Coop shook his head. “Please stay.”
His father shot him a look of gratitude.
“Look, Lexie’s here. We just had a disagreement, and she’s probably taking a minute to compose herself,” Coop admitted.
“Are you still being stubborn? Insisting you can’t be with a woman who loves to travel?”
“She asked me to go with her.” Coop’s head still spun from the question.
“That’s great!” Jack met his gaze before realization dawned in his eyes. “You said no. Son of a bitch.”
Coop shook his head. “How did I become the bad guy? I have a life here. A steady, successful job. An apartment.”
So why did he feel so empty? How could all the things he’d valued suddenly not be enough?
“If you’re lucky enough to find love, you don’t run away from it,” his father insisted. And to Coop’s surprise, he hooked his arm through Felicia’s.
Coop glanced around the banquet room, the glittering chandeliers and the elite of society surrounding him, but he only had eyes for one woman. Who was destined to drive him crazy.
“Do you think it’s normal that she doesn’t have a home to call her own?” Coop asked, keeping his voice low but firm.
Jack shrugged. “Doesn’t mean she can’t. Or that she won’t down the road. So she doesn’t have a home. Did you offer her yours?” his father asked.
He hadn’t. Not in those exact words. Coop reeled at the realization. “We both assumed it could only be all one way.”
“Hmm. I wonder why you wouldn’t want to run off with the girl of your dreams. Let me think. You’d have more time to write. And no excuses if you failed,” Jack said, rubbing Coop’s face in the one thing he knew his son could not handle.
“Not now,” Coop warned him.
“Then when? Do you really think I give a damn that you couldn’t be a cop because of a bum shoulder? Or that your marriage bottomed out because your wife couldn’t be faithful? None of that’s a reflection on the man you are, but you’re too damn stubborn to see it.”
Coop massaged the back of his neck. He heard his father. He even acknowledged that the man had a point. So maybe it was time to rethink his future.
Lexie knew Coop had a job to do tonight. He didn’t need more personal drama before the auction, and she needed time to think. So she headed for the jewels. She wanted to take a look at the pieces of the set her grandmother and friends had kept hidden for years.
To her surprise, it was hard to get near them. For items Lexie had always considered ugly, they sure were attracting a lot of attention. Which was a good thing for the foundation, she thought, since it probably meant someone would bid on them. Too bad she couldn’t afford to buy the necklace back for her grandmother, but the jewels were worth more than the price of a house. Who knew?
She hadn’t seen her grandmother and Sylvia yet, and hoped they were staying out of trouble. The town house was spacious, and they could be walking around or in the ladies’ room.
She glanced around. Waiters were serving champagne, taking drink orders and returning with requests. Lexie accepted a glass of bubbly and strode around, waiting for an opening to get closer to her grandmother’s necklace.
She looked at the guests, wondering if she was mingling with the rich and famous without realizing it. A pretty blonde, who looked like a news anchor on television, walked by in a red dress Lexie absolutely adored.
She caught Lexie staring and smiled.
“Do I know you?” the other woman asked.
Lexie laughed. “I thought you looked familiar. Maybe from TV? The news?”
The other woman shook her head. “You flatter me. I’m actually a behind-the-scenes kind of woman. Amanda Nichols, fashion editor at the Daily Post.”
Lexie’s eyes opened wide. “Oh! You work with Coop. I’m Lexie—”
“Lexie Davis, I know. From the paper. The Bachelor Blog mentioned you,” Amanda said.
Lexie rolled her eyes. “Don’t remind me.”
“I think the Blog is kind of sweet. In a matchmaking sort of way.” Amanda smiled. “Anyway, are you having fun tonight?”
“I am,” Lexie lied. She wasn’t about to burden a stranger with her problems. “I was hoping to get a look at the jewelry being auctioned off before it’s gone for good.”
Amanda nodded. “I think I can help you with that.” She grabbed Lexie’s arm and brought her around the side of the table. “Excuse me,” she said, pushing past people who were talking but not really looking at the items.
