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COOPER
Everything had changed, and it was all thanks to Samantha and Levi moving in next door. I had to admit, when I met her that first day in the stairwell, when she’d snapped at me for trying to help her pick up the items she’d dropped, I never would have believed that introduction would lead us to here.
To now.
Because the now between us was good. Really good.
And maybe that’s why I should’ve known Zoey would show up here and try to destroy the little life I’d managed to find.
The knock on the door had been a surprise in itself. I knew it wasn’t Samantha because she always texted or called first—her own personal habit, I guess. And if it’d been a delivery guy or something, they wouldn’t have made it into the building without buzzing my apartment doorbell first and waiting for me to let them in. And, in all the years I’d lived in this building, not once had any of my other neighbors come to my door asking for favors. Hell, I barely knew them.
Which was why I should’ve known Zoey was on the other side of that door, and yet my chest had constricted, immediately convincing myself it had to be Samantha because, well, everything I said, did, and thought about had to do with her these days.
“Hello, Coop.”
I would’ve slammed the door in her face if I hadn’t been so completely shocked by her unplanned presence without Tommy in tow. “Zoey?”
“Hey,” she said with a coy grin. “I know it’s been a while since I stopped by on my own, but—”
“Is Tommy okay?” I asked, my eyes flitting down the hallway as though I’d see his carrier or something. “What’s going on?”
The edge in my voice must have caught her off guard, because I saw her smile falter slightly. Just as quickly, it was back in place. “Tommy’s fine, don’t worry. Can I come in? Just for a bit.”
Her hand reached out to rest on mine, which I’d placed on the trim of the doorway, blocking her entry to the apartment.
My apartment now, no
t hers.
I flinched, immediately pulling it away from her grasp. “There’s no reason for you to be here, Zoey. Not without my son. We’ve been through this, and I’ve said everything I wanted to say.”
“Well, I haven’t.” She pushed out her bottom lip. “I’ve missed you, Coop.”
Funny, until that moment, I hadn’t realized that Samantha didn’t call me Coop. Not once. It was always Cooper on her tongue, not the short form. And until then, I hadn’t realized that was okay, because I wasn’t Coop anymore, anyway. Coop was gone, and he’d left the same time Zoey had decided to walk away from me.
That left only Cooper Henley, the man I was now.
And that man was content and happy with the pretty lady down the hall, the woman who’d shown me there was more to life than regretting the past.
Samantha was my life now, and Levi and Tommy. Not Zoey. And Samantha had opened her heart up to me—to Cooper. The woman standing in front of me didn’t have a hope in hell of undoing that.
“I can’t say the same,” I said, my voice low. “And I’d apologize for that, but I can’t really say I’m sorry, either.”
It may have been a trick of the lighting, but I swore I saw her eyes roll slightly. “Oh, you always were so dramatic.” She pushed against my arm, intent on pushing past me to come inside the apartment, but I locked my elbow despite the fact it was my weaker arm, letting the muscles in my forearms bunch. I winced, just she didn’t seem to care that I refused to let her through.
Zoey pushed herself up against my arm, her breasts pressed against me. She didn’t try to force herself completely through again, but she stayed in place, turning her face to mine, a war of wills battling silently.
“No, Zoey,” I repeated, knowing damn well she could count on one hand how many times she’d heard me refuse her anything in the time we’d been together. “I mean it. There’s no place for you here anymore.”
“You don’t know that,” she said a little too seductively for my liking.
“I know it for a fact. You should go.”
Finally, her eyes narrowed, the unspoken truth sinking in. “You’ve got someone else?” Her eyes flitted past me, as though I had someone hidden within the depths of the apartment.
I nodded. “I’ve moved on. You should, too.”
She brought her gaze back to mine. “You can’t be serious.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, her face so close to mine I could see the confusion shadowing her eyes.
