Cooper shrugged. “I couldn’t think of another possibility.”
“That’s not how it works, you know.” She met his gaze. Lord, he was attractive. When he wasn’t being an ass or cracking jokes, she could tell he had a serious disposition that made him older than his years. She wanted to run the tips of her fingers over the lines on his forehead to smooth them out while telling him everything was going to be okay.
It was, wasn’t it? She shivered.
“How does it work, genius?” Cooper asked.
She shook her thoughts from her head and faced him again. “It’s an orchestrated dance out of our control. We were meant to meet tonight, not yesterday, not last year, but tonight. Hell, Jackson took up skiing this past winter. I saw him. He saw me. We knew there was a connection. And yet we didn’t approach each other.
“It doesn’t matter what our motives were, the timing wasn’t right. And you could no more have come to Cambridge before this week and forced your hand, either. I’ve always known that.
“I’m not going to suggest I haven’t been frustrated over the past twenty-some-odd months, but in my heart I knew you would be here precisely when the time was right and not a moment sooner. And here you are.” She smiled.
“It’s a cluster fuck.”
She nodded. It was.
“How are we going to convince Jackson?”
“We don’t have to. He won’t be able to stay away. I’m sure Jazmine will talk to him. Hounding him won’t help.”
Cooper squirmed in his seat, openly adjusting his cock with one hand. “How long do you suppose this will take?”
“About three seconds once you get inside me,” she teased, leaning her elbows on the table so she brought her face closer to him.
Cooper dropped his fork, stood, and leaned across the table to cup her face. “Don’t tease. I can’t take it.”
She grinned. “I don’t see how you have a choice.”
He rolled his eyes as he sat back in his chair. “Tell me something.”
“What?”
He swallowed another bite, moaning around it as he chewed. “Is it different? I mean, do you feel the same way about me as you do him?”
She shrugged. “It’s different. Probably the same way a parent loves both kids equally, but focusing on a variety of characteristics.”
“Hmm.” He ate in silence for a few minutes and then continued. “I never wanted this.”
“I know. And I never expected it. Not for a second. I have only one female cousin, Tessa, in Oregon. She mated with one man. How was I to expect I would mate with two?”
Cooper nodded. “After your brother Logan mated with Amanda and my brother Sawyer, I thought we were home free. I was so relieved I would be the one sibling who didn’t have to share.”
She reached across the table and set her hand on his. “We will get through this.”
“Do we have a choice?” His smile melted her a bit, softening her as she got to know this man she’d never met, who’d undoubtedly paced outside her condo for over an hour before taking this risk and knocking on her door.
Chapter Eleven
Cooper helped Sharon clean the kitchen in a comfortable silence that was only stressful because of the elephant in the room that was their driving need to fuck. Now. Fast. Hard.
As they ignored the arousal and put the last dishes away, he grabbed the island and stiffened. “Do you feel that?”
Sharon turned to face him. “Feel what?”
“The tremor.”
She stayed very still, but he could tell she didn’t feel the same thing he felt. It was subtle, not a huge aftershock, but still there.
“We have to go.” He righted himself and scrambled to find the rest of his clothes behind him in the living area.
“Go where? It’s late. I’m exhausted. Let’s sleep.”
He chuckled as he sat on her couch to tug his shoes and socks on. “You could sleep right now?”
“Well, no, but…”
“I need to go back to my office where my equipment is and see where the epicenter of that tremor was.”
“Now?”
“Yes. Now. I’m a seismologist, baby. It’s what I do.”
She set her hands on her hips. “I’ll stay here.”
“No, you won’t. I’m not leaving your side for an instant.”
“Afraid Jackson will swoop in and claim me behind your back?” she teased.
“Something like that.” He didn’t meet her gaze as he found his wallet on the floor and stuffed it into his pocket. She wasn’t too far off the mark.
“Come on. Did you not just see that spirit breaking us apart so we could hardly kiss without pissing it off? Don’t you think it would do the same thing if Jackson were here instead of you?”