Page 74 of Vegas Heat

And you know what else is interesting? The fact that Gabby automatically gets the internship. Joanie just said she’ll be one of the main interns on the project. No interview process. No paperwork. Boom. She’s in.

He nods at her. “Sounds perfect. Anyone have anything else?”

Silence moves around the table.

I don’t want to work with Gabby on this.

We’re already too close in proximity with me living with her. Now she’ll be at the one place I had planned to use as my escape, and I’m not sure how to feel about that.

But I can’t think of a single reason to object that wouldn’t raise about a million red flags with my boss, so I keep my mouth shut.

CHAPTER 7: GABBY

I can’t stop picturing him leaning against my doorframe earlier.

He was tormented—that much is clear. And I wasn’t making it easy on him. But why should I? He’s bowing out of what could be the most important relationship of our lives because of my dad?

It’s bullshit.

But I also don’t know how to fix the problem. I found my dad later in life, but I didn’t choose him, just as I didn’t choose my mother. I was made to believe my father never wanted me only to learn it was my mother who never did. I was raised believing nothing I ever did was quite good enough.

And now I’m questioning whetherIam good enough for someone like Cooper.

Yet…in the time we were together, he made me feel like I was. Like we were compatible. Like we were meant to be.

But the tables have turned. We’re no longer Cooper the guy who works for a kids’ organization and Gabby the girl who’s still in college.

Now he’s the bigshot baseball player and I’m nothing more than his manager’s daughter.

Still, the question remains. Would I give up what I’ve built with my father in the last three years for someone I’ve barely known three weeks?

That’s hard to say.

My gut leans toward no. It doesn’t make sense, but God…what we have—what wehad—was intense.

He leaned on that doorframe with his hat backwards and the scruff on his jaw and I’ve never seen a more beautiful man in myentire life. His blue eyes were dark and stormy, and even now as he sits across the table from me, I can’t help but study his hands. He’s rubbing them together like he’s trying to stay calm, and then he lifts one of those hands and runs it along his jawline.

Long fingers that know every inch of my body move slowly along, and I know I’m staring, but I can’t help study those fingers. Strong and lean, muscular and athletic. Skilled.

Ropes of muscle ripple along his forearm with his movement…a forearm that held me as little as a few days ago. A forearm that should be holding me again, and instead, maybe it never will.

My chest aches, but I put on the act like everything’s fine. Justin slipped into the open seat beside me, and I wish it was Cooper instead. I wish I could smell that clean, woodsy scent of his. I wish our knees could bump together and we’d both leave them there, touching beneath the table where nobody could see.

Instead, I’ve got someone who’s probably more appropriately aged for me wearing a Spongebob tee. Is it any wonder I found someone a decade out of my zone when Spongebob over here is my option?

Justin doesn’t smell like fresh wood, and he’s going to be my partner for the next few months as we work together on a project…with Cooper as our lead.

Complicated doesn’t even begin to describe it.

When the meeting starts to wrap up, my dad offers to show me off—I mean tointroduceme—to more people, but Joanie jumps in to save me from that particular torture.

“I can have her start filling out paperwork in here if that’s okay with you.” Her gaze connects with my dad’s, and I can’t help but wonder if there’s something more to their relationship than colleagues. In fact, the way his gaze burns at her tells me there’sdefinitelysomething more there, but I’ve never seen her before in the three years I’ve been living with my dad.

He nods once at her then turns to me. “Is that okay with you, honey?”

I nod. “I’d actually love to hang here for a bit.” I avoid Cooper’s gaze even though I feel it on me.

“Fine,” my father says. He glances at Cooper. “Then let’s continue our tour.” He looks over at me. “We’ll be in the clubhouse. Text me if you need anything.”

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