Page 105 of Craving Cooper

“There are a few problems with that,” I say, and she tips her head.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. First, I don’t want you back. Second, you seem to have forgotten your boyfriend.”

“What boyfriend? You’re my boyfriend.”

“Not anymore. I was referring to the guy who was practically inside your panties at the Fall Festival.”

“You mean Zeke?” I nod my head and she smiles. “He’s not my boyfriend. So you don’t need to be jealous about what we were doing. I asked him to play along, so you’d realize how much you missed me.”

“Except I didn’t miss you, Meredith.”

“Yes, you did.”

I shake my head. “No, I didn’t.”

She deflates slightly. “You knew I’d be there, though,” she says. “That’s why you brought your receptionist along.”

I can’t explain why I took Mallory to the festival, and to be honest, it’s none of Meredith’s business, anyway. “Of course I knew you’d be there. I even knew your stall would be next to Zeke’s.”

“How?” she asks, looking confused, although her face quickly clears, and she bites on her bottom lip, a triumphant gleam forming in her eyes. “Did you check up on me? I knew you would. I knew you couldn’t help yourself.”

“I didn’t. Angela told me. There was no checking up on my part.”

“Who’s Angela?” she asks, deflating again.

“She was helping to organize the festival. She told me you’d asked to have your stall moved because you and Zeke were seeing each other.”

“I had to do that so he and I could pretend to be an item. But it was all an act, I promise. You don’t need to worry.”

“I’m not. I couldn’t care less.”

She edges closer. “You don’t mean that.”

“Yeah, I do. I’m not playing games here, even if you are.”

I suddenly remember what Mallory said to me about how the scene at the festival had felt like a game… like it was fake. I hadn’t understood at the time, but it seems she was right, even if the game in question had nothing to do with me… or her.

“Yes, you are. I know you, Cooper,” Meredith says, capturing my attention again. “And I know that girl isn’t your type.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. She’s not a girl. She’s a woman… and you don’t know me at all. Not like she does.” She shakes her head, but I’m not done yet. I need to get her to understand. “And that’s the third problem with your plan, Meredith. I wouldn’t risk what I have with Mallory for any kind of game with anyone else.”

“Not even me?”

“No.”

She sidles a little closer, looking up into my eyes. “I’ll do whatever you want,” she says, fluttering her eyelashes at me. “Anything at all. I—I know I didn’t want you to touch me there before, but if it makes that much difference…”

“It doesn’t. We didn’t break up because of that, and you damn well know it.”

“But you wanted it, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did. I tried once. You said no… or to be more precise, you screamed at me, called me a few names while you pulled your clothes back on, and ran out of the apartment… as usual. Anal sex isn’t for you. I got that, and it was fine.”

“Was it, though? Was it really?”

“Yes. And no matter what you say, you’re still not comfortable with it. You’ve just skirted around it, like you always did. But you can’t say the words, can you? You can’t say you didn’t want me to touch your ass. You’d rather say ‘there’, like it’s something unmentionable that only bad people do.”

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