Rebels and Roses, page 5
“Tom was keeping her company,” Jane replied. “I don’t think she’ll get lonely.”
“I need to talk to him,” Cooper ground out. “I think he does things without thinking it through, and then he panics when the consequences come knocking.”
“You just described a good chunk of the human population,” Zack laughed. “I could tell you some stories from my former workplace. And these were guys that were in charge of hundreds of millions of dollars. They were great at their jobs, but they didn’t have a drop of common sense. Not a bit.”
“What’s the story on Tom?” Tate asked, joining them at the table. “I don’t know what your relationship with him is like, but it’s a bit strange that he came to you for help. Doesn’t he have family or friends? Not that you’re not a great guy. You are. But…I’m not sure what he thinks you can do for him. Be his bodyguard?”
“No offense taken,” Cooper declared. “I agree with you, actually. I’m not sure what drove him to seek me out. Maybe I was more of a big brother figure to him when Fiona and I were married than I realized. He always seemed interested in my friends and the places I visited. Maybe I seem worldly or wise to him. Or maybe his friends have grown tired of him talking about being followed.”
“Wise?” Zack mocked, his smile wide. “Cooper Winslow…wise man. Um, it doesn’t have much of a ring to it.”
“The first step to being wise is knowing that you don’t know it all,” Cooper shot back with a grin. “And I do know that. Tom was really just a kid when Fiona and I were married. I guess he looked up to me, heaven help him.”
“What are you going to do about him?”
“I already did it. I took him for a chat with Finn.”
“And now what?” Lucy asked.
“He goes home,” Cooper replied. “He agrees that he can’t stay here, although he’s dragging his feet on booking a ticket home. There’s nothing more I can do for him unless it’s to step between him and a bullet. I like him and all, but that’s asking for a bit much since he and I aren’t even related anymore.”
“I hope no one tries to shoot him,” Jane said. “Do you believe that someone is truly following him?”
“I believe that he believes it.”
The subject of this conversation needed to be changed. He was already pissed off that Tom had come crashing back into his life without so much as a head’s up. The younger man had simply shown up here, assuming that Cooper would drop everything to help.
Sadly, he wasn’t shocked. The Kemp children had always thought they were the center of the universe. Other people’s needs weren’t high on their priority list.
Face it, you don’t like dwelling on the past.
Cooper had always been a live-in-the-present kind of guy. Not looking back and not looking too far forward.
Except when it came to his mother’s disappearance.
“Are you flying out this afternoon?” Cooper asked Zack. “Do you need a ride to the airport?”
“I was going to take him,” Lucy said.
“You have to work,” Zack objected. “I can’t take you away from the bookstore for that long.”
“It’s okay. It’s fine.” Lucy nudged Jane with her elbow. “Tell him it’s fine.”
“It’s fine.”
Jane repeated the words so robotically that everyone had to chuckle at her deadpan delivery. Cooper knew good and well that Jane could handle the store on her own without breaking a sweat. The woman was amazing.
“I can take an Uber,” Zack said with a roll of his eyes. “No one has to drive me. I’m a grown man, and I can get on an airplane all by myself.”
“I have the afternoon free,” Cooper replied. “Besides, I can drop Tom off at the same time. Two birds, one airport. Or something like that. Anyway, I can do it. It’s no trouble.”
“Fine,” Zack capitulated. “I’m saying yes, because if I don’t, you’ll drive me up a wall.”
“I guess I’m just chopped liver,” Lucy sniffed, pretending to be insulted but a smile played on her lips. “I’ll have to stay at work.”
The way Zack and Lucy looked at one another - their gooey love-soaked expressions - made Cooper want to gag out loud if only to give them a hard time. He was happy for his brother. They made a great couple. But he was also kicking himself now that he realized that Lucy had wanted to say a proper goodbye to Zack. New couples always wanted to kiss at the airport. He didn’t know why, but he’d seen it a dozen times with friends. Was there something primal about seeing off a loved one when they were taking a long trip that required an airplane?
