Page 14 of Cooper’s Promise

Chapter Four

Cooper was late. At noon he had texted her and said he would pick her up at six p.m. It was now seven o’clock p.m., and he wasn’t answering his cell phone. Brenna was about ready to climb the walls of her apartment. Worse, she was about ready to call Josiah. Instead she chose curtain number three and called Tanya.

“Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up.”

“What has you in such a tizzy?” her friend asked.

“Shit, you heard that?”

“I picked up on the first ring. You’ve been chanting for a while.”

“I’m a basket case.”

“Yay! Does this mean you’ve finally come to your senses and decided to stay here in America?”” Tanya demanded.

“Back off. Why can’t you just support me and my decision?” Brenna asked her friend.

“Because you’re being a pussy. Because you haven’t come clean about anything. You haven’t told your brother about your stalker. You haven’t told the most gorgeous man in the world that you’re in love with him. And you haven’t admitted that you would prefer to work at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection than in Australia.”

Fuck, did everybody have to be all up in her business?

“I confessed about the stalker.”

“You did?” Brenna heard the glee in her friend’s voice. “When?”

“Last week.”

“Did he tell him to back off?”

Brenna looked at the phone in confusion.

“Are you still there?” Tanya asked.

“I’m here. What do you mean did he ask him to back off? You mean, did Hudson have a polite talk with him?” Brenna started to giggle. “I told you that Hudson was a former Army Ranger, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Oh you poor naïve thing. Hudson was ready to go beat the shit out of him. I just thank God that Josiah was out of town when my brother went to pay him a visit, otherwise there would have been bloodshed.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

Brenna realized that Tanya didn’t have any brothers and all of her friends were pretty white collar. She had no idea what alpha males were like. She’d met Cooper, but she didn’t understand Cooper.

“I’m not kidding.” Brenna stopped herself from explaining about her brother’s foray into breaking and entering. “Anyway, Cooper went to go see Josiah today. He was supposed to meet me for dinner tonight, and he’s an hour late. I can’t get ahold of him on his cell phone and it is freaking me out.”

“Cooper is like your brother then, huh?”

“I think he could be worse.”

There was a knock on the door. Still holding her cell phone, Brenna went over to the door and checked the peephole. Her knees damn near buckled in relief at seeing Cooper on her doorstep. “Tanya, I have to go, Cooper is here.”

“Call me back later. I want to know about your date.”

“You got it.”

Brenna put her phone down on the dining room table and unlocked the door after Cooper knocked again.

“Brenna, it’s me, Cooper. Let me in.”