“They did. We all changed. The people my siblings are as adults, the people my parents are when they don’t have to parent me as much. The people my grandparents are when they’re not the babysitters who spoil me with candy and pirate swords when my parents drop me off. They’re different, you know? And it turns out they’re awesome people. Like my baseball family is full of awesome people. And my neighborhood families in Shipwreck and Copper Valley are awesome people. And my Fireballs teammates are awesome people. And my favorite coffee shop family in the city is full of awesome people.”
“Aspen’s my found family,” I whisper. “I’ve only truly known her for six months, but she feels like my sister more than almost anyone I’ve ever met. Aunt Zinnia doesn’t get it. She thinks I’m lost. That I forgot where I came from and what I owe to my mom’s memory and to the world that’s given me so much and that I’m going to throw it all away while I try to find where I fit in. But I don’t even know where I came from. Not really.”
He opens his mouth, but I put my fingers to his lips. “Don’t tell me it doesn’t matter where I came from when I clearly know where I am and where I can go, and don’t tell me I have all the money to find out what I want to know without anyone else realizing it. Okay?”
And there’s that Cooper Rock smile again. He takes my hand in his and presses a soft kiss to my fingers. “I was going to say you clearly came from somewhere awesome.”
I smile back. “No, you weren’t.”
“Waverly Sweet, expert in Cooper Rock. Hm. Didn’t see that coming. I mean, I should’ve. I’m a truly remarkable member of the species. Well worth learning and studying, which you’ve clearly done. But I always thought you outranked me on the awesome scale, and that you knew it.”
“Are you calling me full of myself?”
“More like self-aware.”
“You would be terrifying if you worked somewhere that let you use all of that brainpower.”
He blinks at me like he’s honestly startled.
“I don’t mean you don’t have to be smart to play sports,” I add quickly.
“No, I know.”
“You always have something to say, and you’re quick on your feet, and—”
He moves my fingers, pressing them to my own lips instead. “And you need to go to sleep.”
Hashtag hops onto the bed, walks across my body, and wedges his big, furry butt between us.
“You don’t have to go,” I whisper.
He holds my gaze with those bright blue-green eyes, and I wonder if he’s thinking I’m getting too clingy, or if he’s thinking he doesn’t want to go either.
“Pretty sure I do,” he finally says. He kisses my forehead, earning a disgruntled snort from a squished Hashtag. “But not quite yet.”
11
Cooper
I’m beingthat guyagain. The one slipping out of a hotel room at five in the morning after accidentally falling asleep in a woman’s bed.
Know how long it’s been since I fell asleep in a woman’s bed?
Years.
Learned early on not to do that. Falling asleep means you’re at their mercy when you wake up.Want breakfast? Here’s my number. Call me next time you’re in town. We could hit the shower before you go. You still in town tonight? Want to do it again?
Andifyou manage to sneak out while they’re asleep, you feel like an asshole for sneaking out while they’re asleep, knowing they’ll wake up wondering if you’re there or if they did something wrong or if you’re really that kind of asshole.
Even when you’re clear—I’m not looking for a relationship, this is for fun—and even when you’ve gotten good at reading women and which ones mean it when they say fun’s all they’re looking for too, sleeping over adds an extra degree of intimacy that complicates things.
Today, I’m not that kind of asshole—I left a note and followed it with my promised text after making sure Waverly’s phone was on silent so it wouldn’t wake her if it dinged—but Ifeellike that kind of asshole.
Doesn’t help that her cat kept staring at me like I was that kind of asshole.
That cat hasexpressions. And he uses them to his full advantage.
“You talk in your sleep,” Kiva says as we ride back down the service elevator.
