Shit.Cooper being a mere few hundred feet away at any given time… that’s dangerous.
He disappears into a hallway, emerging fully dressed and ready for the day in less than five minutes, still looking better than I do after hours of prepping.
“Time for caffeine,” he announces, rubbing his hands together. “Unless you just want to sneak over to the inn for coffee and fresh pastries? It’s early enough I don’t think anyone will be there except Violet.”
“That sounds better than becoming a public spectacle at Emerald Roasters. Can we walk over?”
“We sure can.” He walks past me, slipping his hand in mine on the way. “I think that her donuts fresh off the pan are my favorite. Especially the Boston Cream.” He licks his lips to emphasize his point.
“I’ve never had that one before.”
He stops walking immediately. “What? Are you being serious?”
“I am.” I giggle at his reaction but he drops my hand to reach into his pocket. “What are you doing?”
“I’m texting Violet to make sure she has some. This is blasphemy and we’re fixing it now.” His fingers link with mine once again.
Walking through the back door of the inn, the smell of fresh baked goods hits you so strongly. Even if you didn’t eat sweets, you’d want them all when you got there.
“You’ve never had a Boston Cream donut?” Violet stands in front of me with her hands on her hip. “You’re real lucky. We got three left and I ran out to snag two just for you guys.” She holds out a plate with the donuts. “I’d go to the office though. There’s a lot of Keatons out there.” She nods to the kitchen door.
Cooper kisses her cheek. “Thanks for the heads up.” He tosses the donuts in a cardboard box, grabs two coffees from Violet, and pulls me toward the door. “I know the perfect place.”
We practically run from the inn, into the trails that lead out to the cliffs. When he finally stops there’s a large rock sitting right at the edge of the cliff. Sitting down, he reaches out to take my hand and help me to sit.
He hands me a donut, with an expectant look on his face. “This feels like a lot of pressure. What if I don’t like it?”
He laughs at me. “No pressure. If you don’t like it, I get two.”
Again, no pressure. He never pushes me into anything and I don’t know what to do with that. Taking the donut from him I take a bite. The custard bursts on my tongue. Mingled with the sweetness of the chocolate and the pillow soft dough, I can’t help but moan. This is fucking amazing.
“It’s good, right?”
“That word could never encompass how amazing this is. I might never eat another thing as long as I live.” I talk around a mouth full of goodness.
“I knew you’d love it.” His smile lights something warm and fuzzy inside me.
Everything with him is easy and safe. And familiar. Of course he knew I’d like it because somehow he innately knows everything about me.
I've never been more thankful for the busy day to distract me from staring at Cooper's ass all day. Of course seeing it naked and in person only makes it more enticing. But now I'm back home with Lily to get her ready for Easter dinner with all the Keatons.
"Mommy! I want to wear this pwetty dwess for Coopa!" She hands me a yellow sundress that matches one I have.
"This is a beautiful dress, I'm sure Cooper will love it.”
"You wear too, Mommy!” she rushes into my closet digging out my yellow dress and tugging on it.
The eyelet lace and light color isn't something I planned to wear but if it makes my girl happy, I'll wear it proudly. "Okay, love, I'll match you."
"Yay!” She runs off to the bathroom next. "And I wear pwetty mateup?”
"Sure. Mommy will let you use some eyeshadow. But that's it."
She pouts at me with her big puppy dog eyes. "No pwetty wips?"Smacking her lips together for effect, she pulls my light pink gloss out of my makeup bag.
Sighing, I give in. "Okay, fine, you can have lips too. But that's it!”
It's not often she asks for makeup or to dress up, so, I allow myself to have a little fun with my daughter who's endured far too many challenges in her short life.