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  “And you used to come here with her?” Victoria prompted and Cooper nodded.

  “We were together for two years. She’s a reporter in L.A. and she would come with me when I traveled.”

  “What happened?” Victoria asked, and hoped she wasn’t being to forward.

  The soft lighting on the patio that she had thought was romantic when they arrived made Coopers face take on an almost haunted appearance as he explained.

  “I made the decision to move home to be closer to my family and asked her to move with me and to be my wife.”

  Victoria couldn’t stop her eyes from widening.

  “I think you can guess what her answer was.” Cooper said with little feeling.

  Victoria was no stranger to being let down by the people that were supposed to love you, and she felt for what Cooper must have gone through.

  Victoria didn’t know what to say exactly, so she did the only thing she could and reached over to squeeze his hand again.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Cooper still seemed tortured by memories of his ex, but when he picked up his fork and started eating finally Victoria figured if he was done talking.

  The check was placed on the table a little bit later and when Victoria tried to reach for it Cooper practically smacked her hand away.

  “Did you really think you were going to pay for dinner?” Cooper asked, sounding appalled at the idea.

  Victoria thought about pointing out this wasn’t a date and she could pay for her own food, but seeing as Cooper’s mood seemed to be lifting she let it go and thanked him.

  “You’re welcome.” Cooper placed cash in the small leather folder and stood up. “Are you ready to work off our dinner? The trail from here to the park is a little hilly.”

  Taking a final sip of her water, Victoria placed her hand in the one Cooper offered her and let him lead her to the paved trail near the water.

  Sounds of the night echoed all around them along with the sound of boat horns and waves beating against the rocks below.

  There weren’t many people on the trail, but every now and then Victoria could feel herself tense as they reached an area that didn’t have much light. Cooper must have picked up on it too because he moved closer as they approached those areas and Victoria felt much safer.

  At the top of an especially tall hill large boulders made up part of the hillside and Cooper sat on one then patted the spot next to him. Victoria shook her head.

  “These rocks have been here forever. They aren’t going anywhere.” Cooper pointed out, but Victoria still wasn’t convinced. She continued to war with herself a little longer, but when Cooper started softly clucking like a chicken Victoria had no choice but to give in and join him on the possible death trap.

  Carefully climbing onto the boulder, Victoria leaned back on her hands and watched the traffic move up and down the bridge.

  “I can’t believe how peaceful it is.” Victoria said, then nudged Cooper’s shoulder with hers. “I know I said it earlier, but thank you. It’s been a great night. I can’t remember the last time I went a whole night without thinking about work or anything else.”

  Cooper bumped her right back.

  “I told you you were going to love it.”

  Victoria rolled her eyes, but smiled. She didn’t know how long they sat like that, but eventually the unforgiving rock took its toll on Victoria’s backside and she stood up.

  “Are you wanting to head back?” She asked. It was getting late and Victoria knew they had to be up early, but she wasn’t ready for the night to end just yet.

  Cooper shook his head, so Victoria got back on the walking path and waited for him to join her.

  “Didn’t you say something about going under the bridge?”

  “Yeah, it’s not much further.”

  “Then lead the way.” Victoria said as she placed her arm in his.

  The path to go under the bridge wasn’t that much further, but when they got there the gate was pulled closed with a sign informing them that this area was closed after dark. Both she and Cooper were disappointed, but had no other choice but to turn around and headed back up the hill.

  “Did you get a chance to talk to Becky about Monday?” Victoria asked on their way back. Her arm was still wrapped around Cooper’s, but he didn’t seem to mind so she left it right where it was.

  “No, but I’m glad you brought her up. I talked to her yesterday about driving from here to L.A Friday. It’s a little over six hours so we’ll have to get on the road around eight that morning.”

  They were once again near the boulders and Victoria stopped walking, and pulling Cooper to a stop as well.

  “We have plane tickets.” It was more of a statement than a question, but Cooper nodded as he looked at her warily. “So why would we drive?”

  “I just thought it would be easier on you. I didn’t cancel the tickets or anything, so if you really don’t want to drive we can still fly. I just thought…” Cooper’s ramblings continued, but Victoria didn’t hear most of it. She was too caught off guard by this incredible gesture by an even more incredible man.

  Victoria didn’t know if it was the dinner they shared, the amazing walk through the park, or this incredible thing he was doing for her but in that moment Victoria did something that she never did. She turned off her brain and went with what she was feeling. And right then Victoria felt like kissing Cooper.

  Placing her hand on Cooper’s cheek, Victoria closed her eyes and brought her lips to his. For the briefest of moments there was no response, but just as Victoria started to pull away she was wrapped in his strong arms and the kiss deepened.

  Victoria had fantasized about what it would be like to kiss Cooper over their weeks together, but nothing could have prepared her for the sensual assault that he was unleashing on her lips. Every part of her body was on fire and Victoria moved her hand from his cheek to behind his neck to pull him closer. A moan escaped and Victoria didn’t know which one of them it came from, nor did she care. Nothing else mattered in that moment except the man she was kissing.

