The Space In Between(45)

She looked jealous. Holy shit, she was jealous. The flaring of her nostrils and the narrowing of her eyes were all the conformation I needed. I couldn’t help but feel a little excited by that fact. That meant that somewhere, deep down inside, she had some type of feelings for me. Before I could express that there was nothing to be jealous about, Rachel placed her hand against my chest and said something. I’m not sure what it was, but it was enough to make Andrea roll her eyes and walk away
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked Rachel, who was extra friendly.
“I said we were all planning on going out for a few beers tonight. You should join us.” Her sexy grin almost pulled me in, but my mind was imagining how this must have looked to Andrea. My eyes took a trip around the room—where did she go?
“Yeah. Yeah, that could be fun…” There she was. She was putting on her coat, ready to make her departure. I took the hand Rachel still had placed upon my chest and removed it. I didn’t want to offend or embarrass the poor girl, so I gave her my largest smile. “I’m so sorry. If you can excuse me again.” That was the second time I had excused myself from Rachel’s presence to go chase after Andrea, but hell, I had priorities. Well, I had one priority. And her name was Andrea. I grabbed my jacket, tossed it on, and headed out of the building.
“You have a way of disappearing,” I somewhat shouted to her as she was walking down the street. Andrea turned and stared at me. The snow had started up again and was falling against my eyelashes, forcing me to blink nonstop.
“Coop, aren’t you sick of chasing me?”
“Never.”
She ran her hands through her short hair and wiggled her nose as she met me halfway. The streetlights had turned on; each one dressed with wreaths and white Christmas lights. Down the way, I could see a large tree in the center of the park dressed up with a large star placed on the top.
I could tell they took their holidays seriously in this town, and I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a nice treat. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a Christmas tree—or a holiday at that. Iris and I were always working, making money instead of making memories.
“Where are you heading?” I wondered out loud. She couldn’t have been on her way back to my cousin’s place. That was way too far to walk. Especially in this weather.
“I told my mom I would stop by for dinner.”
“You two doing all right?”
She delivered a short smile and ran her hand over her eyebrow. “Better than yesterday. Did you know Eric and Michelle are engaged?”
I nodded. I’d congratulated them yesterday. “Yeah, I saw the ring right away.”
She grumbled to herself and cussed out loud. “How did I miss that?”
“To be fair, you were getting your ass chewed out by your mother.”
“True fact.” She shifted her body and removed her eyes from me. “It looked like Rachel and you were getting along great.”
“Jealous, are we?” I joked. She looked to me and raised an eyebrow.
“Rachel McLean has slept with every guy on the high school football team at least four times around. And I’m sure she did the same when she went to college. So if that’s what you’re into, go for it.”
Her cheeks were turning red, and I doubted it was due to the chill. “Do you have her number?” I laughed as I saw her mouth drop open from shock, and she punched me in the arm. Not a light little tap. No, she f*cking slugged me.
“Cooper Michael, I swear if you—” she started to scold me and I gracefully changed the subject.
“Let me give you a ride,” I offered. I had the rental car from the airport and didn’t feel comfortable with her walking alone at night. Sure, this place wasn’t New York City, but who knew what kind of small town creeps there were around?
“It’s right down the way.”
“Andie, come on. Don’t let our friendship suffer like this,” I whimpered. She giggled and nodded as she joined me on the walk to the car. “You really look amazing,” I kept telling her.
Rolling her eyes, she bit her lip. “I’m not going to sleep with you again, so you can stop trying so hard.”
“I’m not looking for sex.”
She paused from walking and faced me. Her petite body was being sprinkled with snowflakes. I took her hand in mine and spun her around in the winter wonderland. It was a gorgeous night and I was pretty damn lucky to be spending this moment with her. After I spun her around, I took her in my arms and dipped her before pulling her in close to me. So close our lips were almost touching. I could see her breath as she tried to control her nerves. She didn’t dare look away, and we held onto the connection for as long as we could. And she spoke softly. “If you’re not looking for sex, what are you looking for?”
I ran my finger across her cheek and let go of her, allowing her to move back if she wished, but she remained close to me. I leaned in closer and whispered into her ear. “You.”
I stepped away from her and continued on to the car. For a moment, I wasn’t sure she was going to follow me. The sounds of her high heels were not heard, but I had to trust my gut. I had to trust Andrea that she would join me in my offer to drive her to her parents.
It took her awhile—her steps were so soft I hardly heard her approaching—but when I opened the passenger’s door and turned around, she was patiently waiting to enter the vehicle.





“DO YOU WANT some more stuffing?” Betty asked as she picked up my plate that had been cleared after round two and headed to the kitchen. I watched Andrea pick around at her food—she was still on her first plate. I could see Betty wanting to say something, but she kept it to herself. A big improvement from the previous night, but I assume she didn’t want her daughter to storm off again. You live and you learn.