Slow Ride (17 page)

“Knock, knock,” she heard from nearby. She twisted her head and saw him watching her,
leaning casually against the doorway to the bedroom.

Cooper grinned as his eyes moved over her curves covered only in a bra and her still
unbuttoned capris. In two steps he was behind her, one hand around her waist and pulling
her against his chest.

“I need to get ready, Cooper.” She kept her tone cool, detached, and went back to
the clothes on her bed.

“We have time. I came early to spend some time with you.”

She didn’t respond, instead moving toward the small closet and rooting around for
a pair of sneakers.

“Kyla.”

“Yeah?”

“Look at me.”

“I’m kind of busy. We’re going to be late and that would make a crappy first impression.”

“Please stop talking to the closet and look at me, Kyla.”

“Jesus, Cooper, what? You can’t just walk into my life and suddenly the world stops.
It’s not all about you. I have stuff to do, and the last thing I need is to deal with
your bossiness!”

Cooper was at her back in a flash and touched her arm. It was light, not threatening,
but something about it made her knees wobble.

“I thought we were past this, you avoiding me.”

Kyla went still at his tone. She knew he wasn’t mad at her. It sounded more like annoyance.
But something flipped inside her head. A memory came slamming back, hard and fast,
and she couldn’t stop the trembling that started. Soon her entire body was violently
shaking. She shook her head. “Cooper. Please let me go.”

She couldn’t process the look of concern on Cooper’s face. She was in another place,
another time. “Kyla. Baby, I’m not going to hurt you. I just need your attention.”

When Kyla spoke her voice was barely above a whisper. “Let me go. I need you to let
me go. Please. I won’t talk back. I’m sorry.” She was terrified, caught between what
was happening now and the memory that was gripping her like an iron band across her
chest.

Instead of letting her go, he pulled her into his chest and wrapped her in his arms.
One hand sifted through her hair, the other slid up and down her spine. “Talk to me.”

The words tumbled out before she could stop them.

“Just a memory. A bad one. I couldn’t fight it. It’s not you, it’s me. Sometimes they
just happen and I can’t stop them from overtaking me, bringing me back to that place.”

Cooper didn’t say anything. He just continued to hold her and wait.

“He’d gotten so mad at me. I was taking too long to get ready. He came in as I looked
for a pair of heels in the closet. I knew he was angry, but he had told me an hour
before we had to leave. It was like he wanted me to mess up, to fail his test. And
I did. I thought I had five more minutes. But I didn’t.” Kyla pressed deeper into
Cooper and his arms tightened. “He pushed me hard and slammed my forehead into the
mirrored closet door. The glass shattered everywhere. He’d forced me, right there,
I said no, Cooper. I swear, I said no.” Her breath hitched and she felt Cooper’s arms
convulse around her. “When he was done he dropped me down hard on the glass. The shards
had cut my feet.” She shivered in his arms. “The only good part was that it was the
one time he let me stay home from a social function. There was no way to explain away
the bruises and cuts on me. There was so much blood to clean up.”

“Jesus Christ. Kyla.” He buried his head in her neck. “The fact that you saw not having
to go somewhere with him as an upside is, in and of itself, fucked up.”

She swallowed back the shame. “I know. I wasn’t strong enough.”

Cooper pulled back and looked down at her. “No, you aren’t weak, Kyla. You survived
what sounds like a living hell. Not many would be strong enough to do that. You did
what you had to, but that does not make you, in any way, fucking weak. And I don’t
ever want to hear that crap from you again. Not ever. Do you understand me?”

Kyla lifted a hand and wiped at the tears on her face. “All I can do is try, Cooper.
Frank was my only real relationship. So I kinda suck at this stuff.”

Cooper grinned. “Well, then let me lead the way. I won’t steer you wrong. I promise.”
His hand lifted to trace along the lace of her bra cup, dipping down to her cleavage
and going along the other. “I’ve missed you something fierce.”

His admission had her softening against him, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still
pissed. “Cooper, we need to talk. What the heck happened the other day? Where have
you been and why didn’t you call me or come over? I’ve been scared out of my mind!
Jackson took you away and Phil just said everything was fine. But it wasn’t fine,
Cooper. What is going on?” She pushed against him but stopped herself when she heard
him suck in a breath. Her gaze flew to his face and she gasped. “Oh my god, what happened?”
Her fingers were tentative as they grazed over the fading but still angry bruises
on his jaw, on his cheek, and the cut over his eye. “Are you okay?”

