Happily Ever Afton (5 page)

Afton looked startled over at Cooper who was settling into the chair beside hers – was he really
that
unrecognizable? Maybe he was, but he was also
her
date and she suddenly felt very proprietary of him.

‘It’s Cooper,’ she said shortly, ‘you met him at the coffee shop.’

‘Cooper!’ Mollie squealed her delight, ‘I almost didn’t recognize you. My, but you clean up well!’

Cooper smiled at Mollie and Afton frowned along with Jason. 
Stop doing that
, she wanted to grit between clenched teeth. Didn’t he know he was fraternizing with the enemy? Jason seemed to be thinking along the same lines, scootching his chair closer to Mollie’s as though attempting to block her line of vision.

Cooper extended his hand across the table. ‘I’m afraid I didn’t get your last name when we met before.’

Jason seemed to take the proffered hand with great reluctance, ‘Jason Parrish.’

‘Parrish,’ Cooper repeated the name on a firm shake. ‘Good to see you again. May I pour out some champagne for the table?’

He was politeness personified and Afton wanted to kick him thinking he was taking the chivalrous act a little too far. Mollie eagerly lifted her glass, as did a less enthusiastic Jason and after filling theirs; Cooper poured out a glass for Afton and himself, lifting his high in the air. ‘A toast?’

Afton almost choked on the mouthful of champagne she’d already swallowed.

‘To…new beginnings,’ he intoned with a solemn expression. After a moment of hesitation, the three estranged parties seated at the table clinked glasses and joined him in sipping their champagne. ‘And speaking of new beginnings…’ Cooper reached over and took her hand tenderly in his, ‘Afton and I have an announce–’

Her eyes grew wide – not believing what he was apparently about to do and was saved by an unexpected source.

‘So – uh – what do you do, Stewart?’ Jason leaned forward seeming almost to purposefully interrupt Cooper gruffly from his seat.

Afton’s relief at being rescued from an awkward moment instantly evaporated. They should have gone over this again in the car!

‘I’m Managing Director and Partner at an investment bank here in town.’

She froze in her chair. That is
not
what they’d rehearsed at the diner.

He was going off script
!

This could spell disaster. Or maybe not, because Jason sank back in his chair with a frown, his defeated body language acknowledging his position as editor of the city desk at the paper had just been trumped.

‘That’s quite an accomplishment for someone so young,’ Mollie rushed in to gush. ‘Did you go to school for that?’

‘Not
that
young –’ Cooper corrected with a chuckle, oozing charm from every healthily gleaming pore. ‘I’m well on the other side of thirty with another birthday soon, and yes I did go to school for that – actually I got my undergraduate degree at –’ he named one of the most prestigious colleges in the country. ‘And my MBA at…’ following it with another even more prestigious. Afton
did
kick him then – underneath the table causing him to wince, her heated look telling him to –
rein it in!

‘My goodness – how wonderful!’ Mollie was clearly impressed with him – Jason not so much – and Afton now wanted to hug
him as Mollie flashed her a deeply envious look beneath frosted sparkly lids.

‘Let’s dance, Mollie!’ Jason hastily ordered, undoubtedly anxious to sway her attention back in his direction.

Mollie’s dark frown indicated to all she did not want to leave the table –
or Cooper
– but she went reluctantly along, the beaded train of her shimmering gown trailing in her wake.

Afton immediately turned on Cooper – as he’d expected – once the other couple receded into the sea of people flooding the dance floor.

‘My goodness, Cooper,’ she parroted Mollie’s gushing tone; her chin cradled in both hands, batting long dark eyelashes up at him, ‘you simply must tell me more about all your
amazing
accomplishments!’

‘Was it too much?’ Cooper covered up a grin with his champagne glass.

‘I’ll say! Come on – Managing Director?’ she mocked, ‘Stanford –
Columbia
? I thought next you were going to claim to have been the Commander on the Space Shuttle!’

No, but he had worked to acquire funding for the supplier of much of the equipment needed for the last mission. Cooper thought it best to keep that bit of information to himself for now.

‘And what was with all that ‘new beginnings’ nonsense,’ the whispered tirade continued. ‘You’re supposed to follow
my
lead on
my
murder, remember – not improvise on your own! I’ll tell him we’re engaged when the time is right to really turn the screws!’

Cooper tried to look suitably abashed. ‘Sorry, I guess I just got carried away by the excitement of the night and all,’ he murmured.

Afton shot him one last fulminating look before she turned away, lifting her glass to her lips ignoring him. Cooper contented himself with examining her classic profile as she stole repeated looks over a creamy curve of shoulder at their tablemates romantically entwined on the dance floor.

‘Would you like to dance?’

Afton’s head snapped back around. ‘Er…we don’t have to…’ she started, stopping as a half-smile tugged at his lips.

‘I
do
know how to dance, Afton; my mother insisted I learn so I wouldn’t miss out on all the social graces.’

Afton blushed and Cooper stood taking her hand in his, helping her from her chair and leading her out to the center of the dance floor.

