THE HEART TEACHES BEST (REAL ROMANCE COLLECTION Book 2)

by M. J. Schiller

  “No! It’s not that! I wanted you up there. I wanted you.” Her voice caught. “And that’s what frightens me,” she finished weakly, the wind almost taking her words. She turned away from him. “I’m sorry.”

  Cooper stood there, trying to make sense of her words and then noticed her back was shaking. He stepped forward and locked his arms around her. “It’s not your fault.”

  “Yes it is!” she yelled, but she turned in his arms to wrap her arms around him. “Yes, it is.” One fist came down to hit him in the chest and then sobs began to wrack her body.

  “Come on, babe,” Cooper said desperately. “Won’t you come inside with me?”

  She pulled her head from his chest, looking up at him as the wind continued to buffet them both. “I can’t keep doing this to you! I can’t keep doing it to myself. Can’t you see?” Tears streamed down her face and the lights from the cliff turned them to silver.

  He tried to soothe her. “Come with me.”

  She allowed him to lead her back to the elevator. Once inside the doors, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least she had come this far. She leaned on him on the way up and he rubbed her arm without saying anything. When they got to the main floor, he decided the couch was safer than the bedroom and so he took her there. He sat in a corner, and she sat down, leaning her back against him while he draped an arm over her shoulder. They sat still for some time, the only sounds, the wind beating against the windows, and his hand trailing up and down her arm. She was so still, he thought for a moment, she had fallen asleep until she released a shuddering breath.

  He hesitated. “Do you want to talk?”

  She sighed. “I guess it would be the grown-up thing to do.”

  “I’ve heard being a grown-up is overrated.”

  He saw her cheek rise and knew she was smiling. That was a good thing; at least she still had her sense of humor. “Believe me, it is.” He shifted so she could sit up, but she said, “Can we just stay like this? I don’t think I can look you in the face right now. I’m too embarrassed. I guess I’m not that grown-up.”

  It was his turn to smile now. “There’s no reason to be embarrassed, but if that’s what you want.” He settled back down.

  “First of all, I’m sorry about hitting you.”

  “Yeah,” he said, rubbing his chest. “You pack quite a wallop! You ever think about going into police work? Skills like those might come in handy.”

  “They come in pretty handy as a teacher, too.”

  “At Walter Davis, I guess so!”

  She chuckled quietly. After a brief pause, she started in with her explanation. “What was about to happen in the bedroom…what was going to happen…I wanted it to happen.”

  “Still, I shouldn’t have pressured you.”

  She leaned back across his lap so she could look him in the face. “As I recall, I was putting some pressure on, too.”

  He smiled, remembering every kiss, every touch.

  “And you responded, which was wonderful. I thought I could handle it,” she murmured, looking down.

  “But I pushed things too far.”

  She pressed a painted fingernail to his lips. “Sshhh! Nothing happened inside that room I didn’t want to happen, I hadn’t dreamed of happening.” Her face colored at this revelation. “It’s just… How can I explain what I don’t even understand myself?”

  He played with her hair without speaking, then, wet his lips. “Please try, Laney. I want to understand what you’re going through.”

  “It makes it so much harder when you’re nice,” she complained.

  He laughed. “Did you want me to be mean?”

  “No, no.” She toyed with a button on his shirt. “Okay, let me try this again. What we were going to do, I wanted to do it mindlessly. I wanted to be with you, but not feel anything, but I couldn’t do it.”

  His confusion registered on his face. “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s easy for you guys. You could be with any number of women—”

  “Wait one minute here!” Cooper interrupted. “Don’t you think you’re assuming something there?”

  “B-but…”

  “I have only been with one woman—girl, really—and that was a mistake. But I thought I was in love. I wasn’t just…jumping her bones!”

  “I-I’m sorry. I just assumed.”

  “Do you think I’m the kind of guy who would do…that…lightly?” He let his ire go, tracing a hand along the side of her face. “I told you, Laney Essex,” he murmured, tapping her on the lips. “I couldn’t have meaningless sex with you.”

