Chapter Three — Allie

The next morning, I did my best to keep my head held high and my shoulders rolled back as I strode into Cooper’s office. I’d already admitted to myself that my behavior the afternoon before hadn’t been ideal, but I’d decided there was no reason to act like a dog with her tail between her legs, either. I smiled at Laura—the replacement I’d insisted Cooper hire as soon as we were officially a couple. As far as I knew, Kimberly had been sent down to the mail room, which was more than fine with me.

I pushed into Cooper’s office and stopped a few feet inside, pausing to shut the door behind me. His high back office chair was rotated to face me, and he was jibber jabbering on about some business deal. His voice had a hostile undertone to it and I was totally relieved to not be the target of his wrath.

Or, I was, until he spun around to face me at the sound of the door shutting, and it was apparent that, in fact, I was the source of his frustration and as soon as the call ended he’d be directing it my way. I sighed and crossed the room to sink into one of the chairs across from him, waiting for him to finish his business call. As I picked at the hem of my skirt, I found myself wishing I’d thought ahead and worn something a little sexier. In the few months we’d been together, I’d learned the only spot of weakness in his armor was that he found it nearly impossible to stay mad at me when I got him thinking about all the other…more entertaining…things we could be doing together instead of arguing.

“—that’s it, Chuck, end of story. Either get me some better numbers, or I’ll take my business elsewhere.”

I winced as he ended the call with a firm banging of the headset against the sleek phone base. “Bad time?” I asked.

Cooper stared at me, his eyes dark and dangerous, before he cut away and leaned over his desk top to massage a knot at the base of his neck. “Bad day.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, hoping it was understood as more of an apology for lashing out the night before. A little pit of guilt bubbled in my stomach as I realized that his bad day probably had more to do with a restless night—thanks to our verbal tussle—than it did with unfavorable sales data.

Cooped stopped rubbing his neck and braced his elbows on the desk, clasping his hands together. “Are you ready to talk about it?”

My heart stuttered at the direct question and the piercing look in his eyes. It was something I should have been used to, Cooper wasn’t one to drag things out, and for whatever reason, when he got that determined look in his eye, I couldn’t help but feel off-kilter. I’d become so used to keeping things to myself and tamping my secrets down into little tiny boxes in the back of my mind. It was hard to release it all now, even though I’d learned the hard way, it was essential if I wanted to share my life with Cooper. He wasn’t content to let me keep my heart tucked away. “Not really,” I answered, picking up one of the picture frames from the corner of his desk. It held a picture of a Santa Monica sunset, taken when Cooper had whisked me away for a romantic weekend a couple of weeks into our relationship. He’d originally planned a trip to Mexico, but when I told him I hated flying, he changed it to Santa Monica instead.

When I looked up from the picture, he was still fixed on me, not letting me off so easily. I sighed. “I know, I know. I was a total crazy lady last night.”

“No argument here,” he quipped.

I set the frame down roughly. “I’m trying to fix this, Cooper.”

He sucked in a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “All right, Allie. Tell me what you want? You heard what the lawyer said, so what do you want me to do?”

“I want to drop it.”

Cooper’s eyes went wide. My answer was the last one he’d probably been expecting. “Drop it?”

I nodded and swallowed the lump that had built up in my throat. “I know your lawyer guy is really good, and it would more than likely be fine—but I can’t risk it, Cooper. The chance that it doesn’t go as planned and everything comes out—”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“You can’t possibly know that, though! If the truth comes out, about my hacking, and the stuff I dug up for Plush. If that all gets dragged through the courts, then it’s not just me in trouble, it’s Plush, it’s Brighton Enterprises, it’s—” my words cut off. “We just can’t. It’s not worth it.”

Cooper looked ready to launch out of his chair. “So, what are you proposing then? We just wait around and hope it doesn’t happen again? That they decide not to fuck with us again?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, my voice quiet.

Cooper’s face shifted. “What are you afraid of, Allie?”

Shit. “Please, Cooper. Just drop it.”

“Allie, haven’t we been through this enough? I know when you’re keeping something from me. Just tell me what’s going on.”

“See? This is why I went home alone last night. You’re pressuring me and it feels like I can’t breathe! I need this whole thing to go away, right now.” I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to trap my hot tears, but they broke free and slid down my cheeks. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Cooper was at my side within half a second and pulled me against his chest. “Okay, baby, whatever you want. We won’t do the lawyers and court. I’ll handle this.”

I nodded against his chest, my throat tight and constricted.

He pressed a kiss against my forehead and held it there for the minute I needed to regather myself. When I’d calmed down, I straightened up and finally looked at him and met his eyes. “That’s really what you want?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He considered me for another moment, but then he kissed my face again and said, “Consider it done.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked, suddenly sobered. Cooper’s tone was low and dangerous.

“I’ll handle it.”

I wrinkled my nose at him. “Cooper, this isn’t a mob movie. Tell me what you’re going to do!”

“I’m going to talk to Clay. Jeeze, Allie, I’m not threatening to feed him to the fish or something.”

I crossed my arms. “What are you going to say to him?”

We squared off, staring each other down, waiting for one of us to break. When it became clear that neither of us was backing down, Cooper said, “Allie, it’s either my way, or we go back to Mr. Peters office.”

I had my reasons for not wanting to go to court against Clay and Bryce, reasons that were bigger than my own humiliation and pride. “Fine.” I stood from my chair and stalked back towards the door.

“See you for dinner?” Cooper called after me.

“Can’t wait!” I threw back sarcastically at the same time I flung the door open and marched myself out into the hallway. I got about two steps outside when I could’ve sworn I heard the low, gravelly sound of Cooper chuckling.