Lexie finally had her one last opportunity to see the ring and the necklace that had brought Coop into her life. It still seemed odd to her that the necklace her grandmother had worn with her housecoat was now being sold for a small fortune.
She shook her head, amazed before turning back to Amanda. “Thank you. I really was curious about them.”
The lights above began flashing, and a voice on the loudspeaker announced that the auction would begin in five minutes.
“Ma’am, I have your drink,” a waiter said, speaking to Amanda as he arrived with a glass of red wine on his tray.
Amanda shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t order anything.”
He cocked his head to one side. “Well, someone ordered red wine. I thought it was you.”
“I don’t drink red. Lexie? Would you like it instead?”
Before she could answer, a woman carrying a tray filled with champagne tripped and fell into the man holding Amanda’s supposed drink. The red alcohol spilled all over Amanda’s beautiful dress, while the other waiter’s glasses full of champagne also fell to the floor, crystal shattering and champagne splattering everywhere.
Amanda jerked back, stumbling into the jewel-laden table before righting herself.
“Here, let me help.” Lexie knelt down for the pile of napkins that had also fallen to the floor. As she bent lower, she saw the waiter reach out and snag the ring from the table and slip it into his pocket.
She blinked, absorbed what she’d seen and immediately stood and called out. “Security!”
The waiter froze.
“That man took the ring!” Lexie yelled.
He turned to run, realized he was surrounded, and the next thing Lexie knew, he’d grabbed her, yanking her against him. Something sharp pricked the skin on her neck.
He had a knife.
And he had her.
Coop spotted Charlotte and Sylvia in the crowd. He hadn’t seen the women yet this evening, and he wanted to say hello.
They noticed him as well and waved.
He inclined his head and made his way across the floor.
“Ladies, don’t you two look beautiful tonight,” he said to them.
They both blushed and fluttered their eyelashes, pleased with the compliment.
“Thank you! I wanted to wear my magenta dress, but Lexie and Sylvia thought this dress did wonders for my skin tone.”
“The other dress made her look like a Spanish hooker,” Sylvia explained.
Charlotte glared at her.
“Well, it’s the truth!”
Coop laughed. “You made the perfect choice for the evening,” he assured Charlotte. “So. Have you heard anything from Ricky?” he asked the two women.
They eyed each other warily.
“No,” they finally said at the same time.
Coop nodded, satisfied. He’d figured the other man would stay out of their lives and vice versa to keep their past history under wraps.
“Have you seen Lexie?” Charlotte asked.
Coop shook his head. Not since the coat closet, but he doubted her grandmother would appreciate what had transpired in the other room. He knew she’d been hurt by his reaction to her question and he was worried she’d left the gala alone.
Instead of telling her grandmother that, he said, “I was just about to ask you the same thing. I’ll go see if I can find her before the actual auction begins.”
“We’ll come along,” Charlotte said.
With the older women hooked on to either one of his arms, Coop strode through all the people milling around.
“I’m so excited to see where my necklace goes,” Charlotte whispered. “I hope it’s to someone special. Oh, there’s Lexie!” Charlotte pointed a few feet away, to the crowd near the auction items.
Coop turned, and his gut cramped at the sight of her in the low-cut silver dress, his body immediately remembering hiking the hem over her waist and thrusting inside her. Then he’d let her walk away.
What kind of idiot was he?
Charlotte raised her hand to wave at her granddaughter.
A second later, chaos broke loose.
Glass shattered.
Lexie screamed.
Coop, Charlotte and Sylvia pushed through the crowd, getting to Lexie in time to see a waiter, one hand around her waist, a knife to her throat.
He wondered if he was dreaming, but clearly, he wasn’t. Nausea swamped Coop as he took in Lexie’s panicked expression and the knife in the man’s free hand.
Amanda came up beside him. “One minute we were talking, the next…chaos!” she whispered.
