The Perfect Homecoming (Pine River #3)

“Hey—” She put her hand on his arm, pulling it down. “No thanks.”


“Don’t read too much into it. I’m just being friendly. We find ourselves in the same bar in Colorado. We’re two acquaintances having a drink and talking a little.”

Emma leveled a cool, green-eyed gaze on him. “How interesting that at first you thought I was here to meet up with some random guy, and when you find out I’m not, you decide you should buy me a drink, just like some random guy. Double standard, Cooper Jessup.”

“Not at all the same thing,” he said, although he felt another slight sting—Emma was right, he’d reverted to random guy without thought. “I know you, so this seems reasonable.”

“I know you, too. But I don’t want to talk to you and shouldn’t have to. That seems reasonable, too.”

“All the more reason to buy you a drink,” he said. “I’m really not that bad. We’ve had a slight misunderstanding here, that’s all. As I recall, we had a pretty good time the last time we saw each other. Remember?”

“I remember. But that was before you falsely accused me of taking something from someone.”

“Not falsely,” Cooper said, and smiled, nudging her with his shoulder. “Come on, Emma. A drink doesn’t mean anything other than I’m trying to be nice.”

“I’m not interested in nice. Haven’t you figured that out about me? Nice is not in my vocabulary.”

“Well, now you’re just hurting my feelings,” Cooper teased her.

That earned him a slight curve upward of the corner of her very lush mouth. How was it this woman wasn’t on the silver screen? On the arm of every major player in Hollywood instead of doughboys like Carl? Even with that tiny hint of a smile, her eyes lit. She was unbelievably beautiful.

“Better I hurt your feelings now than later, don’t you think? Because you and me?” she said, moving her finger between them, indicating them both. “We’re never going to be drinking buddies.”

“Wow, you are so adamant about that,” he said with mock concern. “That’s the second time today you’ve cut right to the bone. Okay, fair enough,” he said, and lifted his hands in surrender. “No drink. We’ll do this your way. Which, I will point out, is the hard way, but if that’s what you want—”

“Great! Now that we’ve established we won’t be having a friendly drink,” she said, “there is no need for you to smash in between me and the lady behind you.” She smiled and pointed away from the bar. “You can move on now.”

But the pager on the bar in front of the elderly woman began to vibrate and blink. Her table was ready, and the woman slid off her stool and gathered her purse.

Cooper smiled victoriously as he plopped down on the barstool next to Emma. “Mind if I sit?”

“Cooper!” Emma gave him a little laugh, softening a little. “Seriously, go and bother someone else. I don’t want to be friends.” But she was smiling as she shoved his shoulder with her hand as if trying to push him off his stool. “Go away. Go back to LA and stunt work and Jill.”

“You know about me and Jill, huh?”

“Who doesn’t?”

“You, apparently,” he said, and caught her wrist when she tried to push him again. “I haven’t seen Jill in weeks. I think I’ll stay right here. I’ve decided I like bothering you.”

Emma groaned. She pulled her hand free of his. “I think you honestly believe that if you make a pest of yourself, I will confess something to you.” She snorted. “Won’t happen. I’ve seen a lot pushier than you.”

“I’m not pushy, I’m determined. There’s a difference. I’ve been hired to do a job and I’m going to do it.”

“Determined. Pushy. Annoying. All the same thing,” Emma said, and clinked her glass to his.

“You know what else? I think you like me bothering you,” he said. “You know what they say, the bigger the bark, the bigger the attraction.”

Emma laughed at his joke, the sound of it light and fluffy. It had a peculiar effect on Cooper—it felt almost as if he’d had a little too much to drink for a moment. A woozy, soft feeling swept through him on a whisper and evaporated into thin air.

“No one says that! You totally made it up!”

“Maybe,” he said with a grin. “So look, you won’t have a drink, you won’t be nice, and so I’ll leave you alone on one condition.”

“No.”

“Don’t you want to know what that condition is?”

She shook her head no, but then said impatiently, “Okay, what?”