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He moved closer and placed a gentle hand on my elbow. "Haley, I can't pretend to know what you've been through, but I know what a huge waste it would be if you locked yourself away from the world and how much Chuck and Diane would hate that," he said, referring to my dad and mom.
The tears started flowing freely then and for the life of me, I couldn't stop them. Cooper didn't console me and let me cryit out, even as he kept us moving towards the water. Once we reached the edge, we placed our boards atop the gentle, slow waves. We started my first surf lesson with tears streaming down my face, and I listened intently, not bothering to wipe them away.
What was the point? We both knew I was broken, and he'd already seen the ugliest parts of me and didn't seem to give one shit about it, other than to make sure that I was here, out in the world. With him.
"There you go, that's it, you're doing really well," he encouraged me as I struggled to keep my balance on the board. "Remember to breathe, Haley. Just breathe, and don't think of anything else."
I did as instructed, sucking in a deep breath through my nose and letting it out through my mouth. Little by little, my muscles relaxed, and my body didn't feel so separate from me for once.
"Okay, Haley, now open your eyes," he said.
I really didn't want to, but I did as he said and opened my eyes. I’d successfully kept my balance on a surfboard in the water, but that’s not the only thing I noticed when I opened my eyes. Cooper was in front of me. The deep blue velvet of the Hawaiian night sky stretched out behind him and the water, illuminated by the near full moon, created a glow around his head. It was almost as if my grumpy ex-boyfriend had a halo around him. Who would've thought?
The breath I'd worked so hard to suck in quickly got snatched from me.
"Haley? Are you okay?" He asked with concern.
I smiled, "I think I will be," I told him honestly. He smiled, and I was reminded that he knew me better than anyone, and I would indeed be just fine.
After floating on our boards in silence for a few more minutes, he declared, "I think we should head in. I don’t want to wear you out before your next session."
"When's the next lesson?" I asked, a little worried.
"Same time tomorrow," he informed me.
I cocked an eyebrow. "What if I'm busy?"
"World domination will have to wait, Haley. Surf lessons first."
That sounded about right coming from Cooper Barclay.
We walked in companionable silence back to the bungalows and put the surfboards back on their racks.
"Tomorrow we’ll need to clean up those boards and wax them," he told me. How could I argue? It wasn't like I had anything planned.
He walked me to my door like a gentleman and when I turned to face him, I realized I didn’t know what to do with my hands because all they wanted to do was reach for him.
He watched me intensely as I stuttered out, "I don't know what possessed you, Cooper, though I suspect your sister had something to do with it."
"Tess doesn't know anything about this, and she's not going to hear anything from me," he said solemnly, and I stilled.
He’d uttered those words once before, a very long time ago, and we both stopped, acknowledging the memory before I cleared my throat and said, "Well, whatever it was, I appreciate it. But I don't want you to feel obligated."
"No obligation. Knowing you were in there all day was quite annoying," he admitted, and I laughed.
"So sorry, my mere existence annoys you."
"You know what I mean, Haley," he said. "There's more than one way to drive a man to distraction, and you’ve always had my number."
I felt my mouth go dry. I was losing the battle with what to do with my hands and before I could talk myself out of it, I reached for him. What’s worse—he didn’t stop me. My hands cupped his face, the stubble from his unshaven jaw pricking my palms in the best way.
"Coop," the one syllable sounded like it was ripped from my throat. His eyes stay trained on mine as I leaned forward.
But when I was a hair's breadth away from touching my lips to his, his gravelly voice interrupted, "Don't do it if you're going to regret it, Haley," he warned. "I never want to be one of your regrets... not again."
I searched his eyes and the rawness I saw there ripped at my heart. Then I was closing the distance between us, not only driven by desire, but the need to put a salve on the vulnerability I'd glimpsed in his eyes.
Our mouths crashed together, and then my back was pressing against the screen door as he pushed me back, his mouth hungrily drinking from mine. He tasted like heaven and we drank it in, savoring every bit. The familiar and exciting way his tongue dueled with mine, the way he nipped at my bottom lip, making me moan against him and the way his hand clawed into my wet hair while the other clutched at my hip, bringing me closer so I could feel the undeniable hardness beneath his trunks.
