His hands brushed hers as he passed off the crutches, taking his breath away as though she shocked him. What the hell was up with him? No woman had ever gotten under his skin like this before. He was liable to make a complete jackass out of himself tomorrow night if he didn’t get his head on straight.
As it was, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep between now and then. He hadn’t slept much at all in the past week in fact. Tonight would be hell.
Sharon set the ends of the crutches down in front of her and hopped forward. She twisted her torso around at the door to face him. “See you tomorrow, then.”
He nodded. “Yep.” So smooth, Wolf. So smooth.
As she made her way down the hall away from his office, he stepped into the corridor to watch her. He didn’t even blink as he focused on the sway of her sweet ass, the swish of her skirt, and the way her hair bounced with every hop.
By the time she was out of sight in the elevator, he was sweating. He stepped back into his office and lowered himself into the chair she’d vacated, unsure he could make it around to his side of the desk. The seat was still warm from her thighs. He leaned his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands.
Yeah. He was in so much trouble.
Chapter Six
Cooper yanked his head up from where he leaned over his computer when Laurie stepped into his office. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself. I thought you were going to stay with us at the house while you were here.”
“I am.” He flinched. “I mean I was, but…”
She glanced around the disaster zone that was his temporary office space in the Shepley building at the junior college. The school had gladly offered to house his team in exchange for Cooper allowing some of the students to observe and learn from the experience.
He was never this messy. He couldn’t explain it, either.
Laurie set her hands on her hips. “It isn’t that you’re staying with someone else. It’s that you haven’t left this office since you arrived on Tuesday.”
She wasn’t asking. She was stating a fact. One he couldn’t deny.
With a sheepish grin, he shrugged. “Been busy.”
“What do you plan to do? Predict the next tremor and then collect your Nobel prize?” She tried to sound teasing, but her eyes were narrowed. He was about to get lectured.
“Yep.”
“Cooper, you can’t live here. There aren’t even showers.”
“There are. Downstairs…” He cut himself off when he realized how stupid he sounded.
“Is this because of Sharon?” She narrowed her gaze further and stepped closer. “Because that would be insane. You know that, right?”
“What? No. Of course not.” He stood upright, stretching his spine out while keeping one eye on his computer screen as if he’d been intently observing something when she interrupted. The reality was he’d been staring at nothing and thinking about what an idiot he was when she yanked him from his self-pity. He hadn’t been alone for more than a few minutes at a time in days. It was just his luck that half his team was out checking the equipment at one of the seismic stations and the other half had run out to get some lunch.
She wandered farther into the room and picked up a pencil from his desk to twirl it around her fingers while she eyed him closer. “She found someone else, Coop. You can’t be shocked by that. You waited too long.”
“Is that what you think? That I influenced Fate?” It was exactly what he thought, but he wasn’t sure others would agree.
“Maybe… Or maybe she wasn’t ever meant to be yours. We’ll never know now, will we?”
He swallowed, the pain of her words almost more than he could bear.
She flipped the pencil around her fingers again and continued. “She’s having him over for dinner tonight. Hoping to seal the deal.”
He didn’t move. All he heard was that she hadn’t consummated the claiming. Why not?
Laurie leaned on the edge of his desk and let her gaze roam up and down his frame. “You look like shit.”
He chuckled and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “I’m working.” As if that explained things.
“Uh-huh. Is that code for wallowing?”
He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. “Laurie, I’m fine. It’s over. I’m relieved, actually. Now I can stop avoiding the woman. You’ve been hounding me to come visit forever. I’m here now.” He stretched out his arms as if to encompass not just himself but all his seismic equipment.
Laurie glanced around. “Yeah. You are. So stop working twenty-four/seven and come to the house. I have a lovely guest room set up for you that’s far enough away from Miriam I promise she won’t keep you up. Besides, she’s been sleeping through the night for a few months now.”