“I am being practical.”
“Not unlesspracticalandwrongare the same thing.”
I didn’t want him to be wrong. I wanted him to be right.
But I’d known myself too long.
Cooper looked into my eyes, likeYou’ve got this. Then he said, “When Finn kissed you after all these years—and then you didn’t like it, even though you thought he was your destiny… Why was that?”
Easy. Simple. “Because the only person I wanted to kiss was you.”
“Guess what? The only person I want to doanythingwith is you.”
“I don’t want to break your heart,” I said.
“I’m not scared of that,” Cooper said. “You break my heart all the time.”
But now I had tears in my eyes.
Cooper cupped his hand against my jaw. “Did you forget? I was your first kiss. I’m the guy you imprinted on. You’re good to go.”
“That’s just a theory.”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice soft with affection. “A theory you planned a whole cockamamie scheme around.”
“Okay—but I never really thought it would work!”
“This is going to work,” Cooper said.
“Nothing has ever worked before. Not for me.”
“This time it’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because…” Cooper said. “I’m your loophole.”
I paused at that.
“Look,” Cooper said, “I lied to you before when I said, ‘I think I’m in love with you.’”
“You lied about that?”
“I don’t think I’m in love with you. Iknow.”
I took that in.
“I know,” Cooper went on. “And I’ve always known.”
He took a step closer.
“I’m your loophole,” Cooper said, “because I’ve loved you all along.”
I frowned.
Cooper had loved me all along.
“And the reason nothing ever worked for you with anybody else,” Cooper said, “is because you’ve loved me all along, too.”
