Eden

The ringing of my phone brings me out of a dead sleep and I raise my head from my pillow. My hair is knotted and hanging in my face, so I push it away while I reach over to the nightstand to grab my phone. It’s seven thirty in the morning.

I see that Colleen’s calling me. Coop has kept me up most of the night doing deliciously dirty things to me. I am in no mood to talk to Colleen, so I hit the button to send it to voicemail.

Speaking of Coop, I push myself up in his bed, bringing the sheet up over my naked breasts as I look around. Almost as if it was planned, he comes walking out of the bathroom with a towel around his narrow hips. His hair is washed but he didn’t shave, and I really, really love that dark shadow of stubble. He didn’t have that when we were younger.

“Morning, sunshine,” he says all bright eyed and chipper.

My voice is froggy with sleep when I return, “Morning.”

Coop grins at me and crawls onto the mattress. My eyes inadvertently drop to the gap in his towel before popping back up to his face. His grin widens as he leans over and kisses me. His breath is minty and I hate that mine is probably rancid, but he doesn’t seem to care. I run my fingers through the long mass of tangles in my hair, trying to make myself more presentable.

“I’ve got to run out and handle an emergency irrigation issue,” Coop says as his hand comes up to finger the edge of the sheet covering my breasts. His eyes drop there as well. “Probably take me about an hour.”

“On a Sunday?” I ask.

“Problems don’t happen only on weekdays,” he quips.

“Okay,” I say with an understanding smile. I watch him still staring at his finger as it runs along the edge of the sheet. His eyes are hooded and warm, and I know exactly what he’s thinking. “So get going.”

His gaze travels up slowly and he gives me a wicked grin. “It’s not that big of an emergency. I don’t have to run right out of here. I could…say, for example…crawl back under the covers with you for a little while.”

I giggle and push at his chest. “I need a break. You kept me up all night.”

God, did he keep me up all night. He was insatiable, but then again, so was I. If he wasn’t reaching for me in the dark, I was reaching for him. One time I’d drifted off to sleep, only to wake to find him in me, slowly thrusting from behind. Damn, it was so amazing. He’s amazing. Both different and the same, but both amazing.

“Can’t get enough of you,” Coop growls low, and lowers his head to skim his lips over my collarbone. I have to struggle not to push the sheet down and demand he go lower.

“I’ll be here when you get back,” I assure him. Preferably after a long, hot bubble bath and a thorough scrubbing of my teeth.

He lifts his head and his face is inscrutable. Finally, he smiles slowly and brushes his lips against mine. “Okay…and we can figure out when I get back what we want to do today.”

Coop had told me he generally takes weekends off unless there’s an emergency—I guess like this irrigation issue—but I don’t want him to assume he has to spend it with me.

“Um…if you’ve got something else you’d rather do today, don’t feel like you have to keep me entertained,” I tell him hesitantly.

“You in my bed is absolutely entertaining,” he says before he pushes backward off the mattress. “But I thought maybe we could take a drive and spend the day at the beach.”

I sit up further in the bed and cock an eyebrow. “I thought this was just rebound sex.”

“We can have sex on the beach if you want,” he says mischievously as he whips his towel off. My mouth goes dry and he laughs at me eyeballing him. “Maybe you can run into town and grab us some breakfast. The fridge is pretty bare.”

“Yeah, sure,” I say as the idea of us spending a day at the beach together is sounding pretty fantastic. Coop walks away bare-ass naked out the bedroom door, presumably over to the one he’s staying in to get some clothes. I go ahead and ogle as he’s admitted to doing the same of me when I was on the cover of SI.

As Coop disappears out the door, my phone starts ringing again and I turn my head to glance at it. Colleen isn’t giving up.

With a sigh, I go ahead and answer so I can get her off my back and enjoy the day. “Colleen, it’s seven thirty in the morning here. Which means it’s four thirty there. For the love of God, it’s a weekend. Take a break.”

Colleen merely grunts her disdain for my suggestion before saying, “You know I don’t have a personal life. You’re my life, and when there’s work to do, I do it. Even if it’s four thirty in the morning.”

“What could possibly be wrong at four thirty in the morning?” I ask as I give a dramatic eye roll to Coop, who walks back into the room holding clothes in his hand. He smiles at me as he walks to the bed, where he tosses the clothing. He does this so I can get an up-close-and-personal view of him while he dresses, and I very much appreciate it.

He starts with his boxer briefs, and they look damn good on him.

“Brad’s going apeshit wondering where you are,” Colleen says with frustration. “Which includes calling me at four thirty in the morning. Will you just call him?”

