adrenaline.
They went a few rounds, both of them getting in some lucky shots before Cooper’s mind wandered to his new housemate again. She’d managed to avoid him for two days straight.
He was going to have a conversation with her if it was the last thing he did. Something was scraping at his brain and until he figured it out, he wasn’t going to stop obsessing about it.
Suddenly the breath whooshed from Cooper as Maverick landed a hard thrust into his stomach, then quickly followed up with a double shot to the head, effectively knocking Cooper on his ass.
Maverick danced back and laughed.
“Damn, you really are off your game. You should have countered that, old man.”
“It’s just this freaking woman who’s living with me. I can’t figure her out,” Cooper said in frustration as he slowly got back to his feet, his ears ringing slightly.
“Okay, this isn’t any fun at all. Let’s go sit in the sauna and you can cry about your woes,” Maverick said as he climbed down from the ring.
“Hey! I want payback,” Cooper called to him.
“It isn’t happening today. I’ll give you a week and then we’ll go another round,” Maverick said as he pulled off his gloves and began undoing his tape.
“Fine.” Cooper followed Maverick and the two of them quickly changed and went to the sauna.
The heat seemed extra suffocating today, though. Pretty much how his life was at the moment.
Luckily no one was in there with them. Cooper leaned back, a picture of Stormy rising up through the steam to appear in thin air and mock him.
“Tell me about the girl, ’cause I have to know. I haven’t seen you this obsessed since that one-night stand you had six years ago,” Maverick told him.
And then the air left his lungs as the room became even more suffocating.
“Hey! You okay? You aren’t having a heart attack on me, are you?” Maverick asked as he stood up and came closer.
“I need out of here.” Cooper lunged for the door with Maverick close on his heels.
“What in the hell is going on?” Maverick insisted as Cooper leaned against the wall.
It took a few moments for Cooper to speak, and then he looked up at his brother wondering how much he should share. That really wasn’t a question. They shared everything, so of course he would talk.
“Stormy
is
the girl from six years ago,” Cooper finally said.
“What? Okay, I’m lost,” Maverick said as he moved to the bench and sat down.
“So am I,” Cooper said slowly. “Why wouldn’t she bring that up? Why is she trying to hide it?”
Maverick was silent for several moments. “Maybe she didn’t enjoy it as much as you did.”
“Bullshit,” Cooper said. “I know when a woman’s pleased, and she was crying out for more.”
“It
has
been a long time,” Maverick told him.
“I don’t care if it’s been a long time.” He closed his eyes and he could clearly remember that night. “Why didn’t I recognize her immediately?”
“It’s been six years. People change,” Mav said.
“Yeah . . .” He wasn’t so sure of that. “Her hair was blonde then, and she wasn’t as curvy as she is now, but those eyes and lips . . . they haven’t changed a single bit.”
“Maybe you didn’t want to know,” Mav told him.
“I searched for her for a while. It did me no good. She crashed the wedding and then she was gone.”
“The all-powerful Cooper couldn’t find a woman,” Mav said with a laugh.
“Joseph gave me a necklace she’d dropped,” he admitted. “I still have it.”
“Oohh, this just gets better and better,” Mav told him.
“Dammit, Mav, can you be serious for two seconds,” Cooper said with a glare.
“Confront her about it.”
“And say what? Hey! Remember me? I’m the one who made you scream an entire night until you disappeared on me?” Cooper said with sarcasm.
“Or you could be a little less crude,” Mav told him.
“I don’t know . . .” Cooper leaned against the wall and thought about it. “Maybe I will just try to figure out what is going on in her brain before I reveal that I know who she is.”
“That sounds like a recipe for disaster,” Mav warned.
“I always have liked living on the edge of danger,” Cooper said, warming up more and more to the idea.
“It’s your funeral.” Mav glanced over at the clock and sighed with relief. “I have to get to the base. So we’ll meet up next week and you can fill me in.”
Cooper waved his hand distractedly. His mind was reeling and he wasn’t sure what he was going to do next. The only thing he knew for sure was that he had to see Stormy soon. He wasn’t going to figure anything out sweating in a gym.
