by Ali Parker
“Diaz is the name I’m going to continue to wear. Because that’s who I am now. But I’m more than the nightlife and the booze and the good times. I want more. Someday.”
“Someday,” she mused.
“I’m glad for the time we had together. I just wish I was better suited for you.”
“Coop, you’re—”
“Don’t try to appease me,” I said, hating how desperation colored my voice. “I know we’re not a match. I’ve known since the very beginning, and like everything else, I turned a blind eye to it. But it’s all right, Piper. I swear to you. It’s all right. You’re meant for so much more than this. Than me. You deserve a man who has already sorted through all his bullshit and his baggage and is at peace with himself.”
Her eyes glistened, and she dropped her gaze to our feet.
I pressed two fingers under her chin and tilted her head back, forcing her to look me in the eyes. “You’re a dream girl, Piper James. Don’t let anyone ever tell you any different. You’re going to make one of these bastards—bachelors,” I amended with a smirk as she glared at me, “very lucky. And he’d better make you happy and do everything in his power to show you every day how fucking special you are.”
“Cooper,” she said softly, like a sigh, and I found myself staring longingly at lips I could have kissed for the rest of my life.
“I know,” I said, forcing myself to smile. “I know. Just choose the guy who does right by you, okay?”
She nodded as her bottom lip trembled.
I chuckled. “I’m not trying to spell it out for you because you’re a big girl. But for fuck’s sakes, don’t pick the football player.”
She cracked and laughed at that. The sound eased the heaviness in my heart as she shook her head at me and ran her thumbs under her eyes. “Don’t worry, Coop. Easton is not on the table.”
“Thank God,” I said.
She rolled her eyes at me. “Why’d you have to go and make me cry? I thought you, of all people, would be able to say goodbye without getting all sentimental.”
“Same,” I said. “I’m surprising myself constantly these days.”
The driver gave the car horn two little beeps and rolled down the window. “You have four minutes, Miss James, or I’m leaving without you.”
“Charming,” I muttered.
Piper rolled her shoulders. “You have no idea. She’s the same woman who drove me here.” Piper leaned to the side to look at the driver through the passenger window. “On it. Thank you.” Then she turned back toward me and smoothed out the collar of my shirt. “Stay out of trouble, will you?”
“Me? Trouble?” I scoffed. “What would ever make you think I’d get into trouble?”
She bit her bottom lip and shook her head at me. “Trouble is your middle name, isn’t it?”
I shrugged. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I mean it, Coop. I’m going to worry about you. I can’t help it. Those guys down at the beach, Lennon and the others, I don’t want them to come mess with you. I don’t want them to hurt you.”
I caressed her cheek. “Piper. I’m a Rockefeller. Trouble will always find me. And when it does, you know what I’ll do?”
She closed her eyes for a moment and leaned into my touch. “You’ll meet it with a grin?”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. “You know me so well, Dream Girl.”
“Don’t.”
“I can’t help it.” I stroked her cheek one last time. “You’d better go, babe.”
She smiled, kissed my palm, and then fixed me with a smoldering stare. “Don’t call me babe.”
I threw my head back and laughed. Piper took a step back, and I let her go. She moved to the back door of the SUV, tugged it open, and paused to turn back to me, a sad smile lingering on her lips. “See you around, Coop.”
“See you around, Piper.”
She slid into the car and pulled her dress in around her legs. She was about to close the door when I caught it by the frame. “Wait.”
She tilted her head back when I went in for the kiss. The driver groaned impatiently in the front seat. I didn’t give a damn, and neither did Piper.
I kissed her deeply, hoping it conveyed all the things I was feeling: gratitude, joy, grief, and passion. She kissed me back, reached up to run her fingers through my hair, and let out a content sigh when I pulled away. Her eyes were heavy. “I have to go.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll see you.”
“Yeah,” I said again, giving her one last smile before closing the door of the SUV. And on us.
I stepped away, and the SUV pulled away down the street. Endings were always so anticlimactic. And depressing.
I went back into my house feeling heavy and hollow all at the same time. I crossed straight through to the backyard and went to stand at the fence at the top of my stairs leading down to the beach.
The ocean always made things better. Even this.
