Page 20 of Rebels and Roses

“Did she say anything else?”

“No.”

“Are you going to call her back?”

“Hell, no. I don’t want to be yelled at. I’ll just stay here and lay low. She’ll get over it eventually.”

“So let me get this straight,” Cooper said with a sigh. “Your plan is to hide out here until Fiona calms down? Is that correct?”

“Yes, I think it makes sense.”

“I think that you don’t know your sister very well.”

Dealing with Tom Kemp had frustrated the hell out of Cooper. He was a peaceful person, and he enjoyed the quiet solitude of his home.

That was gone. Temporarily, of course, but still gone.

But he knew how to release some tension.

Picking up his phone, he tapped out a text. He held his breath waiting for the reply which came only moments later.

Sweet escape.

Chuckling, he tucked the phone back into his pocket and grabbed his keys from the table.

“I’ll be out for the evening. If you’re hungry, you can go to Tate’s. Have him put it on my tab. Don’t wait up.”

He was headed straight for Jane’s apartment.

It wasnothing more than a booty call.

Did the young people even use the term “booty call” anymore? Was she showing her age?

When Cooper had reached out to her about meeting up tonight, Jane hadn’t hesitated to say yes. She wanted to be with him, after all. She was past the age where playing hard to get sounded like a fun game. They were both adults, and they both wanted to get their freak on. It was that simple.

She wasn’t going to be embarrassed about having sexual needs. And boy, Cooper knew how to fulfill all her needs. He was damn good at it, too.

Jane was surprised to hear from him because as far as she knew his brother-in-law was still in town. Perhaps Cooper had been successful in getting Tom Kemp to the airport today, although in that case, she would have expected him to invite her to his place. He’d asked about meeting ather placewhich was unusual but not unheard of. There was more chance for them to be seen together at her apartment, but she preferred her bed to his. He had a lump in the mattress on her side that made it uncomfortable.

He probably knew it too, and he wouldn’t fix it so no woman would ever spend the night.

Shit, she shouldn’t be so cynical. They’d agreed that they weren’t going to get involved. Emotions and commitmentsweren’t on the agenda. It had worked for both of them, so why was she getting so weird about it all? This was what she’d wanted. What she still wanted. Right?

I am so not going to fall for Cooper Winslow. That’s a one-way ticket to heartbreak.

If she was foolish enough to get emotionally involved with him then she deserved the tears, buckets of ice cream, and sad country music that would be in her future.

Briefly, she had an image of herself sitting on the couch watching bad rom-coms while eating mint chocolate chip, wearing a ratty bathrobe with her hair knotted and greasy. Not a pretty sight. After she and her ex had split up, she’d let herself go for a few weeks, but she’d caught a glimpse of her pasty skin and ratted hair in the mirror one day and it had jolted her into action. She’d taken a shower and then headed to her hairdresser for a fresh style right away. She’d even bought herself a brand-new red lipstick, dark and vampy.

It had been okay to wallow in misery for a bit, but she wasn’t going to allow it to become a lifestyle. Not for her ex, and not for Cooper. No matter how charming, funny, intelligent, and sexy he was.

She’d showered after he’d called, rubbing on her favorite body lotion that smelled faintly of vanilla and coconut. After blowing out her hair, she’d put on a small amount of makeup. Just enough to look nice, but not too much that it looked like she was trying too hard. She wanted to look good but casual.

To his credit, he was a punctual kind of guy, and she heard the knock on her door at seven-fifty-nine. When she opened up, he was standing there with a folder and a bottle of wine under one arm and a pizza in the other. Her stomach growled as she inhaled the delicious aromas wafting from the cardboard box. Clearly, he’d stopped at Tate’s on the way for one double cheese special. To go.

“I brought dinner. Are you hungry?”

“I could eat. It smells amazing.”

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