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His scent surrounds me.
There’s absolutely no mistaking whose shirt I just threw on, consideringNavyis written across the front of it in black.
“You two avoided each other all night last night, but I caught you staring at him a few times during dinner.” She smacks my thigh, then crosses her arms over her chest. “Holy. Shit. You and Coop?” Uncontrollable laughter bubbles up her chest, and I whack her as hard as I can with a pillow.
“Shut up.” That just makes her laugh harder. “I’m serious, Chloe. Please lower your voice.”
She jumps from the bed and starts pacing my room. “Okay, okay. But I have so many questions... Like how long has this been going on? Does anyone else know?” She bites down on her long purple nail, then starts laughing like a loon. “Your brother is going to shit a solid gold brick, Carys.”
I stand, and Cooper’s shirt falls down to my knees. “This is brand new, Chloe. It started... like, just started the night before he left for his last mission. Then he came home and turned right around to go to training. Yesterday was the first time we’ve seen each other in over a month.”
She nods her head as she follows along. “Okay, so it’s new. Who knows?”
“Our friends in California, and now you. That’s it. And it needs to stay that way. At least for now, Chloe. You can’t say anything—to anyone. Please. Give us time to figure this out,” I beg her, not sure if I should cry or laugh at the tortured look on her face.
“This is the juiciest piece of gossip we’ve seen since your brother walked in on your mom and Coach banging on the kitchen table, and you want me to keep it to myself?” She kicks that around for another moment, and I grab a pair of sweats out of my suitcase and drag them up my legs. “Fine. But what do I get out of it?”
My head whips around to hers. “My undying love?” It shouldn’t be a question, but it absolutely is.
“Not good enough,” she cackles like an evil queen.
“Not good enough?” I pick up my brush from the dresser and throw it at her, missing her by at least a foot.
So not the athlete in the family.“What the hell do you want? A bigger stake in Le Désir?”
Chloe snags the brush from the floor and waves it in front of my face. “Nope. But you better name your first baby Chloe.” She offers me the brush, and I just stare in shock. “Now change your damn shirt and use the brush on the rat’s nest sitting on your head. Murphy made a breakfast feast since Coop has to head back tonight, and I’m supposed to be dragging you over there.”
If Aiden hadn’t been blessed by the football gods, he’d have been a chef. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what he does after his football career ends someday.
I take the brush back and look at myself in the mirror. “I need to shower.”
I smell like sex and Cooper.
“Nope. You need to come with me now, or there won’t be any food left.”
“Fine.” I grab a tank with a built-in bra from my suitcase and change out of Cooper’s shirt, then throw on a hoodie. “Did you let Coop know?”
“He’s over there, having coffee now. He, Brady, and Bash went sunrise surfing.”
“In the rain?” I look outside and see that it’s let up to a steady drizzle.
Guess he went there when he left me.
She nods her head. “Yup. Now come on.”
* * *
Breakfast was a whole new experience in awkward, and as much as I love my family, I’m definitely ready to be back in California, without the worry of hiding something from the people I love. That, by itself, should be raising red flags about this thing between Cooper and me, but it doesn’t. Instead, I concentrate on not paying any more attention to him than I do to anyone else.
The second round of the storm kicks in, and as we all clean up the ridiculous number of pots, pans, and dishes my brother used to cook his feast, my head starts to bother me. I pour myself a cup of tea and take it into the family room after the last dish is put away, then sit next to my brother and lay my now-aching head on his shoulder.
The guys are deciding what everyone feels like doing during our rainout. No beach today. Mom, Coach, Dec, and Belles are taking the kiddos to the movies to see the newest Disney flick, and Nattie offered to watch Nixon for them, so they didn’t have to bring a baby along. The other girls are talking about manis, pedis, andAvengers—our version of chick flicks. But I don’t join in. Instead, I close my eyes and feel myself drifting off.
“Nope.Uh-uh. Brady will always be Captain America,” Nattie insists, and I hide my grin behind my coffee mug.
Chloe grabs a blanket from the back of the couch and covers Carys with it, then spears Nattie with her eyes. “Sorry to break it to you, Nat. But Coop is the whole Captain America package with a shiny red-white-and-blue bow on top.”
We all laugh at Chloe’s description and Nat’s refusal to listen. She’s standing across the room, swaying with Nixon in her arms, trying to keep him happy while Brady makes a bottle. Apparently, she’s doing a lousy job, based on the noise that comes out of the tiny human that sounds like a baby pterodactyl.
