The Perfect Homecoming (Pine River #3)

Cooper slowly pulled Emma’s hand away from his mouth. “You’re a grown woman,” he whispered. “Why are you hiding?”


“Trust me,” she said with a smile. “They won’t talk about anything else if they know. Plus, you’re naked.” She reached for his shirt and tossed it to him. Cooper stood, giving her a view of his mouthwatering physique. Had the sex they’d just had been as spectacular as it had felt? Thinking about it made Emma feel a little wonky now, unsteady on her feet. It occurred to her that the things she’d felt only moments ago were things to be feared—how far would the fall be from that pinnacle?

She gained her feet and padded across the room to a bureau. She opened one drawer, found some panties and a T-shirt, and donned them. She reached down and picked up his jeans, holding them out to Cooper. He finished buttoning his shirt and ignored the jeans—he wrapped his arms around her and held her head against his chest. “Come back to LA with me,” he said.

What? Was he crazy? Did he think anything could really come from a romp on a couch at Homecoming Ranch? “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

She put her hand on his waist and pushed away from him. “Because. I don’t have a job. And I’m needed here. Madeline is getting married. Leo needs me.”

“Emma . . .” Cooper cupped her face. “Madeline will get married and get on with her life. And Leo . . .”

Emma’s gaze narrowed.

Cooper didn’t state the obvious. “I want to see you.”

“What are you doing?” she asked, closing her eyes for a moment. “I can’t, Cooper. You know I can’t. My life is too complicated right now.”

“I don’t care,” he said, and kissed the corner of her mouth.

Emma’s eyes fluttered shut.

“There is no one like you. And, I think I can help you.”

“Help me?”

“Help you sort things out.”

Her heart leapt painfully, and so did Emma, jerking out of his arms, putting some space between them. He thought he could help her? The moment Cooper saw her, the moment he understood how bad she was, he would leave her. How could he not? And this time, Emma wouldn’t be able to bear it. “Has it occurred to you that maybe I don’t want help?”

He stared at her, surprised. “What’s the matter? Didn’t this,” he asked, gesturing between the two of them, “mean anything to you?”

Everything. It meant everything. But Emma, the girl who had been told all her life she was nothing special, who had been rejected by her father more than once, who led men on and then stole their trinkets, couldn’t even fathom the possibilities of it. So she said the only safe thing she could say. “Not really.”

Cooper looked as if she’d slapped him. Stunned. Hurt. Confused.

“Cooper, listen,” she said, and pressed her hands against her heart, one on top of the other. To hold it in, to protect it. “I told you, I can’t do ordinary things. I can’t be in an ordinary relationship. I can’t do ordinary love. What you think I am? What you think you see? It’s not real. It’s just your idea of real. Think about what I do. Think about all the things you’ve heard me say.”

“My God, you are messed up,” he said, his voice full of awe.

“Yeah, I know,” she said, nodding. “That’s what I’m saying. I’m also honest, and I’m being totally honest with you right now. That’s why I said you are my kryptonite. It’s sick and weird, and you should do yourself a favor and go back to LA before it gets really weird.”

“Goddammit, Emma!” Cooper exclaimed angrily. She tried to shush him, but he ignored her. “Why are you so down on yourself? Why do you reject something before you’ve even had a chance to think about it? Do you like to hate yourself? Do you like being a slut? Do you like having no one to rely on?”

Daggers, one by one, he shoved daggers into her. But Emma knew herself too well. “I just know who I am.”

“Bullshit. There’s no room for personal growth? For a different interpretation of who you are? Of exploring another facet of you?”

Was there room for that? Emma thought of the kisses they’d shared, of the lovemaking on the couch, and how explosive it had been. She thought of how she wanted to do that again and again, feel that heat in her blood, feel that connection to another human being. Of how devastated she would be when he left. No, there was no room.

Cooper slipped two fingers under her chin, forcing her to look up. “You don’t have to do this with me. Not me. I know who you are—I saw you that night in Beverly Hills. I saw you today. I have seen you with Leo. Yes, you’ve got some really strange shit going on, but there is more to you than that. Whatever it is that makes you do what you do, I don’t know, but you don’t have to hide from me. I’m trying to tell you I will help you deal.”