Page 43 of Play the Game
I take a deep breath and blow it out, looking around the room again, feeling suddenly, oddly light.
“I’m going to get the girl.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
EVAN
“Nice sweatshirt.”
My head snaps up at the sound of Cooper’s voice as I casually close the laptop in front of me and flip my pink notebook shut. He’s leaning against the door of my office dressed in another pair of joggers and a soft-looking sweatshirt and those damn glasses, holy hell. A to-go coffee cup dangles from his fingers, and the smile on his face as he takes me in does wild things to my insides that have nothing to do with the fetus currently wreaking havoc on my digestive system.
I glance down at myLet Women Run Shitsweatshirt, mostly to avoid looking at Cooper’s face. “It’s one of my favorites.”
“Approximately how many feminist sweatshirts do you have?”
He sets an icy glass of what I’m sure is cherry seltzer in front of me that I desperately wish was coffee. I also wish everything caffeinated didn’t make me want to throw up.
Pregnancy is really stealing all my joy.
Cooper sits down in the chair across from mine, leaning back and stretching out his long legs, taking a sip of his coffee. I have to actually restrain myself from getting up off my chair andcurling up in his lap. When you’re having someone’s baby, does that person, like, imprint on you or something? That’s the only reasonable explanation for the wild thoughts currently racing through my head.
“So many. All the feminist sweatshirts, really. Because that way you can be cozy and say fuck the patriarchy at the same time.” I look back up at him, and something stuck to his face catches my eye. I lean forward, confused at what I’m seeing. “Uh, Cooper?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you all…sparkly?”
He groans and scrubs a hand over his face. “My brothers glitter bombed me yesterday.”
“I’m sorry, they what?”
“They sent me aCongratulations on your super spermglitter bomb full of rainbow glitter and confetti shaped like tiny dicks. I’ll probably be sparkly for the next ten years.”
I look closer and see that, yep, he has little flecks of rainbow glitter stuck to his face and his neck where it peeks out of his sweatshirt. I cackle out a laugh. “It’s a good thing it’s the day after Thanksgiving and no one is in the office. You’re basically glowing.”
He rolls his eyes. “I know. Obviously, there will be some kind of retribution. I’m just hoping I can get it all off before we have to argue the motion to dismiss in court on Tuesday.”
“You mean before you argue the motion to dismiss.” Austin made it clear earlier this week that Cooper would be handling the argument.
Cooper shakes his head. “You drafted the motions. You crafted the arguments. You really should be the one to argue before the judge. It’s not right.”
I shrug. “No, it sure isn’t. But Austin doesn’t think women can law well. I might get my period and yell at the judge in a fit of female hysteria.”
Cooper glances at my stomach and smirks at me. “No chance of you getting your period.”
I huff out an extremely unamused laugh. “Yeah, but Austin doesn’t know that.”
Cooper studies me. “Speaking of that. When do you think you’re going to tell people?”
I get a shot of panic at the mere thought of anyone at the office knowing about this. “Let’s not rush that day. Your family knows, and Chris and Rio know. That’s enough for me for now. I’m not telling my parents until I absolutely have to, and I’m definitely not telling anyone here until I can’t hide it anymore.”
Cooper shrugs. “It’s your call, Rhodes. You should just know that I’m ready whenever you are.”
“You don’t mind if people know?”
Cooper leans forward and crosses his arms over my desk. “I’m not ashamed of it. It might not be what either of us planned for our lives, and we still have a lot to figure out, but I’m in this with you.”
Cooper’s eyes stay on mine, and the wordsI’m in this with youping around my brain. It takes everything I have not to hit him with a barrage of questions. In this how? As the father of this child? As someone who brings me bagels and holds my hair back when I throw up? As…more? It scares me a little how much I suddenly don’t hate the idea ofmore. So much that I change the subject immediately because I still have no idea what to do with feelings about Cooper that aren’t irritation and annoyance.
