Touch Me - Complete Collection (11 page)

Celia pursed her lips and stared at the carpet. “Yes.”

Jenny’s breath escaped in a rush. “Great. Thanks,” she muttered bitterly and stood up, heading toward the door.

“No! Wait, Jenny?” Jenny twirled back to meet the blonde’s eyes. Now Celia was going to rub it into her face. “I think you’re taking this the wrong way.”

“Really? Am I, Celia? You were with him for days! How am I supposed to take this the right way?”

“Days?” Her face twisted up, still pretty as a picture. Rage billowed in Jenny’s chest. “I just met him for dinner. He called me, but we just talked. I think I stayed for an hour. He explained how he…well…” She giggled. “He essentially scolded me for barging in that day.”

Jenny felt the blood rush out of her. She swallowed. “You didn’t stay with him at the Ritz?"

“God, no! He said he didn’t want to have anything to do with me, and he was done playing…he said he had…he said he’d found the one.”

Tears burned Jenny’s eyelids, and she strode forward, ferociously wrapping her arms around Celia. Celia gasped.

“Thank you, Celia.”

**

Jenny’s cellphone rang for the tenth time since that morning, and she glanced at it, knowing it would be Cooper. Again.

It was Dexter.

So
Cooper has enlisted assistance.

“Jenny! Where are you?” Dexter yelled urgently, breathless, as if he had been running.

“I'm at my place.”

“Your place? What are you doing? Cooper has been calling like a madman. Why are you moving out of his apartment?”

“I can’t explain to you, Dex.” She trapped her phone between her ear and shoulder, pulling out clothes from the suitcase and hanging them in her new closet.

“Why not? He’s getting on a flight tonight. Can you just call him and explain why you’re moving out? He’s losing his mind.”

“Dexter…I’ll talk to him when he gets here, alright? I can’t do the phone thing anymore. He gets pissed and yells, and I want to smack him through the phone. This phone is the worst thing ever invented…it’s a curse to long distance relationships.”

“You're making no sense.”

“See? It’s this damn phone! I can never get my point across.”

Dexter sighed. “Where have you moved?”

Jenny bit her lip and gave him the address, and he hung up, telling her he’d call back once he talked to Cooper.

Jenny felt bad for using a mediator to talk to
Cooper. But she had made it clear; she was too emotionally underdeveloped to deal with the drama of a serious relationship. So, she bailed.

**

A sharp knock on the front door, along with the constant ringing doorbell awoke her. She glanced at the clock, wondering if Cooper had come back and decided to give her a visit. A glimpse through the peephole and her heart began beating frantically.

She opened the door and Cooper stood fuming outside, with a harassed looking security guard behind him.

“Could you have at least left my name on the expected visitors’ list?” he raged.

Jenny shook her head to clear it. “Come in,” she finally managed after a long pregnant pause.

Cooper stomped in, turning to face her. “What happened, Jenny?”

“Nothing happened.”

He pursed his lips. “Then why are you here? And not back at our apartment?”

“I needed…” She tried desperately to remember all the things she had rehearsed in her head. “I need some space. I need to be independent.”

He nodded. “I can give you space.”

“I got tired of all the…drama.”

“What drama, Jenny? What happened with Jason…I've let it go, you know that.”

She shook her head, walking toward the couch in the center of her small apartment. Plopping herself onto it, she waited until he sat and then breathed deeply. “It’s not about that. I mean it is…but it was just a constant barrage of drama. I just want to rest…I want peace. I don’t want to feel like an over-emotional yoyo all the freaking time!”

“What are you talking about, sweetheart?”

She stared straight into his eyes. “I found your credit card statement and…saw the ten day stay at The Ritz.”

His face went white and his lips parted. “You're misunderstanding that. I only lied to you because you were on the verge of leaving my place, because we kissed…and Celia barged in…and then I…I didn’t have a choice so I moved out of the damn apartment so you didn’t have to go anywhere.”

“See? The drama! God! It’s like we’re constantly just…” She sighed. “I told you I’m not ready for anything serious. I wasn’t even willing to have a relationship. But it happened and…I don’t like the person that I've become!”

“I like the person that you’ve become.”

“I don’t, Cooper. I’m always worried over something or the other. You know what I did when I found the statement? I called your architect for Celia’s number- ”

“What?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Celia had nothing to do with that!”

“I know. But I went all Nancy Drew. Heartbroken Nancy Drew, and I don’t want to feel that pathetically vulnerable again.”

“What did Celia say?” He wondered if she had lied to cause a rift between him and Jenny.

“She told me the truth. She was really sweet.”

“Is that why you moved into her apartment building? Are you two buddies now?”

She chuckled. “No. I just liked her apartment when I came to talk to her.”

“Okay.” He paused staring at the ground. “So you want us to…date? Or what? Take it slow?”

Jenny swallowed. “I want a break.”

“Ahan!” He turned his face away and shifted on the couch, linking his fingers together, lost in thought.

“Cooper…you know I love you.”

“That’s why you need break!” he scoffed

She grabbed his arm as he stood up, but he didn’t let her clutch him. “I was so…whiny, needy, dependent. While you were in Sydney this time, I moped around all day. I’m becoming pathetic.”

He looked down at her, and shook his head. “You were in love with me. And you missed me. It was normal. Why do you have to psychoanalyze everything?”

She stayed silent, and scratched the cushion cover lazily. He stared down at her, before walking out of her apartment. Her heart twisted painfully in her ribs, and she clenched her eyes shut to squelch the ache. Remorse made its presence known. She pulled in the tears that brimmed behind her eyelids. Dreary fogs engulfed her, and she already felt the missing link to her happiness. Cooper.