  He saw the flash of pain in her eyes, but didn’t understand it.

  “Don’t you see? That makes it worse!”

  “Laney! You are the most confusing woman I know!” he muttered, exasperated. For some reason, this seemed to amuse her. “Oh, you think that’s funny, do you?”

  “No,” she giggled. “I’m sorry.” She brought herself back under control. “Oh, Cooper,” she sighed. “You don’t know how sorry I am—”

  “No, that I get. It’s the rest that’s fuzzy.”

  “I don’t let many people in. I think it has to do with my mother somehow. If you don’t let people close, then they can’t be disappointed in you.”

  “But I would never be disappointed in you.”

  “So you say now.” She looked down at her hands. “And it’s not just that…when I do care for people, like my father, and Sydney…”

  “You end up losing them.”

  “Yes.” She looked him in the eyes. “I don’t think I could stand that! I know it’s stupid. I know I’m disturbed. I don’t blame you for being mad at me.”

  “So…you wanted to have meaningless sex with me—and I can’t believe I am questioning this—but, why? Why would you want that?”

  “Well, for obvious reasons. You’re hot!”

  “Good to know,” he said, but his face became hot.

  “And…I wanted to please you.”

  This answer made him less happy. He frowned. “Like you’ve always tried to please your mom?”

  She nodded, seeming unnerved by his stern expression.

  “Laney, if there is one thing I will not stand for, it’s you doing things only to please me. I want you as you are. Whatever you want to give to me, nothing more.”

  She reached up and stroked his face, unable to speak, and then kissed him.

  “So why did you end up running out on me?” he asked carefully. “Was it because I ripped your clothes off?”

  “No.” She smiled. “I liked that.”

  “Umm.” He was quiet, and serious for several seconds and Laney squirmed in his lap. “Is it because I told you I loved you?”

  She looked up at him, biting her lip.

  “No choosing your words now,” he warned. “I want the truth. I think I deserve that.”

  She swallowed and her eyes filled up with tears. She nodded her head vigorously up and down. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

  “Shhh! Shhh! It’s okay.” He lifted her wet face. “Laney, it’s okay. You weren’t ready to hear that yet, I shouldn’t have said it.” He paused. “But I will say it again someday, so you better get used to the fact.” She smiled at him but shivered. “Are you cold?”

  “A little.”

  “The temperature dropped a lot out there. I saw some cocoa in the kitchen. Do you want me to make you some?”

  “I’ll get it.”

  “No, no. I know where it is. You sit here for a minute. I’ll get us some.”

  Cooper headed into the kitchen and filled two coffee cups with milk. While he waited for them to warm in the microwave, he leaned against the counter and sorted through everything that happened. He idly buttoned up his shirt, all the while thinking about how her hands had unbuttoned it.

  When he reentered the living room, she was leaning her head on her arms, which were crossed on the side of the couch; her legs curled to one side as she lay fast asleep. He set the mugs on the table in front
of the couch, and bent down to look at her quiet face. He skimmed his hand over her hair. “Laney Essex, you are a quandary. But I have all the time in the world to figure you out, darling.” He bent and kissed her forehead, beyond the bandage, and then sat down to sip his hot chocolate as he watched her sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Laney woke up at two in the dark. Cooper had found a blanket and draped it over her. Propped up on her cold glass of cocoa was a small piece of paper, which read,

  If you need anything, I’m in the bedroom.

  She got up to look out the window. The winds had died down, though the deck was wet from rain, and the ocean was coming in much more calmly now. She stood with her arms crossed, staring out at the water, for some time. How could she have attempted to have meaningless sex with him? She was already too far gone.

  * * *

  At three, she shook Cooper awake. “I need something,” she whispered. She stepped back and took her blouse off. Reaching down, she pulled her tank top off over her head, revealing her bare breasts. Cooper sat up but didn’t speak. She unzipped her jeans and peeled them off, then rid herself of the skimpy panties underneath. She walked over to the bed. He swung his feet over the side and sat watching her. She placed her hands on his shoulders and he rested his on her naked hips. She started to push him backward, but he resisted.

