Temporarily Yours (Shillings Agency 1)

“It’s been a day.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s hardly long enough to miss someone you barely know.” But it was.

“You think I don’t know you?” He raised a brow. “I think I know you better than anyone else in that room. They might know the ‘you’ that you show them. But they don’t know the real you. Not like I do.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You’re not supposed to be here. We were done, remember?”

“What if I changed my mind?” His eyes locked on hers, green and irresistible. “What if I’m here to tell you I want to be with you?”

Then she would be speechless. But after talking to her father, ironically enough, she understood where Cooper came from with his determination to cut ties with her. And she didn’t want him worrying about her worrying about him.

And she surely didn’t need him making all of her decisions for her. “What if I changed my mind, too?” she said, her voice coming out as little more than a whisper.

“You’re angry at me.”

“I’m not anymore. I was.” She pursed her lips. “But I get it now. You have noble intentions, and I do, too. You deserve to leave without having me dragging you down. You have a job to do…and I have a wedding to enjoy. So if you’ll excuse me?”

“Wait!” He stumbled forward and tried to grab her hand, but she backed out of his reach. “I want to—”

“Kayla, are you okay?” her mom asked, coming up behind her and hovering like an anxious mother hen. “Why are you here?”

Cooper flinched. “I needed to talk to her. I got Susan’s permission first.”

“Well, you don’t have mine.” Her mom crossed her arms. “You can take yourself right on out—”

“Mom.” Kayla shooed her away. “I’m fine. Just let him talk to me, and you go have fun. I can handle myself.”

“Fine.” Her mom’s eyes narrowed on Cooper. “But I’ll be watching you.”

Cooper nodded. “I know.”

When they were alone again, Cooper heaved a sigh. “Where were we? Oh, right. I was about to tell you—”

“It doesn’t matter what you were going to say.” Her heart twisted. “We’re done.”

He held a hand out. “Please. Don’t say that. I’ll stay for you. I want to stay for you.”

“Stay?”

Her breath slammed out of her chest. He would give up his job for her? That was exhilarating, wonderful…and horrible, all at the same time. Because she wanted to say yes so damn badly. Wanted to be selfish and let him stay.

But it’s not what he wanted. He’d been pretty damn clear about that.

And what about next time his demons over losing Josh reared their heads?

“Is everything okay over here?” her father asked.

Kayla closed her eyes and counted to three in her head. By the time she hit three, she was ready to talk again. She opened her eyes and then managed a smile. “Yes, Dad, everything is fine. We’re just talking.”

Her father scowled at Cooper. “I’ll let you talk, but I’ll be—”

“Watching him,” Kayla finished dryly. The moment was so frustrating she couldn’t help but shake her head. “Yeah. We got it.”

Cooper choked on a laugh, but covered his mouth to hide it. “I won’t be long, Mr. Moriarity.”

Her dad nodded. “Good.”

Then he left, too. Cooper grabbed her hands and squeezed them tight. “I’m going to say this quickly in case someone else comes up. I’m fucking serious, Kayla. I want to stay with you.”

She bit down hard on her lower lip. “Look Cooper, what we had was fun. Great, even. And I’ll miss you, but you need to stick with Plan A. I won’t be the one to take you away from it. Not in a million years.”