A smile lifted his lips. Let the games begin.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Never happy to wake, Stormy stumbled from her bed and moved to her dresser, trying to decide what she was going to do to fill her day. When nothing came to her, she took a shower, then climbed back into bed and sat there watching the sunrise. When enough time was wasted, she decided hiding out had to end.
She dressed and then slowly opened her bedroom door. There wasn’t a sound to be heard. Maybe Cooper was gone. He was a pilot after all. Sherman had told her the owner of the house was gone a lot.
With the lighting of this place and the solitude, she could create jewelry designs all she wanted and no one would be the wiser. It calmed her to draw, to dream, even if she didn’t have a lot of faith she’d ever make those dreams come true.
Feeling a bit more confidence, though, she made her way down the stairs and stepped into the kitchen. That’s when she realized she hadn’t had a chance to go shopping yet. And dang it, she was starving. She’d gone through her bag of protein bars and chips the day before.
Opening the huge Sub-Zero fridge, she was impressed and intimidated. It was filled with items she’d never even heard of, or items she had heard about and never had a desire to try. Caviar, truffles, and coconut water lined the shelves, along with meats and cheeses she didn’t recognize.
When she spotted the organic turkey bacon and farm fresh brown eggs, she decided that was as normal as she was going to get. Pulling the items from the fridge, she vowed to replace them as soon as she could find a store that carried the higher-priced items.
Moving over to Cooper’s six-burner commercial range that had barbecue vents to the outside, she wondered if she should even try to operate it. There was a distinct possibility she would burn down his house.
Never one to be a quitter, she decided to give it a go. While her bacon cooked, she roamed the kitchen, falling instantly in love with the giant walk-in pantry, again stacked with items she’d never heard of before. She really needed to introduce Cooper to the joys of basic grocery staples. The idea of turning his world upside down with the delight that comes from having a secret stash of Oreos had her smiling.
This kitchen was highly intimidating with its dark granite counters, custom wood cabinets, built-in espresso machine, and appliances that looked far too smart for her to operate. She desperately hoped the cottage was a little more down to earth.
Just as she was sitting down at the breakfast bar, she realized she wasn’t alone.
“Make yourself at home.”
Cooper moved to the counter facing her, pulled down a coffee cup, and filled it before taking a nice long swig. Then he turned and leaned against the counter and smiled at her.
“I’m sorry. I thought you’d already left. I’m going to replace the food. I just haven’t had a chance to shop yet,” she told him, hoping he’d leave before her eggs got cold.
“Go ahead and eat. I don’t get very many opportunities to cook. My mom likes to keep me stocked full of groceries even though I’m gone so much I don’t get to enjoy them half the time. But then she feels like she’s doing her job as a mother, she tells me.” Hadn’t Sherman told her she might need to shop for him? It seemed that wasn’t true.
“Well, I’m still going to replace it,” she said.
When he stood back and said nothing more as he drank his coffee, she decided not to let her food go to waste. She looked down and slowly finished her plate while he threw a bagel into the toaster. Then he pulled out cream cheese and smoked salmon from the fridge.
“How about we have dinner together tonight?”
His invitation scared her. She took her plate to the sink while she thought about her answer. Confusion filled her at how much this man’s presence affected her moods, her body, and her mind. She wanted to plaster herself against him and see if her memory of their one night together was nothing more than her vivid imagination or if it really had been as spectacular as she remembered.
She wanted to run screaming in the opposite direction, too. Because she had a feeling that six years had only improved Green Eyes. He was larger than he’d been back then. Well, at least his shoulders were. She wasn’t so sure a woman could handle other parts of his body being larger without him ripping her in two.
Shaking her head, she tried to push away her erratic thinking. Nothing was helping. This man was haunting her and now he was far too close on a daily basis for her to chase her ghosts away.
“Come on, Stormy. It’s just dinner.” There was something in his eyes that was different today, something she didn’t trust and was making her nervous. She shifted on her feet as she stepped away from him.
Say something, anything,
she commanded herself. Why in the world was she so damn speechless? Silence had never been something she was known for.
“We’re living here together, so if we’re both here at the same time, I guess we could have dinner,” she finally said.
Cooper looked at her for several moments, his expression utterly unreadable. He didn’t seem upset or happy. She couldn’t figure out what he was thinking.