As I stood and gazed out at the water and the sand, I reflected on my month with Piper. She’d changed me—that was for damn sure—and in a sense, I suspected I might have changed her too. I had no regrets, and despite how strongly I felt for her, I knew we weren’t a match. And I knew she was going to find her happy ending with someone else.
Surprisingly, I was more than okay with that. In fact, I wanted that for her.
I smiled to myself. Maybe she’d invite me to her wedding. I’d make sure it was a good fucking party.
My attention was drawn to motion down on the beach. Two young women in similar blue bikinis were jogging along the shoreline, kicking water at each other. If I strained my ears, I could hear their bubbly laughter on the ocean breeze.
I was going to change. I was sure of that.
But I didn’t have to change right away, did I? There was still some wiggle room to enjoy myself and this beach and those girls. I was a Rockefeller, after all.
With a foolish grin, I set off down my stairs and jogged across the beach toward the two young women. They were nothing like Piper, but that was the best part.
Nobody was ever going to be like Piper.
CHAPTER 25
PIPER
I had three missed calls from my brother on Wednesday evening.
I knew what he was calling about.
He wanted to make sure I was still coming to dinner, and if I was, whether or not I was still planning on talking to our parents about what I’d really been up to this year.
Janie drummed her fingers on the counter at the window seat of the Indian restaurant as we waited for our order. “You should just call him back and give him the heads-up. He’s probably shitting himself.”
I frowned down at my phone. “He should know I’d never bail like that.”
Janie shrugged. “He’s just concerned. Call him.”
I sighed. She was right. It wasn’t fair to leave him hanging. “I’m going to step outside, okay?”
Janie nodded and ushered me out with a wave of her hand. I made my way outside to stand on the sidewalk and called my brother back. The summer air was warm, but not nearly as pleasant as the weather in Nassau.
I wished I could be back there on the beach with Cooper, pretending none of this had to be done. But alas, we can’t always get what we want.
Phillip answered the phone. “Jesus, Piper. Where the fuck have you been? I thought you weren’t going to show.”
“We’re not late. Stop being such a spaz. We’re picking up dinner, and we’ll be at the house in twenty minutes tops.”
“Good,” Phillip said.
Pedestrians bustled by, and I retreated to stand with my back against the window of the restaurant. “How are they today? Good moods?”
“As good as they can be, I guess.”
That was better than nothing. “Okay. Try to keep them that way. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“See you soon, Pipes.”
I hung up right when Janie came out of the restaurant with two paper bags full
of food. “Let’s go. This food is getting colder by the minute.”
There was no sense in telling her there was a slim chance I wasn’t going to eat. My stomach had been coiling in a painful knot all morning, just thinking about having this conversation with my parents, and I hadn’t been able to eat anything all day.
As the hours ticked by, I kept telling myself that this would all be over soon. The truth would be out, and they would understand, and everything would be fine.
I didn’t believe my own lie for a second.
We got into Janie’s car and put on our seatbelts. I cranked the radio as she reversed out of her space, and I couldn’t even muster the energy to tap my foot to the beat.
I could feel Janie watching me.
“What?” I asked, rolling my head to the side to look at my friend.
She shrugged and kept her eyes trained on the road. “Nothing. I just wish you didn’t have to do this.”
“Me too.”
“You’re sure you want to? It’s not too late to back out.”
“I have to tell them, Janie,” I said. It was true. All these little lies were piling up, and it was only going to get harder to come clean.
Not only that, but the lies were putting distance between me and my family. Not only did I have to physically be away from them all year, but with them not knowing I was the Casanova girl for the year, I felt like I was missing out on conversations with them. When I was struggling, I could have called my mom. Could have heard my father’s reassuring voice in the background offering his two cents.
I’d stolen that from all of us by deciding to keep this a secret. Now was the time to make it right and set things back on the right path. It was going to be hard. And maybe a little messy. But I had to do it.
Janie tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “I’m with you.”
We spent the rest of the short drive listening to music. She left me to my thoughts, and I left her to the driving. We pulled into my parents’ driveway far too soon, and I hesitated getting out of the car. Janie ushered me out by scolding me for making her wait even longer for dinner, and we walked up the drive together.
She knocked on the front door when my nerves started getting the best of me. “Here we go.”