  His choked voice broke through the darkness. “Are you going to have meaningless sex with me? Not that I’ve ruled that out entirely,” he added quickly, “but I’m not sure if I can.”

  She laid a finger on his lips. “That’s why I stopped before, I couldn’t have meaningless sex with you either, because I love you, too, Cooper!”

  She could see his broad smile in the moonlight filtering through the edges of the drapes, which didn’t quite meet. “Okay, then. Take me, I’m yours!” He fell backward and she fell with him, laughing.

  And when his lips were on hers, she simply felt…wonderful. It was as if he were breathing life back into her, life and light, warmth and comfort. The deeper he took the kiss, the more willing she became to surrender to him, to give up the pain and fear and anger, and float away on the dizzying power of his kiss.

  They made love slowly, sensually, she rising above him in the hint of moonlight like some goddess, her hips driving him wild with each subtle movement until they fell together in a heap of ecstasy, their bodies shaking with wave after wave of pleasure. After a minute, she fell off to lay at his side.

  “Whooo!” he breathed. He turned his head to look at her, smiling, on the pillow beside him, her body looking so relaxed it was like liquid. “Are you sure you haven’t done this before?” She laughed, shaking her head. “Well, lady—” He rose up on his elbow to give her a kiss. “—you’re a natural!” She laughed, throwing her arms around him and pulling him back down on top of her. They lay together, letting their breathing come back to normal. He fell on to the mattress again and she curled up along his side. “Man!” Cooper was still astounded by the depth of pleasure she had evoked. He looked at her again. “Any regrets?”

  She giggled. “Not having done this sooner.” When he raised an eyebrow, she added, laughing. “With you I mean, only with you!”

  He pulled her close, and then turned on his side so they were face-to-face. “You know, after this you have no chance of ever getting rid of me.”

  She giggled. “Shut up, you goof!”

  “No, I mean it. I want you to come to dinner at my mom’s house tomorrow.”

  “Wh-what?” she answered, sounding startled.

  “I want you to meet my family, and more importantly, I want them to meet you.”

  She flipped over and he pulled her in against his body. She was quiet. Too quiet. “Are you going to try to run away again?”

  “No.” She paused. “What if they don’t like me?”

  “What are you talking about? They’re going to love you!” He gave her a big, smacking kiss on the head. She relaxed and snuggled closer to him. They lay in quiet pleasure for several minutes. “Lane?”

  “Hmm…?” she answered, sleepily.

  “I love you,” he whispered in her ear.

  “I love you, too, Cooper Sullivan!”

  They fell into a deep slumber until five a.m. when Cooper felt a nibble on his ear, followed by a voice urging him, “Cooper, you know…as a teacher, I believe practice makes perfect.”

  He smiled, and threw her onto her back on the mattress, rising over her. “Well, who am I to stand in the way of higher education?”

  They got up later and made scrambled eggs and bacon and brought them back to bed.

  “My mother would kill me if she knew I was eating in her bed.”

  “I think your mother would have more of a problem with some of the other things we did in her bed.”

  She giggled. “Nah. She loves you!”

  “Yeah, right.” He snorted. “Give me your plate.” He added it to his and set it on the floor. He crawled over to her. “Are you rejuvenated?”

  “Yeah,” she said slyly, linking her hands behind his neck. “Are you?”

  * * *

  When Cooper left the room, he looked back at the door to see Laney sprawled across the bed, half-covered by the sheet, bare limbs everywhere, and his heart swelled with love.

  I’ve got to get this guy!

  He went into the living room to log onto the server at headquarters from his laptop. He looked over his files again and reread the autopsy report. His eyes focused in on the line, which began with “murder weapon.”

  Murder weapon- woven material, about a quarter-inch thick, two and a half inches wide, like a drapery tie, or maybe a narrow tie, like men wore in the eighties.

