Coop?
She had no idea but she was determined to find out. She and Coop hadn’t had a chance to sit down and talk, other than the discussion they’d had last night. She had no idea how long he would be in New York or what his plans were while he was here. He had said he wanted to spend as much time with Laramie as he could, and she didn’t have a problem with that. She wanted her son to get to know his father.
She needed to get to know him, too. There was a lot of personal information about Coop that she wasn’t privy to. She’d just learned last night that he was born in Texas. He rarely spoke of his parents but she knew they were alive. At least they had been alive three years ago.
“Mommy, hands clean now.”
Coop and Laramie had returned. Now he was sitting high on Coop’s shoulders with a huge grin on his face. “Okay, then, let’s head into the kitchen for lunch.”
Coop put Laramie down and as soon as his little feet touched the floor he took off toward the kitchen. He paused at the kitchen door long enough to look over his shoulder to say, “Come on, Mommy. Come on, Daddy. Laramie is hungry.”
Coop burst out laughing as he walked beside her. “Did I imagine it or did he eat a huge breakfast a few hours ago?”
She chuckled. “No, you didn’t imagine it. You’ll find out just how much food he consumes. You’ll never guess how much I spend on groceries.”
He stopped walking and touched her arm. She couldn’t contain the surge of sensations that settled in the middle of her stomach from his touch. “I will help you with that.”
She shook her head. “Thanks, but I don’t need your help. I told you last night that I don’t want anything from you and I meant it.” All she wanted was for him to have a relationship with his son.
“I don’t agree with that.”
She frowned, detecting his anger.
“We’ll discuss this later, Coop. When Laramie takes his nap.”
Coop nodded. “Okay. Do you need help with lunch? I can fix a mean peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”
“No, thanks, I’ve got it covered. Today it’s tuna sandwich and chips. He loves anything with seafood.”
“So do I.”
Bristol wondered if it would be the same way with Coop and Laramie as it was with her and her father. They had discovered so many similarities. She headed for the refrigerator, trying not to notice Coop’s sexy walk as he moved to the table, where Laramie was already seated. She couldn’t push to the back of her mind how he’d looked stretched out on her living room floor with Laramie. He had made himself at home and removed his sweater. No man had a right to such a sexy chest covered only by a T-shirt. She knew SEALs stayed fit, but he seemed to be working overtime doing so. And she tried not to think about how comfortable it felt having him here in her home with them. It was as if he belonged.
Air was nearly snatched from her lungs at the thought. How could she even think such a thing? There was no way Coop could be a permanent fixture in their lives. At least not hers. He was only here because of Laramie. Had there been more between them, he wouldn’t have just stumbled across her the way he had. He would have looked for her after his rescue. But he hadn’t. That reinforced her assumption that their holiday fling had been just that, a fling. Afterward he had moved on and not looked back. She knew she’d been out of sight and out of mind. He hadn’t expected or probably hadn’t wanted to ever see her again.
Like she told him, they would talk when she put Laramie to bed for his nap. There was a lot she and Coop needed to discuss. She had to reiterate that she wanted nothing from him. Hopefully, that would put him at ease that she wasn’t going to hit him up for child support payments. However, she had a feeling he would want to pay them anyway, just because of the responsible person he was.
But she didn’t intend to let him.
They also had to talk about her fake marriage to him. They needed to resolve that. Yes, she thought, as she began pulling the items out of the refrigerator for lunch. They definitely needed to talk.
Coop would be the first to admit that he’d been somewhat nervous upon arriving this morning, not sure of how his son would react to him. So far things were going great and he knew he had Bristol to thank for that.
As he settled back on the sofa, he thought about what she’d told him about her childhood. Specifically, growing up without knowing her father. And then only getting to spend a couple of years with him before he’d died.
After hearing her story, he wasn’t sure what was worse. Having parents who were bitter toward each other or having parents like his who were obsessively into each other. If he had to choose, it would be the parents who were obsessively into each other. As far as he was concerned, her mother’s resentment, bitterness and anger had only hurt Bristol. It was sad how one person’s decision could change the lives of so many. He was glad Bristol had learned from her mother’s mistake.
He couldn’t help but smile when he remembered lunch. Laramie had cleaned his plate in record time. More than once, Bristol had to tell him to slow down so his food could digest. Coop hadn’t been sure if Laramie knew what that meant until the boy began taking smaller bites of his sandwich.
It was obvious Bristol and Laramie had a routine. He hadn’t put up a fuss when she’d mentioned it was time for his nap. Instead, he’d waved goodbye to Coop. But not before he’d asked if Coop would be there when he woke up. Before Coop could answer, Bristol had told Laramie not to expect him to be there because he had things to do. Was that her way of letting Coop know he was wearing out his welcome?
Hell, he hoped not. He’d placed a call to his commanding officer letting him know that he would be taking his holiday leave and would remain in the New York area. Like he’d told Bristol last night... He planned to spend as much time with his son as he could.
“I think he was asleep before his head hit the pillow. What did you do to tire him out?” Bristol asked, grinning as she returned to the living room.
He looked at her and thought those jeans she wore definitely displayed all her curves. Not all women could wear jeans and exude that kind of effect on a man. The kind that could shoot his libido into overdrive. The kind that made him remember, whether he wanted to or not, how things had been between them in Paris. How easily they’d connected. How insatiable their hunger for each other had been.
With effort, he brought his mind back to the conversation. Coop smiled. “He wanted to play hide-and-seek.”
“Oops. I should have warned you about that.”
In a way, Coop wished she had. Then he would have given his son restrictions about not hiding in certain areas. Coop hadn’t set any rules, and Laramie had found a good place to conceal himself in his mommy’s bedroom. He hadn’t felt comfortable going into Bristol’s room but since she’d left the door open he had seen enough to know it was neat as a pin and decorated in colors of mauve and gray.
And he had seen her bed.
It was the same one she’d had in Paris. Seeing that bed had made him recall everything they’d done and how they’d