Cooper had simply wanted to discuss the entire reason that Zack was even going on this business trip. He was meeting with an old friend from college who had opened a successful art movie theater on the East Coast. They wanted to get some tips and insight.
Lunch ended, and Cooper and Zack hung back near the table while Jane and Lucy visited the ladies’ room. Tate was already back behind the bar, flipping through a newly delivered stack of mail.
“Keep an eye on Lucy for me, okay?” Zack asked. “I know she’ll be fine, and I’m only going to be gone a day or two, but I worry. I know it’s silly, but I do.”
“Of course, I will. And it’s not silly at all.”
Cooper’s gaze landed on Jane as she and Lucy were coming back to join them. She looked gorgeous today as usual. Dressed casually in khaki pants and a white cotton blouse with her long, lush hair loose around her shoulders, she didn’t look like any accountant he’d ever met. Years ago, he’d hired some guy to handle the taxes and bookkeeping for S.S. Cooper, and not once had he studied the dude’s lips or the curve of his neck.
This was becoming a bad habit. He was staring at her far too often, letting his gaze linger far too long. At this rate, someone was sure to notice.
“Cooper, are you listening to me at all?”
No, I’m not. I’m lusting after a beautiful woman.
“I have a lot on my mind.”
It wasn’t a lie.
“You could ask her out. She might say yes.”
This. This is what he’d been afraid of. It was becoming too obvious.
What’s too obvious? Your feelings? You don’t have any, remember?
“It’s not like that.”
“Jane is an amazing woman. You could do worse, and she could do better.”
“Thanks, a lot,” Cooper groused. “But as I said…it’s not like that.”
“You’re just friends then?”
If friends like to do naked, sweaty things to one another then yes.
“Are you worried I’ll end up alone, hanging around your house with Lucy, scrounging dinner and sitting on your couch drinking beer and watching the game?”
“No, but I’ll admit that I’m trying to figure out your relationship with Jane. Sometimes, you two seem like you like each other, and other times you act like there’s nothing but disdain. Which is it?”
“Can’t it be both? Some things aren’t simple and straightforward.”
“I can see that I just need to drop the subject,” Zack said with a grin. “Now are you ready to take me to the airport? I just need to grab my bags at Lucy’s place.”
“And Tom. We need to get him, too.”
It was time for Tom - and the past that he represented - to go home. There wasn’t much that Cooper could do for him, and clearly, Tom needed to have some sort of honest discussion with Erica. The guy needed to get his life together and stop womanizing. Or if he wanted to play the field, he needed to be honest with the women involved. No playing games.
The sooner Tom returned to Denver, the sooner Cooper could go back to his own carefree and uncomplicated existence.
For some reason, that didn’t sound nearly as good as he’d assumed it would.
5
“Ithink it would be best for me to stay a few more days,” Tom said, not meeting Cooper’s gaze. “Am I cramping your style? I can make myself scarce tonight if you need me to.”
Cooper had come by the apartment to convince Tom to pack his small suitcase and accompany him to the airport where he could catch the next flight back to Denver. The younger man, however, had different plans.
Shit and double shit.
It was clear as glass that Tom didn’t want to face his almost fiancée, Erica. He didn’t want to deal with any questions or issues with their relationship. He simply wanted to hang out in Winslow Heights for a while, flirting with college girls and drinking beer at Tate’s.
That was his plan. He’d said that he needed a “vacation” to get his thoughts straight about what he needed to do.
Cooper thought he was full of shit. Tom wanted to act like a college kid again, and he was taking the opportunity to shed his adult responsibilities.
“Erica will be there when I get back,” Tom continued. “Besides, since I’ve been here this is the safest I’ve felt in months. I haven’t been this relaxed in forever. I get anxious at the mere thought of going home.”
“I admire your confidence, but are you sure Erica is going to wait around for you to decide to come back? That seems overly optimistic. She might be waiting but only to kick your ass. Pissing her off probably isn’t the way to stay in her good graces.”