“I don’t want to talk to him,” I tell Colleen, continuing to stare at Coop as he pulls on a pair of jeans. His gaze narrows in on me as he listens and realizes we’re probably talking about Brad. I don’t know what makes me do it, but I pull the phone away from my ear and hit the speaker button so Coop can hear this conversation. I’d already admitted my dirty secret about why I said yes to Brad. He might as well hear all of it. “I’ll talk to Brad when I’m not as angry, but right now…he just needs to leave me alone.”

Colleen huffs with frustration, but I don’t care. She insinuated herself firmly into my life when I hired her almost eight years ago. I was drowning in the business. Colleen became my life vest and I grabbed on hard, relying on her probably too much. She transitioned into Hollywood with me and there’s no denying she’s been my right hand since then. She can be bossy and blunt, but she also keeps me on track.

“I’m not going to do the movie with Brad,” I tell Colleen, and then brace for her explosion.

“What the fuck, Eden?” she shouts at me. “You’re under contract. You’re going to get sued. The press will kill you over this.”

“I don’t care,” I tell her, my voice strong and assured. I realize that Coop’s come to sit on the edge of the bed, staring at me while I talk to Colleen. He’s actually poised and ready to give me advice or comfort if needed. “If he wants to sue, he can sue. The bad press will go both ways. He needs to move on, because that’s what I’m doing.”

“This is a bad decision,” Colleen warns.

“But it’s my decision,” I tell her softly. “I need to make more of those, I’ve realized.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I can tell I’ve totally offended her so I tread softly. “I think I’ve overrelied on you to take care of too many things for me. I need to be more involved in my own life and not just doing my job as an actress. That oversight with the request for the money for my middle school…that’s really bothered me. I just need to be more involved in those types of things.”

Coop’s hand goes to my thigh covered by the sheet and he gives me a reassuring squeeze. He doesn’t like that I’m still bothered by Colleen’s error.

Colleen is silent a moment, but then she asks me in a very soft, very serious voice. “When are you going to do that, Eden? You spend almost ten out of every twelve months filming. When you’re filming you work fifteen hours a day on a good day and twenty on any other. You do over a hundred appearances and interviews a year, fly over a hundred thousand miles, and you sit on seven charity boards. You haven’t taken an actual vacation since I’ve known you, because you don’t have time. So really, Eden…tell me when you’re going to screen your mail?”

I’m speechless. I mean…I know I’m busy, but really, she makes it sound almost impossible to carry that lifestyle. And maybe it is, and that’s why I have Colleen in my life, because who can manage buying toothpaste and toilet paper when I’m needing that time to get in a few hours of sleep each day?

My eyes cut over to Coop and his return gaze is hardened but tempered with worry. He’s getting a crash course in what it means to be Eden Goodnight right now.

With a sigh, I admit to Colleen, “You’re right. My life is impossible sometimes. It’s just…I feel out of control, and maybe I need to make some changes. Maybe cut back on the amount of movies I do.”

I brace again and even squint in preparation for another blast from Colleen. In addition to keeping me on track, she drives me down that track. She knows I’m a hard worker and she makes sure every bit of potential is squeezed out of me.

Instead, she almost knocks me over when she says, “Eden…maybe you do need to make some changes. Maybe this thing with Brad was a wake-up call.”

“What do you mean?” I ask cautiously, almost unable to get the words out because she’s struck me sort of stupid. Colleen’s never spoken to me with—what is that, tenderness?

“I mean Brad wasn’t what you needed in your life,” she says, and I can’t help my eyes…they slice to Coop again. He’s standing up from the bed now, pulling on a T-shirt, covering his amazing chest and abs. “Now you have to figure out what you do need and then we’ll go from there.”

God that was good advice.

“Thank you, Colleen,” I say, my voice husky with emotion.

“Don’t you fucking cry on me,” she warns. “I don’t have time for it. Now, do me a favor and call that rat bastard so he stops calling me. I’ll let the appropriate people know you’re backing out of the film. We’ll talk soon.”

“Okay,” I say, still emotional from a kindness I’ve not seen from her in all these years. She’s giving it to me when I need it most. “Talk soon.”

When I disconnect the call, Coop smiles at me wryly. “She’s a piece of work.”

“That she is,” I agree as I tap my phone to my chin in contemplation. I think she may be right. This thing with Brad…it’s a catalyst to reevaluate my life. I’ve worked really damn hard the last fourteen years of my life. Maybe I need to lighten the load.

“So, we’re still on to go to the beach?” Coop asks.

“Yeah, we are,” I tell him as I start to get out of the bed so I can grab a shower. “I’ll be ready to go in two hours. Few things I have to take care of first.”