“I’m perfect now, Kyla. No need to worry.” His head dropped forward and he leaned
his forehead to hers. “You did good the other day. Phil said you were a real trooper.
Thanks for doing that.” He kissed her quickly, but she didn’t let him pull away completely,
instead gripping his shoulders tighter than she had ever had before. She was trying
to say a lot with just that kiss—it was urgent, full of desire, and relief that he
was okay.

“Babe,” he started, the corners of his mouth tipped up. “I’m okay, I promise.”

She continued to stare. For the first time since she could remember she realized what
it must have felt like for her family and friends to see her, to see the bruises and
not be able to do anything about it.

“Your face.” The tremble in her voice was the first indication that her whole body
was in fact shaking beneath him. “I shouldn’t have left you there.”

“Kyla, listen to me. I’m fine. I swear to Christ I am. I wouldn’t lie to you about
this. As for leaving me there, I asked you to do that. I would have been pissed if
you hadn’t ‘cause I’d have had to worry about you. I knew if you went back to the
garage and got Phil things would be fine. And they were.”

After another long look she called up her courage enough to straighten and narrow
her eyes at him. “Don’t ever do that again, Cooper Moretto.”

“Kyla. . .”

“No. No you don’t get to talk. At the diner you asked me to leave you with a bad cop
and I did. Stupidly, I did. And now . . . now look at your beautiful face.”

“Kyla, Jackson came to me and yeah it was bad. He had a job to do, but we came to
an understanding, just let me. . .”

She cut him off. “No, Cooper! Listen to me. I had to drive like a bat outta hell to
get Phil, worried out of my mind. Then I didn’t hear anything. Not one thing. For
days. And the guys were acting weird but wouldn’t tell me anything. And I can’t deal
with not knowing, Cooper. I am not the naggy, clingy girlfriend type, I swear to god
I’m not.” She stopped and shook her head as the anger ran out. Her voice cracked,
“But you could have called. I was terrified, Cooper.”

“After the picnic, we’ll talk. I’ll fill you in. I shouldn’t have left you like that.
I just wanted to be the one who talked to you. I am so sorry.”

Her breath hitched. “I thought you wouldn’t be coming back.”

She felt his body still against her.

“I’ll always come back, Kyla. You got me wrapped up in you so tight, it’d be impossible
for me to not come back.” He tipped her chin up and kissed her. It was sweet and soft
and reassuring. “Now, let’s go back to one of your earlier statements. You’re my girlfriend?
A non-clingy and non-naggy one, which is good because I don’t deal with that shit,
but you said it all the same. You mean that?”

She needed a five second delay button on her mouth. The truth just kept spilling out
without a filter. But it was too late now. “Yeah.”

He grinned and she squirmed, which made his grin bigger.

“Good.” Clearly he thought this whole scene was amusing, and he owed her more than
that. Their relationship should mean more than an easy laugh.

“Shut up. I’m still mad at you.”

“Are you going to tell me why?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know. It makes me sound even more clingy and naggy than I already
did.”

Cooper threw his head back and laughed. Hard. When his body finally stopped shaking
from her apparent hilarity, he spoke again. “Just tell me. I can handle it.”

“Because I don’t want to mess this up with you. And if what happened with Jackson
is a harbinger of what is to come, you have to know I will not ever leave your side
when my gut is telling me to stay. I don’t care what happens, or what I hear or see.
I won’t do it and don’t you dare try to make me, Cooper.”

As she was speaking he moved them to the bed and sat down, pulling her with him as
he leaned against the headboard. Kyla cuddled against him, her palm flat to his chest.
She felt his strong heartbeat beneath it and used that strength to open up to him.
When he didn’t answer for what seemed like forever, she started to pull away. “Sorry,”
she whispered into his chest.