My brother opened the door and invited us in. His hair was a little longer and messier than I remembered, but his smile was the same, warm and comforting and happy. He pulled me in for a hug, patted my back, and then held me at arm’s length. “You ready to do this thing?”
I nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Good,” Phillip said. “Let’s get it over with.”
I clenched my jaw and forced a smile as we made our way into the house to find my mom and dad sitting in the dining room. My father was reading a magazine while my mother had her phone in front of her. She had her reading glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, and she was squinting through them at her phone screen.
When she saw me, she sprang to her feet, hurried around the table, and threw her arms around my shoulders. “It’s so good to see you, sweetheart. You look lovely. So tanned!”
“Thanks, Mom.” I smiled.
My father was next to greet me. He enveloped me in a big bear hug, and I wrapped my arms around him. He smelled like garlic, coffee, and whiskey. I breathed in his familiar scent and relished the moment of our embrace, wondering if this was the last I’d experience it for a while.
Janie said hello to everyone and held up the food. “Shall we eat?”
We formed a mini-assembly line in the kitchen and helped ourselves to a little of everything. Once everyone’s plates were full, we took our seats at the dining-room table.
I stared down at my butter chicken and rice and naan bread.
There was no way I was going to be able to put any of that in my body until I got the truth out. It was like I needed to make room for one by giving up the other.
“Mom? Dad?”
My parents looked at me.
I ran my hands down my thighs and bit the inside of my cheek. “I actually came home to talk to you guys about something.”
“Oh?” my dad asked, cocking his head to the side as he finished chewing a piece of naan bread.
My mother dabbed at her lips with a paper napkin. “What is it, dear?”
I should have written all this down. Or I should have rehearsed what I wanted to say. But I hadn’t done either of those things, and now, I was going to have to wing it.
I swallowed. “I need you to wait until I’m done before you say anything or ask any questions. Okay?”
They exchanged a look. Janie and Phillip had fallen very quiet and very still.
My mother frowned. “All right. Is everything okay, Piper? You’re scaring me.”
“Yes. Everything is fine. I just… I haven't been completely honest with you guys, and it’s time I come clean about what’s been going on with me.”
My father put his utensils down. His eyebrows drew together. “Is this about that Aaron character?”
“No, Daddy,” I said hurriedly. “This isn’t about anyone but me.”
He nodded. “All right. Go ahead then. Tell us.”
I pressed my lips together and looked at my brother. He nodded, encouraging me to carry on. And so did Janie. She gave me a tight-lipped smile.
Even if my parents were furious, at least I’d have them by my side.
I lifted my chin and faced my mother and father. “I lied about where I’ve been all year.”
They stared blankly at me.
Just say it, Piper. Tell them.
I could barely keep my voice even. “I haven’t been in school.”
Silence. Heavy, awkward, tense silence. My pulse thundered in my ears as my palms began to sweat.
It’s all right. It will all be all right.
My father was motionless. “If you haven’t been in school, where have you been all year, Piper?”
I looked down at my hands in my lap. “That’s the complicated part. And the part I need to explain.”
“You have the floor,” my father said. His voice was hard.
I looked up at him and shrank under his stare. Then I reached deep down inside myself, plucked my voice out of the depths of my fear, and hardened my resolve.
“Have you heard of the Casanova Club?”
* * *
The End
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ali Parker is a full-time contemporary and new adult romance writer with more than a hundred and twenty books behind her. She loves coffee, watching a great movie and hanging out with her hubs. By hanging out, she means making out. Hanging out is for those little creepy elves at Christmas. No tight green stockings for her.
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She’s an entrepreneur at heart and loves coming up with more ideas than any one person should be allowed to access. She lives in Texas with her hubs and three kiddos and looks forward to traveling the world in a few years. Writing under eleven pen names keeps her busy and allows her to explore all genres and types of writing.
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Cooper: The Casanova Club #8
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Copyright © 2019 by Ali Parker
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All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of bri
ef quotations in a book review.
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The novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and plot are all either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons – living or dead – is purely coincidental.
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First Edition.
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Editor: Eric Martinez
Cover Designer: Hang Le from Designs by Hang Le https://www.facebook.com/designsbyhangle/
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Contents
Find Ali Parker
Description
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
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About the Author
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