  Coopers tongue moved sensually in her mouth as his hands held firmly onto her hips, and rolled her lower half slowly against the top of his thigh. Everything about kissing Cooper felt right, and Victoria melted into him.

  When the need to breathe finally became too much, Victoria slowly broke the kiss and opened her eyes.

  Cooper brought a finger up to rub over his bottom lip.

  “Wow.” The word was practically a whisper coming from Cooper’s kiss swollen lips, and Victoria couldn’t agree more.

  They stood there, each trying to catch their breath until the sound of a boat horn broke the silence around them and Victoria’s adventure into fantasy land.

  “Shit.” Victoria shook her head and quickly took a step back.

  What was I thinking? Rule number one, No Getting Involved With Clients. How could I have been so stupid?

  Cooper tried to reach for her, but Victoria easily sidestepped him and started walking briskly back through the park.

  “Victoria, stop.” She could hear him running to catch up, but Victoria kept going. “Damn it, would you slow down? We need to talk.”

  “It was just a kiss. I was grateful for what you wanted to do for me, and I got carried away. It was a mistake and I won’t let it happen again.”

  Victoria could see the parking lot up ahead and kept moving towards it. She had no idea what had come over her on the hill, but it would do both of them a world of good to forget it ever happened.

  “A mistake?” Cooper sounded confused and angry.

  “Yes.” She wanted to tell him that the best kiss of her life was anything but a mistake, but she had already broken too many rules tonight and she wasn’t going to make things worse by leading him on.

  When they reached the car Victoria waited for Cooper to unlock the doors. All she wanted to do was get back to the hotel and lock herself in her room. She chanced a look at him over the roof of the car an
d regretted it almost immediately. All the joy she had seen on their walk was gone, and Victoria knew she was responsible for ruining this incredible night he had set up for her.

  The door lock clicked open and Victoria’s door had barely closed before Cooper fired up the engine and sped out of the parking lot. What felt like an hour was really only thirty minutes or so when they finally made it back to the hotel.

  Not one word had been said on the drive back and when they reached the suite Cooper went straight to his room and slammed the door. Victoria wished she could go to him and pick up where they left off, but that wasn’t fair to either of them.

  Going to her own room to sulk, Victoria reached into her purse for her phone. There were quite a few missed calls and text messages from Stella telling her to call no matter what time it was. Victoria began to panic and nearly dropped her phone in an attempt to hit Stella’s name.

  “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been going out of my mind thinking something awful happened to you.” Was the greeting she received, and Victoria had to pull the phone back from her ear as her sister continued yelling. When she finally seemed to lose steam, Victoria moved it back.

  “I forgot I put my phone on vibrate at dinner. I’m sorry if you were worried, but I’m fine.” She said the words, but Victoria felt anything but fine and Stella had obviously picked up on it as well.

  “Something’s bothering you. I can hear it in your voice. Is it Cooper? Are you guys still not getting along?” Victoria almost laughed. They had been more than getting along an hour ago, but of course she went and ruined it. Just like she always did.

  “It’s complicated” was all she could think to say to Stella. A rustling sound followed by whispering came through the phone.

  “What?”

  “Sorry, I was in bed when you called. I’m going to the living room so I don’t disturb Alex.”

  Victoria looked at the clock and realized it was midnight back home.

  “Go back to bed, Stella. I can call you tomorrow.”

  “Not gonna happen because I’ll just lay there worrying about you so stop trying to weasel out of telling me what’s going on.”

  Settling herself against the mountain of pillows on her bed Victoria removed her shoes and sighed.

  “I’m an idiot.” Those three words just about covered it. Victoria still didn’t know how she could break so many of her carefully thought out rules in such a short amount of time, but one swipe of her tongue across her lips told her exactly how. Cooper was hard to resist.

  “Ooookay. Care to explain why?”

  Victoria told her sister about everything from dinner and their conversation about his ex to their walk through the park, and the kiss. Oh that kiss. And when she was done Victoria sat quietly and waited for whatever Stella had to say.

  “So Cooper did all of these wonderful things for you, told you something that he probably hasn’t told many people, you kissed him and then ran away and you want me to tell you you did the right thing? Sorry big sister, but I can’t do that.”

  “Whose side are you on?” Victoria asked outraged. “You know I can’t get involved with a client Stella.”

  “I’m on your side, which is why I’m being honest with you. You can sit here and try to use the excuse that Cooper’s a client or he’s not your type or whatever, but you and I both know it’s just that. An excuse. A way for you to push him away like you do everybody else that gets too close, and don’t deny it because I’ve seen how different you are with him. I’m not trying to be mean but I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life alone, and if you don’t start trusting people and opening up that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

  Victoria and Stella avoided talking about the twisted way they grew up when they could, but tonight it seemed Stella was holding nothing back. That was until Victoria played the one card that she knew would make her sister back off.

  “Maybe I’m just not meant to be happy. Maybe my happiness was stolen when I was sixteen too.”