“Good, then it’s a date,” he told her before moving toward the front door.
“Well, it’s not a date,” she called out after him.
He stopped and turned back toward her, a smile on his lips.
“What is it then?” he asked, a sparkle in his eyes.
“It’s just . . . well, it’s just . . . um, two people living in the same house, sharing the appliances,” she finally said, wanting to kick herself once the words were out.
“Okay, Stormy, we’ll share the appliances tonight then,” Cooper said before turning back around and moving to the front door.
He walked out and Stormy let out a low growl as she cursed herself all the way up the stairs. She didn’t think it possible for this situation to get any more awkward if she put on a tutu and started dancing around topless.
Okay, that might make things just a tad crazier. But then at least she could be committed to a crazy house and not have to face Cooper ever again. The man had kissed her and still didn’t know who she was. It was pretty humiliating. Though he had paused and wondered for a moment if he knew her, at least.
She could have told him. But that would make it so much worse for her pride.
None of that mattered. For now, it was time to go to the store, get the paper, and start job searching.
The town of Gig Harbor was small and quaint. She could easily make her way through it walking. That would mean she couldn’t carry as much, but that was okay for now. It was just her and Cooper. She’d keep it simple. It’d be a nice contrast to the emotional turmoil her housemate had stirred up inside her.
By the end of the day, there was an extra skip in her step.
The problem with her successes of the day, though, was that now she felt like she might not want to leave Cooper’s after all. After only a day, she was becoming accustomed to the wonderful little town that felt oddly like home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Stormy was unsure of whether she should come down the stairs that night and have dinner with Cooper or not. But she so wanted to tell him her good news. She wanted to tell someone at least, and he was the nearest person to her. Instead of doing just that, she paced in her room.
She had heard Cooper come home an hour ago, and now she could smell something cooking. And the smell coming up the stairs was making her stomach rumble.
“Stormy, it’s time to start sharing appliances.”
Cooper calling up the stairs made her jump, though she didn’t know why. Now if she didn’t go down, she was going to look really bad. She had to join him, didn’t she? After all, he was offering her a place to stay for practically nothing.
Okay, she could do this.
She opened her door, crept to the top of the staircase, and slowly descended. Still unsure about the situation, she hesitantly entered the kitchen and found him in an apron stirring something on the stove.
“Can I help?” she asked.
“Nope, sit down and enjoy my talents as a chef.”
“A pilot and a chef?” she asked with a laugh. “Any other talents?” Where in the world had that come from?
“Oh, Stormy, I have
many
talents,” he said. He paused and looked into her eyes, and she lost her breath. When his lips turned up, she knew exactly what was on his mind.
Her cheeks instantly flushed. She knew of some of the man’s talents, and they were definitely noteworthy.
She tried to help again, but he wasn’t having any of it, wanting to impress her. He was doing a good job. After he’d poured a glass of wine for her, she sat on the stool as he whipped around the kitchen. The smells continued to make her stomach rumble.
“How’s the wine?” he asked as he pressed against her back, making her jump and a tiny bit of wine drip down her chin.
Before she was able to clean it up, he leaned more into her and swept the drops of wine away, his rough finger rubbing against her bottom lip for a moment before he lifted his hand and sucked his finger into his mouth. He held her gaze captive, his lips far too close to the edge of her own.
“
Mmm
, pretty tasty,” he told her with a low growl that instantly had her wet and wanting.
“Yeah . . . it’s pretty good,” she said, her voice husky.
She clenched her thighs together as she finally managed to turn her face forward. His breath heated her neck as he reached for a stick of butter on the counter and then finally walked away.
She didn’t breathe for several moments. When he turned and looked at her from the safety of the other side of the kitchen island, the knowing light in his eyes alerted her that he was very aware of what he was doing to her. Stormy’s eyes narrowed in frustration.
But she couldn’t seem to stop his flirting or the reaction she had to it. He continued moving over to her side of the island, touching her while he finished up, and she was a wreck before she’d had a single bite of his delicious meal.
Cooper brought out the food and placed it on the table, then pulled the chair out for her to sit. Before her was a platter of barbecued steaks, corn on the cob, and mashed potatoes with gravy. Yum. She was so happy he hadn’t made something with snails or fish eggs.
