by Taylor Hart
His dark eyes twinkled, and he nodded. “Well, I was that too not too long ago.” He shrugged. “Guess I was just reliving my college days. My brothers are here with me, and we tend to make each other do stupid things. It’s an ongoing competition.”
Sputtering out a laugh, she covered her mouth and shook her head. “How many brothers?”
“Two.” He pointed to a table.
The other two were talking to a couple of blondes. One looked at them and waved.
“That’s Dominick, and the other is Demarco.”
“All D’s.”
He grinned. “Yep, that’s my mom.”
“All single?”
“To my mother’s frustration.”
She smiled. He was cute when he wasn’t doing his brothers’ stupid dares. “So I have a confession.”
“Okay.”
“My name is London Bridge. That’s my mom.”
He laughed. “Okay, you’ve got it much worse.” Then he sighed. “C’mon, you have to admit that using my name as a pick-up line is genius.”
She laughed, suddenly not upset at all that Dante had somehow joined her for lunch. “The worst pick-up line ever. Haven’t you read the book? Chapter two is ‘Don’t Use Cheesy Pick-Up Lines.’”
Dante shrugged, grinning back. “My name usually helps me for a pick-up line.”
She laughed. London picked up her apple and leaned back in her seat. The last person she would have predicted enjoying a lunch with was this beautiful, brown-eyed Italian man. “How many girls have you used it on?”
That took him aback. His brow furrowed. “You mean, how many girls have I wowed with the seven circles of love line?”
She rolled her eyes and took a bite of her apple.
White teeth flashed as his smile widened. “Well, I can’t give out numbers, I mean … chapter four, right? ‘Be Humble.’”
The beginnings of laughter caused her to choke on her apple. She found herself in one of those embarrassing moments when the apple gets stuck in her air pipe and won’t go down properly.
More coughing ensued, and a worried expression flashed across Dante’s face.
Pushing away from the table, she kept coughing, standing and reaching for her water. At times like this, she hated how part of her wanted to melt into the floor from shame while the other survival part of her just wanted to get the stupid chunk of apple out of her throat.
Trying to chug water, the apple only got caught deeper and choked her more. It was really stuck. She could hardly move any air at all, couldn’t even cough. She banged her chest to try to dislodge the apple.
Suddenly, Dante’s arms were around her, skillfully giving her one hard thrust that she thought might break her ribs. Then the apple was out, tumbling across the table.
Sucking in a ragged breath of air, London reached for the chair back to support herself. She wasn’t going to die after all. After the second breath, humiliation set in.
At some point, Dante’s brothers must have come because now they stood flanking him. A couple of people were eyeing them, seeming to be on the fence as to whether they should rush over or not.
Dante didn’t let her go immediately. He turned her in his arms. His brown eyes were filled with concern. “Are you okay?”
Embarrassed, she wanted to pull away, but his fresh laundered smell and proximity momentarily threw her off balance. “Yeah.” She croaked, staring up into his eyes.
He ran one hand through his hair and blew out a breath. She thought about how he was far from the creeper she’d thought he was the other night.
He leaned in closer, and for a second, she wondered if he would kiss her. Then he frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
The group around them dispersed, except his brothers.
His hands were still on her shoulders.
Feeling foolish about choking, she tried to calm her heart rate. There was no way to deny the chemistry crackling between them. “Thank you.”
His eyes flicked from hers to her lips, and she wondered if he would kiss her.
She didn’t have long to wonder though.
“London, are you okay?” A deep voice asked behind her.
Turning back she saw Cooper, distress clear on his face. Abruptly, she pulled back from Dante. “I’m fine,” she said quickly.
Cooper looked at Dante then back to London. He frowned. “I saw some commotion over here.”
Another group started to form around them again, obviously wanting to get close to Cooper.
London knew she was majorly blushing. Out of sorts, she turned to Dante. “Thanks, again.” She grabbed her laptop and pushed away from the table.
“London?” Cooper called out.
Turning back, she saw Cooper was already at her side. He kept walking, and she fell into step with him. “Yes?”
“I was just wondering if you’d like to have dinner on my rooftop tonight?”
“Oh.”
Cooper grinned. “I have something I want to ask you about. As friends, of course.”
After the afternoon classes, London went to her hotel room and didn’t know why she felt the urge to scrunch and spray her hair and reapply her lipstick. Okay, maybe she did. Grinning to herself, she thought of Cooper’s invitation to dinner.
After the incident at lunch, she’d gone to the other break-out session on self-esteem and pretty much ignored the speaker, dividing her time between researching Dante De Luca and Cooper Harrison on the Internet. Maybe this could be part of the series too.
Not that she had any idea how she would write the stupid series of articles now.
Where to focus? Debunk the guru? Dynamics between two men? Dating a man when you have a boyfriend?
Honestly, she didn’t really know what there was to debunk. The book had been chock full of insightful information about how to start in your own mind and build yourself first. Before embarking on any relationship. Then it went into details about how to be a high value person. It explained how to make sure the man who dated you knew your values and standards and you stuck to them.
