“You’re inviting me to dinner?”
Cooper shrugged. “You’re probably used to written invitations, but?—”
“No!” I interrupted. God, was that what he thought of me?
I suppose I’d thought Otter Bay was alien to me. Logically, I was just as alien to it.
“No, uh. I’m used to being summoned by text, actually,” I said, smiling wryly as I thought of one of Avery’s7pm. Harland’s. Wear that blue shirt I gave you,texts. “Are you going to give me a dress code?”
Cooper laughed. “Come naked if you want,” he said. “It’d give my dad something to talk about.”
A rush of heat rose up the back of my neck at the idea of Cooper asking to see me naked. Which he hadn’t actually done, he’d been making a joke, but…
I wanted him to see me.
I hadn’t wanted anyone to ever see me naked again. I hadn’t wanted to seemyselfnaked, hadn’t wanted to look at the long, ugly scar down my thigh—I’d been going out of my way to avoid looking in the mirror on the way in and out of the shower.
Cooper was kinder than me, though. Maybe he could look at me and be kind.
“You are also allowed to say no,” Cooper continued when it took me too long to answer. “It’ll break Benji’s heart, but?—”
“Are you making your famous spaghetti sauce?” I interrupted, remembering Benji’s enthusiasm for it.
“Uh.” Cooper blinked at me. “I can?”
“Then I’d love to,” I said, surprised to hear the warmth in my own voice. Iwouldlove that. A normal family dinner? I hadn’t sat down to one of those in… a decade. Longer, maybe. Not even at Thanksgiving or Christmas. The company had been myfamily. Right up until they weren’t. “No need for emotional blackmail.”
Cooper raised his hands in defense and made a shocked expression, as though that wasn’t exactly what he’d been about to do.
Despite everything, I smiled at him. I didn’t mean to. My face did it all by itself.
“Tonight? Around six?” Cooper asked. “I know that’s early, it’s just that Benji?—”
I held up a hand to stop him, the smile on my face widening. Cooper wassweet.
That was the thing. Attractive men, I’d been surrounded by all my life. You didn’t get far in ballet if you weren’t beautiful. Cooper wasn’t ballet-beautiful, but he was handsome in a boy-next-door way and I hadnotstopped thinking about the eyeful I’d gotten of him the other day.
The sweetness was new, though. I’d never even imagined a man being sweet to me like he was. It was a surprise to like it, but Ididlike it.
“Six is perfect. Red or white?”
Cooper raised an eyebrow.
“Wine,” I clarified.
Cooper’s other eyebrow joined the first one. “Oh. Uh. We don’t really… do that,” he said, scratching the back of his neck.
My mother would kill me if she ever found out I’d gone to dinner at someone’s house without bringing something for my host. Not that shewouldever find out—not that she’d known anythingabout my life in years, or cared to—but still. I’d been raised…rightwas probably a stretch, but with one or two good ideas.
“All I want is your company,” Cooper said. “We want, I mean.”
Was he blushing? The tips of his ears had flushed a deeper color. Hewasblushing.
Adorable.
“Well, for what it’s worth, you can have it.”
Cooper beamed at me like I’d just told him he’d won the lottery.
