Page 4 of Cooper’s Promise

“Still have the Ducati?”

“Yep.”

They got into Hudson’s rental car, and Cooper directed him to a steakhouse not far from the office.

“Tell me what’s going on with you,” Hudson demanded as soon as they had their drinks in front of them.

Cooper winced. Hudson read him too well; he couldn’t very well tell him that he had been obsessing over his little sister for the last two years, and that it had turned nuclear in the last few months.

“Just job shit. Tell me about you. Paraguay. Brenna. Your family.” He hoped Hudson wouldn’t realize how much he wanted to know about Brenna. He hoped he had been subtle enough.

“Mom and Dad are doing great. Like I said, Mom’s just freaked at the idea of Brenna being out of the country for five years. My job is going great. I have this assignment in Dallas. It’s pretty hot and heavy. I have to evaluate all aspects of this privately-held company, especially the security.”

“When did you leave Paraguay?” Cooper asked, as he took a sip of his beer.

“Four weeks ago.” Hudson let out a bitter sigh.

“It was bad, wasn’t it?”

“Some, yeah. I can’t believe that parents would risk their kids’ lives.” He didn’t need to say more; Cooper got it. Hudson hadn’t been able to save the kids he was referring to, and it was still eating at him. “On a high note, Declan found a woman.”

“Declan? You’ve got to be shitting me. Is she the one?”

“Yep. He’s talking marriage.” Cooper lifted his beer, and Hudson lifted his, and they both grinned. “Who would have thought?” As happy as he was for their mutual friend, it still hurt. Brenna’s face surfaced, like it always did, but Cooper shoved it away.

“Let’s order.”

* * *

What the hell was Cooper doing here in her apartment? This was not going according to her plan. What’s more, he’d been drinking.

Hudson grinned. “I tried to drop him off at his place, but he insisted on coming over here, Sis.”

Brenna looked at the big, dark man who was currently snoring on her sofa.

“You should have tried harder,” she hissed.

“You don’t have to whisper. He sleeps like the dead.” Hudson said. “Now, tell me about this plan of yours.”

They were sitting in her tiny dining room. She had just made homemade lasagna for dinner with a lot left over that she was planning on freezing for future meals. Hudson had a quarter of it on his plate, and she figured he’d end up eating half of it before he was done.

“Didn’t you say you just had dinner?”

“I’m a growing boy. Now, tell me about your bullshit plan,” he said, as he bit into the pasta.

“It’s not a bullshit plan.” She flattened her hands on the surface of the table, so that they wouldn’t curl into fists. “This job was quite a coup. Do you know how many people applied for this position? Hundreds.”

She was really flattered to get the job, but sad as hell to be leaving. She didn’t want to leave her friends and family. She had just wanted to move away from Cooper because it killed her to be so close to him and have him reject her.

“You should be proud, honey. We’re all proud of you. But you also had some incredible offers for jobs here in the states, including some in Florida. What’s this really about?”

Fuck! Hudson had always been able to crawl inside her brain. But she couldn’t let him know this. Time for a deflection.

“There’s this guy.”

“A guy?” Hudson put down his fork and leaned forward. She sometimes forgot that her charming brother was also a deadly Army Ranger. “What about a guy? Has he been bothering you?”

God, she hated to throw Josiah under the bus, but he hadn’t quit calling, and coming over and leaving things at her doorsteps. It was unnerving. Then he’d even show up after work and wait beside her car. It had gotten to the point that she would ask people to walk with her to the employee parking lot. She’d called the police to find out if she could do anything, but they said that, because he had never threatened to harm her, they couldn’t get involved.