Barely having an appetite now, she took her time folding her napkin on her lap as she waited for him to dish his plate up.
“Dig in before it gets cold,” he said when she didn’t move.
“I thought I’d wait for you,” she said.
“There’s plenty here. You don’t have to worry about me getting enough,” he told her with a laugh.
She began serving herself and the smell of the steak was mouthwatering. Grilling wasn’t one of her strong suits, so she always enjoyed a perfectly cooked steak. If only her stomach would quit turning, she might enjoy the meal.
“What was your day like?” Cooper asked as he dug in to his meal.
“It’s been a good day, very busy,” Stormy replied as she took her first bite. Yep. Delicious.
“Really? What did you do?”
Stormy played with the food more than she ate it as she tried to form words on her seemingly swollen tongue. When his foot touched hers beneath the table, she visibly jumped before locking her feet to the floor. She didn’t look up at him this time, knowing she would see that same confident smirk on his face. She chose not to react to his blatant touches.
“I got a job today,” she said.
“Really? That’s great.” He didn’t seem to be anything less than genuine, which made her continue.
“Yes, at a diner here in town,” she told him. “The Devoted Kiss Café.”
“I’ve eaten there a lot. They serve a great
panino
,” he told her.
“I will have to try a few of them so I can let the customers know what’s good,” she said. “I know it’s just a waitressing job, but it’s a paycheck,” she added.
“A job’s a job,” he said, already halfway through his steak. She’d only had a few bites of hers.
His foot swept across hers again, this time drifting over her ankle. She looked at her steak like she was expecting it to come alive and begin mooing at any moment. She pushed herself back a little bit so it wouldn’t be so easy for him to keep touching her.
“Well, there are certainly some better than others. I used to want to design jewelry,” she admitted.
He didn’t say anything and she was curious enough to glance across the table at him. The interest in his eyes made her glow inside whether she wanted to or not.
“Really? That’s fantastic,” he said. She was shocked by his reaction.
“Most people I’ve ever said that to sort of roll their eyes,” she said with a laugh, like it didn’t really matter.
“Why? You obviously have talent,” he told her.
“How would you know that?” She didn’t share her designs.
“I’ve seen your sketches in the garbage can,” he said with a wink.
She gasped. “You’ve dug through the garbage?”
“I’ve been trying to figure you out. You’re very secretive.”
“It’s just a dream. A silly one.”
“I think we all start with a dream. It’s those who are brave enough to make their dreams realities who change the world.”
She sat there considering his words, and then she smiled. Wouldn’t it be amazing for her dreams to actually come true? Suddenly embarrassed to be the center of attention, she decided to change it back to him.
“I’m sure flying jets is pretty exciting.”
He paused as if knowing exactly what she was doing. But thankfully, he allowed her to get away with it.
“Yes, I’ve loved to fly since I was young. I’d go with my uncle Sherman a lot and I got the bug. My brothers and I all did.”
“You have brothers who fly, too?” she said. “Dang, you must break quite a few hearts.”
“Nah. We don’t have a lot of time for women, not more than a night. There’s a difference between being in a committed relationship and having a woman for a night. You either choose to fly or you choose a life,” he said.
“There are lots of pilots with families,” she told him.
“Yeah, and there’s a lot of cheating pilots, too,” he said. “I wouldn’t ever want to live that way.”
“You don’t have to cheat if you don’t want to,” she scolded him.
“I wasn’t saying I wouldn’t
not
be able to cheat,” he told her, setting down his fork. “I’m just saying I’ve seen a lot who do. I’ve never had a desire to commit myself.”
“Sounds like a lot of guys I know,” she grumbled.
There was a moment of silence between them and then he laughed, surprising her again.
“How many men have you been with, Stormy?”
The question made her choke on the bite of potatoes. After a moment, she was able to get them down and then took a nice long swallow of wine.
“That’s really none of your business,” she finally said.
“Why not? I think we would be great together,” he said, leaning a little closer to her. “Imagine the two of us on a nice firm bed . . . or a really hot shower . . .”
He trailed off and then went back to eating as if he hadn’t just turned her knees to jelly. She looked at her plate as she tried to figure out if he was messing with her. The chances were that no, he wasn’t. Showers and beds were obviously his MO. Crap. Staying with this man wasn’t going to be an easy thing to do.
