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  An eerie silence fell over the entire suite as Victoria leaned her back against the door and tried to catch her breath. Everything started to close in around her and Victoria knew she had to get out of there.

  Grabbing her suitcase from the bottom of the closet she began throwing clothes in it as fast as she could. There was no way she could stay here and face Cooper in the morning, or possibly ever again. Self-preservation became her number one priority as she threw a few more things in her suitcase. When everything in her room was packed, Victoria started looking for her phone so she could call and book a flight and realized it was still in the living room.

  The adrenaline she had been running on just minutes ago seemed to leave as quickly as it came, and Victoria collapsed onto the bed feeling like a rung out wash cloth. Lindsay told her once that panic attacks felt like drowning, and Victoria hadn’t understood what she meant until that moment.

  Victoria lay there looking at the ceiling, willing her body to cooperate but all she could do was lie there and look at the tiny cracks in the plaster. After a while the cracks started to represent the cracks that were in her, and Victoria closed her eyes.

  Minute by minute ticked by with her mind slowly dissecting glimpses of her life up to now, and what Victoria saw scared the hell out of her. She was thirty-one and alone.

  Sure she had her family and a few friends, but other than that there had never been someone special in her life. Add a couple of kids and a drinking problem and she was dangerously close to becoming her mother. The one person she always swore to never become.

  Glancing at the clock, Victoria saw that it was two o’clock in the morning and she blinked to make sure she was seeing it right. Victoria had lain there for three hours. Long enough to have her world knocked off its perfectly placed axis without a clue of how to fix the problem.

  The sound of bedsprings creaking followed by what sounded like a TV turning on came through the wall Victoria’s headboard rested against. Obviously Cooper wasn’t having any more luck than she was in the sleep department, and Victoria’s thoughts drifted to the man in the next room.

  In a very short amount of time, Cooper had managed to see a side of her no one else had. Years of keeping her defenses locked firmly in place and he had waltzed in and knocked them down one by one without even trying.

  That thought alone made Victoria sit up and look at the wall like she could see through to the man on the other side. What was it about Cooper that made her forget about guarding herself?

  Sure Cooper pushed her buttons and said all the wrong things when he was mad, but maybe that’s exactly what she needed. Someone that wasn’t afraid to challenge her and call her on her bullshit. Someone that did amazing things like make dinner reservations just so he could see her happy.

  More movement from Cooper’s room and Victoria got off the bed. She found a pair of pajamas in the mound of clothes sticking out of her suitcase and changed quickly. Victoria thought about waiting until morning to talk to him, but seeing as he was up she decided there was no time like the present and opened her door.

  Victoria walked through the main part of the suite, noticing that Cooper had turned out all the lights as she tiptoed down the hallway.

  Cooper’s door was cracked opened so Victoria looked through the gap. Cooper was indeed still awake lying in just a pair of sleeping pants on top of the covers staring at the TV, but Victoria could tell he wasn’t really seeing whatever was on the screen.

  Taking a few seconds to think about what she wanted to say and to admire the view, Victoria pushed open the door. Cooper didn’t turn to look at her and she briefly thought about going back to her room, but dismissed the urge to run and climbed onto the bed next to him. Adopting the same reclined position as Cooper, Victoria settled against the pillows and pretended to watch the TV.

  “For the record, you’re an asshole.”

  Just because she had realized a few things about herself didn’t mean she was going to let him off the hook. Cooper had been careless with his words and she wasn’t going to act like he hadn’t.

  Cooper continued to stare at the TV, but eventually he shifted onto his side to look at her.

  “I figured that out a few hours ago. What took you so long?” The smile on his face did nothing to hide the regret he obviously felt.

  Wanting to be face to face with him for what she had to say, Victoria scooted down on the bed and turned onto her side as well. Ignoring his question, Victoria asked one of her own instead.

  “Do you know how many people know about my fear of flying?”

  Cooper shook his head.

  “One.”

  “One?” Cooper asked, confused. Victoria nodded slowly, and Cooper’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

  “Yeah, which is the same number of people that I have spilt my guts to about my sister and Lindsay, and the same number of clients I’ve ever been less than professional with. So you’ll have to forgive me if I slightly overreacted when that same person heard something I’ve only ever told two other people. I’m usually very private, but for some reason when I get around you stuff I wouldn’t let anyone else see or hear comes pouring out and it’s starting to freak me out. Are you some sort of witch doctor or wizard or something?”

  “No, I’m afraid I couldn’t get into Hogwarts, and last I checked there’s not an MD after my name.” Cooper said dryly, but then a smile broke over his face.

  “Don’t be a smartass.” Victoria said sternly, but covered her mouth to hide her own smile.

  Add that to the list of things Cooper did. Make her furious one minute and on the verge of laughing the next.

  “Sorry, but I don’t know what you want me to say.” All amusement was gone and Cooper looked remorseful. “It wasn’t my intention to hear you on the phone. I saw a text from Alex saying Stella was worried so I went to tell you. I was getting ready to walk in when you started yelling. I wish I could pretend I didn’t hear it, but I did and it’s not something I’m going to easily forget.”

