Cooper (HC Heroes Series Book 5)

by Donna Michaels

  “Good for you.” Stef smiled, bringing Abby’s mind back to the room.

  “’Bout time, you mean.” Rylee grinned. “I’m happy for you, Abby. I think you and Coop have been side-stepping each other longer than Dex and I did.”

  She blew out a breath and nodded before sipping her coffee. She’d met Rylee and the SEALs the same time Rylee had met her and the Delta guys. That was when the side-stepping—at least on Abby’s part—had begun.

  “The laws of attraction out-rule any logic,” Mel said, her smile starting to fade. “What are you going to do about Carter? You know I love you and Cooper, but I’m not comfortable keeping things from your brother.”

  Abby set her coffee on the table and sighed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. But I do know whatever it is, it has to be in person. So, if you could at least not say anything while he’s away, I’d appreciate it.”

  Mel nodded, reluctance and understanding in her gaze.

  Abby glanced at Stef and Rylee. “Goes for you two, as well. Can I count on you not to tell Mac and Dex?”

  “No problem,” Rylee replied. “This is between you, Cooper, and Carter.”

  “Yeah.” Steff nodded. “It’s for you to handle. Besides, I’ve got enough on my plate.”

  Grateful for an opening to change the subject, Abby reached for a muffin and smiled at Stef. “So, did you get everything ironed out about the bridal shower last night?” It was only four weeks away. They hadn’t asked her when she’d joined them for pizza.

  The change of subject worked. Stef filled them in on the slight menu adjustment and an additional game her sister had suggested, and Abby breathed an inward sigh of relief.

  Carter wasn’t due home until Saturday. That gave her four days to figure out how to handle the fallout. And if she were lucky, four more days with Cooper.

  But she’d had a funny feeling that the minute he walked out of her apartment, he wouldn’t be walking back in.

  ***

  Cooper sat at Annie’s Diner having his weekly breakfast with the guys, although this week it was just one “guy” because the others were still out of town until Saturday. He told himself things would work out. He’d speak with Carter and take his punishment like a man. He’d take all the blame. No way in hell would he allow Carter to make Abby feel bad.

  The weird tightening in his stomach and chest would go away once he made sure Abby wouldn’t catch any of Carter’s wrath. It had nothing to do with making his mind up not to repeat last night—or this morning—with Abby.

  At least, that’s what he told himself.

  Even if the unsettling feeling had to do with that, it didn’t matter. He’d deal with it, too. The woman deserved better. He wasn’t going to come between her and her brother. He’d been a selfish bastard to cross that threshold last night. Sure, he’d told himself it was for her, to help take her mind off her grief, but in reality, it’d also brought a bright spot to his life. A pure warmth he’d basked in, soaking it up like water to a dried-out sponge.

  “Pretty sure you’ve learned through me that grumbling doesn’t help.” Gabe’s voice brought Cooper’s mind back to the present.

  He blinked at his untouched plate of scrambled eggs and bacon and picked up his fork. “Not sure what you mean.”

  “Dumb doesn’t look good on you, Coop.” Gabe gave him a hard stare before digging into his sausage gravy and biscuits—one of the guy’s favorite dishes from Annie’s—along with the scrambled eggs and bacon on his other plate.

  “Not sure what that means, either,” he said, plopping a piece of bacon in his mouth.

  Gabe glanced up from his breakfast and raised one brow.

  Damn. One Brow Bryson was not a look anyone on their SEAL team had ever wanted to draw.

  “Neither does ignorance, Coop,” Gabe said. “I saw you at the Pub last night, remember? So how about you try again.”

  Cooper sat back and shrugged. “Yesterday was the one year anniversary of Abby’s friend Mindy’s death.”

  “Ah…that’s tough.” Understanding flashed through the guy’s shrewd gaze. “Had to be a tough day for Abby.”

  “Yeah.” He stirred sugar in his coffee…before he remembered he didn’t take sugar in his coffee. Cooper set it aside and blew out a breath. “Rylee had everyone over for pizza and a movie.”

