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I shook my head. “I’m still a virgin, Cooper. Nobody hurt me.”
He snarled. “Just because they didn’t fuck you, didn’t mean they didn’t take something from you, angel.”
More tears formed in my eyes and I pushed my forehead harder against his. “It was a teacher. H-He touched me, made me…” I swallowed, shuddering at the memories. “He almost made me touch him but he got caught.”
He jerked back from me. “He’s in jail?”
I nodded. “I wasn’t the only girl in class he’d approached.” My lips curved in a sneer. “Said he’d grade my papers better if I helped him out.”
I stared over at him, wondering at the look on his face a second until he whispered, “I want to kill him too.”
I couldn’t stop my smile from forming. The truth was, I knew he wanted to too. I could feel the simmering rage inside him, could sense his outright outrage at how I’d been treated, and I loved him more for that than anything else.
In fact, I loved him so utterly at that moment, I could do no less than fling myself forward, knocking him back into his earlier position.
Curling into his lap, I clung to his shoulders, and cuddled into him. It was the first time either of us would say it, and for once, I wasn’t terrified by my feelings for him.
How could I be?
I reached up, and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I love you,” I whispered against his mouth.
Though he stiffened in response, he relaxed almost immediately. “I love you too.”
Relief and joy, in equal parts, swelled inside me. “Thank you for believing in me,” I whispered, pressing my face into his throat.
“I will always believe in you, angel,” he told me, and just like his words of love, that was a vow.
Chapter 7
COOPER
Present Day
Lauren wasn’t there when I left her boss’s office. But that wasn’t much of a surprise really.
The two-hour scheduled meeting had turned into a six-hour brainstorming session, whereby Justin had signed all the contracts, and we’d gotten right to the heart of the matter.
Whether Lauren liked it or not, she was going to see a damn sight more of me than she undoubtedly wanted, but it was tough shit.
After seeing her here, like this, totally out of the blue? Yeah, there was no way I was letting this opportunity go to waste.
The fact she hadn’t waited for me was proof positive of her lack of interest in reconnecting with me.
Sure, it was nearly seven and she had a home and a life outside of work, but had our roles been reversed? I’d have waited in my goddamn office until midnight if it meant seeing her once more.
But then, she hadn’t been the one being dumped. Even if it had been for her own good.
Crap like that never mattered to women.
Didn’t count that I was sacrificing a lot for her; women only focused on the hurt, not the reasons why.
Not that I could blame her; not really. What I’d done, even though my intentions had been pure, had hurt. And not a day had passed without me hating myself for that.
I went into town and found the house I’d rented through Airbnb. It was a comfortable three-bedroom property with awesome views of the ocean and a garden that made me wish the weather was better—I wanted nothing more to sit out on the deck with a beer and just relax.
Instead, it had done nothing more than piss it down the last three days I’d been here. And my intention to see Lauren had fallen by the wayside as Justin had appeared on my doorstep at seven AM for the past three mornings brimming with ideas and a breakfast hamper from his, admittedly, fantastic chefs in hand.
The wakeup call I didn’t appreciate, but hell, it was worth suffering through an early start for the food he brought.
