“Are you being evasive?” she countered.
“Not at all.” Rolling, he tucked her beneath him. He kneed her legs farther apart, settling between them, then opened his mouth on her throat, her shoulder, down to her breasts. “I promise,” he whispered against her warming flesh, “you won’t have any complaints.”
Slender fingers tunneled into his hair, holding him closer as she whispered, “You can stay.”
*
With a little lurch to her heart, Phoenix noticed that the photo of Cooper’s wife was missing from the bookshelf in the living room. She’d gotten used to seeing it there, and now the empty space between the books made the bookshelf look like a puzzle with a piece missing.
Wondering why he’d moved it, she sat on the couch. Immediately, Sugar began hopping, wanting up. The dog’s legs were just a little too short to make the leap easy. Phoenix bent and lifted her into her lap. “Now that you’re eating regularly, you’ve really filled out.”
On alert, Sugar stared at Phoenix and flipped her head to one side. Her ears followed. She flipped it the other way, and her ears followed again. Phoenix laughed, holding the dog’s face and kissing her furry little forehead right between her big dark eyes. “You don’t understand, do you? Only we humans are self-conscious about weight.”
Cooper strode in, his hair damp from his shower, wearing only loose shorts that hung low on his hips, leaving his chest and abdomen utterly bare. “You don’t have to be self-conscious. Your curves are in all the right places.”
She grinned at him. He said things like that often, as if he truly appreciated her extra pounds. At every opportunity he showed her how much he enjoyed her boobs and behind. Good thing, since she wasn’t into strenuous exercise or crazy diets. “Cooper?”
“Hmm?” He sat next to her and picked up the TV remote.
That was standard for them, a comfortable routine that she’d come to cherish: work during the day, dinner after sex, sometimes sex again and if not, a movie on the television.
She looked forward to those quiet, private moments together.
He chose an old horror flick, Evil Dead—another of her favorites! He knew her tastes so well, but luckily, they meshed with his. Settling back, he rested his arm over her shoulders and propped his feet on the coffee table, his body relaxed.
“Where is your wife’s photo?”
It was slight, but she saw the way he paused before turning to her. Wearing no expression at all, he said, “I put it away.” While answering her, he stroked Sugar’s ear, then went on to say, “Her ear is completely healed now.”
“I know. And her coat is so shiny. She looks beautiful and healthy, but more importantly, she’s happy.” Like me, Phoenix wanted to say, but first she needed to make things clear to him. “The photo?”
He hugged her closer so he could kiss her temple, just above the arm of her glasses. “I put it away.”
That much was clear. “You don’t need to do that.”
With a short laugh, he shook his head. “You’re the only woman I know who would argue in favor of leaving it out.”
“She was your wife. You loved her. She loved you.”
“Yes.” He kissed the end of her nose, then her chin. “But she’s gone.”
Phoenix turned her head to his big shoulder. So strong, so sturdy. She remembered when she’d first met him, how she’d made note of his size because it reminded her of the men who’d attacked her. Now she knew his strength would only shield her, never hurt her. Cooper wasn’t a man who’d use his strength against another, only if it was in self-defense or to protect someone he cared about.
She knew he cared about her.
“You’ll never forget her,” Phoenix said softly. “It doesn’t matter if the picture is there or not.” Her hand moved over his chest until she felt his heartbeat. “She’ll always be here.” And she was okay with that.
“Yes.” His hand covered hers. “She’ll always be an important memory. But as you said, the photo doesn’t need to be on my bookshelf.”
She belonged there, though. Phoenix didn’t want to be responsible for her image being tucked away. “You know I’m not the type of woman to be threatened by a memory.”
“No, you’re special.” He nudged up her face. “Very special.” The kiss he pressed to her mouth was soft and exploring, tender and revealing.
Sugar climbed up to lick their faces, and Cooper leaned away, laughing. “Cock blocker,” he accused, resettling Sugar between them. The dog’s tail swung wildly, her joyous expression bouncing from Phoenix to Cooper and back again.
Phoenix couldn’t resist hugging them both. It got her face wet with more licks, but it was worth it.
Cooper held the remote, but he didn’t start the movie. Instead, he looked down at her until she turned her face up to his.
The somber concern in his eyes alarmed her. She started to straighten. “What?”
His arm around her shoulders kept her close. “I realize nothing else has happened in the past week, and I’m willing to agree that dangerous nonsense with the firecrackers could have been no more than a prank.”
If he thought that, why did he look so grave? “But?”
“But on top of David being impossible to reach, Harry has gone missing, too.”
Whoa. “What do you mean he’s gone missing?”
Cooper shrugged. “Gibb goes by there every so often and he hasn’t seen him, so he asked a couple of his friends, and they all say they haven’t seen him, either.”
“Weird. Did he check with his grandmother?”
“He opted not to. He doesn’t really have a reason to be checking up on him.”
Just as she didn’t really have a reason to check on David. “Try not to worry, okay? I’ll continue to be careful, I promise.” What she couldn’t do was to continue relying on others to escort her around the park. It was getting absurd and was most likely unnecessary. “And since I’ll be careful, I want things to go back to normal.”
“Meaning what?” He straightened. “If you’re talking about staying the night in the cabin, it’s a lousy idea—”
“I wasn’t.”
Cooper visibly relaxed. “Good.” With a crooked smile, he added, “I like having you here.”
Other than a few overnight necessities, like a toothbrush, hairbrush and her favorite lotion, all her things were still in the cabin. Sometimes she showered with Cooper, sometimes she showered at the cabin. The arrangement was loose, but also convenient, and neither of them had pressed for more; for now, she didn’t need more.
She loved her job, she loved the environment of the Cooper’s Charm resort and she very much enjoyed sleeping with Cooper. How long that last part would continue, she didn’t know, but she planned to savor every moment of it.
“I like being here,” she assured him. “What I meant is that I need to take full responsibility for my job—a job I’m good at. A job I enjoy.”
He waited, patience personified, and she realized that he was actually pretty good at that. He wasn’t a man who pressured or tried to impose his will over everything. Oh, he had his opinions and he wasn’t afraid to share them. But never, not once, had she felt disrespected, as if he discounted her thoughts on things.
The realization made her smile.
Which made him suspicious. “Am I missing something?”
“Only that I think you’re wonderful.” She stroked his face, feeling the rasp of his beard shadow and the warmth of his skin. “Believe me, whenever I go in the maintenance building now, I’ll be on the lookout for shady people. I won’t linger in there—” Even now, with someone always with her, she felt jumpy in the building. “And I’ll make sure to go only during busy times of day, when vacationers are around. But I need to do my job—without a babysitter.”
For Cooper, she knew the worry was real, especially given how he’d lost his wife. She could only imagine the scenarios that ran through his mind, the old, hurtful memories that intruded. She couldn’t relent. The situations were entirely different, and she wasn’t his wife.
“Cooper?”
He flexed his neck, his gaze averted.