Coop glanced around for Sara and found her slowly making her way past stunned guests, but the undercover security guard was too far away to do any good. Rafe, her ex-partner, slowly circled from the other side of the room, but he wouldn’t get near the guy in time, either.
And there was no way Coop could reach Lexie before the other man panicked and thrust the knife into her throat.
“He’s got the ring,” Lexie called out to Coop.
“Shut up!” He pricked her skin with the tip of the blade. A small trickle of blood oozed down her neck.
Coop swallowed, but his mouth was bone dry. “Just how do you think you’re getting out of here?” He stepped toward them, his hands in the air, trying to buy time.
“Who the hell are you?” the waiter asked.
“I’m with the lady you’re holding. Now just relax,” Coop said to the man, attempting a step forward.
Lexie’s wide-eyed gaze never left his.
“Stay there!” the other man yelled.
Coop drew to a halt. He couldn’t turn and call attention to Sara or Rafe, but he hoped they’d had time to move in closer.
“I’m just gonna walk out of here,” the waiter explained, never moving the knife. “And nobody’s going to stop me.” He pulled Lexie along with him as he made his way toward the exit door.
Lexie teetered, tripping in her high heels.
“Faster!” the waiter yelled.
Coop lost years off his life. He couldn’t believe he’d found a woman like Lexie, only to lose her forever. If he’d agreed to go to Australia, she wouldn’t have been alone, an easy target.
The man reached the exit at the same time Sara approached from the other side. But before she could act, the guy shoved Lexie hard, forcing her to twist her ankle and hit the floor, while he bolted up the stairs without looking back.
Sara slipped her gun out from beneath her dress and took off after him.
Coop knew Rafe would go after her, so Coop ran for Lexie and knelt down, pulling her into his arms. He breathed in her familiar scent, grateful she was alive and well and shaking in his arms.
“You’re okay, sweetheart,” Coop promised her.
Lexie drew in a deep breath, believing it because Coop’s strong arms reassured her. He’d faced the guy with the knife for her, too.
“Are you sure you’re not aiming for your cop brother’s job?” she said, forcing a laugh.
“Been there, tried that,” he said.
Surprised, Lexie lifted her head and met his gaze, at the same moment Charlotte threw herself over Lexie.
“I almost lost you, and that is not okay!” the other woman wailed, her thin arms feeling especially frail.
“I’m fine. I swear. But I think you’re squishing Coop to death.” Lexie tried to make light of the situation, but they all knew the man could have slit her throat.
Lexie almost gagged at the realization.
She, Coop and her grandmother stood up.
Coop kept one arm around Lexie, the other around Charlotte. Sylvia stood beside them wringing her hands despite Lexie’s continued reassurance that she was fine.
“Well, you certainly know how to liven up a party, young lady!” Jack Cooper said, walking over.
Lexie hadn’t realized his father was here.
“I’m okay, Mr. Cooper.”
The other man frowned. “It’s Jack. And this is my…lady friend, Felicia,” he said, gesturing to the woman who stood by his side.
Lexie smiled at the other woman, and since there was no way around it, decided more introductions were in order. “Grandma, this is Coop’s father, Jack, and his friend, Felicia. Mr.—Jack, this is my grandmother, Charlotte Davis, and her friend, Sylvia.”
“Nice to meet you,” Charlotte said.
“Me, too,” Sylvia added.
“The pleasure’s all mine, ladies.”
The duo remained silent.
Lexie narrowed her gaze. The two women must be shook up for them not to fawn all over Coop’s father.
“Dad, have you heard any news about Sara?” Coop asked his father.
He shook his head. “She’s a trained professional. She’ll be fine,” Jack said. But he held Coop’s gaze too long, and Lexie realized the situation was still serious.
Before she could ask questions, the police burst through the doors. While the cops herded people into groups for questioning, paramedics arrived and insisted on checking Lexie over.
For the first time, she put her hand to her neck and realized there was blood there. She blinked, suddenly dizzy.
“I’ll stay with you,” Coop said.
