Page 56 of Craving Cooper

Because when all is said and done, if he wants to be with me, and I want to be with him, we’ll find our way around the rest of it. I don’t know how easy that will be, when I can still remember Meredith’s screams of pleasure and cries for ‘more’, but we’ll find a way.

We have to.

“Can you work with that?” he says, clearly impatient for an answer.

“I’ll try.”

He smiles and I smile back.

“In that case, do you want some help with the menu?”

“Could you just order for me?”

“Seriously? You trust me?”

“Of course I do.”

His smile widens, and he picks up his menu again, although I don’t bother with mine and I watch him while he studies his, taking a moment before he looks up again. “How do you feel about white asparagus with Parma ham and lemon aioli?”

“I feel quite happy about it.”

He nods his head, returning his attention to the menu, but looking at the opposite page this time, frowning, then nodding once more as he seems to make a decision.

“And salmon, served with a caper sauce, sauté of spinach and onions, accompanied by garlic whipped potatoes?”

“That sound delicious.”

He closes the menu and looks around, raising his hand.

Within moments, the waitress appears by our side, although she focuses solely on Cooper, and I feel my heart sink as I take in her blonde hair, which is tied in a complicated up-do that I’d never even begin to attempt. It’s all curls and ringlets, and nothing like as plain as mine. Her pretty face is perfectly made-up, too, and as I lower my head, I can’t fail to notice that her outfit clings to every contour of her slim figure. Her black skirt is short enough to show off long, toned legs, and her white top reveals a very ample cleavage.

“Are you ready to order, sir?” she says, putting a lot of emphasis on that last word, like she’d be happy to play the submissive to Cooper’s Dominant, and I’m torn between kicking her and crying. I won’t do either, of course. That would be humiliating. But at the moment, I think I’d rather be anywhere than here, listening to her simpering over him, as though I were invisible.

“Are you okay?” Cooper squeezes my hand and I look up to see the waitress has gone. He’s pouring us some water, and he smiles across at me. “I hope you didn’t mind me ordering the wine by the glass, but white will go so much better with your dishes than red.”

I hadn’t even heard him place the order, but I nod my head. “I’m not a great wine drinker, anyway. In fact, I’m not a great drinker of alcohol… period. But I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Would you rather have something else?” he says. “I can get the waitress to come back.”

“No.” I give my answer rather too quickly, and take a breath to calm down. “No. Wine will be lovely, thank you. What did you order?”

He smiles, putting down the water bottle between us. “Weren’t you listening?”

“No.” I’m not about to tell him I was seething with envy over the waitress, and rather than making up an excuse, I just say nothing.

“I ordered a Sancerre for you and a Malbec for me.”

“I see. Well… I don’t, really. I’ve never had either of them.”

“I think you’ll enjoy the Sancerre. It’s quite light, and…”

He stops talking as the waitress comes over, bringing our drinks. She dumps mine in front of me and then makes a point of leaning over way too far to put Cooper’s glass on the other side of his place setting. Part of me wants to tell her he’s mine, and that she needs to back off. But we’re holding hands. I would have thought it was obvious we’re here together. Which I guess makes her the kind of woman who doesn’t care who she tramples over to get what she wants… and it seems she wants Cooper.

I feel a little despondent about that, staring at her retreating figure, until Cooper coughs and brings me back to a much more pleasant reality.

He’s holding up his glass and I raise mine too, letting them clink together before taking a sip. The wine is delicious… quite dry, with a hint of citrus, and I take another couple of sips and nod my head as I put down the glass again.

“That’s really nice.”

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