Catching Cooper (Red Maple Falls, #4)

by Theresa Paolo

  He leaned back enjoying the show, resting his hands over the back of his head. She moved to the other side dragging her finger before dropping her hand to her side.

  “That’s it?” he exclaimed.

  “You didn’t say how long, so I think I more than delivered. My turn again. Truth or dare?”

  “I believe it’s my turn.”

  “Nope. You took too long to give me my dare so we skipped you, came to me, and now we’re back to you. Truth or dare?”

  “What do you want me to pick?” he asked, meeting her gaze.

  She wiggled in his lap, and he could feel her slick heated desire. “Dare.”

  “Oh really? Okay then dare it is.”

  “I dare you to kiss me.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Here,” she said, pointing down to where their bodies met.

  God, if that wasn’t the sexiest thing ever. In one quick motion, he had her on her back, knees bent and his head between her legs.

  Before he could even taste her, there was a knock at the door, causing them both to jump back. Sarah pushed up on the couch, covering herself with her hands. Cooper looked at the clock above the sofa. “Who the hell is coming here at eleven o’clock?”

  He found his t-shirt on the floor and handed it to Sarah while he grabbed a pair of gym shorts and pulled them on. Sarah quickly moved away, tugging the shirt over her head as he went to the door.

  He spotted Matt outside on his porch. Confused and curious, Cooper whipped open the door. “What the hell is going on?” he asked his brother.

  “Is Sarah here?”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  “Look, I’m sorry to interrupt but neither of you are answering your phones, and her son hit his head and was brought into the emergency room earlier tonight.”

  “What?” She pushed past Cooper and stood in front of Matt in nothing but a t-shirt, her hair a sex-rumpled mess. “Is he okay?” Panic laced her tone, and Cooper, unsure of what to do, rested a hand on her shoulder.

  Matt held his hand up in a reassuring gesture. “He’s fine. He fell out bed and hit his head on the dresser. Just a bump, but Gina brought him to the hospital to make sure he doesn’t have a concussion. She tried calling you. I happened to be there for an unrelated accident, and she asked if I had Cooper’s number, but when we couldn’t get in touch with either of you.”

  “Oh my god. I have to go.”

  She went to run out the door, and Cooper grabbed her wrist. “You need to calm down first.”

  She ripped out of his hold. “Don’t tell me what to do,” she all but growled at him.

  “At least put some shoes on.” She looked down at her feet and pushed back into the house.

  “I’m going to let you two sort this out,” Matt said.

  “Thanks for coming here to let us know.”

  “Let me know if you need me,” Matt said and got back into his cruiser.

  Cooper turned his attention back to Sarah who had tears in her eyes, a franticness about her that made him not want her to get behind the wheel.

  “Where the hell is my other shoe?” she yelled as she tossed the pillow from the couch onto the floor. She had pulled her dress on though it was crooked and possibly on backward.

  This was not how he wanted their night to end. He needed to calm her down. Needed to make her realize that her son was okay. Just a bump on the head nothing to freak out over.

  “Sarah,” he said, taking her hand and willing her to breathe. “You heard Matt. He’s okay. They’re just taking precautions.”

  “Okay? He’s in the ER for the first time in his life, and I’m not there with him. I can’t believe I didn’t go get my phone. How careless and stupid.”

  “Gina’s there. He’s not alone.”

  “I’m his mother! I should be there. Not here acting like some horned up teenager. I knew this was a bad idea.”

  Before he could process a single thought, she found her other shoe and stormed past him in her pissed off glory. He could easily just let her go, let her cool down, but that wasn’t his style. Besides there was no way in hell he was letting her drive like this.

  “Hey!” he called after her as she opened the passenger door of the Jeep and grabbed her purse. He ran down the porch stairs to catch her.

  “Six missed calls,” she said as she shook her head in disbelief before putting the phone to her ear.

  “Gina, hi it’s Sarah. I’m so sorry. I’m on my way now. Can I talk to him? A CT scan? Okay. I’ll be there soon. Thanks.”

  She hung up and bee-lined it to her car. Cooper reached out, grabbing her shoulder and managing to move in front of her. Tears glistened in her dark eyes. She was holding on but only by a thread.

  “Get out of my way, Cooper.”

  “No,” he said, needing to understand that this wasn’t her fault. He could see the guilt in her eyes and more than anything the regret. “Just because you’re a mom it doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, that you’re not entitled to take a night off. You shouldn’t feel guilty about it.”

  “No, that’s exactly what that means.”

  “Then you’re doing it wrong.”

  ***

  Anger boiled inside of her. Every muscle in her body tensed at his words.

  “You have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”

  “Of course I don’t, because you’re the only person who knows anything about parenting.”

  She walked closer to him, her hands twitching with the desire to smack him upside that pretty head. “And you do? The man who ran away after high school and never stayed in one place long enough to actually form a relationship with anyone? You have no idea what the hell it means to be responsible or put others before yourself. When you have a kid, come and talk to me. Until then keep your damn mouth shut.”

  She hopped into her car before he could stop her, slamming the door with finality. She heard her name but didn’t bother looking in his direction as she floored it out of his driveway.

