Page 18 of Lonely Heart

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. A baby. Cooper was going to be a dad. I stepped forward and threw my arms over his shoulders. “Oh my gosh, Coop. That’s incredible news. Congratulations.”

Cooper hugged me tightly. “Thanks, Ivy. We’re so excited about it.”

“How’s Skye doing? Have you told anyone else yet?”

“No. No, you’re the first. And so far, she’s feeling okay. She was late, which was the only reason she took a test.”

My heart needed this. My mind needed this. “Wow, this is so exciting. I’m going to be an aunt. And you’re going to be a dad. Do you know when Skye’s due?”

“We don’t have an official due date yet, but we’re thinking it’s going to be sometime in August. We should know for sure after she sees her doctor.”

I beamed at him. This was the best news. “I’m so happy for the two of you. You both deserve this. And I promise to keep the news quiet until you’re ready to share it with everyone else.”

“Thanks, Ivy. Are you all set?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

He jerked his head to the door. “Come on. Let’s get back to Westwood’s.”

With that, Cooper and I left, and I spent the entire ride back to Westwood’s wondering if Cooper and Skye were going to haveto tell the rest of the family they were expecting in order to give them a distraction from the news I had to share today.

It certainly took my mind off my attack.

But it also highlighted the fact that I was still alone and on my own.

MARCO

With the exception of one tiny detail, this had been the worst morning of my life.

I was twenty-nine years old, had known Ivy for more than half my life, and for the first time ever, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Thoughts of Ivy Westwood—that was easily the best part of my morning.

Everything else had been awful. The way she’d woken up, the fears she still had, and that she needed to go to the police station to recount her assault from last night were terrible. Cooper showing up at the hotel room this morning made things even worse. And that he believed I was responsible for what happened to his sister crushed me.

My own best friend.

No matter what happened, regardless of how compromising the situation seemed, I didn’t think there was anything that could ever drive me to accusing my best friend of doing something so heinous.

And yet, that’s precisely what Cooper had done.

Sure, I could accept him assuming something went down between Ivy and me when he saw her wearing just my T-shirt this morning, but to think he believed I had it in me to lay a hand on her in anger, to put those marks on her body, crushed me. It impacted me nearly as much as it had to learn the truth about what had happened to her last night.

Never, not once, since I’d met Cooper had we ever experienced such tension or negative discourse between us. But the way things went down this morning, I wasn’t quite sure how we’d ever get past it.

Sadly, there was a bigger problem than that.

Even if Cooper and I could manage to move beyond this morning’s encounter, even if the apology he’d given me at Ivy’s request was genuine, there was one thing I wasn’t sure we’d be able to work through.

The way I felt about his sister. The way she was consuming my thoughts. The way that everything changed for me when it came to her, something that happened the moment I stepped into that hotel room last night and saw her like I did.

While Cooper might have realized he jumped the gun about everything and that none of his assumptions had been correct, I didn’t think it was a far stretch to believe there was some truth lingering beneath his reaction.

Before realizing that Ivy had been hurt, he’d made it clear he wasn’t happy at the thought of me being with his sister in the way he’d mistakenly assumed already happened. What I had a difficult time understanding was why he would think it was the worst thing that could happen. If my sisters had wound up in a relationship with Cooper—or any of the Westwood brothers, for that matter—I’d have been ecstatic. That the feeling wasn’t mutual was a bit concerning.

I tried to not let it bother me throughout the morning. Instead, I focused my attention on the work I needed to do. Butthoughts of Ivy kept popping up, and I couldn’t get the look she’d sent my way before she walked out of the hotel room out of my head.

I’d just finished up the project I’d been working on in the chocolate factory—one of the packaging machines needed a repair—when I glanced up and saw Cooper making his way in my direction.

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