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I took a sip of my tea and watched Jane from the corner of my eye. Knowing Lauren did as well, we both relaxed a little.
Pity for the kid filled me. I knew what it was like to live with a mentally ill parent, after all. If anyone could understand, it was me.
“What are you doing here, Coop?”
I blinked at the softly posed question, and my stomach twisted at the nickname she used. I wanted to be her Coop again. So damn badly.
“You know what,” I replied just as softly, and equally as easy.
She bit her lip. “I think I know, but you’d have to be crazy to think…”
“To think what? That we should be together?” I cocked a brow. “Don’t you think about us? Every fucking day of the week?”
“Language!” The sudden booming from the kitchen had me jolting in place, and Lauren giggled at my response. Before I knew what was what, a jar with coins was shoved in my face, and the little woman with crazy green eyes but a pretty face was demanding a buck for my curse word.
I shoved the money in the jar just to get it away from my face—hell, she could take out a tooth with that thing. The minute I paid up, she settled down and disappeared back to the kitchen where she started scrubbing the floor.
With a toothbrush.
Jesus, I was tired just watching her.
“You were saying…?” Lauren prompted, but I could tell she was amused by my response to Jane’s sudden jump from manic housewife to manic toll collector.
“I was saying,” I started, clearing my throat as I warily watched Jane, “that you know exactly why I’m here. And you know that we should never have split up.”
“Yeah, I know that,” she told me easily, stunning the shit out of me as she did. “But you broke it off, Cooper. You wrecked us. I don’t know if there’s any coming back from that.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You say that like I got a kick out of ending us.”
“I know you told my mom and dad something that made them, if not forgive, then forget about what went down, but they didn’t and still don’t know all the hurt inside me, Cooper. You fuc—” She broke off, glanced at Jane. “You wrecked me that day. You don’t do that to people you love.”
I turned, rested my leg on the sofa cushion so I could tilt toward her and see her better. “Don’t you understand? I had no choice. You were going to give it all up to come to New York with me. You weren’t going to graduate!”
“I could have graduated in New York. Transferred classes over.”
“And take on another year’s debt? Lose out on another year when you should have been working from the ground up in a museum somewhere? You were, are, talented, Lauren. Too goddamn talented to be someone’s PA.”
She firmed her lips. “Well, like it or not, that’s what I am. It happened with or without your intervention.”
“Why do you think it floored me when I saw you here and learned your mom was ill?” I closed my eyes, the memory of that still flooding me and making me feel sick as a result.
“What?” she demanded, frowning at me when I peered over at her.
“I said, why do you think it killed me? Because I gave up everything so you could have your dreams, and you stayed here regardless.”
Her mouth dropped open, and I couldn’t help it. I twisted forward, grabbed her arms, and dragged her against me. She didn’t fight me, didn’t struggle, if anything, she sank into me like she’d always done.
The minute my lips touched hers, it was like coming home. In fact, it was better. It was everything.
Love and warmth, home and hearth.
It felt so right for her to be against me, her lips softening against mine as I plundered hers, stole her moans and reminded her of the connection between us.
As she whimpered into my mouth, I let myself topple onto her, my body weight pushing her gently into the sofa.
My mind was elsewhere. Focused utterly on the woman in my arms. Nothing else mattered. No one else existed.
Until the bat came from nowhere. Slicing through the air so cleanly it whistled and thunked heavily into the back of my head.
