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Chapter 4
COOPER
Present Day
Lauren was…
Jesus, she was beautiful.
As stunned as I was to see her, that was the only thought that kept ramming into my brain.
Well, that thought and the fact she was here at all.
Lauren was here. And she was as beautiful as ever.
More beautiful, in fact, than the last day I’d seen her. When I’d knowingly broken her heart and all out of the attempt at self-preservation for both of us.
Regrets filled me now as I watched her bristling back striding through a grand entryway.
She was mad.
Still.
Could I blame her?
I guessed not.
I hadn’t broken it off with her to be a jerk. If anything, my desire to do right by her, to enable her to fulfill her own dreams rather than wait on mine had been my prime motivation.
I’d loved her.
So fucking much.
Breaking up with her had nearly broken me. But I could tell she didn’t know that. Could also sense she wouldn’t want to hear it.
Might never want to.
Somehow, that thought alone was what closed my throat up. The horror of actually having her here, in my line of sight, and never making her see why I’d done what I’d done…
How could she understand anyway?
She was still in her hometown. Hadn’t gone off into the big wide world as I’d imagined she would. As her talent should have entitled her to…
Her major could have taken her anywhere in the world, so why was she here?
As, what? Justin Gandy’s PA? His gofer?
The notion didn’t sit well with me.
Lauren was way too intelligent to be some rich bastard’s administrator. Such talent was a crying shame to waste, and as I’d made the fucking sacrifice to let her follow her dreams rather than follow mine to make me happy, it pissed me off more than I could say.
Anger roared through me, so strong and so fast that I could feel as well as hear my heart pumping. It blasted my ears with a whooshing sound, which, in turn, had my lungs going into overdrive.
I reached out, grabbed her and dragged her to a halt. She jolted in response, freezing in a way she’d never frozen me out before.
“Lauren? What the fuck are you doing here?” My words were spat out, and I hated that my first genuine question, one that wasn’t founded in my bewilderment at being here in this estate, was angry.
But I couldn’t help it.