“Don’t get out of that bed,” he says gruffly, and I halt, one leg on the floor as I turn and look at him over my shoulder. He grins at me, his eyes dropping to my now-naked breasts as the sheet sits on my lap. “Stay under the covers until I leave. I don’t need the temptation to stay.”

Laughing, I pull the sheet back up and wait for Coop to leave before I get out of bed.

I stopped at the grocery store and bought some pastries from the bakery there.

I then reached out to Brad. I know Colleen said to call him, but I didn’t have it in me to listen to his excuses. I totally did not want to hear him beg, not that I’d give in to him, but afraid I’d vomit in the rental car and owe a fee.

So I sent him a text. Please stop calling and texting me. I’ve got nothing to say. It’s over and nothing will change.

The asshole immediately responded. Baby…please. Just give me five minutes to explain.

I didn’t respond, then blocked his phone number. Problem solved, and I hoped Colleen would be proud of the way I was taking charge of my life.

The last thing I do before heading back to Goodnight House to meet up with Coop for our beach trip is a stop by Missy’s Cupcake Gallery. She comes in from the back of the store when she hears the bells chime above her door as I enter.

Her expression is guarded, but she smiles. “Hey.”

“I’m so sorry,” I tell her without any preamble. “I was such a bitch to you the other night at Tilley’s. I was angry at Ashley and took it out on you, and you’d been nothing but nice and kind to me. Please say you forgive me.”

She doesn’t say anything for a moment, but then reaches into the case in front of her, pulling out a cupcake. “Here…try this. It’s vanilla with a peach sherbet icing I’m trying out.”

“So I’m forgiven?” I ask in obvious relief as I take the cupcake from her.

“Totally,” she says with a laugh. “Ashley rattled me that night and her spite wasn’t even directed at me. You’re completely forgiven.”

“But you knew why the town was mad at me?” I press her as I start to peel the paper from the bottom of the cupcake. I’m eating this now.

“I did,” she admits as she leans on the counter with her forearms. “But I try not to take stock in gossip. I like to get my info from the source.”

“Well, that’s a breath of fresh air in a small southern town,” I quip before taking a bite of the cupcake. I’m not a big fruity cake type of person, but holy cow…heaven. I moan in delight and Missy grins.

“Yeah,” she continues. “I don’t like gossip, but I did hear a very interesting tale yesterday.”

“What’s that?” I ask, my mouth full of cupcake.

“Heard a few things,” she says, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “First, that Coop broke things off with Ashley. Second, that you came into the Pit Stop with Coop and you looked awful cozy. And third, and most important, there’s sort of an oral memorandum floating around town that everyone was wrong about you. That you were screened by your peeps from news of the fire and had no clue it even happened. Word is that Coop was very insistent that your name be cleared immediately.”

I swallow what’s in my mouth, and before I take the next bite, I tell Missy, “All true.”

Except the cozy part.

Was he cozy with me at the Pit Stop?

He sat on the same side as me, had a close, intimate-looking conversation with me.

Yeah, that’s cozy.

All true.

I take another huge bite of the deliciousness in my hand. While I chew, Missy tells me something that makes me smile around the mouthful. “You should have seen Coop after you ran out of Tilley’s. He turned on Ashley and called her out. Told her the way she treated you was not fucking cool. I knew right then it was over between them.”

I swallow again, and then forget about the cupcake for a minute to indulge in a little gossip.

For research purposes only.

“So what was the deal with Coop and Ashley?” I ask quietly, not that anyone else is in the shop to hear us.

Missy shrugs. “Same as any woman Coop turns his attention to. He’s faithful, but he’s not overly attentive. Few dates here and there, and I hate to say it…I suspect he’s just in it for the sex. But the women don’t seem to complain when his attention is on them. They never last long. The women, that is. Few months, tops, and Ashley was reaching her expiration date anyway.”

“Huh,” I say pensively as I think about this Coop that Missy is describing. I can’t judge him harshly for his lack of wanting anything deeper than just sex. I’ve had sex with the man and I’d so be satisfied with just that.

Well, no. Not for the long run, but that’s because I know Coop. I know the soul behind the amazing body, and it’s a good thing we live on opposite sides of the country. Too much exposure to him will have me wanting more, and that could be dangerous. For a moment I actually empathize with Ashley.

Then I remember the things she called me and the moment is over.

“I’m heading out to the beach with Coop for the day,” I tell Missy as I start to head for the door. “But do you have any interest in a girls’ night out again? My treat to make up for the other night. Dinner tonight say around seven?”

I get a bright smile in return. “Seven sounds perfect.”

I cram the rest of the cupcake into my mouth, think to say thank you to her again, which comes out as “thphlank luph,” and head out the door. It’s going to be a great day.