  Gabe nodded. “That’s right. Lyndsey mentioned something about not being able to go because she was scheduled at the shelter.”

  “Afterward, I drove Abby home but she asked me to join her at the Pub because she wanted to dance,” he said with a shake of his head. “At first, I told her no, but then she said she was going anyway, and you know I couldn’t let her do that. There were too many yahoos out there capable of taking advantage of her. They would’ve smelled the vulnerability on her for sure.”

  Gabe nodded again but remained quiet.

  He held his buddy’s gaze for a second then shrugged. “I couldn’t let that happen, so I had no choice, right? I had to dance with her. That’s what you saw last night.”

  Kiss-n-tell wasn’t his thing. Gabe didn’t need to know the rest.

  A smile twitched his buddy’s lips before he threw his head back and laughed.

  Cooper blinked at the guy, then glance around, noting the startled gazes of the people nearby. It was a rare sight indeed to see the sheriff…merry.

  Dammit. He didn’t see what was so funny.

  “Oh, man,” Gabe said when he recovered enough to talk. “You keep telling yourself that, Coop, and you might believe it.”

  Christ. His head was too muddled to make sense of this conversation. “Believe what?”

  “That what I saw last night was you helping Abby out with a few dances,” Gabe replied, shoveling more biscuits onto his fork. “Because what I really saw was two people enjoying the hell out of each other’s company.”

  He swallowed some sugary coffee and a mouthful of crow. “Oh.”

  “Don’t insult me or Abby by trying to deny you enjoyed yourself last night.” Gabe stared hard at him again.

  The coffee and crow nearly exited his mouth. He swallowed hard before entertaining a good coughing fit.

  “Yeah. Thought so,” Gabe said into his mug.

  Asshole was right.

  What Cooper had experienced on the dance floor with Abby had been a crazy, swaying embrace full of sensations he still didn’t understand. But he wasn’t choking to death because of that, it was Gabe’s comment about last night, because what Cooper had done with Abby up above the Pub had been a hell of a lot more than dancing.

  “So, did you cross the threshold?” Gabe asked.

  Cooper swallowed a curse. He should’ve known his former SEAL buddy would come to that conclusion. Gabe was too well-trained, too astute for anything to get by him.

  He shoved a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “Affirmative.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up too much about it, Cooper,” Gabe said, gaze full of understanding and not much reproach.

  More than a lot shocked, Cooper stared at his buddy, having expected a stern sermon.

  Gabe smiled. “You forget it wasn’t too long ago I was sitting in the same position as you. So I know the battle going on inside you right now. Just as I know there was one going on inside you last night.”

  He nodded and stared at his eggs. He wasn’t sure the battle would ever end.

  “It will,” his buddy said, deploying his mind-reading tactics that used to drive their team nuts. “You have to face it head on. Come to terms with it. One aspect at a time.”

  One aspect at a time.

  That was the first thing the man said today that made sense.

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “First on the list is telling Carter to his face. Not on the damn phone.”

  Gabe nodded. “Agreed.”

  “There’s my favorite brother and favorite co-worker,” Rylee said, using the usual greeting she always spouted to them as she approached their table with a grin before she dropped into
the booth next to him.

  “Hey, Sis,” Gabe said, back to digging into his food. “What brings you by?”

  He nodded his greeting but didn’t say anything to Rylee, trying to get a read on if the woman knew anything.

  “I have a lead to follow so I called my partner to accompany me, but he wasn’t answering his cell. I thought I’d come looking for him.” She grinned. “He’s not hard to track down on a Tuesday morning.”

  Shit. Cooper shoved his hand in his pocket to pull out his phone, but it wasn’t there. That’s because it was probably on Abby’s bedroom floor.

  “Sorry.” He cleared his throat. “I must’ve left my phone at home.”

  “Or at Abby’s.” Rylee shrugged.

  Cooper’s heart dropped to his ribs as he studied the smiling woman.

  Shit.

  She knew.