Considering you’ve been cheating on her.
“It’s all good,” Tom replied confidently. “Like I said, being here has just been so freeing. I’m not burdened by worry and fear twenty-four hours a day. I mean…it’s okay, right? I can stay a few more days? If not…I guess I could get a hotel or something.”
If Tom had been rehearsing his puppy dog eyes, Cooper wouldn’t have been shocked. The guy looked so hopeful yet sad at the same time. He should let Tom go to a hotel. He could afford it, and Cooper didn’t want to be a part of the man’s hijinks with college girls.
“A couple of days,” Cooper heard himself saying. “Then you need to go home and face Erica. Holing up here isn’t healthy, and it sure as shit isn’t going to solve anything.”
“Thanks,” Tom said, his face splitting into a grin. “That’s great. Awesome. I won’t be any trouble, I promise. I’ll be like a mouse in the corner. You won’t even know I’m here.”
Cooper would know Tom was there.
Tom’s phone lit up, and he pulled it from his back pocket to check the screen.
“Shit,” he said, his face now pale and considerably less happy than he’d been seconds ago. Was that Erica calling asking where he was? “I need to take this. Sorry.”
Tom disappeared into the guest room where Zack still had a few things despite staying with Lucy most of the time. Cooper sat down at the kitchen table, flipping open his laptop. He was expecting an email from his editor about his most recent release. The publisher was still trying to press him about going out on some sort of “tour” of bookstores. He’d do a reading of his work in progress, answer questions, then sign books and shake hands while posing for photos that would end up on social media.
It sounded like hell on earth, frankly. Cooper had always been clear that he didn’t want his face out there. Anonymity suited him. He enjoyed being the man behind the curtain. Once his face was out there, he couldn’t control his own image anymore.
And if there was one thing a Winslow loved, it was control. He was as guilty as any of his siblings when it came to control. He wasn’t proud of it, but he also wasn’t actively fighting it either. As long as he wasn’t steamrolling everyone around him, it was fine.
He’d find some neutral, non-confrontational way to remind her that they’d all agreed that he wouldn’t be doing any book tours. Now or ever.
He was typing out his firm but polite reply when Tom returned, slightly out of breath and his face bright red.
“That was Fiona,” Tom announced. “She’s mad.”
“Mad?” Cooper echoed. “On a scale of one to ten, how mad?”
“Fifty. She’s furious.”
“You knew she would be when you stole her phone. Honestly, I’m shocked it’s taken her this long to call you.”
“She’s been calling for a while, but I didn’t answer until now.”
Evading her calls would simply make Fiona more pissed off as the hours ticked by.
“Why did you answer now? Wouldn’t it be easier to just give her back her phone and explain then?”
“I figured if she got really out of hand, I could just hand you the phone. I know you can deal with her.”
Jesus, Mary, and the camel. Did this guy take accountability for anything? He shouldn’t be shocked. He’d known the family and had married into it. This wasn’t a surprise, but apparently, he’d forgotten with the passing of time.
“Tom, I am not dealing with Fiona for you,” Cooper said using his firmest tone. “Or anyone, for that matter. You stole her phone. You deal with it. End of story. You had to know what you were getting into. Fiona has a temper.”
And Cooper had a little scar on his temple in case he ever forgot that fact. She’d thrown a plate at him during one of their marital blowouts. Afterward, she’d cried and said she’d never actually wanted to hit him. It had been an accident.
“She’s furious, that’s for sure,” Tom declared. “I tried to explain to her why I did it.”
“What did she say?”
“She said that I’m an idiot, and then she hung up.”
Based on Tom’s squirrelly behavior in the last twenty-four hours, Cooper couldn’t argue the point.
“Did she say anything else?”
“No.”
“Are you going to call her back?”
“Hell, no. I don’t want to be yelled at. I’ll just stay here and lay low. She’ll get over it eventually.”
“So let me get this straight,” Cooper said with a sigh. “Your plan is to hide out here until Fiona calms down? Is that correct?”
