"I love you," I whisper, admitting what my heart has known for a long time.
Chapter 37
Cooper
"I love you," she declares, smiling as my heart finally settles down. Watching her struggle with doing the right thing and stepping aside.
"You know you can’t take it back, right?" Kissing her lips softly and tasting her tears. "Like it’s out there. You can’t come back and say I made a mistake."
She pushes me away. "I was doing what was best for you." She holds up her hands. "It’s called sacrificing for the ones you love."
"What about you?" I ask. "What do you get in all of this?"
"You," she says. "Happy. That was my reward. Emma's eyes were so happy when she said family time. What was I supposed to do?"
"You were supposed to be like, wait a second, does Cooper want this?" I state, and she glares, making me laugh.
"Cooper Grant," she huffs, putting her hands on her hips. "You just declared your love for me and pissed me off in the same moment."
"You know what that means, right?" I question and laugh. "It means I really, really love you."
She shakes her head. "What are you going to tell the girls?" she asks, and this is another reason I love her so much. She refuses to think of herself before anyone, even someone who has not been that nice to her on the best of days.
"Well, for one, I don’t know how much they will understand, but it’s not like they don’t know you. Or they haven’t seen me kiss you," I point out to her. "So I think it’ll be okay."
"I think you still need to tell them something," she decides, and I nod. "Cooper," she says, and I smirk at her. “I love you.”
“I said it first,” I reply, and she shrugs.
“Technically, I said it first while you were sleeping,” she says, and I walk back to her, grabbing her face.
"You know what we do next, right?" I say. "Make-up sex."
"What we are going to do next," she says, "is go eat something, and then I have to call Becca and ask her to come over."
"Okay, so you call Becca," I concede, kissing her. "I’m going to go cook, and then we have make-up sex." She throws her head back and laughs. I kiss her before walking down the stairs, this time with the biggest smile on my face.
I walk back into the kitchen and clean up the plates the girls left and look up when I hear her running down the stairs. "They are going to be here in ten minutes!” she exclaims, looking at me with her face pale. "What the fuck? Who is out of the house at this time of the day on a Saturday?”
“They have kids,” I remind her. “I think Phoenix goes skating.”
“Well, whatever, she’s going to be here in five minutes," she warns and then starts to pace. "Should I change my outfit?" She looks down at what she was wearing yesterday. "I mean, this is basically a walk of shame." She turns and runs back up the stairs. "I’m going to change."
I shake my head and make another coffee as I hear her yelling from the bedroom. "I don’t even have time to go home and change!” she shouts, coming back into the kitchen wearing blue jeans and a long-sleeve sweater that goes off her shoulder. "Does this look like I didn’t sleep here last night?"
"It’s before noon, and she’s meeting you here," I point out to her. "I think it’s too late to ask that," I say as the doorbell rings.
"Fucking hell," she curses, putting her head back. "I haven’t even thought about what I’m going to say to her."
"I can help," I assure, walking past her and toward the door.
"No," she whispers. "Don’t say anything." She puts her hand on her stomach. "I think I’m going to throw up."
I unlock the door, and I’m stunned to see Nico with her. "Sorry, I told him to wait in the car," Becca apologizes. "But well, he’s Nico."
"It’s fine," I say, moving aside so they can come in. "This is better. We can get two conversations in one." Nico looks at me, and I can see his eyes are worried.
"I felt that I needed to be here," Nico states, "since it has to do with one of my players."
"Would you like some water or coffee?" I ask, and they both shake their heads.
"Where do you want to do this?" I ask Erika, who just smiles.
"Anywhere," she answers. "Why don’t we go to the family room, so it’s more comfortable and less formal.”
"Well, that’s a good sign," Becca says, grabbing Nico’s hand and telling him to relax.
I wait for them to sit down before taking a seat next to Erika. "Thank you for coming," Erika says. And I can tell she is really nervous, so I grab her hand in mine. "Becca." She turns to Becca. "I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me," she says and looks down, and I can see her struggling as she wipes away a tear. "Giving me a shot right out of the gate and putting your trust in me, it meant everything."