by Taylor Hart
Grimacing, he thought of how he’d promised his friend he would make a showing. But Cooper actually found himself not minding going to see his friend. He couldn’t wait to tell Sterling about her. “London Bridge is falling down, falling down …” He repeated in a wistful way. It still made him smile to think of her name and how she insisted he not sing the song. Which he’d immediately started to sing in his mind.
“Do you think you’re funny?”
Startled at her voice, he dropped his phone and immediately bent to pick it up.
She stood there in different clothes from earlier. Her blonde hair was still scrunched, but he noticed she had done her makeup. Pink lips accentuated her perfect nose and lips. She wore a pale, pink skirt and white top with flip-flops. He could smell her lemon scent, and he grinned, not because of how great she looked even though she did. No, he grinned because he was actually thinking these stupid thoughts to himself. He couldn’t even think what kind of grief Hunter James would give him at the moment if he were around.
“What?” She cocked an eyebrow.
Gesturing across his property to the black Camaro sitting in his driveway, he said, “Let’s take a drive.”
She didn’t move. “What is this? I thought we were taking a twenty-minute walk around the grounds?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Plans change. Are you okay with that?” He started walking across his backyard.
She followed. “Why?”
Feeling like a teenager begging a girl for a first date, he smiled in what he hoped was a mysterious way. “Trust, young grasshopper.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Wow. You’re patronizing too.”
It made him smile that she was calling him on it. “You mean, ‘wowza.’” He wanted to laugh, but he didn’t.
She stopped walking, a deep scowl on her face. “Ha ha.”
“C’mon, it’ll be fun.” He continued.
The itinerary says it’s a walk around the grounds.”
He gestured to the car. “Flexibility. That’s another key to good relationships.” He waited for her.
She tromped next to him. “We’re not in a relationship.”
They got to the car, and he walked her to the passenger side door. “Of course we are.” He flashed a smile. “We’ve kissed. This is practically our second date.”
London stood next to the car door. “Uhm, no. It’s not.”
Flicking the air, true irritation pulsed through him. He opened her door. “Do you know how many women here would jump at the chance to go for a ride with me?”
Instantly, she gave him a glare. “Oh, right. No thanks. On second thought, I think I got enough one-on-one last night.” She turned away.
It would have made him laugh if she didn’t seem to be serious. He cocked his head to the side. “C’mon, I’ll even reciprocate and tell you something about myself.”
Apparently, this tactic worked because she stopped and then swung back, looking curious. “What?”
He took a step toward her. “I’ve been thinking about what you said last night, and you’re right. I left you high and dry.”
Hesitating briefly, she moved to the car.
He stepped out of the way.
She slid in, giving him another death look. “You better think of something good to tell me.”
Chapter 5
The only reason London got into the car was because of her job.
No other reason. When Cooper insisted and made the offer to reciprocate, a happy thought had passed through her. This was her chance. She would get something good. Something that would make her article amazing, so she could get in her car, drive to Nebraska, and see her brother!
Yes. This was perfect.
The bonus and raise would come next. She’d have extra money to pay off student loans. She could take time off and work on her nonprofit.
The faster he drove down the road, the more it felt like he was some kid bragging about his new car by driving fast. Irritation pricked through her. “I get it. It goes fast. Okay.”
The side of his lip tugged up, and he pushed the gas harder. “What? London Bridge, are you afraid?”
It unnerved her he thought she was afraid. Little did he know he was about to be exposed for the man he really was. Soon the whole world would know. She forced herself to play along. Ignoring how he used her full name, she exhaled. “Is this where you take the unsuspecting girl into the woods and kill her?”
He laughed. “You are hating me, aren’t you?”
“Wow, the way you discern people’s feelings is just … miraculous.”
He laughed. “Wowza, I like you.”
It bugged her that she actually liked his laugh. “You don’t have to repeat all the words I say.” She tried to sound bored.
He laughed harder.
This made her surprisingly nervous. “And why do you like me? All you do is laugh at me when I reveal my innermost secrets to you.”
He glanced at her, his expression growing serious. “No, I wasn’t laughing at you. No,” he said emphatically. “I was laughing at the fact that I haven’t kissed a girl since …” he trailed off.
Then it hit her. Since his wife died three years ago. All of the simmering anger instantly shwooshed out of her. “I’m sorry about Nadia.”
He scanned her face as if trying to figure out how much she knew. The side of his jaw muscle clenched. “Can you believe those trees?”
For a few moments, they didn’t speak, and she focused on the landscape. It was trees and the etching of the Tetons emerging as they drove up the winding mountain road. “The trees are amazing.” She was completely confused and totally on edge around him. Before, she was just plain old attracted to him. After watching him work that magic today, she was intimidated.
He glanced at her. “Are you still ticked at me?”
This was unreal. “For lying to me last night?”
Turning to catch her eye then quickly looking back at the road, he scoffed. “Did it occur to you that you lied too in your own way?”
