by Mercer Scott
“Lucky stumbling. And no one’s ever got mad at you for being here?”
“Nope.”
“That’s good. Because now that I’ve seen it, I need to see all of it. I wish I had my bathing suit. That water looks too good to pass up.”
“Feel free to skinny-dip. I promise I won’t look.”
“Liar.”
Yeah, I’m totally lying. How could I not look at her naked and wet?
Chapter Eight
Natalia
“What? Do I have something on my face?” Cooper raises his hands to his face to catch whatever he thinks is there.
“No.” I reach out and push his hands away. “It’s just… you’re not what I expected from the guy who ran me down and then blamed me for it.”
He flashes a smile at me – the kind of smile that tells me he knows exactly what effect it has on women. On other women, definitely not on me. Oh, who am I kidding? Am I made of stone? Cooper Hamilton is a ridiculously sexy man. And he knows it.
Cooper grins at me. “Tell me more. I love hearing how great I am.”
“And then you go right back to being insufferable!” I roll my eyes at him.
Walking with him on this beautiful beach – the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen – has been nice. What do I care about nice moments with Cooper? I’m not interested in him. We’re not friends. And we’re never going to be anything more than friends. We’re nothing. Just two complete strangers forced to work together for a good cause.
“Hey, where’d you go? One minute you’re telling me how great I am, and the next you’re gazing out at the ocean like you’re a pirate stranded on an island without his parrot.”
That catches my attention. “What? A pirate? Stranded on an island without a parrot? Where do you get your references?”
Cooper grins at me again. “Just a gift, I guess. People love my references.”
“What people? Please, I would love to hear more about these imaginary people who love your references.”
Cooper narrows his eyes at me. “People.”
“Oh people, huh? I think I know them.” Nodding, I pretend like his answer made one bit of sense. It didn’t. But I can’t wipe the smile off my face. “Weirdo.”
“All the best people are weird,” Cooper says, shrugging. “But seriously, what did you mean?”
“Fishing for compliments isn’t an attractive personality trait, Cooper.”
“So, you’re attracted to me? Good to know.”
“No one said they were attracted to you.”
“Didn’t you?”
“No.”
“Stop trying to distract me and tell me what you meant.”
“Oh fine, I just meant that when I met you, I thought you were a conceited jerk… and you are way too confident. But you really care about this stuff. About helping people. You spent four hours locked in that tiny office today telling me everything you’ve ever heard a veteran complain about and every single thing you could think of that might help, when you could have been here.” Waving my arm around me, there isn’t any one thing to focus on. Because every part of this beach is perfect. I guess, I’m just impressed by that. In my experience, men mainly care about themselves. How to advance their careers. How to make more money. How to make themselves look good.”
Cooper frowns at me. “Sounds like you’ve been hanging out with the wrong guys.”
“I can’t disagree with you on that. Although I’m not totally sure the right guys are out there.” I hate how wistful I sound. How pathetic.
“They are – he is – maybe you just need to look in unexpected places. Like beautiful tropical beaches.”
“I don’t know if I even believe in love. Not anymore. I never really expected to have a perfect marriage, two-point-five kids, and a white picket fence.”
“Why not?”
“Like I said, my mom is a free spirt. We moved around all the time when I was growing up. My brother was the only other kid I knew for longer than a year. She was always chasing one dream after another, and never quite reaching any of them. My favorite place we lived was on this commune. That’s when my mom was happiest. She’s a child of the sixties. Free love and all that.” I pause, glancing around and feeling like I just said way, way too much. “Sorry, I don’t know why I told you all of that.
“I’m not. That sounds like a hard way to grow up. But the free love part sounds good. My mother is the opposite of free love. Everything has a price to her, even love.”
“That sounds like a hard way to grow up, too.”
I really don’t know why I opened up to him about any of this. I blame this gorgeous beach. And maybe the fact that we’re starting to feel like more than just complete strangers. But we have to be strangers because we can’t be anything else. I’m done with all men. Forever.
“Probably why you turned into such a jerk.”
Cooper looks surprised and then unleashes a bark of laughter. “Probably. While all that free love turned you into a ray of sunshine.”
“Ha-ha! I actually am. To my friends. To the people I like.” I shrug up at him. “I guess you’re not one of them.”
Cooper stops walking and stares at me. “You don’t like me? Not even a little bit?”
There’s the answer that I want to give. Then there’s the truth. And then there’s the words that I’m actually going to say to him. “I don’t even know you.”
“Why don’t you get to know me then? I’m an open book. Ask me anything.” Cooper throws out his arms to show me just how much of an open book he is. He looks completely relaxed. I haven’t seen him flinch once since we’ve been walking. I hate seeing him in pain like when he sits for too long or when he climbs into his old, dirty Jeep. But that doesn’t mean anything. I hate to see anyone in pain.
“Keep walking, Hamilton. I’d rather interrogate a moving target.” Turning to walk along the warm sand as it’s lapped by the sea, I nudge my shoulder into him to get him walking. “Come on.”
“I thought you were going to interrogate me,” Cooper asks after a few minutes. His arm brushes against mine, and a shiver races through me. It must be eighty-five degrees, so I’m definitely not cold.