How could any honest person find fault with “If a man doesn’t have to work for it, he’ll never appreciate it”? Or “If you know you’re high value, the man will do the work necessary to get you.”
All of it had sort of gotten into her head, and she didn’t know if she liked it or not. Did she know she was high value? Is that the reason her boyfriend had picked her roommate over her? She was the one who’d refused to have premarital sex, and he’d gone somewhere else. She blew out a breath.
It was hard to admit it, but after having some distance from the relationship, she saw that Dillon was a jerk. Thinking about it now, she wondered what kind of a jerk she’d been to even like the man in the first place.
As she hurried out of the hotel room and down the hall, she didn’t know if she really liked having all this “self-realization.”
Her mind flashed to earlier. Dante. The easy way they had talked and joked. Finding out that there was more to him than the “seven circles of love.” It was stupid, but when she was in his arms, she’d felt a … connection. Maybe it was the adrenaline after almost choking combined with the fact that he’d been the one to save her?
Then Cooper showed up.
The look the men had exchanged had been strained. Weird.
She got to the elevator and focused on the questions she had prepared. It bothered her that she had to write these articles even though it was admittedly her own fault.
She had to figure something out, and quickly, if she was going to satisfy Marcia. She had to find something else she could write about Cooper, and tonight was the best opportunity she would have.
Chapter 10
Cooper stood on his rooftop watching one of the security guys usher London up the stairs.
Stunning, that’s how she looked. Wearing a blue summer dress with flip-flops, her blonde, curly hair and red lipstick matched the earrings and necklace. It
was all perfect.
Summery, light, slightly dressed up, but still casual. Seriously, had he just thought those words? What was wrong with him?
Sterling would call him a total pansy.
Moving toward her, he stuck his hand out. “Good evening.”
She was only a couple inches shorter than him. At six foot, he hadn’t dated many women close to his height.
Nadia had been around five foot two, so London felt pretty tall to him.
Refocusing his thoughts, he was assaulted by her light, flowery perfumed scent.
Unable to stop himself, he bent and kissed the back of her hand. “Welcome.”
Tentatively, London stared up at him, not removing her hand as she slowly smiled. She looked out over his property. “On top of an empire. The life of Cooper Harrison.”
Honestly, he hadn’t thought about his life in those terms. “My autobiography title. Thanks.”
London pulled her hand away and swatted his arm.
He asked, “How come you seem so amused?” He led her to the lounge chairs and fire pit that overlooked the outdoor dancing area.
“I’m a bit in awe really.”
A dinner spread waited for them. Moving behind her chair, he pulled it out for her.
She looked embarrassed, but she took her seat. “Thank you.”
He sat across from her. “You’re welcome. I didn’t know what you’d like so I had them bring a bit of everything.”
Mira, his chef, came forward in her simple black serving outfit. She pulled the tops off of the serving dishes, revealing steaming brown rice, chicken, salmon, green beans, and a plethora of veggies. “You take what you like, ma’am, and I’ll take the rest out of the way.”
“Wow, so fancy.” She leaned back into the chair.
Cooper smiled at her, thinking she appeared comfortable here.
She took a couple of helpings of various things, and he did the same.
Mira cleared the rest away.
“I like it.” She looked out over the people mingling below. “Gives you a bird’s eye view.”
Cooper liked it too. Being up here with her beat hanging with the guys any day. “It does.”
For a few seconds, both of them quietly took in the scenery and ate.
“It’s really good.” She sipped her drink. “But I thought you were a vegan.”
He grinned. “I tried it. I still like to stay mostly vegetarian. But after much consideration, I realized I had to eat meat.”
“I could never be a vegetarian, especially not vegan. My parents would disown me. We are ranch people. We eat meat.”
He grinned.
She pointed to the food with her fork. “It’s good.”
“Mira’s the best.” A nervous stir went through him, and he thought about seeing her earlier in that man’s arms in the ballroom. “What happened earlier?”
“Oh, I choked on my apple, and Dante helped me out.”
“Dante?”
The edges of her smile widened. “Yes, Dante.”
“The seven circles of—”
“Love.” She finished for him and laughed. “Yes, it’s funny because I was trying to avoid people during lunch today.” She gave him a side-glance. “I was finishing your book.”
This made him both slightly nervous and slightly happy. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”
Clasping her hands together, she gave him her full attention. “It was good.” She grinned.
And he hated the fact he was getting more and more lost in this woman.
“Anyway, Dante just wanted a place to do some work. He convinced me to let him sit, and then he was telling me how his family actually owns the De Luca restaurants.”
“De Luca?” Cooper was impressed. “I go there every time I’m in New York City.”
“Of course,” she said, exasperated. “I’ve never been able to get in there. Even when …” She broke off. “Anyway, I had to tease Dante that he seems more like a stupid frat boy than the owner of a multi-million dollar company.” She sighed. “All afternoon, I kept thinking about why he would be here. Ya know?” She glanced at him. “Do millionaires really have that hard of a time finding someone to date? Both of his brothers are single too.”