“When is the cottage going to be ready?” she asked, her appetite gone.
“Oh, I don’t know, a week, a few weeks. You know how repair men are,” he told her. “Is the bedroom you’re in not comfortable?”
“Oh no, of course not. It’s beautiful and more than I could have imagined. I just don’t want to be invading your space for too long,” she hurriedly said.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m enjoying the company.”
She wanted to run fast and far away. Before she could excuse herself without seeming rude, though, his gaze zeroed in on her again.
“Why don’t you tell me about yourself, Stormy? I know nothing,” he said, leaning back, but not letting her escape those fantastic green eyes.
“There’s really nothing to tell. I’ve led an uneventful life,” she lied.
His eyes narrowed the tiniest bit for a moment before the expression disappeared.
“I don’t believe that. I bet you’ve had an exciting life, traveled to exotic places, and sought out adventure,” he countered.
“Nope. Really, nothing like that,” she said, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Why don’t you tell me what it’s like to be a pilot?”
If she could turn the attention away from herself then she would be much better off here. He stared at her for several heartbeats, and then he must have decided to let her off the hook.
“I flew as a hobby from the time I was young. I never dreamed of making it a career, but when it came time to decide what I was going to do the rest of my life, the only thing I could think about was airplanes. So here I am,” he said with a shrug.
“There’s got to be more. How does it make you feel knowing you are responsible for so many lives?” she questioned, not realizing that she’d leaned toward him.
“When I first got my stripes and was a copilot on Alaska Airlines I would walk through the airport and kids would stop me, asking for autographs, their eyes filled with wonder. It took me back to the days when I was a young boy so enamored with pilots.”
“Yeah, I was pretty in awe of pilots myself when I traveled,” she admitted, forgetting she didn’t want to share information with him.
“Are you still enamored with them?” he asked with a wink.
Stormy found herself blushing again. It was ridiculous. It was just a comment that shouldn’t have mattered at all. She’d been flirted with before. But it wasn’t normally by men whom she had slept with or whom she still wanted to have sex with.
Dang it! No, she didn’t want to have sex with the man. Once had been enough.
“I think I’m over my fascination,” she finally said.
“That’s too bad,” he said with a pout that made her laugh.
“Let me do the cleanup since you made dinner,” she said as she stood. This dinner was getting to be too dang intimate for her.
“I insist on helping you.” He stood up, and together they cleared the table and began doing dishes.
When they were finished, the grandfather clock chimed the late hour. Cooper yawned and leaned back against the counter.
“It’s getting late,” she said as she realized the time. It was unnerving how easily they had slipped into a happy domestic rhythm.
“I guess we should go to bed then,” Cooper said, and the look he sent her told Stormy he wouldn’t mind it being the same bed.
As much as she didn’t want to be tempted by that, she couldn’t help that she was.
“Yes, it’s time for bed,” she said quietly. “Good night, Cooper. Thank you for a perfect dinner and an even better conversation. And thanks for the room.”
She turned away, not wanting to add anything else. She was at the bottom of the stairs when he grabbed her arm and stopped her.
Without a word he tugged her toward him, grabbing her hips and pulling her against the hardness in his slacks so she had no doubt he was turned on. Then he kissed her, making her knees shake as his hands tugged on her hair.
She moaned into his mouth, unable to stop her reaction to this man who had been touching her all night, who was on her mind nonstop. When he lifted her leg and pressed even more tightly against her, she felt an ache she hadn’t felt for six long years.
This man did this to her, made her into a wanton woman, made her want to forget about anything and everything except for him and the pleasure he could and surely would bring to her.
She was almost ready to beg for more when he released her. His eyes were dark as he gazed at her.
“Anything you feel like telling me?” he asked, his fingers tracing her lower back.
She was stunned into silence for several tense moments.
“No . . . ,” she finally answered on a shaky breath.
His eyes narrowed for a moment before he released her. She had to grip the rail and pray she could remain upright.
“Good night, Stormy. Sleep well.” His tone of voice told her the opposite.
“Good night,” Stormy finally replied, and then she continued walking up the stairs.
Sleep was going to be very difficult if she was able to get any at all.