“I want you to be honest with me. And with yourself.” The hypocrisy in her words weren’t lost on her, but he had to know what she was thinking. “You can say all the sweet things you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that I saw the way you looked at me before you left Tony’s office. You were so—”
“Scared.”
Mac blinked. “What?”
“I left to go find the shooter because I was scared.” Coop’s eyes stared down into hers, the truth in his words shining behind them. “When I heard that bastard’s voice, knowing what he’d done to you in the past…I wanted to rip his fucking heart out and shove it down his goddamn throat. But I couldn’t because I wasn’twithyou. I’d left you alone and then he was there, and…” He blinked quickly. “I didn’t think I was going to get to you in time.”
“Sean.”
“When you went down, I saw all that blood and I couldn’t get you to wake up. I thought”—his voice cracked—“I thought you’d been hit. God, Mac. I thought I’d lost you.”
“I’m right here.” She cupped his scruff-covered jaw. “I’m okay, and I’m right here.”
“After I realized you were okay, I found out Ryker knew all about you, too, and it all became too much. There were too many fucking emotions filling me up, so I stepped away to clear my head. To decide what to do next.”
“And?” She asked nervously. “What did you decide?”
Coop’s eyes softened, his callused palm resting against her cheek. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
Her heart felt so full and empty, all at the same time. “You shouldn’t be.”
“Why not?”
“Because this…us. It’s not going to work.” Mac licked her dry lips. “I’ve made too many mistakes.”
“You’re right.”
Her stomach dropped, but he continued talking.
“Part of meisstill pissed about all the lying, but I get it. Regardless, we’ve all made mistakes, Mac. The thing is, the mistakes don’t make us who we are. It’s how we pick ourselves up and move on from them that matters.”
His handsome image blurred behind a well of unshed tears. Mac swallowed against the painful lump in her throat, barely managing to admit to him, “I don’t know how.”
“That’s okay, baby.” Coop framed her face with his strong, callused hands. “I can show you.” He dropped his hands and went to the door.
He’s leaving?
Mac’s heart felt like it would pound right out of her chest with the need for him to stay, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask him to. He’d given her so much more than she deserved, already. His forgiveness the most important of them all.
Determined to keep the tiny scrap of dignity she had left, Mac straightened her spine and lifted her chin. She watched him reach for the door, her parting lips threatening to defy her vow not to beg.
Coop turned the lock and slid the chain guard back in place.
“You’re not…leaving?”
When he turned back around, Mac’s breath stuttered inside her lungs. She could feel the heat radiating in his eyes from all the way across the room.
“Do you want me to?”
Unable to formulate a verbal answer, she silently shook her head.
Coop prowled across the carpet, coming to a stop less than an inch from where she still stood. “Then I’ll stay.”
She watched as he pulled out his phone. He held it out as he typed, making sure she had a clear view of what he was texting Trevor.
Staying over here tonight.
He hit send. A few seconds later, he received a response.
