My One and Only(80)
Shivering in response to his touch, her eyes dropped to his full lips. “And I’ve seen what’s behind that towel, but you still wore it out of the bathroom.”
Green eyes darkened with desire. “Would you like to see it again?” he asked, leaning close.
“I’d like to do a lot more than see it.” Haleigh fell back to the pillow, tugging him with her, but just as their lips met, the cell phone on his nightstand went off.
“Dammit,” he mumbled against her mouth.
“Ignore it,” she ordered, locking her arms around his neck.
Cooper pulled free. “I can’t. That’s the business phone.”
Leaning on her side, she watched him answer the call, take down a location, and say he’d be there in a half hour.
“Do you really have to go?” she asked once the cell was back on the table.
He dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “I really do. That was Dale Lambdon with the sheriff’s office. A couple high schoolers buried a Mustang in a ditch out on Highway 76. I need to tow them out and see how much damage they’ve done.”
“Send Frankie or Ian. We were just getting started.” How was she supposed to put off thinking about her crappy situation if he left her there alone?
“Ian doesn’t run the tow truck, and Frankie handled calls all weekend. It’s my turn.”
“There aren’t any other tow services in the county?” she pressed.
Cooper rose to his feet. “If you got a call from the hospital, you’d have to go, right?”
“Come on,” she replied. “Pulling a car out of a ditch isn’t the same as delivering a baby.” The minute the words hit the air, Haleigh smacked a hand over her mouth as Cooper’s face went hard. “Oh my God,” she said. “My mother’s voice just came out of my mouth.”
“Unless she’s a long-distance ventriloquist, that was you.” Draping the loose towel around his neck, Cooper said, “I know the difference between what we are, doc. You don’t need to remind me.”
Haleigh leapt from the bed to chase him to his dresser. “Cooper, I’m so sorry. That isn’t what I meant. What you do is important.”
“But not life and death. And I didn’t have to go to school for nearly a decade to learn how to do it.” With clean clothes in hand, he charged back into the bathroom.
“Please, Cooper,” she begged, trailing behind. “This is the perfect example of what I was talking about earlier. I say stupid things. Things I don’t mean.”
“Let it go,” he said. “It’s fine.”
“It isn’t fine,” she argued. “That was a horrible thing to say. I don’t know where it came from.” After buttoning his jeans, Cooper reached for the deodorant, pretending she wasn’t there. “Dammit, look at me!” she yelled. “I love you and I would never say anything to make you feel inferior because I’ve known that feeling my whole life and you don’t do that to someone you care about.”
The Speed Stick hit the counter. “What did you say?”
Now that he actually was looking at her, Haleigh realized she was standing in the middle of his bathroom stark naked and raving like a mad woman. Snatching a towel off the bar to her left, she wrapped it around herself. “I said I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Unblinking, he said, “You said you love me.”
“I did?” Replaying the heartfelt speech in her mind, Haleigh heard the words play back. “I did say that,” she whispered, as surprised as Cooper looked. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“But you did,” he said, crossing the distance between them. “Did you mean it?”
“Well, yeah,” she hedged, unable to lie when he was staring at her so intently. “But you don’t have to say it back. That’s not why I said it. I just needed you to know that I didn’t mean what I said. Originally.”
“I love you, too,” he said, a smile splitting his handsome face. “I can’t believe you said it.” Sweeping her off her feet, Cooper spun them around with a bark of laughter. “I love you, Haleigh Rae Mitchner.”
“Who’s the overachiever now?” she asked, clinging to his shoulders. “That’s twice now and I’ve only said it once.”
Looking like a big kid with a ticket to Disney World, he said, “Then say it again.”
Toying with the damp curls behind his ear, she fulfilled his request. “I love you, Cooper Daniel Ridgeway.”
The whoop of joy took her by surprise, and Haleigh buried her nose in his pine-scented neck, unsure how they’d gone so quickly from her blatant blunder to proclamations of love.