Chapter Nineteen

“What the fuck is that?” I look up from my desk to see a furious Cooper all sweaty from his workout. He is talking about the huge bouquet of roses sitting on my desk. I know where his thoughts are going, but he is very, very wrong.

“Hello, Cooper,” I say sarcastically. “What has got your panties all in a twist today?”

He makes his way over to my desk, squeezing the shit out of the water bottle in his right hand. When he gets to the desk, he looks for a card in the middle of the arrangement. When he finally snatches it, he opens and reads it, then I see his face turn white. Before he says anything, I beat him to it.

“Feel better now that you know they are from my dad?” I say, looking at him with a full smile on my face.

“It’s your birthday?” he whispers, still looking at the card.

“It is. My dad always sends me flowers. I think he does it because he knows how much I fucking loathe them.” I sit back in my chair, gasping when his eyes finally meet mine. They’re cloudy blue, like he’s going through a war. I’m just not sure if he’s going through it with me in mind or something else.

“Parker, what the fuck?” he hisses at me.

I am at a loss for words. I don’t really understand what is going on. He must see the confusion on my face because in a matter of seconds he tells me exactly why he’s upset. Okay, upset is a soft word, he’s fucking pissed.

“Parker, did we not wake up together this morning? Did I not fuck you this morning in the kitchen before you had your coffee? Did you not scream out my name? Did you not think it would be something you share with me that today is your fucking birthday?”

I always read about the vein in the forehead pulsing out, but I’ve never really had a chance to see it. Except now, that is.

“Are you really mad because I didn’t tell you it was my birthday? Surely this is not happening right now,” I say in surprise.

“No, you’re wrong. I’m not mad, I’m fucking pissed. How could you not tell me that today is your birthday? Did it not occur to you that maybe I would want to do something special for you? Did it not occur to you that maybe I should have known?”

“I didn’t want to make a big deal about it,” I mumble. I really wanted to forget about today altogether. Yes, birthdays should rock, but when you’re older than the guy you’re dating you don’t really like to focus on it. I mean, he’s thirty. Fucking thirty. I’m five years older than him. That is big. Maybe not to many, but to me it’s fucking huge.

“Why?”

I can feel his stare on me. I know he sees right through me. I’m a really confident person. I’m happy in my skin. I love myself, but when you think about all the young twenty something women throwing themselves at him, who would keep track of their birthday?

“I just don’t want to think about it.”

“What did you do last year?” He’s fishing. I know this, he knows this.

“Um, we had a huge party at Meghan and Tom’s.” I look down at my hands, pretending to pick a piece of invisible lint off my leg.

“The year before that?”

“We had family day at the rink. Rented some inflatables, BBQ in the parking lot. Kids skating on the ice.”

“So what’s the secret with this year? Why isn’t there anything planned?”

“I didn’t want anything. I wanted to just forget it.”

“Bullshit. Babe, you’re going to give me a reason or I’ll just have to think of something.”

“I didn’t want anything, okay?” My voice gets louder. “I don’t really want to celebrate this year. So I told everyone that we are to do nothing.”

“Change of plans. Dinner tonight. I’ll call Tom and Meghan then pack a bag. We are going away on Thursday.”

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but I’m cut off.

“And if you think you’re going to give me any shit, I’ll smack your ass so hard, you won’t sit for a week, we clear?” He has now rounded my desk, leaning back on it, pulling me into his arms, tilting my head up before kissing my nose.

“I have the kids this week.” I look at him.

“Ask Meghan to watch them. It’s only till Saturday. We come back Monday.”

“Wait a second. We are going away? Like away away?” I’m so confused. When he said pack a bag, I assumed I was just sleeping at his house.

“Away away.” He kisses me on the lips, slowly sliding his tongue in, giving me a deep kiss and making me wish for more.

“Babe, be ready at six.”

And with that he is gone, out the door, leaving me speechless. Goddamn it, that man just bulldozed his way through my life, without even stopping.

I did the only thing I could do. I got on the phone and made arrangements with Meghan to watch Matthew and Allison so I can go away away with the man who has stolen my heart.