“I’m sorry it took me so long to deal with this. Things got out of hand the other day, at my office.” He paused and did an awkward cough as if clearing his throat. “Anyway, I know you told me things were getting out of control with the gossip here, but I figured it would die down. Then Brittany called me and told me some of the things that were being said and finding their way back to Rita.”
“Brittany? Like Rita’s assistant Brittany?” I asked, remembering the girl who had taken me to Rita the day I met Cooper. It seemed like such a long time ago.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“Why would she call you about something like that?” I struggled to put the pieces together as he explained.
“We used to…to talk.”
“Aha, so I’m not your first conquest here in paradise.” I rolled my eyes.
He groaned. “You think that’s funny?”
“Fine, continue your story.” I crossed my arms across my chest and stared straight ahead at the grassy patch ahead of me.
“This isn’t a story. Allison, I’m trying to apologize here. Forgive me?”
I could feel his eyes on me, but didn’t dare turn to meet them. Vulnerability wasn’t an option. This whole thing needed to be over. Now.
“Forgiven. No hard feelings. I got what I needed, and so did you,” I said, standing up from the bench. “Thanks for everything, Mr. Brighton. I learned a lot.”
I shifted my gaze to him for a moment and he looked like I had just landed a sucker punch to his gut. A twinge of pity coursed through me but I spun on my heel and started to walk back down the path.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
I stopped walking.
Before I could even throw back a retort, his hands were on me. He firmly placed a hand on each of my arms and pulled me around to face him. One hand went to my cheek and tilted my face up to look at him. His brown eyes were dark with a brooding mix of anger but there was something else there—a concern I hadn’t seen before.
“I’m fine,” I insisted. “And please stop. I almost got fired because of you.”
“Bullshit. You’re not fine. Bryce almost fired you? For what?”
A momentary debate raged into my head. The truth versus a lie. Confession versus a wall. “Nothing. Just let me go.”
“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
“What do you want me to say? Why do you act like you even care?” My face warmed and I felt my throat tighten, my eyes threatening to spill hot, angry tears.
His eyes changed again. The lines at the edges softened and the anger faded. “What makes you think that I don’t care?”
“I can’t believe I have to spell it out to you like this, but fine,” I started, pulling my face away, out of his grasp. “Face it, we haven’t got along with each other since we met. I don’t know what you see in me. What happened the other day in your office—? That isn’t enough to build a relationship on. And even if it were, you never even tried to contact me afterwards. What the hell was I supposed to think? That you suddenly lost my number? Or maybe you were trying to follow the “bro code” and play it cool for a few days? Maybe you didn’t like what you saw, and decided to go back to banging Barbie dolls. I don’t know, all I know is we fuck, you drop off the radar, until today where you waltz into my boss’s office and treat me like I have some giant scarlet A on my chest.”
I stopped myself and waited for his reply, my eyes desperately searching his for the answers.
“Am I really that big of a jackass?” he asked.
His reply caught me off guard and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Apparently.”
“I’m so glad you have such a high opinion of me. At least you’re honest.”
“That’s my whole point, though! We don’t know each other. At all.”
“So get to know me. Go out to dinner with me. Nothing has to happen afterwards, no expectations, no strings.”
“Cooper, all we have is strings. This whole thing is a big rat’s nest of trouble. Tangled and getting more complicated every time we interact. I’m risking my job even just standing here, talking to you right now. Don’t you get it?”
“Fuck them. You don’t want to be like them anyway. You could do better.”