you mean what you said up there?” I ask. “About being in love with me?”
“Hopelessly.”
I smile against him. “Your singing is god-awful.”
“That was so fucking embarrassing.”
“But you did it anyway. For me.”
“For you.” He presses his forehead against mine. “Because I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I’ve never wanted this with anyone more than I want this with you. I love you, Caroline Josephine Reed.”
“That’s not my middle name.”
“No, but it should be. I think it’s my favorite one yet.”
I roll my eyes, and he tightens his hold on my hips. “Don’t roll your eyes at me.”
I do it again.
“Caroline…”
“Cooper…” I mock.
He shakes his head, smiling.
God, I’ve missed his smile.
He pulls back, eyes meeting mine. “Can you forgive me for being a colossal idiot?”
“Jury’s still out.”
“What can I do to help my case?”
“Hmm…” I tap my chin. “I’m not sure.”
“Well, I’ve got a few ideas…”
He captures my mouth again, pressing against me in all the delicious spots I’ve missed him.
I have no idea how long we stay like that, locked together in a kiss. People come and go around us, but we’re lost in our own world.
When we finally come up for air, we’re both smiling.
“I love you,” he says, brushing a stray hair from my face. “And I’m sorry if that’s too much or too scary, but it’s true. If you need time, I understand. I—”
“I love you too,” I blurt.
His face lights up. “Yeah?”
I nod, then whisper…
“Hopelessly.”
Epilogue
Cooper
Five months later
“Come on, Coop! It’s pizza and movie night.”
“I know, I know.”
She huffs. “A good boyfriend would be in here with his girlfriend already.”
That little…
“The whole reason I’m still in here working well after business hours is because someone kept me distracted this morning and I was late. A good girlfriend would have let him work. This is your fault.”
“I’m sorry, are you really sitting there complaining about a morning blow job?”
“Yes. When it interferes with my livelihood, yes. Someone has to pay for all these bills you run up, you know.”
She grumbles something I can’t quite make out, but I know she definitely calls me an asshole.
I chuckle. “Give me five more minutes!”
“That’s what you said five minutes ago.”
“Sucks when you’re the one waiting, doesn’t it?”
She growls, and I hear her shuffling around, probably grabbing her chinchilla blanket and curling up in a ball on the couch.
I hear The Vampire Diaries start ten seconds later.
I’m sure she’s sitting there with her sketchpad on her lap, hand flying over the page as she cooks up whatever ideas are brewing in her mind.
After the success of the festival, Caroline finally agreed to put her designs on the shop’s website.
The launch was huge and, much to her surprise but nobody else’s, she sold out in less than a day.
She now has her own section of the store and a dedicated line on the website.
Basically, she’s fucking killing it and proving her dad wrong.
I couldn’t be prouder of her.
I hit save on the code I was looking over. The game we’ve been working on for nearly a year now is set to come out in two months, and we’ve been cleaning up all the bugs the test players have found. It’s led to long nights and even longer weekends, but I’m excited about how it’s going to do, especially since the reception has been fantastic so far.
“It’s been five minutes…” she calls.
With a grin, I push away from my desk and pad down the hall.
“I’m done,” I say, coming into the living room. “Are you happy?”
She tosses her sketchpad aside and looks up at me with excited eyes. “Yes. Now can we order pizza? I’m starving.”
“Hi, starving. I’m Cooper.”
She grins, then rolls her eyes at me.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me. You know what that does to me, and if you’re so hungry, I highly doubt you want me to get distracted right now.”
“Fair point.” She gets up off the couch, her favorite gray blanket falling from her shoulders. “Can we order breadsticks too?”
“I suppose,” I say as she grabs her phone, ready to place our order. “I mean, it is a special day and all.”
“It is?” She wrinkles her nose, stopping what she’s doing. “Why?”
I lift a brow. “You don’t remember?”
“Um…no?” She looks at me pointedly. “I swear if this is your way of telling me it’s my turn to take the trash out again, I’m going to order breadsticks and dessert.”
“It’s not the trash.”
“Then what is it?”
“Wow. You really don’t know, do you?” She sighs, and I smirk. “I’m hurt