  Chapter Ten

  “No need to clam up about it,” Rylee told him, grabbing a piece of bacon off her brother’s plate. “It’s okay. I already know you spent the night with our favorite golden girl.”

  He stiffened, then glanced around, making sure no one was listening or paying attention to them. “Dammit, Rylee,” he muttered. “Keep it down.”

  He didn’t need the gossip mill rolling out of control by the time Abby’s brother returned.

  “Why? Because of Carter?” She raised a brow. “He’s not here right now.”

  Gabe sighed. “See what I have to deal with?” He met Cooper’s gaze. “My apologies.”

  “Look, it was one night.” One incredible night. Still, he tried to play it down. Didn’t need things getting out of hand, because they already were. Dammit. “She needed comfort and I—”

  “Let me guess,” Gabe said, slight twitch to his lips. “One thing led to another.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. You understand.”

  “You’re right, I do, because like I said, I was you not too long ago,” Gabe said. “Next you’re going to try to explain it away and say, now that the night is over, you two are going to go back to whatever it was you were before last night.”

  Rylee laughed.

  Gabe snorted.

  Cooper raised a brow. “What’s so funny about that?”

  It’s exactly what he’d been about to say when Rylee had shown up.

  “It won’t work out like that.” Gabe shrugged.

  “Yeah,” Rylee said. “You are in for a rude awakening if you think you can go back to how things were before last night.”

  Cooper sat back in the booth and stared at his two grinning friends. “Why not?”

  “Answer me this.” Rylee turned in her seat to face him. “Is there a twisting in your gut when you think about the look on Abby’s face when you tell her it was just one night?”

  Gabe raised a brow. “Or a strong tightening in your chest if you think about her seeing someone else?”

  Well, hell. He already knew the answers to those questions because he’d already experienced exactly what they asked.

  Damn.

  “Hate to break it to you, Coop,” Gabe said with a shake of his head. “Going to have to quote what Carter said to me sitting in that very booth. ‘“You’re never going to be the same.’”

  Something he’d known before he’d stepped over that damn threshold.

  ***

  Late that afternoon Abby was checking her inventory, making a list of items she needed to purchase when she made a supply run to Houston at the beginning of March. That was five weeks away, and the list would change several times before then, but she had no more clients today and nothing to do but think.

  And she didn’t want to think. Her mind tended to stray to last night, and heat would creep into her face and invited curious looks from clients and smiling inquiries from her employees. And although last night had been amazing and a long time coming, she wasn’t about to shout it out to the world…even though it was shout worthy.

  Besides, she hadn’t heard from Cooper since he’d left her apartment ten minutes before her that morning. Her heart skipped a beat at the memory of his long, slow, and deliciously deep kiss goodbye.

  Would there be more? Or was that exactly what that embrace had been? Goodbye…

  Pain squeezed her heart, but she refused to let it tighten all the way. They hadn’t exactly talked about what they were doing. What they were…if anything.

  Truthfully, they hadn’t done much talking at all.

  A smile twitched her lips. Cooper sure knew how to communicate, though. Being with him had been amazing, and even if all she was going to get was last night and this morning, it’d been worth it.

  On one hand, Abby was hoping for many, many more nights with him. On the other hand—the reasonable one—she was okay with leaving it at her one hot, forbidden fling. Having had some time to think about things, she didn’t relish becoming a potential sore spot between Cooper and her brother. Her stomach tightened at the thought. Those two had a history. The brotherhood thing was tight. They always had each other’s backs. Trusted each other implicitly. And she’d just caused the one thing she hated most—conflict.

  Her heart knocked her ribs.

  Yeah…leaving it at one night was definitely the way to go.

  She fished her phone from her pocket and stared at her empty screen. No missed calls or texts. She wasn’t one of those women who expected hourly check-ins or cute little notes. Would they be nice? Sure. But she knew Cooper wasn’t that type of guy, and that was fine. Especially since she’d just made up her mind to going back to just friends.

  With benefits?

  Her pulse kicked up and her body heated with a yes, please.