  How could she be so stupid? So careless and irresponsible? She knew better. Tommy was the most important thing in her life, and now he was sitting in a hospital room probably scared out of his mind, and she wasn’t there to comfort him.

  No, she was off having sex like some floozy. Never again. This is why she didn’t date. Why she didn’t let loose even for a single night because no matter what Cooper believed, you didn’t take a night off from being a mom. Maybe when Tommy was eighteen, but right now he was just barely seven, and he needed her more than she needed Cooper.

  She pressed down on the gas a little harder but making sure to stay within ten miles of the speed limit. She’d be no good to Tommy if she was careless and lost control.

  The hospital was outside of town and the drive was torturous. She wouldn’t be able to breathe relief until she saw Tommy’s freckle-adorned face smiling up at her.

  She hopped out of her car, annoyed that she could still feel the after effects of having sex with Cooper as she moved. She ignored the sensations and hurried to the front door of the emergency room, making her way to the front desk.

  “My son is here. Tommy Kramer. He hit his head. I’m his mother. He’s only seven. I should’ve been here earlier.”

  The woman who had to be in her late forties met her gaze. “You’re here now, sugar. That’s all that matters. Now what is his name again so I can look him up in the system?”

  “Tommy. Thomas Kramer.”

  “Here he is. Looks like he’s getting ready to be released. Go through these doors right here, make a left at the first hallway, follow it down to the end, and make a right. He’ll be in the first room on the left.”

  “Left, right, and left,” she said.

  “Exactly.”

  “Thank you. Thank you so much,” she said as she hurried away from the desk and toward the door that would bring her to Tommy.

  By the time she made the first left she picked up speed, moving with determined purpose. When s
he was at the end of the hallway she cut right and ran into the first room on the left.

  As soon as her eyes settled on Tommy, the dam inside of her broke free. Tears streamed down her face as she ran to his side and wrapped him in her arms. “I’m so sorry, buddy,” she said.

  He wiggled in her hold, the bag of chips he was eating crinkling against her. “Mom! They gave me ice cream and told me I have a hard head.”

  She leaned back taking his face in her hands. “Let me look at you.”

  “I’m fine.” He struggled against her, but she wasn’t having it.

  “I don’t care what you say; I need to see for myself.”

  He rolled his eyes at her, and she chocked on a laugh as she scanned his face up and down. He had a nice welt on his forehead, and she could see the start of a bruise, ugly swirls of yellow and blue.

  She leaned in, pressing a kiss to the top of his head away from the bump. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight and refusing to let go.

  “Mom!” he exclaimed. “I’m okay.”

  She heard him but she couldn’t let go. Not yet.

  “Mom, you’re embarrassing me.”

  “Get used to it,” she said as she finally spotted Gina on the other side of the bed. Joey was curled up in a chair, passed out in his Spiderman pajamas. “I’m so sorry, Gina.”

  Gina waved her hand and shrugged. “It’s no big deal. If anything, I’m sorry. I feel just awful about this.”

  “You have nothing to feel awful about.”

  “He got hurt at my house on my watch… Of course I do. And you had to leave your date early.”

  Sarah ignored the date reference, pretending like Gina never said it, mainly because she didn’t want Tommy to know. “Matt said he fell out of bed. Hit his head on the dresser.”

  “I’ve been telling Chris to get rid of that stupid dresser for months. We don’t even use it anymore. Just there taking up space. Tommy must’ve rolled out of bed. I heard him crying and came running. Once he calmed down he told me he was okay, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I wanted to get him checked out just in case. I hope that’s okay.”

  Sarah came around the bed and took Gina in a hug. “It’s perfectly okay. I would have done the same thing.”

  “Have the doctors said anything about the CT scan?”

  “They said it’s just a bump. No concussion.”

  Relief flooded through her. “Oh thank god.”

  “He should be able to get out of here soon.”

  “You should go home. Put poor Joey to bed.”

  “I don’t want to leave you here alone.”

  “It’s fine. Besides, I’m not alone.” She looked at her son, so happy that he wasn’t seriously injured. If he had been, she would never be able to forgive herself. It was hard enough as it was.

  “Okay, then I’m going to get him home.” Gina bent down, all five-foot-four of her, and scooped her oversized son into her arms as if he weighed nothing. “Call me if you need anything.”

  “I will, and Gina, thank you so much for taking care of my boy.”

  “It’s what we mothers do,” she said and gave a bump to her shoulder as she passed.

  Sarah sat down on the bed next to Tommy, kicking her feet up beside his. “I’ve been thinking…”

  “Yeah Mom?”

  “You can go to summer camp.”

  “What? Really!” He shot up, and she quickly reached out, holding him down.

  “Be careful and yes.” She had been thinking about it on and off since he had asked, and now, seeing him hurt, she felt like she needed to make up for it. Maybe it was silly, but she needed to see her son smile.

  “Joey is going to be so excited. Can I call him?”

  Sarah laughed. Did he not just see his best friend passed out and being carried out of the room by his mother? “Tomorrow. First thing. Promise.”

  “Mom?”

  “Yeah, buddy?”

  “Sometimes you’re the coolest.”

