Page 15 of Cooper’s Promise

She opened the door. There he stood in a button-down light blue shirt, and slacks and suit coat. He looked delicious.

“Why didn’t you answer your cell phone?” she immediately demanded.

“Fuck! I’m sorry, I could have sworn it was on. What time did you call?” He pulled out his cell from his coat pocket. She saw a quick flash of a holster. Why was he carrying a gun? “I’m sorry, Brenna, I see when you called. It came in when I was fielding a couple of calls at the same time. That’s why it didn’t ring.”

She nodded. That happened to her sometimes, and she hadn’t left a voicemail, because she didn’t want to sound needy.

“Why didn’t you leave a message?”

God, couldn’t she get away with anything?

“Brenna?” he prompted.

“It wasn’t important. If you wanted to let me know you were running late, you would have called me.” Let him put that in his pipe and smoke it.

He took a step forward, and curled his hands around her shoulders. “Honey, I should have called. I’m sorry. I wanted to talk to you about this in person.” He was upset about something.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s about Josiah.”

She stiffened, “Oh, shit. What did you do?” She grabbed the lapels of his coat. “Cooper, I didn’t want you to do anything that would get you into trouble. I told you it wasn’t any big deal. He isn’t worth it.”

“Calm down. I didn’t do anything to him. It’s just that he’s moved out since Hudson checked out his place last week. When I went to visit him this morning, he was gone.”

“What?”

“The place was empty. I spoke to the landlord; they said he left no forwarding address.”

“But that makes no sense. Did you go to his work? He’s a graphic designer. He works for an agency in downtown Tampa. Did you talk to them?”

“They said that he moved to Georgia to take care of his sick mother, and he would be doing freelance work for them. They were sorry to see him go.”

Brenna sighed in relief, and smoothed down the rumpled material of Cooper’s jacket. “Well, that explains that...” then her voice trailed off. “Wait, that doesn’t make sense. He can’t have left, because I received the rose this morning.”

“Exactly.”

“What do you think he’s running from? This makes no sense.” She watched as Cooper’s face turned grim.

“I’m worried that this could be about you.”

Brenna laughed. “You and Hudson always think in terms of a doomsday scenario. He’s probably running from creditors.”

“Bullshit. Somehow he caught Hudson’s scent. He knows that we’re after him.”

Brenna laughed. “That is some weird little world you have going on in your pretty little head, Laughlin. No man would be changing up their entire life because they’re crushing on me.” She stepped out of his arms and picked up her purse from the kitchen counter.

When she turned back around, she was gratified to see his eyes on her legs. She’d worn the green dress with the swishy short skirt and the aqua heels.

“You think my head is pretty?”

“Cooper, you know you’re gorgeous.” She watched as he stared at her and blushed. He rubbed at the scarring above his left eyebrow, and then narrowed his eyes.

“Cut the shit, Brenna,” he said gruffly. “Are you ready to go?” Stalking over to the kitchen, he turned off the lights, then put his arm around her shoulders, guided her the couple of steps to the front entry, and turned off the light over the dining room table.

What had just happened, she wondered, as he went to open the front door. She stayed his hand.

“We have reservations. We don’t want to be late,” he said, as he unlocked the door.