Only One Regret (Only One 5)
"Oh my god." She laughs, and I hear her moving. "You aren’t really here." I hear her unlocking her door, and then I see her walking out of her house. She stops, shaking her head. "Seriously."
I smile at her and roll down my window, waving. "Oh, and pack a bag."
Chapter 32
Erika
"When you said come and work out with me," I say while on the treadmill in front of Cooper. "I didn’t think you meant you would get on the treadmill with me.” I laugh as he slows the treadmill down to zero. “The girls are going to be up any minute,” I remind him when he starts kissing my neck. “Cooper.” I turn in his arms, and he kisses me. His kisses just get better and better. Just like the sex, fuck, all the sex. I’m waiting for the day that it’s not going to feel like the first time all over again.
"Then we have to make it quick," he suggests between kisses, and I shake my head.
"No way." I push him from me. "Go to your corner," I order, and he rolls his eyes. "And put a shirt on."
"Does it bother you?" he asks, looking at me through the mirror. We’ve been back from the beach for a week, and I haven’t slept a night without him. I had thirty-two minutes at my house the first day, and the second day, he showed up with his own bag. He called it compromising. I’ve slept at his house the past three nights, but I was out of the house before the girls woke up, except for this morning when he asked me to work out with him.
"Well," I reply, putting the speed up on the treadmill. "Would you be able to work out if I took off my sports bra?"
"I’d work out all over you." He smirks at me, and I shake my head. I run on the treadmill for forty-five minutes before I leave. The kids wake up and come downstairs right as he is handing me a protein shake to go. I kiss the girls, and then he walks me to the door and kisses me.
"I’ll call you later," he says, and I walk out of his house and head for my SUV. I get home and shower, picking out my outfit. I slide on my tan pants that hug my hips, then flare out just a bit at the knee all the way down to my ankle. I grab a tight pink top with embroidered cream flowers all over it and slide on my nude-colored shoes.
Thirty-five minutes later, I’m walking into the office with a bounce in my step. "Good morning, Shauna." I smile and walk into my office. Pink roses are in the middle of the table on the side. Roses he sent me yesterday because he was thinking of me.
I set my purse down on the table and bend to smell the flowers, the smile coming to my face. This past week has just cemented what I thought I felt for him. I am without a doubt in love with him. Like stick-a-fork-in-me in love with him. Of course, I have yet to tell him or even have this discussion with him because how does one even start that?
"Becca is going to be in tomorrow,” Shauna shares, and my heart sinks. When I got back to work last week, the first thing I wanted to do was tell her about Cooper, but she was whisked away on a week vacation by Nico. My stomach starts to rise and then fall, thinking about how I’m going to tell her. Hoping like fuck I don’t see the disappointment in her face. She handed me her baby, and I made sure that I handled it with all the love in the world.
"We have a couple of calls today," Shauna says, and I nod, sitting down and checking my schedule.
"I want to reach out to a couple of people," I add, turning on my computer. "There are also a couple of contracts I want to look at."
"Let me know if you need me," she says, turning and walking out of the room.
I spent most of the day on the phone and look up when I hear a knock on my door. The smile on my face is almost forced when I see who is standing there. "Hi," Julianne says, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with ballerina shoes. "Sorry to come unannounced," she apologizes, and I can tell she is nervous, and she is not the only one.
We haven’t told the kids that we are together, but there have been times he’s kissed me in front of them. "Come in,” I invite, my hands starting to get clammy as she walks in.
"Is it okay if I shut the door?" she asks, and I stand.