She ignored his question, lost in the fact she would have to revise her whole article from last night. After watching him speak today, after seeing his passion, the article was all wrong. She had felt some magic and learned things about herself today. “You used some psychologist mumbo jumbo to get me to tell you things.”
“What?”
“You did.” She pointed at him.
“Uh, no. You willingly told me. I wouldn’t do that.”
“Oh, you mean lie?”
“Technically, I never … okay, I guess I said I came in through the gate…by agreeing with you.”
“Yeah.” She felt herself relax.
For a minute neither of them spoke.
He turned to her. “Why are you smiling?”
Staring out the window, she admitted reluctantly. “You were good today.”
“I was?”
Shaking her head, she let out a light laugh. “As if Cooper Harrison, billionaire relationship guru, needs my approval.”
“I do,” he said quickly.
Now she really laughed. At the ridiculousness of this conversation. “Right.”
They got to the top of the mountain, and Cooper pulled into the lookout point and turned off the engine.
She was unnerved by him. By the smell of something … soapy. It smelled like Irish Spring soap. That was it. She turned to him. “Is this make-out point?” The words came out before she could stop them. She knew she was blushing.
He stared at her. “If you want it to be.”
“No!” She shook her head and let out a long sigh of embarrassment. What was happening to her? She had to play it cool. She glued her gaze to the window. “It’s beautiful up here.”
“I’m loving the view more and more.”
Flustered, she turned to him. “Is this some trick? Another psychoanalytical game where I reveal something and then you laugh at me?”
He paused. “I didn’t mean to hurt you last night.” He studied the
landscape for a while then finally turned back to her. “I never talk about my late wife, and that’s all that came to my mind when you told me about Dillon.”
Turning to face him, seeing the sincerity in his eyes, she felt guilty. She was at this retreat with the sole goal of writing an exposé about him. She searched his eyes.
He reached out and barely touched her hand. That strange connection from last night rattled her. “I’m glad you trespassed last night.”
Butterflies thrummed into her gut.
He grinned. Pushing his weight against the door, he unlatched it. “Let’s get out.”
She still didn’t understand why she was up here, why he was treating her like this. “Okay.”
Both of them walked toward the edge of the mountain.
Confusion filled her. “Why am I here?”
“What?” he asked, frowning. “It’s your one-on-one.”
She shook her head. “No, why did you bring me here?”
Hesitating, he sighed. “You’re normal. We connect.”
This made her nervous. The worst thing a reporter could do was get too close to the subject. “I wouldn’t call it connecting. I mean, we agree it was all based on lies.” She was talking fast. “I mean, you’re a billionaire, and I’m at one of your retreats because I’m a loser, right?”
He paused, frowning.
“I’m sorry.” She felt frantic and nervous.
Cooper gestured to the edge of the mountain. “This is the best place to get a good look at everything.”
Relieved he wasn’t looking at her all intensely anymore, she turned to the view. It was beautiful. The mountains, the city, all lay before them like a movie screen. Instead of being hot and muggy like New York, this day felt warm with a slightly cool breeze. Perfect. She took a large breath and focused on trying to relax.
“I love coming up here. Just … breathing.”
She couldn’t stop herself. “Do you take your shoes off here too?”
Without missing a beat, he kicked off his flip-flops. “I should. You should too.”
Feeling put on the spot, she decided what the heck. She took hers off too. The dirt and sand pressed into her feet and through her toes. She laughed. “I’m standing with the Barefoot Billionaire. Wow.”
“Barefoot Billionaire? Maybe that’ll be the title of my next book.”
“Now you’re plagiarizing me.”
Taking a step closer to her, the Irish Spring scent got stronger. “We could team up. You could be my personal assistant. I’m not a diva.”
She smiled, liking he’d remembered what she said the night before. “I don’t know if I would go that far.” His proximity put her off balance. “Billionaires don’t have to be diva’s, they can get whatever they want.”
His eyes narrowed and the side of his lip tilted up. “Whatever I want?”
The question felt intimate, like he was asking for her.
She turned away from him, taking in the view.
He started humming “London Bridges.”
The center of her heart felt like it was beating so fast it would burst out of her chest, but she only smiled. “You had me until that dang song.”
They both laughed, and there was the connection thing he’d been talking about happening again.
They stood side by side, looking over the valley.
Rattled, she pointed to his watch. “Better check the time, I think you’re going to go over.”
He didn’t move. “Watch doesn’t work.”
She frowned, not understanding. “Why are you wearing it?”
He shrugged.
Her reporter self sniffed something. “You don’t seem like the type to worry about a fashion statement.”
He ran his hand through his hair and exhaled. “Uh, no.”
One of the biggest problems with her, as her mother always said, she couldn’t just let it be. “Then why do you wear it?”
He pulled his arm up and tapped the watch and then grimaced. “My fathers.”
Somewhere in the files of her brain, when she’d frantically been researching him last night, she couldn’t remember much about his father.
“He left when I was three. I…don’t really even have memories with him. It’s at the point I don’t know if the memory is one of mine or if it’s just one my mom told me so many times.”
