Cooper (Wild Boys After Dark, #4)(24)

Cici’s cell phone rang, and she dug it out of her purse. Her stomach clenched at the sight of Tegan’s smiling image on the screen. Suddenly the secret she was keeping suffocated her. “I’m sorry. Excuse me for just a minute?”

Cooper, being the gentleman he was, rose beside her.

“You okay?” he asked.

She must have looked as frazzled as she felt. “Yes. It’s my sister. I’ll just be a minute.” She hurried toward the ladies’ room as she answered the call.

“Hi, Teg. How’s Melody?”

“Melody’s fine, but me, on the other hand…” Tegan’s voice trailed off. “Well, that’s another story. I had an accident on the slide at the park, and I’ll very soon be sporting a new cast. Luckily, I have the finest doc around Peaceful Harbor, and by ‘fine’ I mean ‘hot.’ Dr. Braden.” Her sister sighed dreamily.

Cici’s mind raced as she tried to process what her sister had said. “So where are you now? The hospital? Where’s Melody?”

“Your socially adept daughter is currently sitting beside my hospital bed coloring a picture for the hot doctor, who she’s already wrapped around her little finger.”

“Tegan, are you on pain meds?” Cici headed back out to their table, already mentally packing to get home as soon as possible.

“Yup. And I like it.”

“Jesus,” Cici muttered. “You sure Melody is okay? I’m coming home. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

“No, no, no. I mean, yes, come home, but we’ll be home by the time you get here. Meet me at your place. That way Melody can play with her toys and I can lie low.”

“How will you get there?” She slowed down a few feet from the table to finish the call as Cooper spotted her and rose to his feet.

“Cab. I’ve got this. But I do think you should meet us there because I’ll be a little out of it with a clunky cast.” Her sister giggled, which meant she was definitely high on pain meds. Tegan wasn’t a giggler.

Cici hung up the phone just as Cooper came to her side with a worried look in his eyes.

His hand warmed the small of her back as he leaned in close as they walked toward the table and asked, “Everything okay?”

Her mind was reeling as they reached the table. “Yes. No. Tegan broke something. She’s at the hospital getting a cast. I really need to get back home.” And pick up our daughter. She was frantic, thinking about her daughter sitting in a hospital while Tegan was drugged out. She knew Tegan would give her own life for Melody, but her mommy instincts were on high alert, and she needed to get home. Now.

“Oh, no,” Cooper said. “Want me to go with you?”

Yes. The woman in her didn’t want to leave, not when the man she’d loved for so long was finally right there beside her, looking at her like she was the only person in the room. But the mother in her needed to leave, and the mother in her always won.

Jackson and Erica rose from the table. “We’re so sorry to hear about your sister, but we’re really glad we got a chance to meet you.” Jackson hugged Cici. “Will we see you at our wedding in two weeks?”

“Please?” Erica asked as she embraced Cici.

Cooper nodded. “Please say you’ll go?”

Life was so easy when no children were involved. “I want to, but with the move”—and our daughter—“I’ll have to check my schedule.”

“We need to be at the shoot in ten minutes,” Jackson said to Cooper.

Cooper’s brows knitted together. “I’ll walk you up to get your stuff.”

“No, that’s okay. I can get it. Go to the shoot with Jackson. I’ve managed for four years. I think I can handle carrying a suitcase.” She took a piece of paper from her purse and scribbled her phone number on it, then pressed it into Cooper’s palm. “I really don’t want to leave, but Tegan’s all drugged up and getting a cast. I need to pick her up and take her home.”

She pressed her lips to his, wishing she could stay. She’d give anything to have one more night alone with him, to lie in his arms, to love him and soak up his love for her. To tell him about their amazing daughter, who had his sense of adventure, his eyes, and his intense ability to love. But doing that now, when she felt every passing second like a ticking time bomb, would be a mistake. Learning he had a daughter would change him forever, just as it had changed her. It wasn’t something she could just blurt out and then leave.

He folded her into his arms and touched his forehead to hers. “I feel like I’m losing you all over again.”

She snuggled in closer, memorizing the feel of him, his masculine scent, and the look of love lingering in his eyes. “You never lost me the first time.”

***

COOPER TRIED TO focus on the celebrities as they arrived in their fancy cars and flashed their famous smiles, but every time he lifted his camera to his eye, it was Cici’s face he saw through the lens. Fans hollered, vying for autographs. Eager photographers hoped to catch just the right shot to make their mark in the industry. The film festival was the place to be this weekend, and he couldn’t concentrate on the event worth shit. He knew Cici hadn’t wanted to leave. He’d felt it in her touch, seen it in her eyes when she’d told him as much, but still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that at least some part of her had wanted to go.