Page 30 of Touch Me (Complete Collection)

Or The Ritz.

Anger burned her insides.

Cooper had been with Celia for ten days. At The Ritz. God! She shook her head, clasping her forehead. When Cooper came back, he had been so persuasive, so sure of what he wanted. He had barged in on her and commanded that she sleep with him.

And being stupidly naively idiotic, she had thought he had a thing for her.

“Oh, my God!” She couldn’t breathe, and felt nauseous. She covered her mouth with her hand. Relax! We hadn’t been together. We hadn’t been sleeping together. He had just had me over, given me a place to sleep, and then maybe he went off to meet Celia.

For ten days.

The anxiety returned. She could just picture Cooper’s bare, gorgeous body on top of…Celia’s.

“Ugh!” Her heart was ripping up into a hundred pieces. She covered her face with her hands, and tears spilled from her eyes.

What am I doing? Why is this so hard? Why can’t I just stop having these surprise demons crash into my life and scatter everything?

As soon as she got everything together, the shambles that was her life, something came along to destroy her balance once again. She sniffled and wiped the tears off her cheeks.

Cooper hadn’t essentially cheated on her. But he had lied. He had said he was not sleeping with Celia, and he had said he was in freaking Sydney.

Her lips parted and her eyes widened. So that’s what had happened to Dexter! As soon as she mentioned that Cooper had gone to Sydney two months ago, his face had clouded, and he had become reserved.

Dexter was covering up for his brother. He had realized that Cooper had lied to Jenny.

She felt pathetic. First Cooper didn’t even think she was special enough to tell his family about her, and then she had stupidly admitted in front of his brother how idiotically trusting she was. Cooper was a womanizer, just like she had thought earlier, and she had to run before this got out of hand.

Angry, furious at being treated like a doormat by Cooper, she retrieved his iPad from the drawer and went through the contacts. There! She scribbled Cooper’s architect’s phone number on the back of the credit card statement.

**

Traffic roared behind her as she stood in front of the picturesque little apartment building. She stepped inside, and went straight to the lobby. “Celia Banks? She’s expecting me.”

Her heart slamming in her chest, she wondered wildly what she was doing. Once the initial fury wore off, she was shaking, her legs trembling. Do I really want to see the woman Cooper slept with for ten days? While I lay in his apartment, believing stupidly that he was in Sydney?

She swallowed and fidgeted outside Celia’s apartment. As she raised her hand to knock, nostalgia gripped her.

Months ago, she had been engulfed in the same confusion, same embarrassment, when she had come to Cooper’s place. She had known she had to knock, but at the same time she hadn’t wanted to. It was utter helplessness.

Sighing, she finally tapped on the door and almost instantly it was pulled open. Celia stared back at her, a polite smile on her face. “Hi.”

Jenny was taken aback by her cordiality, “Hey, Celia.”

“Come in, please!” She swiftly drew back. Jenny sat on a high backed chair next to the large windows that overlooked the street, and Celia came to sit beside her. “You wanted to talk? I’m sure this is about Cooper so fire away.” She chuckled shyly.

“I'm sorry, Celia. I know you don’t owe me anything, but I really need to know something.” When Celia stared at her questioningly, Jenny looked away gutlessly. Did she want to know? If Celia admitted that she had been with Cooper, she was sure she was going to die. “Have you met Cooper since you came to his apartment?”

Celia pursed her lips and stared at the carpet. “Yes.”

Jenny’s breath escaped in a rush. “Great. Thanks,” she muttered bitterly and stood up, heading toward the door.

“No! Wait, Jenny?” Jenny twirled back to meet the blonde’s eyes. Now Celia was going to rub it into her face. “I think you’re taking this the wrong way.”

“Really? Am I, Celia? You were with him for days! How am I supposed to take this the right way?”

“Days?” Her face twisted up, still pretty as a picture. Rage billowed in Jenny’s chest. “I just met him for dinner. He called me, but we just talked. I think I stayed for an hour. He explained how he…well…” She giggled. “He essentially scolded me for barging in that day.”

Jenny felt the blood rush out of her. She swallowed. “You didn’t stay with him at the Ritz?"

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