“We’re just going where it’s quiet,” the man with an emergency kit said, gesturing across the room.
Lexie smiled at Coop. “I’m okay. You find out what’s going on and where Sara is. Gran, you and Sylvia come keep me company.” Lexie figured the other women wouldn’t want to let Lexie out of their sight.
Coop reluctantly stepped back and headed toward the commotion across the room.
She let the paramedics lead her to a quiet corner, and a short time later, the man had bandaged Lexie’s neck and checked out her ankle.
Coop joined her just as she was pronounced fit, to a hovering Charlotte’s relief.
“Did they get the guy?” Lexie asked Coop.
“Not yet,” Jack said, joining them, real worry in his voice. “The waiter must have been expecting someone to follow him because he ambushed Sara on the rooftop. Rafe was a split second too late, and the guy’s holding her hostage.”
Lexie gasped.
“Rafe’s trained SWAT and they called in the full team,” Jack said to reassure her.
It didn’t work, and Lexie shook her head, frightened for Coop’s best friend.
“I’m not sure I can handle much more,” Charlotte said, drawing Lexie’s attention to her grandmother.
As much as Lexie wanted to stay with Coop until this ended, she knew she had to get Charlotte and Sylvia away from the excitement and stress.
“Come, Grandma. Let me take you and Sylvia home,” Lexie said, wrapping a reassuring arm around her grandmother’s shoulders.
“You’re a good girl. Let me go talk to Sylvia,” her grandmother said.
Coop met Lexie’s gaze. “I’d take you all home, but I have to cover this for the paper.”
“I know. And Sara is your best friend. I understand. I’d stay, too, but…” She tilted her head toward the older women.
“You need to get them out of here. And you need to rest. I’ll come by as soon as I can,” he promised.
“Okay,” she said, not wanting to further upset her grandmother with the real question on her mind.
To what end? What was the point of Coop coming over when he’d already made it clear he wasn’t interested in the lifestyle she had to offer?
Sara’s question rang in Lexie
’s ear. Where do you see yourself five or even ten years from now she’d asked.
Maybe it was time Lexie figured that out.
Chapter Eighteen
Lexie didn’t sleep much. When the image of the crazy waiter grabbing her with a knife didn’t keep her awake, the memory of sex in the closet with Coop did. Along with his accurately spoken words.
Had she really expected him to leave his life behind for her wandering lifestyle?
And wasn’t that the crux of it? For as much as she loved to travel, it was time she faced facts. She was twenty-nine years old with a successful career, a substantial bank account, an aging grandmother and not much else to call her own.
When Charlotte was gone, what would be left? And when Lexie looked down the road, is that all that she wanted for her future?
She shook her head, realizing that Sara, a woman she’d just met, had nailed her dead-on. She had been running. Not facing the fact that her grandmother was growing older, and so was she. She didn’t have to give up her love of travel, but it was time to grow up.
Lexie showered, dressed and headed for the kitchen. Her grandmother was already sitting at the table, still in her robe.
“Are you okay?” Lexie asked.
Her grandmother nodded. She didn’t jump up to greet Lexie as she usually did. “But I should be asking you that question.”
“I’m fine.” She placed a hand on her neck. She’d replaced the too-big bandage with a small Band-Aid. It was just a nick and would heal in no time. “That was too much excitement last night.” Lexie poured herself a cup of coffee and added more into her grandmother’s cup before joining her at the table.
“I could have lived without the man and the knife,” her grandmother admitted.
She looked old.
And tired.
Lexie covered her weathered hand.
“Have you heard anything from Coop?” Charlotte asked.
Lexie shook her head. “Not yet…wait.” She ran to her room to check her phone, returning with it in her hand. “Dead.”
Charlotte frowned. “You’re really going to have to lose that nasty habit of forgetting to charge it.”
“I know.” She placed the useless phone on the table.
“Wouldn’t he have called here if he had news?” her grandmother asked.
Kiss Me if You Can (Most Eligible Bachelor Series Book 1) Page 24