  “Sometimes?” she asked with mock shock in her tone.

  “Well, not when you make me clean my room and do homework.”

  “One day you’ll appreciate it.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  “Come here, you stinker.” She held her arm up, and Tommy snuggled into her side. She held him close as they waited for the doctor to release him.

  Chapter 6

  Cooper lost track of how many times he’d called Sarah. How many texts he’d sent her. By day two of no response, he finally gave up. He tried, and just shy of going to her house, he considered it a damn good effort.

  He had thought about going to her place, but there had to have been a reason she wanted to meet at his place the other night. He didn’t want to piss her off any more than she already was by showing up unannounced. But what would she expect? She was leaving him hanging. He just wanted to make sure that her son was okay. That she was okay.

  It was Monday, and he promised Shay he’d help out at the bakery again, so he hoped that Sarah would come in for her Monday muffin, but as the morning melted into the afternoon he finally had to accept that she wasn’t going to show.

  Even the sweet smell of key lime cupcakes wafting from the kitchen couldn’t put him in a good mood.

  Saturday night with Sarah had been unbelievably amazing, unlike anything else he’d ever experienced. She was sweet and fun. Sexy as hell, yet shy. He couldn’t get the vision of her pinching her nipples out of his damn mind no matter how hard he’d tried. How her lips parted in a silent “Oh” as she allowed herself to enjoy the sensations she was triggering from her touch.

  He was getting hard just thinking about it, so he forced himself to focus on the least sexy thing he could think of. He started thinking about the train ride in Bangladesh after the EID Festival. How it was so crowded people took to the roofs of the train. He tried to get to the top and eventually made it, but the first few minutes being jam packed inside the train, sardined between people in stagnant air after a day of sweating balls was horrible to say the least.

  An experience he was so honored to have been a part of but not something he’d want to do again. He could still smell the body odor of the man next to him as he lifted his arm to scratch his head.

  The memory quickly erased any arousing thoughts.

  The door flew open, and Cooper looked up, pathetic and hopeful, only to be disappointed by his sister Kate, poking her head in. “It’s happening!” she exclaimed.

  “What’s happening?” he asked genuinely confused.

  “The baby! Shay’s water broke. Come on, you can drive with me to the hospital.”

  Louise came running out of the back, a smudge of flour on her brown cheek. “The baby’s coming?” she asked a massive smile spreading across her face.

  “He is,” Kate responded, her voice going up a good five octaves.

  “Oh my god! Tell Shay I’m thinking about her, and I have everything under control.”

  “You good if I go?” Cooper asked, not wanting to leave Louise high and dry.

  “Are you kidding me? I’ve been preparing for this day for months. Go! Get! I got this.”

  “Thanks,” Cooper said as he catapulted himself over the counter and joined Kate in a sprint to her car.

  “Where’s your husband?” he asked. Kate and Caleb had got together just around the time Cooper came home and quickly got engaged afterward. He was thrilled when one day after a two-week long vacation they came home and told everyone they had eloped. It was one less wedding he had to attend, and he couldn’t have loved his sister more than in that moment.

  While he loved a good party, he wasn’t ready for another wedding. The last one his grandmother was all over him asking him when he planned on settling down. And though he could handle his grandma better than the rest of his siblings, he still hated to disappoint her, and that’s exactly how he felt when he had told her he never planned on getting married.

  Betty Hayes was usually a very understanding woman, but her d
esire for her grandkids to get married had taken over her common sense. With Shay pregnant, they all thought they had some time before she started her inquisition again, but if anything, it only made it worse. He could already picture her at the hospital making her rounds to each one of them while they waited.

  “My husband,” Kate said with a goofy smile. “God, I love saying that. My husband,” she said again, “is bringing his car home and catching a ride with Mason so we don’t have two cars at the hospital.”

  “Can you stop spewing your happiness? It’s disgusting.”

  “You’re just jealous.”

  He laughed, but the truth was, maybe a part of him, a teeny tiny part of him, was a little jealous. Kate found someone who made her ridiculously happy, yet at the same time, challenged her. Caleb embraced her ambition and knew how to rein her in when she got a little ahead of herself. It was a rare thing to find everything you need in someone else, but somehow, three of his siblings had found exactly that.

  In the past, he wouldn’t have given two shits about it. But as each one of his brothers and sisters paired off, he was left wondering if he ever would—if he even wanted to. It was such a foreign concept for him. Falling in love, settling down with one person… he always looked at that as losing your independence. An ending to all the things he still wanted to accomplish and see in his life.

  Now he wasn’t so sure. And while the chemistry and attraction he had with Sarah had a lot to do with it, these doubts and uncertainties had been around much longer. They started poking at his mind as far back as Matt and Shay’s wedding.

  Maybe married life wasn’t as bad as he had originally thought. He really had no reason to think otherwise. His parents and grandparents were happy, and that’s what he’d grown up with. But he also grew up thinking that life began and ended on the farm, and he wanted more than that.

  He didn’t want to be mucking chicken coops for the rest of his life or designing corn mazes with Matt for Basil Hill Farms famous Fall Festival.

  No, he wanted more.