“Yes, I think it makes sense.”
“I think that you don’t know your sister very well.”
Dealing with Tom Kemp had frustrated the hell out of Cooper. He was a peaceful person, and he enjoyed the quiet solitude of his home.
That was gone. Temporarily, of course, but still gone.
But he knew how to release some tension.
Picking up his phone, he tapped out a text. He held his breath waiting for the reply which came only moments later.
Sweet escape.
Chuckling, he tucked the phone back into his pocket and grabbed his keys from the table.
“I’ll be out for the evening. If you’re hungry, you can go to Tate’s. Have him put it on my tab. Don’t wait up.”
He was headed straight for Jane’s apartment.
It was nothing more than a booty call.
Did the young people even use the term “booty call” anymore? Was she showing her age?
When Cooper had reached out to her about meeting up tonight, Jane hadn’t hesitated to say yes. She wanted to be with him, after all. She was past the age where playing hard to get sounded like a fun game. They were both adults, and they both wanted to get their freak on. It was that simple.
She wasn’t going to be embarrassed about having sexual needs. And boy, Cooper knew how to fulfill all her needs. He was damn good at it, too.
Jane was surprised to hear from him because as far as she knew his brother-in-law was still in town. Perhaps Cooper had been successful in getting Tom Kemp to the airport today, although in that case, she would have expected him to invite her to his place. He’d asked about meeting at her place which was unusual but not unheard of. There was more chance for them to be seen together at her apartment, but she preferred her bed to his. He had a lump in the mattress on her side that made it uncomfortable.
He probably knew it too, and he wouldn’t fix it so no woman would ever spend the night.
Shit, she shouldn’t be so cynical. They’d agreed that they weren’t going to get involved. Emotions and commitments weren’t on the agenda. It had worked for both of them, so why was she getting so weird about it all? This was what she’d wanted. What she still wanted. Right?
I am so not going to fall for Cooper Winslow. That’s a one-way ticket to heartbreak.
If she was foolish enough to get emotionally involved with him then she deserved the tears, buckets of ice cream, and sad country music that would be in her future.
Briefly, she had an image of herself sitting on the couch watching bad rom-coms while eating mint chocolate chip, wearing a ratty bathrobe with her hair knotted and greasy. Not a pretty sight. After she and her ex had split up, she’d let herself go for a few weeks, but she’d caught a glimpse of her pasty skin and ratted hair in the mirror one day and it had jolted her into action. She’d taken a shower and then headed to her hairdresser for a fresh style right away. She’d even bought herself a brand-new red lipstick, dark and vampy.
It had been okay to wallow in misery for a bit, but she wasn’t going to allow it to become a lifestyle. Not for her ex, and not for Cooper. No matter how charming, funny, intelligent, and sexy he was.
She’d showered after he’d called, rubbing on her favorite body lotion that smelled faintly of vanilla and coconut. After blowing out her hair, she’d put on a small amount of makeup. Just enough to look nice, but not too much that it looked like she was trying too hard. She wanted to look good but casual.
To his credit, he was a punctual kind of guy, and she heard the knock on her door at seven-fifty-nine. When she opened up, he was standing there with a folder and a bottle of wine under one arm and a pizza in the other. Her stomach growled as she inhaled the delicious aromas wafting from the cardboard box. Clearly, he’d stopped at Tate’s on the way for one double cheese special. To go.
“I brought dinner. Are you hungry?”
“I could eat. It smells amazing.”
She stepped back so he could enter, closing the door behind him as he headed into her tiny kitchen area. Cooper wasn’t a huge man - perhaps a bit over six feet tall - but he seemed to take up every bit of space between the refrigerator and the countertop.
The apartment wasn’t much. One big room that was the kitchen-living room combination, her bedroom off the living room, and a bathroom that was attached to a small walk-in closet. It was plenty for her needs, but she hoped that someday she’d be able to buy a house with a little backyard space. She’d love to have a flower bed and maybe grow some vegetables. Perhaps a dog, too.