  She snickered but shook her head. No benefits. Those were what would incite the conflict. Plus, no contact from Cooper pretty much signaled he was on the friend-zone page, too.

  Still, she’d hoped he might be thinking about last night and wishing they could have more.

  She certainly did.

  No. She. Didn’t.

  Talk about a mixed-up bag of crazy. She took top honors today.

  Sighing, Abby shoved her phone back in her pocket and exited the supply closet, deciding to leave work and head to the rec center a little early. She usually went on Tuesday evenings for Lyndsey’s Tai Chi class anyway.

  Years ago, at their brothers’ urging, Abby and Rylee had started to take Tai Chi to learn to defend themselves. Carter and Gabe had taught them how to shoot, too. Even though Abby was proficient and had a license to carry—again, at the guys’ insistence—she never planned to use it, unlike Rylee who never left home without her gun.

  But the Tai Chi? Abby liked that. She’d always been athletic and a natural at sports. She enjoyed challenging herself, and right now, it was a great way to expel some of her pent-up energy, since the best way was currently out of the question. Picking up a game of b-ball or joining an indoor volleyball game before the class would work too.

  After informing Oliver of her plans, Abby headed home and changed into a pair of sweats and her favorite college sweatshirt. Feeling better, she sat on the bed to tie her sneakers when she spotted something black sticking out from under her bed. She reached down to pick it up and instantly realized why she hadn’t heard from Cooper all day. His phone had been under her bed.

  Her first instinct was to call him and let him know she’d found it. Laughter bubbled up her throat. Idiot. Her call would only go unanswered like the other five missed calls she noted on his screen.

  Glancing at the time, she frowned. Would he still be at work? It was close to quitting time. She shoved his phone in her purse and pulled hers out. A quick text to Rylee confirmed Cooper had left for home five minutes ago to shower and change because of car grease, then he was planning to catch her before she left work to tell her about his phone.

  Shoot.

  I found it. That’s why I texted you for his whereabouts, so I could return it. And I’m at home. Not work. About to head to rec center, she texted, which sounded like babbling now that she re-rea
d it…after she’d hit send.

  Darn it.

  Suggest dropping it off at his place before rec center, Rylee replied.

  Roger that, she texted back, then face-palmed herself. She sounded like one of the guys.

  And…crap, she didn’t want to go to Cooper’s place, but had no choice since he couldn’t exactly get to hers without keys and codes. Abby sighed. She loved her brother, but there were days she wondered how she’d let herself become a princess locked in a tower.

  She didn’t want to be the princess. She’d much rather be the hero or the sidekick. They had more exciting roles.

  Blowing out another sigh, she slid her phone back in her purse and headed for the door. Better get his phone back to him. Those calls could be important. Plus, she needed to have that friend-zone discussion. Her chest tightened. Yeah, her body was definitely against it.

  Too bad her body didn’t get a vote.

  ***

  Cooper stepped out of the shower and dried off, his thoughts on Abby and the discussion they needed to have. He also needed to get his phone. He probably shouldn’t have left it until this late in the day, but he wasn’t keen on discussing their not-to-be relationship with her employees within earshot. He reasoned if he sought her out around quitting time, it would afford them more privacy.

  And he was trying to screw up the courage to face the hurt he was sure to put in her eyes.

  His chest tightened at the thought.

  After he returned from helping Rylee follow up on a lead that had gone nowhere, Cooper had busied himself with changing the oil in two of ESI’s SUVs. At the end of the day, he’d been too greasy to meet with Abby and had stopped here for a quick shower and change. But he needed to get a move on before she went home. He’d have to call her from the Pub phone, and he really didn’t want to meet her there.

  He rubbed at his chest, which was still unreasonably tight. They weren’t even in a relationship. This shouldn’t be so hard. Yet it was, because it was Abby. Sweet Abby he was about to let down.

  A knock sounded on the door.

  Damn.

  He grabbed the clean pair of jeans he’d placed on the counter by the sink and quickly but carefully slipped them on, before rushing to answer the door.