  He read, and reread the description. “Or like a karate belt!” he said out loud. He picked up his cell phone and made a few calls.

  * * *

  “Hey,” Aidan called as Cooper jogged up the stairs of the courthouse. Cooper waited for his friend to catch up. They shook hands. “How was your night?” he said, raising his eyebrows to make his real question clear.

  Cooper smiled, keeping his lips pressed together.

  “Oh, come on! I turned Laney down when she invited us to her mom’s plush place in Malibu, I think you owe me some details.” They continued up the stairs and into the building.

  “Okay. She offered me cheap, meaningless sex…”

  “You dog!”

  “And then ran out on me.” He pushed the button for the elevator.

  “Ouch!”

  “But then we made up.”

  “Yes!”

  “And she fell asleep on me.”

  “Does this have a happy ending?”

  “Then I woke up to find her in my room undressing.”

  “Hold on, let me visualize this.”

  “Don’t you dare!” Cooper snapped, jabbing him in the ribs.

  “Oof!” Aidan rubbed his side, laughing. “So…how was it?”

  He turned and looked him straight in the eye. “Which time?” He stepped into the elevator, and turned to see Aidan still standing outside, with his mouth hanging open. Cooper reached out and grabbed him by the shirtfront and pulled him in as the doors began to close.

  A few minutes later, they stood in front of Judge Amos Parker. The heavyset man, whose graying hair was leaving him just shy of bald, read the file with his reading glasses on the tip of his bumpy nose. He finished reading and looked up at them curiously. “So, Officers Sullivan and McConnahy, you are here for a search warrant, but I don’t see enough evidence here to justify it.”

  “But sir, the suspect is a karate instructor. The description of the murder weapon is consistent with the size and shape of a karate belt.”

  “It’s not enough.”

  “I believe there is tracking equipment in his house. We found evidence of it in Ms. Essex’s cell phone.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m still not convinced.”

  “Please, Judge Parker. I’ve got to get in there!”

&nbs
p; “Why is this so important to you, son?” he asked, squinting up at Cooper.

  He sighed, putting his hands on his hips under his suit coat. “Because I’m in love with the woman he’s trying to kill.”

  Aidan’s jaw dropped again.

  The judge snorted, “Hmpff!” Parker looked back at the file, but stole a quick look at Cooper, rubbing his eyes. His defeated posture must have done the trick. “You say he’s got access to her condo?”

  Cooper looked up quickly, hope stirring in his chest. “Yes, sir.”

  “And you think he’s got the hots for your girl?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He slammed the file down on his desk. “You’ve got your warrant, son.”

  “I could kiss you, sir.”

  “Save it for your girlfriend,” he stated, signing the warrant with flourish.

  “Thank you, sir.” Cooper beamed as he accepted the signed warrant.

  Judge Parker gave him a wink. “Go get him! And make the case stick.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Cooper stood in front of the open doors of Steve Bertrand’s bedroom closet. The entire back of the closet was filled with surveillance equipment, on top of which sat a framed picture of Laney. Aidan still held the evidence bag containing the black belt they had retrieved from the Gi hanging from the rod. Cooper stepped back and opened the door to the balcony. He kicked off his loafers and hopped up on the convenient thick ledge surrounding the balcony.

  “What are you doing?” Aidan asked, nervous.

  “Hold on.” He lifted himself up onto the roof with little effort. Looking over the edge uneasily, he inched over on his rear to Laney’s balcony and hopped down, giving Aidan an exaggerated bow.

  “You comin’ back the same way?” he asked with feigned boredom.

  “Hell, no!” Cooper grinned, opening the doors to Laney’s condo and disappearing within. When he came out her front door, he noticed a spilled bag of groceries on Steve’s door step. “Shit!” He searched the parking lot as he ran toward the neighboring condo. He yelled in the open doorway, “Wasn’t anyone watching the parking lot? Call in an A.P.B. on Steve Bertrand. Make sure the airport is covered as well as the train depot and bus station.”