Page 44 of Craving Cooper

“How’s she settling in up here?” he asks, nodding to the cat.

“Fine.”

I’ve got no intention of making small talk with him. Besides which, Saffron didn’t give me very much choice about accommodating her. She just moved in.

He strokes her head, and she nuzzles him, purring loudly, and even letting him pick her up. I glare at her, but she’s completely ignoring me, too caught up in Cooper… just like everyone else, it seems.

Without waiting to be asked, he moves onto the couch, sitting in the corner, and Saffron settles onto his lap, curling up, like it’s the most comfortable place in the world, which I’m sure it is. Not that I’ll get the chance to find out now.

I know I was about to fix myself a coffee, but I’m not in the mood to offer him one. If I did, he might think he’s welcome to stay… and he’s not. Even so, I can’t just stand here, looking at him, while he strokes my cat, so I stride over and sit beside him, leaving as much space between us as my small couch will allow. I half hope that Saffron will remember who she lives with and join me, but she’s far too comfortable with Cooper and just looks at me with a smug expression on her feline lips.

“I feel like today didn’t go as well as it could have done,” Cooper says, getting my attention. I raise my eyes to his, and find he’s staring at me, and there’s nothing smug, or self-assured, or conceited about the look on his face. He looks a little confused, and has an inquiring tilt to his head, and the sexiest smile on his lips. I’m not sure if he’s expecting an answer, and I can’t think of a polite one. I can’t think of anything when he’s smiling like that, so I just shrug my shoulders. “Would you… Would you let me make it up to you?”

“How?”

“By allowing me to take you out to dinner tonight?”

“No,” I say. He’s got to be kidding… right?

He frowns, like he doesn’t understand, but then his face clears and he nods his head. “Oh… of course. You’re not well. I should have thought.” He pauses for a second and then says, “Maybe, if you’re better, we could have lunch tomorrow instead?”

“No, thank you.” How much more obvious do I need to be?

His frown is even deeper, and he twists in his seat, his knees almost touching my leg, because my couch is that small. I notice Saffron doesn’t move a muscle, though. Not like she does whenever she’s on my lap and I do so much as twitch.

“I don’t get it,” Cooper says, his eyes fixed on mine. “Have I misread this? I thought you wanted to go to the festival with me?”

“I did.”

“In that case…”

“Jesus…” I sit forward, raising my voice, and making the cat jump, although Cooper calms her with a stroke of his hand. “Are you so insensitive you can’t work it out for yourself?”

“It looks that way. Didn’t you want to spend the afternoon with me? I thought we were having a good time. But if I got that wrong…”

“You didn’t. I was having a great time… until the moment I realized I was only there to make your ex jealous.”

“Excuse me?” He frowns again, shaking his head.

“Don’t pretend. You didn’t invite me to the festival because you wanted to be with me. Not like I want to be with you, anyway.” His eyes widen, and I wonder if I should have said that. Still, it’s too late now. It’s out there. “You invited me so Meredith would see us together and realize what she’s been missing.”

“No, I didn’t. That’s not why I invited you at all. To be honest, I wasn’t even thinking about Meredith.”

I suddenly feel a little sick. Have I misread this myself? Did I misunderstand and overreact?

“What were you thinking about, then?” I ask, my stomach churning. “Why did you invite me?”

“I don’t know.”

I wasn’t expecting him to say that and I stare at him for a moment or two, letting his words roll around my head, although they still don’t sound good, no matter how many times I repeat them to myself.

“You don’t know?”

They don’t sound any better out loud, either.

“No.”

“Well… thanks.”

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