**

Jenny gathered the files off her office desk and stuffed them inside her laptop sleeve. Gracie – her colleague and new friend – shuffled past.

“Are you heading back already?” Gracie asked.

“Yup.”

“Do you want to go out for a drink tonight?” She peeked at Jenny hesitantly.

Jenny pursed her lips. It had been two months since she had moved into her own apartment. During that time, a lot of stuff had changed. She had made two new good friends. The first one was Gracie, and the other was the most ridiculous prospect of all – Celia Banks.

Gracie knew the Cooper Farrell episode, and surprisingly, she hadn’t sympathized with Jenny – at all. Her view of Cooper Farrell bordered on adoration and worship, and she always insisted that Cooper was a catch, and that Jenny had been a fool to let him go.

“I don’t feel like it tonight,” Jenny mumbled. “You carry on without me. I think I’ll stay in and watch a movie.”

“Mhmm. Don’t you think you should do something else? Besides staying home and feeding the cats?”

“I don’t have any cats.”

“The way you’re going, it’s only a matter of time, Jenny.”

Jenny smiled. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“By the way, I think there’s something you should know.” When she had Jenny’s full attention, she scooted closer, her voice lowered to a whisper. “I was in the manager’s office this morning, and I overheard…” She gazed at Jenny, worry marking her features.

“What? You overheard what? You’re scaring me.”

Gracie sighed. “O’Malley trust is owned by…Farrell Corp.”

Jenny swallowed, her throat going dry. “What?”

“I didn’t want to upset you, Jen. But I thought you should know.”

“Yeah!” Jenny fought back tears, grabbing her bag and walking speedily out of the bank.

**

Cooper slid into his car and slipped his key into the ignition. A sound from his right made him turn and the passenger side door opened. “What the?” Then he realized it wasn’t a mugger.

“Jenny?”

“Hi, Cooper!” she almost shrieked breathlessly.

He inhaled hastily, his eyes roving over her face. “What happened? Are you alright?”

Jenny’s lower lip trembled as she battled the sobs from erupting from her chest. Even when she deserved nothing but distaste, he was still worried about her.

“I’m alright, boss.” When Cooper just furrowed his eyebrows, she unsteadily spoke again. “You own O’Malley trust.”

Cooper looked away. “Is there anything else you have to say? Because I’m in a hurry.”

“I’ll go with you.” She sat straighter, securing the seatbelt across herself.

He turned, finally getting angry. “Go where? I’m going home…to my place. You should go home…to your place.”

“No, take me to your place,” she cried stubbornly.

“What-
get out of my car!”

“No!” Jenny shouted, and Cooper saw the tears, the dampness on her eyelashes.

She had been crying. Wordlessly, he put the car into gear and they pulled out of basement parking, out into the last filtering streaks of dusk.

They rode in silence until Cooper’s apartment building came into view. He finally turned to her determinedly. “Can I drop you off somewhere?”

“No.”

He stopped the car, turning to face her. “What kind of childishness is this now? Can’t you just grow up? You’re pissing me off and this is not the first damn time. I can’t deal with this immaturity anymore.”

Jenny’s heart warped excruciatingly.
He’s being rude. Is he over me? Has he forgotten me already? Has he found someone else?

“Is there someone else at your apartment?”

Cooper slapped his hand onto the steering wheel and Jenny jumped. “Enough! Enough of these assumptions…these asinine thoughts that just pop into your little brain and you speak them out loud. I can’t even dignify them with a response anymore.”

“Why are you so mad at me?” she cried.

He gaped at her. “Have you…have you got something up here?” He pointed to his head. “Take a moment, and think…why am I pissed at you? Hmm. Is it really that hard to solve that query?”

Jenny bit her lip. “I think I owe you an explanation.”

“No, thank you very much. Save it! Tell me where I can drop you off.”

“Listen to me!” She grabbed his hand and pulled it onto her lap, but he gently towed it off. “I don’t know…why I did what I did. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Ever since I landed on your doorstep, broke, pathetic, I…I wanted to leave. You know that right?”

“Yes, I know.” He didn’t look at her.

“The last few months with Jason…” She began slowly.

That sparked his interest, and he quickly looked at her face. Gauging every word now, every expression. He had always thought she had bailed because of Jason.

She inhaled deeply before continuing. “I wasn’t happy, but I thought I was. I was just in a routine. Living with him, believing that this was it. This was my life. I didn’t know it could be any different, and didn’t expect it to be. When I met you, it was so sensational, dynamic…but I always assumed that it would soon become as dull and meaningless as it was with Jason.”

“And it did. For you.”

“No, it didn’t! But I stayed scared, always, every second. I was waiting for it to become dreary and dull. I wanted to stay happy because you kept me happy. But at the back of my mind, I always knew that I was never good enough for you.’

“You have lost your mind!”

A sob escaped her chest. “I thought you stayed with Celia for ten days, and my chest was on fire with agony. Then I found out that it wasn’t true, but I thought it was only a matter of time…before you would find someone as exciting as yourself.”

“You're crazy.” He looked out of the window again.

“Do you think
, Coop…do you think you could give me another chance?” His gaze swiveled toward hers, serious, cold, unfeeling. Her heart sank. “I really want to give us another chance.”

“But you need space. And you don’t like the person you are when you’re with me.”

She sobbed, her lips trembling, her eyes crinkling as tears spilled down her cheeks. “That person was better than this person. I hurt all the time, Cooper.”

He exhaled, staring at her, but he couldn’t bring himself to touch her, comfort her. Not yet. He had given up on the idea of her, accepted the fact that she would never feel about him the way he felt about her. He was petrified that if he reached forward and touched her, the illusion would disappear, that she couldn’t possibly be saying this.