Page 28 of Cooper

“It’s wonderful. It has to be the right person, though.”

“How do you know when it’s the right person?”

“You know how when you meet someone interesting, or hot, or whatever the case may be?”

Our eyes meet and I nod.

“But then, you know, it kind of fades. With the right person, it never fades. Erik still makes my heart beat faster. When he touches me, I can’t think straight. When he tells me he loves me, I fall in love with him all over again. Yes, of course, it’s not twenty-four-seven. There are distractions and children and attacks on the palace.” She playfully rolls her eyes. “But when we’re together? It’s like the first time all over again.”

“That sounds…beautiful,” I admit. “I don’t think my parents feel that way about each other. In fact, I don’t think I know any other couple who feels that way about each other.”

“I think you do. You just don’t realize it. Sandor and Lennox one hundred percent feel that way. Xander and Elen. Axel and Solange.”

“I didn’t feel that way with Logan. I mean, there were butterflies when we first got together, but it wasn’t this kind of magic.”

She smiles. “So you’re saying what you feel with Ryan is magic.”

I blush.

She’s my friend, but she’s still myqueen, my boss.

And I have to be careful because I signed a contract.

“There was something there from the moment we met, but I thought maybe it was just me. He was my commanding officer so I couldn’t do anything but then as soon as I went off duty that last night… I took my shot, and it turns out he felt it too. And it’s scary because he has to go home. It’s not like he can stay here with me. Even if everything goes perfectly and we fall in love and want to be together forever—he has to go back to the military.”

She nods with understanding. “Of course. But love, the good kind, is always terrifying.”

“It can’t be love after sleeping together once.”

“Is sex the sole measure of love? Didn’t you spend six months together? You worked and played and got to know each other. You probably spent more time with him than most people who are dating and sleeping together. So you absolutely could be in love with him. Why else would you take a risk like having sex on that last night?”

“I don’t know ifhefeels it,” I whisper.

“He’s here, isn’t he? You know how easy it would have been for him to lie and say he wasn’t given permission? That he had to go home to his family or whatever? Instead, he’s here. In a country that means nothing to him, with no friends, none of the medical attention he’s entitled to in the U.S. Nothing. Exceptyou.”

I hadn’t thought of it that way until now.

And it’s a little heady.

“Maybe that’s partly why I’m scared. What if I disappoint him and it was all for nothing?”

She shakes her head. “Don’t do that. Disappoint him how? By being strong and beautiful and busy? Maybe. But if that’s a disappointment, then it’s him, not you, because he has to admire your work ethic. Did you read the report he submitted to Sandor? The report about your progress and his overall assessment about your readiness to become a Royal Protector.”

I frown. “No. Did you?”

She wiggles her eyebrows playfully. “I see all kinds of things I probably shouldn’t late at night when Erik and I are reading in bed. And he got that report a week or two before you came home, so it had nothing to do with what happened on your last night there.”

Thank goodness.

That would have been mortifying.

But now I’m dying of curiosity.

“Will you tell me?”

She smiles. “Basically, that you were strong and tough and focused on your training. That he saw a lot of grit and determination, a wonderful work ethic, and loyalty to the team.”

I hadn’t realized he thought those things, and I feel a rush of pride. I’ve worked hard to get to this point in my career—and Cooper noticed.

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