  Victoria knew if she didn’t give him at least something it would probably drive Cooper crazy by morning, but she didn’t want to rip that wound completely open again so Victoria went for a shortened version.

  “My mom always had a revolving door of men coming in and out of our lives. One night one of them was pissed because she left the bar with someone else and he came back to the apartment to get his stuff. Long story short he tried to go into Stella’s room, I caught him and he did to me what he had planned to do to her. I told my mom, but she didn’t believe me and I’ve sort of kept it to myself, for the most part, ever since.”

  Victoria closed her eyes and took a deep breath. There, she got it out minus most of the details and Cooper could do with it what he wanted. Telling him hadn’t been quite as hard as she thought it would be, but if he started asking a bunch of questions Victoria wasn’t sure she wouldn’t react the same way she had earlier.

  When Victoria opened her eyes the pity she expected to see wasn’t there, but the pain she felt was reflected back at her. Cooper’s intense green eyes continued to watch her and Victoria felt the cages starting to lock up again because when Cooper looked at her it felt like he could see straight into her damaged soul.

  Rolling to her back, Victoria stared at the ceiling and tried to shrug it off like it was no big deal.

  “So now you know my sob story.” She wiped her brow. “Whew, don’t even think I could get on Maury with that one.” Victoria joked, but Cooper obviously wasn’t buying her tough girl routine because he pulled her into his arms and held her tight.

  “I’m sorry you had to go through that, and I’m really sorry for what I said earlier and at Maxwell’s. You are incredibly strong and I was a moron for ever saying you only think about yourself. I hope you can forgive me.”

  “It’s alright.” Victoria tried to pat his back, but Cooper was hugging her so tightly she could barely move her arms. Just like on the hill Victoria felt good wrapped in Cooper’s arms, so she allowe
d the almost crushing affection to linger longer than it probably should have.

  Eventually Cooper loosened his hold but as he was lowering her back to the bed Victoria noticed that where there was once a look of pain in his eyes there was now hints of desire.

  Her heart began to race again, but this time it wasn’t from fear or anger. It was need, plain and simple, and Cooper was what she needed.

  Cooper’s head started slowly lowering to hers, so Victoria closed her eyes. Waiting for his sexy-as-sin lips to connect to hers, but they never did.

  A soft curse was followed by a dip in the bed and Victoria opened her eyes in time to see Cooper leaving the bedroom in a hurry.

  By the time Victoria was able to find her voice the bathroom door was already slamming shut and she heard the lock click into place.

  Lying on the bed too stunned to get up and go to her room, Victoria tried to figure out what had gone wrong. One minute they were hugging and about to kiss and then he just bolts for the bathroom leaving her wanting and more than a little confused.

  If anyone should have freaked out in that moment it should have been Victoria, but instead she was the one lying in his bed wondering what the hell was going on.

  After ten minutes or so Victoria determined Cooper wasn’t coming back to explain, so she climbed off the bed and went back to her room. Making sure the door was closed this time, Victoria turned out the lights and lifted the blankets as she snuggled under the large down comforter. The clock beside the bed now read three o’clock, and Victoria groaned. They had to be up in a little over five hours to eat breakfast and get to the ball field for the early game tomorrow.

  Pushing everything out of her mind for the time being, Victoria closed her eyes and slept a surprisingly dreamless sleep.

  ****

  Cooper stayed in the bathroom long after he heard Victoria walk back to her room and close the door. He paced around the cream colored room, but every time he came in front of the mirror he had to look away. Too disgusted with himself for what he almost did.

  After Victoria slammed her door earlier, Cooper had leaned against the wall for quite a while rubbing a hand over his chest and the pain he felt there wasn’t just from her poke. There was a black cloud hovering over his heart from the awful things he’d said.

  Cooper thought about going to Victoria’s room to apologize, but left her alone to cool down and turned off the lights. Then he had lain in his room for hours wondering, not for the first time, when he had become this person.

  Before he moved to L.A, Cooper had been a laid back easy to get along with person, but now that person seemed to be miles away.

  Until Victoria kissed him on the hill Cooper was happy to just drift through life doing his job and taking care of his family, but her kiss awakened something deep inside him that he thought was lost forever and it was both exciting and frightening.

  Then she had pulled away and all the anger from that was multiplied when she tried to be so blasé about what she went through and Cooper snapped. He had taken every one of his frustrations out on her until she finally snapped.

  And if all of that hadn’t been bad enough, what did he do when she came to him and opened up about all of this? He took advantage of her vulnerability and tried to kiss her after she made it clear that getting involved with clients was not something she did.

  Now Cooper was pacing around the bathroom, trying to think of an apology big enough to cover every stupid mistake he had ever made with Victoria and he couldn’t think of a single thing that would make up for it all.

  Cracking the door just enough to make sure the coast was clear, Cooper quickly raced back to his room and shut the door. The TV was still on so Cooper settled back on the bed the way he had been before Victoria came in and watched a few episodes of CSI. The first lights of day were just starting to appear on the horizon when Cooper finally felt his body give up, and his eyes drifted shut.

