Wicked Love - Michelle Dare Page 0,262

have for the house.”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “All right. Let’s have a look.”

“Doesn’t this feel wrong to you?” Stepping back, I sat on the bed. “I’m a married woman with a strange man in my house.”

Cooper walked over and sat next to me. “This has got to be extremely hard, and scary, and confusing, and probably a lot of other emotions all rolled up into it.”

“Putting it mildly,” I said with a half-hearted laugh.

He smirked and ran fingers through his hair. “Yeah. I imagine it is. But we’ve come this far. Don’t you want to know the truth?”

“What if we’re wrong? What if Erik is keeping the past from me to keep me safe?”

“As a psychiatrist, I can promise you that if that is the case, he’s going about it all wrong. It’s not healthy to do that to a person.” He crossed his arms over his chests. “And it sets off all my warning bells.”

“But what if he’s got good intentions?”

“Then he needs someone to show him the right way to help you.” He let out a sigh. “Let’s say you’re right. And he’s trying to protect you from the past. It’s not his past to protect you from. You have a right to know who you are and where you came from.”

I frowned. What he said was true. It’s not like I hadn’t asked before, but all the times of begging and pleading with Erik's, even just to find out about daffodils. It was tiresome.

“Don’t you want to know?” Cooper dipped his head a bit to catch my gaze.

His elbow brushed mine. Without even thinking about it, I leaned against him. I just needed some comfort. Something to keep me grounded in the here and now.

Cooper hesitated and then put his arm around me. Warmth drifted from him, and I wished I could cocoon myself. He kept me close, slightly rocking, as if that would make things better.

Funny thing. It did.

Just like Erik’s touch did.

I pulled away and sniffled. “Sorry. I shouldn’t—”

“It’s okay.” He smiled. The right side of his lip hung slightly lower than his left.

An adorably crooked smile that made my heart skip a beat.

“Sometimes we all need a hug.”

The only hug I’d ever had before came from Erik’s arms. They weren’t as thick as Coopers. Not as much muscle, though Erik was fit. Just in a more slender way. Cooper had the physique of a man who frequented the gym, or was secretly some sort of covert agent doing things on the side.

I doubted it, but it was nice to imagine. Something more than a mundane life, which until a few days ago, I thought was something I lived.

Letting out a slow breath, I nodded and moved from the warmth of his embrace. Cool air brushed my skin, and I missed his touch already.

Swallowing the thick ball of emotion in my throat, I walked out of the room. Cooper followed, the keys jangling in his hand.

We walked back to the basement door. Cooper went through the keys, one by one. The fourth slid into place. My chest tightened, and I balled my hands into fists. He glanced over at me over his shoulder and then turned the key. An audible click sounded, almost loud in the quiet hallway.

“You ready?” Cooper asked.

No.

“Yes.” I squared my shoulders. “Let’s see what’s down there.”

8

Cooper opened the door and flipped the switch at the top of the stairs. Bright ceiling lights radiated through the room.

In books and movies, the basement stairs always creaked from rotted wood, and spiderwebs hung in the corners. Cold slab made up the concrete floors and a dim light would hang overhead. But not in my basement—well, in Erik’s basement, I should say, because this room didn’t belong to the comfort of the house upstairs. And maybe it didn’t belong in a horror movie, but maybe it could definitely be a scene from a mad scientist flick.

We walked down the concrete steps, my hand gripping the steel rail. The hum of electric machines I couldn’t even describe whispered through the room. So many steel things and cabinets. A desk with a computer. A table in the middle of it. Metal and cold, just like the railing under my hand.

“What is this?” I asked.

Cooper reached the bottom and spun in a slow circle. His lips pulled down into a frown and he shook his head. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem like anything good.”

“It’s just his work,” I said.

“What does he do?”

My