The Perfect Homecoming (Pine River #3)

Cooper lowered his hands. “It’s just me, Emma. Calm down. I was hoping we could talk a moment.”


“No,” she said flatly, backing away, her foot knocking into the bucket she’d dropped. “Why? About what? We’ve said all there is to say. I mean you certainly have, and I damn sure don’t have anything else to say.”

“Just humor me,” he said, taking a step forward.

Humor him? “Are you kidding? I am completely humiliated, Cooper! What more do you want?”

“I don’t want that. I never wanted that,” he said firmly. “The medal is behind us,” he said with a flick of his wrist. “It is what it is. But I . . . I really want to talk to you.” He seemed a little anxious, almost uncertain. As if he wasn’t sure why he was here.

His uncertainty only made it worse for Emma. She felt like a leper. She wanted to die, to crawl under the porch or a car until he left. “God, Cooper, do you have to drag this out?” she pleaded, pressing her mittened hands to her temple. “Please, just say it, whatever it is you think you have to say and leave me alone.”

“Could we go inside?” he asked, jerking his thumb at the house. “It’s cold as hell out here.”

“No! The last time I saw you, you threatened to have me arrested. You abducted me.”

“I didn’t—” Cooper sighed. “I’m not abducting you. I’m asking you. I only suggested we go inside because it’s freezing.”

Emma didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to go inside, didn’t want to hear whatever he felt the need to say to her now that she’d been exposed. She folded her arms, debating.

“You do that a lot, you know.”

Emma looked around her. “Do what?”

“Fold your arms across your body like that. You do it when you’re unsure. It’s like you’re protecting yourself. But you don’t need to fear me, Emma. Let’s go inside.”

How did he see that? Emma dropped her arms. “No. There is nothing left to say, nothing to talk about.”

Cooper ran a hand over his head. “Okay. If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of the house, what about the garage? Or the barn? We can even sit in my car if you want. Give me fifteen minutes, Emma. What have you got to lose?”

He had a point—she’d already lost herself completely. But why did he care? “I don’t understand why you’re being so weird.”

He actually smiled a little. “I find it highly ironic that you, of all people, would say that.”

He was right—it was ironic. Emma frowned. She folded her arms again. “Okay, seriously,” she said, calmer now. “What do you want? Why did you drive all the way out here? I mean, I lied, I fessed up, you were disgusted, and you left. So go already.”

“Because I’ve had time to think. Because I want to smooth things out between us before I go. I don’t want to leave it like . . . like it is, Emma. Who knows when we might run across each other again and work an event?”

“I quit, remember? I won’t be back in LA, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“God, you’re stubborn,” he said. “Never say never. You know as well as I that you could end up in LA again. Surely you eventually have to work again. I don’t want to stumble across you at some event and it be so strange that we’re both uncomfortable. Where’s the harm? Fifteen minutes.”

“We hardly know each other, Cooper. We’re not going to see each other.”

“We obviously know each other,” he scoffed.

Emma ignored that. “Is this an intervention?” she demanded. “Did you swoop up here to put a friendly arm around me and tell me everything is okay?”

“I have no idea what all I want to say, but I am pretty sure that ‘everything is okay’ is not on the list. Let’s go inside and talk about this like adults.”

“Not until you tell me why!” she demanded.

“Because I care!” he shouted, casting his arms wide. “That’s it, Emma! That’s all there is—God help me, I don’t know why, but I care about you!”

Emma’s heart slipped from its mooring, then struggled to swim back to safety. She stared at this man, this gorgeous hunk of kryptonite, unable to absorb what he’d just said. “Care . . . about me?” she asked, to be doubly sure she hadn’t misunderstood him.

He sighed and held out his hand to her. “Yes, Emma. You.”

She looked at his hand.

“I promise not to harass you. I promise not to abduct you. And I promise to leave soon—I have a plane to catch today.”

“No lectures?” she asked uncertainly. “No judgments, no condemnations, no surprises?”

“Do I need to draw blood, too? I promise.”