Page 39 of Rebels and Roses

Lucy’s warning was the exact same one Jane had been telling herself for months.

“I know. We’re casual. We’re not seeing anyone else, but we’re not looking to make a big commitment or anything. We’re not looking to fall in love. We’re keeping our hearts out of this.”

Lucy gave Jane a shrewd look.

“My friend, you are one of the biggest romantics I’ve ever met in my life. If not the biggest. Did you truly agree to keep emotion out of your relationship? That’s a recipe for disaster.”

“It’s fine,” Jane replied dismissively. “It’s all good. We don’t have a future. I’m living in the moment.”

“Living in the moment? It’s just sex? I hope it’s good sex.”

Unbelievably amazing. Incredible. Fireworks and all that stuff.

“It is.”

What an understatement. The things Cooper did to her ought to be illegal. Or at the very least, come with a warning label.

“With his reputation, I’m thinking it’s better than good.” Lucy held up her hands. “But I don’t need the details. Spare me those. I think I’ll just assume your non-stop good mood is from him.”

“He does piss me off from time to time.”

“Then you must be in a real relationship. If you weren’t, then there wouldn’t be any reason to be mad.”

“Dating Cooper would be…difficult,” Jane admitted. “He’s a complex man.”

“And you’re a complex woman. A woman he’s been with for several months. That might be a record for Cooper, if you don’t count his marriage to Fiona. Maybe you’re different than the other women he’s gone out with. Maybe he feels something for you.”

“I’m not going to think that way. I don’t want to set myself up for failure, especially as it’s clear that Fiona wants him back. At least that’s how it looked to me last night.”

“Maybe,” Lucy replied, tapping her chin. “She was acting strangely.”

“She was drunk.”

“That, too.”

“There will always be women running after Cooper. I don’t want to be one of a crowd.”

“If he only wants you, then there is no crowd,” Lucy pointed out. “He didn’t look like he wanted a trip down memory lane with Fiona last night. If anything, it looked like he’d rather be anywhere else than with her and her brother. Seriously, you two would make a nice couple. You mesh well.”

“You don’t think he’s anything like Peter?”

“Absolutely not,” Lucy said with a visible shudder. “Cooper has far too much integrity to be that kind of asshole. He’s a goodman. Kind of lost as to what he wants to be when he grows up, but his heart is real. He’s a good person. We need more like that.”

Cooper knew exactly what he was, but Lucy didn’t know that. And she still thought Jane should be with him.

“It has to be something that he wants. I’m not going to chase him.”

“Then you do like him. You do want more than a secret fling.”

“I’m open to it,” Jane admitted. “That’s probably just the romantic in me. But I’m not looking to reform a bad boy, Lucy. Been there, done that.”

“You’re scared to put yourself out there,” Lucy said. “You don’t want to get your heart broken.”

“Of course, I don’t. No one wants that.”

“Sometimes you have to take a chance. I took one with Zack. It worked out.”

“Just because it worked out for you, doesn’t mean it will for me. Cooper isn’t Zack.”

---