“I’m sorry.”
He sighed. “Pathetic, right? I wear a watch that doesn’t work, belonging to a man who never wanted me.”
Suddenly all of this made her nervous. Unsettled. He shouldn’t be telling all of his secrets to her. She whipped out her phone and checked the time. “We have to get back. You’re way over your one-on-one time.”
With the flash of a grin, he spread his hands. “Rescheduled the next one. We have time.”
“What? Why?”
He flashed a smile. “Can’t I just hang out with you?” His eyebrows lifted. “I guess that makes me a loser too, right?”
Okay. No, no, no. Was Cooper Harrison looking at her that way? In a … dating way? No.
“Um …”
“Is that okay?”
This was exactly what Marcia would want. What had she said? “You’re his type.” Marcia couldn’t have expected anything like this. London could hear her boss’ voice urging her to get closer, to dig, to turn this man inside out on the pages of Rage.
Turning away from him, she twisted her ring finger with the other hand. “Fine. Sure. Yeah.”
He moved closer to her.
She tensed. She couldn’t do this. No. No. No.
“Hey, I don’t want things to be weird. I just …” He let out a laugh. “It’s ridiculous, right? I feel all out of sorts.”
This was a journalist’s dream, so why did it feel wrong all of a sudden? She turned to him. “You do?”
He stood there in bare feet. Alone with her. He pushed his hands into his jeans and let out a breath.
Seriously, he looked like a model. So perfect. His facial hair was two-days long, just right. And there was something about him, something softer than she’d initially thought he’d be. There was also less ego than she’d expected from someone who’d achieved all he had.
“What?” she asked.
“Okay, I …” He cleared his throat. “You’re the first woman I’ve wanted to get to know for a long time.”
Immediately, she was suspicious. She’d believed in the fairytales until Dillon. She scoffed. “Look, I don’t think we should do this. I’m not your Frozen kind of spark thing.”
For a second he didn’t respond. Then he laughed. “What?”
The reporter in her took over. “You know, like the cartoon, or meet the prince and fall in love. Whatever. I mean…whatever we had the other night was nice.” The familiar resentment pressed into her heart. “But it wasn’t real, okay?”
Giving her an up and down look, he blew out his breath. “Man, that guy did a number on you, huh?”
The truth of his words silenced her. She turned away, becoming very interested in the view.
“Look, you’re the first person I’ve ever told this, but when Nadia passed away…she’d already left me.”
It took a few seconds for her to realize he was talking about his wife again. She’d read Nadia had died of cancer. “I don’t understand.”
“She left me before she even had cancer.” He let out a derisive laugh. “I guess you’re getting full disclosure now. Maybe even more than you wanted. She left me and then came back six weeks later. She told me she had stage four cancer and couldn’t get through it without me.”
For a second, she couldn’t breathe. Everything shifted inside of her. “And you took her back?”
He blinked and let out a long breath. “Nadia was an orphan from Russia. She had no family. The guy she left me for left her high and dry. She had no one.”
The anger building inside of her came as a surprise. “But she left you for another guy?”
His jaw tightened.
She flinch
ed, seeing his obvious pain. “I’m sorry.”
His hand clenched into a fist, then he relaxed, shaking out his hands. “I believe everything happens for a reason.”
London’s racing heart was only partly due to the connection between them. She could not believe the perfect story Cooper was handing her on a silver platter. Her hands were clammy. How could she use this stuff in her story?
There was no way. It was too personal. Private. Sacred. Like walking across clean white carpet with dog doo doo on her foot. No, she couldn’t use it. Compassion for him filled her, but she couldn’t stop herself from asking. “So why did it happen?”
A sad look washed over his face, and he moved down a little ways to a large, flat rock and gestured to her. “Want to sit?”
“No, I’ll stand.” She’d never been a fan of heights, and this felt too on top of the world to her. The edge was so close it seemed as if they could tumble and fall to their deaths easily.
He sat and looked out like the cover model of a Land’s End catalog with that perfect blond hair, light white shirt, and khaki pants. Crossing his legs into a crisscross applesauce position, he put his hands flat together in front of his chest and sucked in a large breath. “Will you at least come sit?”
Not moving, she watched him take a few big breaths. “Are you meditating or something?” He wasn’t closing his eyes, but he looked so intent.
“It’s a version of meditation, but it keeps you fully awake and conscious.”
He kept doing long breaths.
“You sound like one of those creepy phone callers you get when you’re in junior high and the boys crank call, breathe heavy, and scare you.” She frowned.
The side of his lip tugged up as he took in another long breath. “I guess you are familiar with said stalkers?”
A light laugh came out of her as she sat next to Cooper, remembering seventh grade and Billy Hicks’ incessant calling. He’d even called from his friends’ phones because he didn’t want her to know it was him.
He gently took her hand into his. “I’m not a creepy phone stalker.”
Her heart raced, and her mouth went dry. She wasn’t sure why she let him hold her hand, but she did. “There. That’s better, don’t you think?”