Page 178 of Vegas Heat

I clear my throat, and I open my mouth to just get on with it, to get the words out, to confess so we can move forward, but my dad continues before I fully get the words out. At the same time I begin, “Cooper and I—” my dad announces, “I asked Joanie to marry me, and she accepted.”

I gasp, my hand flying to my chest. “You…youwhat?”

Joanie holds up her hand to show off a huge, sparkling,pear-shaped diamond set in a platinum band.

I gasp again, my heart racing as recognition dawns.

I’ve seen that ring before. It was in the back of Cooper’s underwear and sock drawer. I shouldn’t have been looking.

It wasn’t Cooper’s ring.

It’s my dad’s ring.

For Joanie.

Cooper was holding onto it for him.

Holy. Shit.

Seeing that ring in Cooper’s drawer was the cornerstone of my decision to move things along with him. I decided I was ready for marriage, ready for kids, ready for all of it if it means I getto have it with him even though I fully realize I’m young to be making these sorts of decisions.

But the ring wasn’t even for me.

It was for Joanie.

The ring wasn’t even Cooper’s.

It was my dad’s.

My jaw hangs open as these facts plow into me.

How close are my dad and Cooper, exactly?

“I wanted my baby girl and my best friend to be the first to know,” my dad says.

Oh. So pretty damn close, then.

“Gabby, I’d love for you to be my maid of honor,” Joanie says.

“Oh, of course!” I manage, still reeling from the shock of it all. I slide out of the booth to give them both hugs.

“And Cooper, I’d love for you to be my best man,” my dad requests. Cooper slides out of the booth, too, and then it’s hugs and congratulations and handshakes and I’m definitely starting to feel the whiplash of the last few hours as the truth dawns on me.

He still doesn’t know.

That’s not why we’re here tonight.

I exhale a long, calming breath as Cooper and I hug, too.

“Not tonight,” he murmurs softly in my ear, and I nod discreetly in agreement.

Not tonight.

But if not tonight…then when?

CHAPTER 32: COOPER

I draw in a deep breath as I wake up on Saturday morning for the last time at someone else’s house.

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