“Right. Totally. I mean, the only ones who come to these things must be losers, right?” Cooper quickly added.
For a minute, she didn’t say anything. “Man, I’m already putting my foot in my mouth. I’m sorry.”
Cooper tried to play it off. “If you think you’re the first one to think that, you’re not.” He tried to force himself to relax, not understanding why this woman could pull him out of his Zen so easily.
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke. The awkwardness grew.
“I’m not really sure why you asked me up here.” Her voice was soft.
He let out a fake, almost self-pitying, laugh. Right now, he was wondering the same thing. Maybe it’d been the fact he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind. He didn’t know. All he knew was that he hadn’t known he was going to ask her until he’d seen her in Dante’s arms.
“Cooper?” she asked.
Jerking himself from his thoughts, he shook his head. “Sorry.” He reached for his drink.
“I mean it. I don’t think this is for losers.” She snorted. “It costs too much to be for losers.”
Cooper nearly spit the water in his mouth across the table.
London held up her napkin like a shield, and suddenly, he was fine again.
Peeking out from behind her shield, London asked, “So? Why?”
He shrugged and leaned back, taking his drink in hand and trying to measure his answer. “Would it be pathetic to say I need a friend, and the other night in the hot tub felt like one of the first honest conversations I’ve had with a woman in a long time? The same after the helicopter ride.”
“That was nice.”
“Yes, it was.”
London narrowed her eyes and then copied his pose, picking up her drink and leaning back. “Honestly, I don’t really have friends either. I mean, who has time for friends?”
He didn’t want to add especially the kind who cheat with your fiancé. “Tell me what you like to do, London Bridges.”
“What do you mean?”
He laughed. “Your hobbies.”
“Oh.” She looked thoughtful. “I’ve never told anyone this, but I love murdering people who make fun of my name in their sleep.”
He grinned. “Ooh. That sounds fun.”
“Keep it up, and you’ll see exactly how fun.”
“What else, besides burying the bodies and all?”
“Well, you know about my nonprofit.”
He nodded. “Yep.”
“I do Pilates every other day.”
She looked like she did Pilates. He grinned. “I like yoga better, but I’ve studied Pilates.”
Narrowing her eyes, she looked interested. “Why do you like yoga better?”
He felt himself relax. “Well, I decided a long time ago I don’t believe in any certain religion, but I do believe in the universe. Yoga tends to fit that view for me.”
“So it’s your religion?”
He grunted. “No, but I guess it is the closest thing I have to one.”
Cocking an eyebrow, she smiled. “Hmm.”
“You sound like you disapprove.”
She shook her head. “No, I just can’t fathom that.”
“What?”
“I grew up with a firm belief in God, Family, and Country. My father served in the military, and it was ingrained in us.”
Cooper wanted to know more. “Okay.”
“Church every Sunday. Prayers morning and night. I think the thing I like most about your book is its emphasis on values. I believe in the Ten Commandments. I grew up being taught honesty and your relationship with God is important.”
Once again, he found himself liking her more and more. He had a hard time with people who didn’t stand for anything. Here she w
as, sounding a bit preachy for him, but he found he liked it.
London looked around the rooftop then leaned closer. “Now here’s something personal. I am a textbook case for your book. I didn’t budge on my standard of sex before marriage, and my boyfriend left me. Cheated on me.” She snorted. “So would you say I made him wait too long?”
He couldn’t believe she’d said that. “You have got to be kidding me. Any guy not willing to wait until a woman is ready to be intimate, is not worthy of the woman.”
This stunned her. And she found herself blinking away the emotion she instantly felt.
“London?” Cooper said softly. “Are you okay?”
Hesitating briefly, she looked down. “But he left. He left me. Standing there looking like an idiot in front of everyone.”
The hurt in her eyes showed just how not over the old boyfriend she really was. He didn’t say anything.
She blinked and looked away. “He left, but I guess I still have my standards.”
Cooper sighed. “Aren’t you glad you have more than your standards? You have self-respect. You have integrity.”
Looking down, she turned her pinky ring. “Yeah.” She said softly.
She looked sad, and he felt like there was something she wasn’t telling him.
Looking up, she gestured to his watch and shook her head. “Okay, enough about my sob story, tell me more about why you wear the broken watch.”
It was an abrupt change of conversation, but he didn’t blame her. He sighed. “Watches represent time. And, after my dad left, I tortured myself. Of course, looking back I can see that it’s normal for kids to do that. But, when I turned eighteen and was moving out, the only thing my mom gave me was this watch.” He shook his head. “I was so angry she did that. Why would I want this watch? He left. I didn’t know him.” He paused, surprised at the emotion surfacing from thinking about his dad. “But one day I thought about how the broken watch was a perfect representation of all the time lost between me and my dad. And how it was the perfect representation of how, if I dwell on the past and what my dad did and allow negativity in…I lose the present. And I lose the future.” He shrugged, feeling nervous.