“How long are you going to stay on Maui?” There are approximately eighty-seven-million different things that I want to ask him, but that seems like a safe start.
“Not sure. I don’t have any plans to go anywhere else anytime soon. I’d spend the rest of my life here if I could. I just don’t know if that’s possible.” He sounds sad about it. And I’ve definitely never seen Cooper sound sad. Not about anything. Not about his injuries. Or the end of his military career. I’ve never seen anything but the sexy, joking side of him before today.
“Why can’t you stay here forever, if you want to? You’re out of the Navy, right? They can’t order you to go halfway around the world anymore,” I remind him.
“Sometimes you trade in one boss for another.” Cooper smiles down at me. “Complicated family.”
I raise my eyebrows at him. “That was extremely vague for someone who said he’s an open book.”
“It’s no big secret. My parents want me to move back to New York and work in the family business. They were never really big fans of me enlisting. And let’s just say that me being discharged wasn’t the worst news they’d ever heard.” The frown he’s wearing tells me that he’s not happy about that.
“Maybe they just want you to be safe.”
“That’s part of it, but I think they also had a plan for me. And for my brothers and sisters. And me enlisting didn’t fit into that. But they thing they still don’t seem to get is that I don’t fit into the life they planned for me. Never have. Never will.” He shrugs, but I know from experience that it’s not that easy to just shrug off a lifetime of family expectations. Families can be the people who know you best, and at the same time barely know you at all. At least, I know mine is like that. I love my mom more than anything, but we’re never really on the same page about anything. I
became a nurse, and my mom thinks essential oils can cure everything.
“What would you do if you stayed here forever?”
“Good question. I don’t know. Maybe open up a surf shack? Maybe a restaurant to give Grant and the Glass Balls a run for their money?” Cooper grins down at me, and I swear his violet eyes are sparkling.
“Grant already hates you enough as it is, do you really want to go into competition with him? He’d probably torch your new restaurant or something.”
Cooper laughs and then shakes his head ruefully. “He really doesn’t like me, does he?”
“He really, really doesn’t.” I can’t help but laugh, too. I’m starting to think most people must have a hard time not liking Cooper Hamilton. Except Grant, apparently.
“Most people actually like me quite a bit. What can I say? I’m a people person.” Cooper grins down at me.
“Really? That hasn’t been my experience,” I tell him and then skip ahead a few steps.
“Really? Because you seem to be trying pretty hard not to like me.”
That stops me in my tracks. “It’s not that I don’t like you. I just can’t like you. I’m not interested in men right now. Maybe not ever. And I have enough friends.”
“Everybody needs more friends.”
I shake my head slowly. “You haven’t met my friends.”
“I’ve met two of them,” Cooper reminds me.
“And you don’t want to be my friend. You want to be a whole lot more than my friend.”
“I do?”
“You do.”
“You’re assuming a whole hell of a lot. Who says I want to be anything more than your friend?” He says the words slowly, enunciating every single syllable.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I must have been mistaken. I thought maybe you liked me. Or at least wanted to sleep with me.”
Two can play at this game, Cooper Hamilton. Stepping towards him, I lay my hand on his chest and feel his pec flinch under my touch. Then I let my hand trail slowly downwards until I hear his breath catch. Giving him a giant smile to let him know that I know exactly where we stand, I drop my hand and keep on walking slowly down the beach.
After a long minute, Cooper falls into step beside me. “Not fair. Not fair at all. I’m starting to wonder why I do like you.”
I turn around to face him. “Why do you like me? And I’m not fishing for compliments. I want to know, really.” I’m not sure I’m going to like the answer, but I need to know. What does he see in me that Dr. Dick didn’t? If I did let things with Cooper happen the way he wants them to, how long would it be before he gets tired of me and moves on with another woman like Dr. Dick did?
“I like your hands.”
“My hands? My hands are what you like about me?” Why are men so confusing? Glancing down, I flex my fingers. My hands aren’t anything special to look at. My fingers are short and strong, not long an elegant like Bridget’s. My nails have to be short for work, and they’re usually sporting bright nail polish in varying stages of chipping off.
“I’m not done yet. I like your smile and your eyes, too. I like the whole package. But when you ran me down and then forcefully examined me that first day, I guess I noticed your hands most of all. They’re small, but skilled. And gentle. You knew exactly what to do to make sure if I was okay. And you cared enough to do it. That says a lot about a person.”
I frown at him. “That’s maybe the nicest thing any man has ever said to me.”
“You really need to get to know some better men. Maybe give one you’ve already met a chance? Because maybe he won’t disappoint you.”
“I… can’t. But maybe I could make room for another friend. Maybe. But he better not disappoint me, because I know where to kick him and make sure it leaves a mark.”
“I bet you do. I bet you do.”
“Wait. When did this become about me? I’m supposed to be interrogating you, remember?”
“I told you I’m an open book. Ask away,” Cooper says, motioning with his hand for me to keep walking. We fall in step next to each other again.
Maybe he’s right? Maybe I shouldn’t let Dr. Dick ruin all men for me? Just because I’m done with men romantically, doesn’t mean that I can’t let one become a friend.
