My One and Only(79)

Falling into his arms, Haleigh pressed her face into Cooper’s neck. “I don’t want to give you up, either.”

Relief shuddered through him, echoed by the knowledge that he’d just crossed a line in his own mind. The chance of losing the woman in his arms had been the push he needed. Cooper had found the one. Haleigh had always been the one.

“It’s about time you came around,” he said, speaking to himself as much as to her. Placing a kiss on her hair, he remembered his sweaty condition. “I’m sorry I smell like a locker room. You’re a brave woman to get this close.”

Lifting her head, she caressed his whiskered cheek with her knuckles. “Didn’t you say something about taking a shower?” she asked, a sexy look in her damp eyes. “I’d be happy to help with all the hard-to-reach places.”

Rising to his feet, Cooper took her with him, cradling her in his arms. “I’m really sweaty,” he said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “We might need to do a full scrub at least twice.”

Circling his earlobe with her tongue, she murmured, “I’m willing to go for three if you are.”

Cooper took the stairs two at a time, with Haleigh laughing against him all the way.



Haleigh really, really wanted to believe every word that Cooper had said. And she knew without a doubt that he believed them with complete conviction. But no matter how hard she tried, the what-ifs still lingered in the back of her mind. He’d made some bold statements that implied this was more than a fling on his part. Not that she wanted a love ’em and leave ’em affair, but Haleigh hadn’t been thinking in terms of forever. At least not for more than a few scary seconds before chasing the thoughts away.

As Abby had so kindly made known, Haleigh already had three strikes under her belt when it came to marriage. Well, engagements. But not one of her exes was half as amazing as the man who’d just given her a knee-buckling orgasm in the shower. Cooper was far and away the best man that Haleigh would ever find. And he wanted her. Till death do they part from the sound of things.

If—and that was a big if—Haleigh committed to becoming the woman that Cooper believed her to be, there were still two problems standing in her way. The first being her lack of a home come thirty days from now. Cooper would likely insist that she move in with him. In the past, she’d have taken that easy answer, but not now. If they were going to make this work, Haleigh needed to come to him on equal ground, which meant taking control of her financial and domestic circumstances.

Both of which led straight into problem number two—her mother. She’d need to play this carefully. Do some research on smaller homes in the area for sale, but also on refinancing the existing mortgage to possibly lower the payments. They’d bought the house on Rebel Circle when Haleigh was eight. If her parents signed a thirty-year mortgage, the balance should be almost nothing compared to a full loan. Of course, there was the second mortgage, and who knew what that looked like.

Multiple requests to see the paperwork had resulted in a string of guilt trips about respecting her mother’s privacy and not treating her only living parent like a senile old woman. Per their arrangement, Haleigh forked over a set amount each month while living on a shoestring budget and paying next to nothing to rent a bedroom from Abby. An option no longer on the table, leaving Haleigh potentially homeless.

“This is a long shot, but do you know of any food vendors in town who might be willing to serve food at the rally?” Cooper asked, walking out of the bathroom with a towel slung low around his hips and drying his hair with another. “Thanks to my screw-up, we had one drop out, and I need to find a replacement.”

“How did you screw up a food vendor?” Haleigh asked, allowing the mouth-watering scenery to distract from her conundrum.

“Good question,” he said with one brow raised. “One of them had a question Lorelei needed me to answer, but I didn’t check my messages, so I didn’t get back to her in time. I still don’t know what the question was.”

Feeling defensive of her man, Haleigh asked, “Then how do you know Lorelei couldn’t answer it without you?”

“Because Spencer said she couldn’t when he reamed my ass today.”

Haleigh hopped up to her knees, pulling the sheet over her naked breasts. “He shouldn’t be blaming you for Lorelei’s mistakes.”

Settling on the bed next to her, he said, “I appreciate your support, but I’m the guy in charge, and if they need me, I need to be available. Not that I regret how I was distracted.” Cooper ran a finger along the top of the sheet. “You know I’ve seen what’s behind there, right?”