Upside Down (Breaking the Rules #3) - A.M. Madden Page 0,97

three days. But it was all part of my master plan. And knowing Cooper, my ghosting probably had his balls twisted in a knot, especially since I had done it once before.

In my defense, avoiding him had more to do with the ton of shit I had to get done—cleaning out my fridge, forwarding my mail, and swearing Rebecca to secrecy. Once I made my decision, I waited three full weeks.

Not because I didn’t miss him.

Not because the time flew by in a blink of an eye.

Not because I spent every torturous minute in my own form of hell.

I waited three weeks so he would know I didn’t take this decision lightly. I wanted Cooper to have no reason to question me. I wanted to cancel out any argument I knew he would have, specifically, that my sexual desire was what had spurred me to get where I was now… although I was horny as fuck.

Three weeks I waited… three long weeks.

Anxious to take this leap, it was now time to move forward with this man who’d ruined me in every way. Knowing he usually didn’t get home until late afternoon, I purposely hung out at the coffee shop across the street from his building to buy some time. It was still a risk. He could be anywhere, and if I had to sit there for hours, then so be it. But when late afternoon became evening, and I’d consumed my weight in coffee, a light flicking on in the window on the top floor had me suspecting he’d been in there all along.

Why would Cooper James Stanton make anything easy on me?

A few minutes later, I was outside his unit and feeling a bit winded. I knew it wasn’t just the stairs I had to scale with a heavy suitcase to blame. Taking a moment to drag in a breath, I gave one hard knock on the wood-paneled door and waited.

First there was shuffling, and then there was silence. Knowing he was staring at me through the little peephole, I gave him a flirty wave. “Open up, Cooper.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you too. Open and I’ll tell you.” A lock unlatching, the door creaking on its hinge, and more deafening silence echoed in the hallway behind me. His gaze cut to the suitcase beside me and then back to my eyes, where he stared in shock. “Surprise,” I said with a grin.

“When your calls and texts came less frequently, I gave you the benefit of the doubt. When they stopped altogether, I assumed—”

“You know what they say about assuming,” I said, cutting him off.

Ignoring me, he drilled his hazel-hued wrath right into my skull. “I’m really mad at you.”

“I have no doubt.” I released a frustrated huff of air and added, “Are you going to let me in or what?”

I had to suppress a chuckle when he stepped aside with a tightly clenched jaw. Getting off on the wrong foot wouldn’t make this any easier. While my feet got me into his place, my eyes took it all in. It screamed of Cooper, from the his intoxicating scent to the bookcase loaded with leather-bound reads stretching across one wall. I could easily envision him there, living his life in an uncomplicated way, and a sudden urge to be included in that life overwhelmed me. His place was larger than I’d thought, and being blocks from his university as well as from the beach made the location golden.

No sooner had I let go of the suitcase handle than he turned on me. “What the fuck, Ricky? Do you know what you put me through these last few days?”

“I’m sorry.”

He gripped his hips and glared. “That’s it? You’re sorry?”

“I can go into detail as to why, but it all comes down to the reason that I’m here now.” His scowl smoothed, as did his posture. “Trust me, there’s a method to my madness. You’ll need to forgive me first before I enlighten you, though.”

“Why exactly?” he groaned with little patience. “Sit. Do you want a drink?”

“Yes… anything but coffee.” At seeing his quirked-up brows, I shrugged. “Forced to sit in that café across the street for hours meant I had enough lattes to last a lifetime.”

“How many hours?”

“Four.”

Those sexy lips betrayed him by fighting a grin. “Why didn’t you just knock on my door sooner?”

“Because I assumed you weren’t home.”

“You know what they say about assuming,” he threw back in my face.

“Yeah, well, my assumption was accurate.” Realizing