  “Seriously?” Stella shrieked and Victoria winced. Maybe this time she had gone to far. “How can you joke about something like that” Stella continued. “And to me of all people? You may have gotten over what happened to you and moved on, but I never will. Especially when it was my fault.”

  That last part made Victoria sit up.

  “For the last time, it was NOT your fault.” Victoria rarely yelled at her sister, but Stella shouldering the blame for something that she had no control over was ridiculous. “Why do you think I avoided telling you for as long as I did? Because I knew you would feel this way. There were two people responsible for that monster raping me and neither of them were you.”

  A tear rolled down Victoria’s cheek when she heard her sister sobbing on the other end of the phone, and she felt like a bitch for even bringing it up in the first place. Bringing her voice back down to a soothing tone, Victoria tried to be strong for both of them.

  “Look, I’m sorry I snapped at you and for bringing it up, but Stella you have to quit blaming yourself. Mom and that slime ball are to blame. Not me and certainly not you.”

  Stella’s crying finally lowered to a few hiccups.

  “But if you hadn’t seen him coming to my room that night…”

  “Then this conversation would be reversed, but it’s not.”

  And thank God because learning to live with that had taken Victoria a lot of years. Years that she would happily suffer through all over again just to make sure Stella remained safe that night.

  “Go back to bed so Alex doesn’t start to worry, and I will call you tomorrow. You don’t need this right now.” And neither did Victoria. “I love you little sister. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “I love you too.” Stella didn’t sound happy about being rushed off the phone, but Victoria knew if they stayed on the phone it would only upset them both further.

  After she ended the call Victoria noticed that her battery was almost dead, but after digging through her bags she realized the charger was in the living room and went to grab it. As soon as she stepped out of her room Victoria noticed Cooper sitting on the floor next to her door repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists.

  At first she thought his anger was from what happened earlier but then she realized she hadn’t closed her door all the way and gasped.

  “How much of that did you hear?”

  Cooper said nothing, but his face reddened and Victoria’s insides twisted into knots as she slid down the wall next to him. He heard everything.

  ****

  Chapter 8

  Victoria’s first instinct was to get up and go back to her room. She didn’t owe Cooper an explanation for what he had obviously heard, but something Stella said earlier stopped her. She had spent the majority of her life running from her past and for the first time that she could remember the need to run wasn’t as strong.

  “Say something.” Victoria said softly, trying to get Cooper to break his silence.

  Since seeing him sitting on the floor Cooper hadn’t said a word and Victoria could almost feel the anger pouring off of him.

  Cooper opened his mouth and for a minute she thought he was going to speak, but then he shook his head and continued to stare a hole through the wall in front of him.

  Short of shaking the words out of him Victoria couldn’t think of a way to get him to talk to her. Needing something to do other than sit on the floor, Victoria went to the mini bar to get a drink. The tiny bottles of vodka called to her, but alcohol wouldn’t solve anything so instead she grabbed two bottles of water.

  Cooper was still sitting on the floor so Victoria walked back to hand him his, which he accepted with a barely audible “thank you” before taking a large swallow. Unscrewing the cap on her own water Victoria rested against the back of one of the living room chairs.

  The silence was really starting to irritate her, so Victoria put the cap back on her water and cleared her throat. Figuring she should just bite the bullet
and get this over with.

  “Look, we can both sit here all night and pretend you didn’t hear my conversation with Stella, or you can just say whatever’s on your mind and we can move on. Your choice, but you sitting here being pissed off is getting us nowhere.”

  Victoria’s tone was calm, but on the inside her heart was racing. A grand total of four people knew about that night and no matter how over it she thought she was, Victoria didn’t want to relive it all again.

  She couldn’t go back in time and keep Cooper from hearing it, but she could down play it and hope he chose to move on.

  “How the hell do you expect me to act?” Cooper jumped to his feet, and Victoria was surprised at his outburst.

  I guess he’s choosing the talking option.

  “Is there some step by step guide on how a person should react to learning one of their friends was raped when she was sixteen? Should I give into the urge to throw anything not bolted down, or should I be like you and show no emotion. Act like it’s no big deal. Just like on the hill tonight?”

  Victoria didn’t know if it was the conversation with Stella, his words, or a combination of the two but every carefully constructed barrier Victoria had erected over the years crumbled in an instant, and years of built up rage came flooding out before she could put a stop to it.

  The plastic bottle in her hand went flying and she saw Cooper duck to avoid being hit. The bottle bounced off the wall behind him, but Victoria was too enraged to care where it landed.

  “No Big Deal! How dare you!” Her hands were balled into tight fists as she began stalking toward him.

  Cooper’s eyes widened and he started to retreat, but the wall stopped his escape.

  “Is that enough of a reaction for you? I’ve spent the last fifteen years of my life dealing with what happened to me and you think because you overheard one conversation that you know how I should behave. Well you know what, Fuck You. You don’t know a God damn thing about me, or what I’ve been through.” Victoria punctuated her words with a hard poke into his chest, and then went to her room and slammed the door.