“Why did you join the military?”
“That’s a big question.” Cooper pauses. “I guess I just always wanted to be a part of something bigger. I grew up… well, let’s just say my family had a lot going on. We were always being pulled in different directions. And I liked that every single one of us in the Navy all had the same goal, the same purpose. I was planning on spending the next thirty years or so in the Navy. I don’t have a back-up plan because I never thought I’d need one. I was either going to spend my life in the military or give my life for my country.” He smiles at me sheepishly. “Guess that didn’t quite work out for me.”
Anger sweeps through me, sharp as a knife. “Don’t say that! Don’t you dare say that about yourself. Don’t ever take that for granted that you survived or wish something different happened. You’re so lucky to have the rest of your life ahead of you!”
Cooper holds his hands up in front of him. “Woah, woah. Sorry, I guess I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that I never expected to be here. Not like this, anyways.”
“Here doesn’t look all that terrible to me. You’re on Maui on the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen.”
“With the most beautiful woman on the entire island. So, I guess life after the Navy isn’t all bad.” There is no doubt in my mind that the grin Cooper gives me has dropped dozens of skirts to the ground, but it’s not going to work on me.
“Why do men think lines like that work? Because they really don’t.”
Cooper squints at me. “Experience tells me they do. It must have worked a little? Come on, all women like being told how beautiful they are.”
“Not even a little. Tell a woman that she’s smart, funny, or interesting, anything other than you like how she looks. We’re all tired of men only caring what we look like.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I take a stand right here in this sand for all womankind. Cooper isn’t just annoying me today, and maybe if I can convince this one man how women want to be flirted with, then I’ll have done some service to my sisters around the world.
“I like smart, funny, and interesting women. I’m staring at one. That doesn’t mean that she’s also not the most beautiful woman on this whole damn island.”
“I’m not. That’s just scientifically untrue. I’m sure there are lots of women on this island who are much prettier than I am. Veronica’s prettier than I am. There. Proved you wrong.” I’ve never been so happy to say that other women are prettier than me. Except Veronica. She’s beautiful. And she’s my best friend. I tell her how pretty she is all the time. And it still took her way too long to believe that all of her was beautiful, and not just her face.
“Anyone ever told you that beauty is in the eye of the beholder?” Cooper’s staring down at me, smiling.
“Why are you smiling right now?”
“Who’s smiling?” he asks slowly.
“You are. You are smiling right now. Right this very second.” Why is this man so incredibly frustrating?
“Am I? I guess it’s because you make me smile.” Cooper keeps right on staring into my eyes. He doesn’t look away for a second, even though I’m sure I’m flushing bright red with anger.
“Well, I’m not trying to make you do anything.”
“Doesn’t mean you’re not succeeding. Why does everything I say make you so fiery? Are you always this excitable? Don’t you get tired?” He looks legitimately puzzled.
“I’m fueled by my anger at the male species, so don’t you worry about me!” I tell him. “I think this is enough of a break. We should get back to work.”
As I turn to march back down the beach, I realize that I’m going too fast and slow my pace so that Cooper doesn’t have to struggle to keep up. Because there is zero doubt in
my mind that he would hurt himself rather than fall behind or tell me that he needs me to slow down. Men are so stupid.
When I see an orangish light shining on the sand in front of my feet, I look up to see where it’s coming from. I shouldn’t have looked up. The sun is setting and it’s freaking magical. I’m on a perfect, magical beach in paradise. At sunset. With quite possibly the sexiest man I’ve ever met. A man who maybe likes me. Right after I swore off men forever.
Why? Why is this happening to me? Why couldn’t I meet a nice man before being bamboozled by Dr. Dick and giving up on men entirely?
And Cooper Hamilton is a nice man. A good man. There’s no doubt about that. But that doesn’t change anything. Not for me. It doesn’t change anything that underneath his cockiness and his jokes, he’s sweet and generous. It doesn’t change a thing that he’s charming and sexy. It doesn’t change a thing that maybe, just maybe he actually wants me. None of that changes anything.
“Did you win?” Cooper asks, standing beside me and lightly bumping against my shoulder.
“Win what? What are you talking about?” Frowning up at him, I really don’t need anything else to be confused about.
Cooper smiles at me like he can see right inside my head. “Whatever you were fighting with yourself about just now.”
“I wasn’t fighting with myself about anything. You should probably keep your questions to yourself, since you obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Maybe. But I do know that sunset is too beautiful not to enjoy. The committee work can wait twenty minutes.” Cooper takes my hand in his. Slowly. Tentatively. Like maybe he thinks I’m going to yank my hand away or just keep on walking. And both are entirely possible. But for unknown reasons, I don’t do either.
Instead, I stand next to Cooper, shoulder to shoulder, my hand in his, while we watch the sky turn every shade of orange and pink and gold in front of us.
For once in our lives, neither of us has anything to say. I don’t think I could take any more of Cooper’s jokes, or come-ons, or sexy smiles. Not standing in front of this gorgeous sunset. This is all way too romantic. If I start talking, I might say something that I know I would regret. Because maybe – just maybe – I’m starting to like Cooper, too.