“Don’t say sorry for talking to me, Kyla. Don’t apologize for telling me where you’re
coming from with all this. I fucked up by not calling you. I should have known that
sending Phil to talk to you wouldn’t be enough. I could have texted you. I didn’t.
That’s on me.” He ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed. “I was going to tell
you this after the party but might as well get it out there now. But what I say is
between you and I only, Kyla.” When she nodded, he continued. “Believe me when I tell
you this will not happen again. Jackson’s been Saybrook’s lapdog for a while now;
I always thought he was in his pocket. At the diner, he was there for Saybrook, who
apparently doesn’t like all the observation we’re doing of him and his guys. He asked
for volunteers to give me a message and Jackson took it. We came to an understanding.
He is not liking his position in the department, nor does he like seeing what is going
down. So he’s going to feed me info, all anonymous of course, and hopefully keep the
pressure on Saybrook.” He ran his fingers along Kyla’s cheek. “But he still had to
make it look real and deliver that message. It could have been a lot worse. So when
I left, I immediately headed down to Portland to talk to some contacts. I am an idiot
for doing that. Never fucking again, will I not contact you. Ever.” Cooper’s lips
thinned and the muscle in his jaw jumped. “And I will not startle you. I swear I am
working on that.”

She sensed the steely resolve in his voice but also the pain he felt for her.

“Cooper, don’t be mad at yourself. It’s getting better. It’s just sometimes I forget
or get lost in a memory. I trust you enough to know you aren’t intentionally freaking
me out. I just have to learn to not let the fear trap me inside myself and confuse
you with Frank.”

“Damn straight ‘cause I am not that motherfucker.” His hands went to the sides of
her head.

“Cooper, kiss me again?”

He did and it didn’t take long for things to get heated. One hand slid to her ass,
the other to her breast. They both squeezed and he added a thumb swipe over the fabric
of her bra, her nipple hardening. His teeth nipped her neck and he whispered, “Go
get dressed so we can go eat before I decide to eat right here. And then we won’t
be getting to the picnic at all.”

“Cooper!” Her cheeks heated as she covered them with her hands. “Go get a Coke or
something from the fridge and I’ll be right out.”

“Will do. Gotta call Rose and Jack, too. I don’t like the look of your lock. I’m going
to have a new one put in, a dead bolt.”

She wrinkled her nose as she tugged on her shirt. “Ugh, bossy!” she accused, shaking
her head when she heard him laughing. She rolled her eyes and finished her make-up
and hair while Cooper made his calls. She knew there was no sense arguing with him
and if she got some additional security while she was here, who was she to complain?

When she came out of the bedroom he was holding the photo of her and her brother when
they were kids in his hand. “You were a cute kid,” he said. “Does your brother know
about me? Threaten to do me bodily harm if I hurt you?” When she nodded, he laughed.
“I already like ‘em. Jack is putting a new lock in later. I’m not letting anything
happen to my best female employee.”

“I’m your only female employee,” she grumbled, letting the tension slide from her
shoulders. “So are we going?”

“Anxious to not be alone with me?” he said, his voice low. His fingers played at the
bottom of her tank top and his lips twitched as her breathing increased.

“I don’t . . . no.” She tried to step toward the door, but his arm stretched out to
pull her back to him.

“Then you want to be alone with me? ‘Cause we can skip the picnic, or at least show
up late.” He bent his head, his nose and lips barely touching the skin along her neck,
moving to her jaw, and finally finding her lips.

She thought her heart might explode out of her chest as he kissed her in that way
that made her want to jump out of her skin, or at least jump all over him. Her hands
grabbed the waistband of his jeans and she tugged him closer against her while Cooper
slid his hands underneath her top. As he moved up her back, he stopped when his fingers
reached the fabric of her bra before continuing higher.

Kyla didn’t want him to stop. She did not want him to ever stop touching her. She
nipped at his lower lip, her eyes twinkling as she watched his face as they kissed.
But as his hands slid higher and skimmed the scars on her back, she froze. “You’re
right, we are going to be late, which would make me look bad.” She pulled her tank
top down.

Cooper adjusted his jeans. “One of these days we’ll finish what we start. No interruptions.
Just you and I. Are you going to be able to handle that?”

“I’m trying to get there, Cooper, and I honestly cannot wait until I am.”

His hands glided to her ass, squeezing lightly as he kissed her forehead. “I know
you are. Let’s go. You’ve got a bunch of people to meet and Edith is going to hand
me my ass if we don’t get there.” He guided her through the door, shutting and locking
it behind them.