Her heart did a funny little flip. God, if she wasn’t careful, she might actually fall for this man again.
“All right. Let’s do it,” Jake blurted out. He shook his head, looking a little shell-shocked. “If you’re serious about giving me a shot, then I’m willing to make the effort. I’ll invest myself a hundred percent in this, sweetheart.”
A smile tugged on the corners of her mouth. “Really?”
“Really.”
He leaned in to kiss her, but she pressed her index finger to his lips, stopping him from making contact. “Then you’re gonna have to put your money where your mouth is.”
Jake raised a dark brow. “Meaning what?”
“Meaning I’m officially inviting you to dinner with my family tomorrow night. And you, Jake Bishop, had better be on your best behavior.”
Cooper couldn’t say he was surprised to find Lexie on his porch when he stepped outside to have a smoke. But he was surprised it had taken her three days to show her face. Not to mention that she was here on a Friday night, at the time she normally ate dinner with her folks. He also didn’t expect to find her on that shitty-ass wicker chair instead of knocking on the damn door. Judging by the redness of her cheeks and nose, she’d been sitting there for quite some time.
“How long have you been out here?” he asked roughly, flipping open his Zippo so he could light his cigarette.
She sighed. “Twenty minutes.”
“Why didn’t you knock?”
“I was gathering my courage.”
Cooper inhaled a lungful of nicotine and leaned against the splintered wooden railing. He didn’t make a move to greet her with a hug or kiss. And he tried valiantly not to notice how beautiful she looked. With her classic features, cornflower blue eyes and pale golden hair, she really did resemble the princess she pretended to be. Her tight-fitting gray wool coat screamed designer, as did her knee-length leather boots. Cooper had always dismissed her when he’d spotted her around town in the past, until the night he’d found her tipsy in the parking lot of Nate Bishop’s pub.
The night he’d discovered that underneath her icy exterior, Lexie burned hotter than a five-alarm blaze. And he’d discovered a lot more once they started spending time together. She was eager and passionate in bed, had a silly sense of humor that she only revealed in private, a stubborn streak that ran a mile long.
But she was also a big fucking coward, not to mention a total daddy’s girl.
“So you’re here to apologize, huh?” he said bitterly.
“Yes.”
He took a long drag, then flicked ash over the side of the railing. “Don’t bother. It’s not like I’ve been sitting here for the past three days, sulking and sobbing about how you ignored me in front of your mommy.”
Liar.
Fine, so he might have been sulking. But not sobbing. He wasn’t that much of a pussy.
“I panicked,” she said, slowly getting to her feet. “I already told you, I’m not ready to tell my parents about us.”
“Us?” he echoed. “There is no us, Lexie. There can’t be until you’re willing to acknowledge—publicly—that we’re actually a couple.”
A cold hand touched his jaw. “I’m sorry, Coop. I should have said hello to you on the street. I just need some more time, all right?”
He let out a savage curse. “You realize how frustrating it is that I can’t even tell my best friend about us? Yeah, I know Wyatt has a big mouth, but he’s still my buddy and I’ve been lying to him for months about how I spend my nights. I’m sick and tired of keeping us a secret, all because you’re too scared to tell the mayor that you’re spending all your time in a shitty cabin with the town loser.”
Agony flooded her eyes. “You’re not a loser. God, you’re…you’re the best man I’ve ever met.”
“Then why are you so ashamed to tell your family about us?” he muttered.
“I’ll tell them soon,” she whispered. “I promise.”
“How soon?”
Indecision crossed her beautiful face.
Cooper jabbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and took a step away from her. “Fine. You want a deadline? How about tomorrow night? Come with me to the Lodge. It’s a Saturday night, so half the town will be there.”
She looked alarmed. “And what, we hold hands, go overboard on the PDA, announce to everyone that we’re a couple?”
“Yes.”
“And if I say no?”
Cooper tamped down the frustration climbing up his throat. He might have preached to Jake Bishop about ultimatums, but at the moment, he didn’t care about being a hypocrite. He and Lexie had been seeing each other on the sly for nearly a year. Other than those two months of space he’d allowed her after he’d slept with Maddie Wilson, they’d spent every night together. So fuck, maybe it was time for a drastic move.