  ****

  Chapter 9

  Eight-thirty came pretty early the next morning, but Victoria woke up feeling better than she thought she would after only five hours of sleep, not to mention the roller coaster of emotions from the night before.

  Grabbing her clothes for the day, Victoria headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Not at all surprised to find Cooper’s door still closed. She stood outside his door listening for any sign that he was awake, and hearing none left him alone and continued into the bathroom.

  The warm water worked wonders, and after blow-drying her hair and applying her make-up Victoria felt a million times better.

  Cooper’s door was still closed when she finished up, so Victoria went to the living room to find the room service menu and ordered breakfast for the both of them.

  She still didn’t know what made him bolt last night, but Victoria decided it didn’t matter. She had a job to do and she fully intended on doing it. Cooper and his mixed signals be damned.

  Breakfast arrived twenty minutes later, but Cooper still hadn’t emerged from his bedroom. Checking the time, Victoria sighed and headed to wake him up when her phone rang. She recognized it as the number for Mr. Richards office and swallowed twice before finally answering.

  “Hello, Victoria Howe speaking.”

  “Victoria, its Grace.” Victoria smiled at the older woman’s cheerful voice.

  “Good morning, Grace. How are you?”

  “I’m just fine, honey. Mr. Richards wanted me to call and give you a heads up about an interview that’s been scheduled for Cooper in L.A. I tried calling him first, but his phone just rang and rang.”

  Victoria didn’t want to lie, but she also didn’t want to tell his boss’s secretary he had overslept. Thankfully Cooper chose that moment to stumble sleepily into the dining room and slumped into a chair.

  “He was in the shower, but I can relay the message. What is the interview for?” Cooper sat up a little straighter and eyed Victoria suspiciously, but she ignored him and listened to Grace.

  “They want to write an article about his first trip back to where he got his big break. The reporter’s name is Jenna Brinkley, and it’s set up for Saturday at seven. I gave her both of your cell phone numbers when she called so she could get ahold of one of you to arrange a place to meet.”

  Victoria was trying not to jump to any conclusions, but she didn’t believe in coincidences. Victoria didn’t know what Cooper’s ex was up to, but it couldn’t be anything good considering Cooper hadn’t given the impression that things ended well.

  “I’ll be looking forward to her call. Thank you for letting me know Grace.” Victoria didn’t want to rush her off the phone, but time was of the essence this morning and they were already running late.

  “You’re welcome. I’ll call you if anything else comes up. Goodbye.” Victoria said goodbye as well before disconnecting the call and turning to Cooper. To her surprise, he spoke first.

  “I’m sorry about last night.”

  Which part? Victoria wondered, but there were bigger issues to discuss right now.

  “Last night is the last thing we have to worry about. That was Grace on the phone, and apparently you are scheduled to do an interview Saturday at seven.”

  Cooper leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his very bare chest.

  Focus on work, not his chest Victoria scolded herself.

  “Why am I being interviewed, and why wasn’t I asked before something was just scheduled for me? What if I don’t want to do it?”

  Putting aside the fact that he sounded like a spoiled brat right now, Victoria reminded herself that she hadn’t told him the worst part yet and took a calming breath as she leaned forward and folded her hands together on the table.

  “The interview is to mark your first return to L.A, but Cooper that’s not the most important part of all of this.”

  He still had his arms crossed and she could see the muscles tighten and a tick formed over his jaw.

  “What’s the most important part?” He said between clenched t
eeth.

  “I hope to God I’m wrong, but I have a feeling I’m not and if I’m not then know I will do everything I can to figure something out.” She paused, and Cooper seemed to be losing the last of his patience fast.

  “Victoria.” He said her name like a curse and she finally blurted it out.

  “The reporters name is Jenna Brinkley.” All color drained from Cooper’s face, but then quickly returned as he stood up so fast his chair flipped over.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  Obviously Victoria was right about it being his ex, but she needed to diffuse the situation and fast. Cooper needed to focus on today’s broadcast and get ready for work, and Victoria needed to try and figure out a way to get this interview canceled.

  Going over to his upturned chair, Victoria righted it before going to stand in front of a fuming Cooper.

  “Look, I’m not sure how this whole interview came to be, but I’m going to do a little digging and try to fix this.”

  That seemed to pacify him slightly, so Victoria went on.

  “You need to hurry and get ready for work and let me worry about everything else. I was hired to work on your image, and I don’t want all my hard work to go down the drain because you strangled a reporter.”

  Cooper didn’t even crack a smile at her attempt to joke with him, but thankfully he disappeared down the hall and the shower started shortly after.

  With Cooper taken care of for the time being, Victoria pulled out her iPad and began making a list of all the people she needed to call as soon as they arrived at the stadium. She had a few contacts in L.A. so hopefully one of them would be able to give her a little bit of information on what Jenna could possibly want.

  Ten minutes later a clean but still scowling Cooper emerged from the hallway and scarfed down his now cold breakfast. Other than asking if she was ready, Cooper remained quiet until they arrived at the stadium and he insisted on carrying her bag to the skybox. His mood still hadn’t changed as he laid her bag on the chair and Victoria had had enough. If this kept up he was going to scare off every viewer before the game even started from his scowl alone.