This man was just a little too good at reading her mind, Afton thought, as Cooper pulled her into his arms. Her head rested against his broad chest as they circled the dance floor in a dreamy waltz giving every appearance of being a love-struck, deeply smitten couple. Her nostrils quivered detecting the clean male scent of him held this close, mingled with the vaguely musky aroma of his cologne, the resulting effect –
intoxicating
.

The band slowed into a romantic tune that sounded familiar, the lights dimming around them. Cooper pulled her even closer until she could feel the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek. Afton swallowed hard, feeling his fingers tighten on hers. After several tense moments, unable to help herself, she looked up into his eyes.

Big mistake
!

For they were ablaze with electric-blue flames of desire. For her. For this moment.

For this kiss
.

His dark head lowered and in the anonymity found in the center of a crowded dance floor, his lips met hers and all of a sudden, it was an early Fourth of July. Fireworks shooting off everywhere! Cooper’s mouth parted hers hungrily, fingers biting into her waist urging her nearer then nearer still, so she could feel hard proof of the fact he was no longer acting.

Her arms slid helplessly around his neck as fiendishly clever lips moved to trace a scorching path up the velvet length of her neck to the tender lobe of her ear, husking into it in a dark, delicious voice. ‘Let’s get back in our pumpkin and get the
hell
out of here!’

Afton opened her mouth to agree to leaving – to agree to just about
anything
he asked, when a brisk hand tapped her on the shoulder.

‘I believe this is
our
song, Afton!’ Jason said tautly from where he stood behind them with a very determined look on his face – Mollie
nowhere
to be seen – and the romantic love song Afton had picked for the first dance at their cancelled wedding playing on in the background.

Chapter Four

‘JUMPING JEHOSAPHAT
– it’s
hot
!’

Seattle was experiencing an unusual heat wave for June with temperatures soaring into the nineties, and Afton wiped a bead of sweat from her brow, glad once again, she’d chosen to wear shorts instead of jeans to the company picnic. Although it was a bit of a compromise since they were denim cutoff shorts, frayed at the cuffs and held low on her slim waist with a colorful plaid belt. She’d paired them with a casual white T-shirt and blue-wedged espadrilles which gave her a little bit of extra height making her slender legs appear that much longer.

Her hair, gleaming under the sun in a rich sienna hue, was held back behind her ears with two daisy-shaped barrettes and the dark sunglasses perched on her freckle-dusted nose served a dual purpose. They kept out the blinding sun, but were also
very
useful in surreptitiously ogling
Cooper
whose lean frame was similarly casually clothed in a chest hugging, navy blue T-shirt that gave intriguing glimpses of the numerous muscles rippling beneath, and a pair of wheat-colored cargo shorts displaying equally well-muscled calves.

Afton held back laughter watching as he contorted his long frame trying in vain to tap the golf ball into a round hole a few feet away at the Putt Putt game. ‘I’ve never seen them do that at the Masters!’

‘I’m just trying to get a little mojo going,’ He leaned far to one side loudly encouraging the ball as it rolled slowly along, but the white ball that seemed on track, veered off at the last moment just missing the hole.

‘Sorry, sir, you only get three tries for a ticket.’ The park attendant commiserated taking back the golf club as Cooper shrugged in defeat.

‘I guess golf is just not your game,’ Afton offered kindly when he rejoined her.

‘No, I guess it’s not,’ Cooper sighed dramatically.

Leaving the tidy square of the putting green, they strolled along the boardwalk of the amusement park that had been rented out for the day by the newspaper for their annual company picnic. They stopped next in front of the coin toss game where Afton tried her hand at Cooper’s encouragement, and ended up winning, besting his effort that landed suspiciously short of any of the squares on the board.

‘Take that, Stewart!’ She crooned executing a somewhat drawn out,
‘very unsportsmanlike’
, he opinioned, victory dance, before selecting as her prize a huge stuffed giraffe that Cooper held for her under one arm as they continued on.

They bought ice-cold lemonades and plump, mustard-slathered hot dogs from a vendor at his pushcart, hungrily finishing the latter off quickly, holding on to the lemonade for the multitude of ice cubes it contained which had a desired cooling effect in the heat. Moseying on at a leisurely pace in the swelter, they spied a large group of people gathered near the end of the arcade with laughter,
oohs
and
ahs
emanating in sporadic bursts.

‘Let’s go see what’s going on,’ Afton suggested to Cooper’s nod of agreement.

When they got closer, they saw the crowd surrounded a large dunking booth filled to capacity with gallons of sparkling blue water. Jason, shirtless and impressively muscled himself in a wildly colored pair of bathing trunks, was perched on the small bench suspended in the middle of the tank over the water, still dry as a bone.

‘Might as well go back to the office, Cynthia, and finish your monthly reports – you’ll never knock me down!’

Jason jibed one of his shorts-wearing assistants, her long black braids flying, trying with desperate fervor to hit the circular target as though determined to give her demanding boss the drubbing she’d wanted to so many times in the past. Her throwing skills, alas, were not up to par and she finally gave up, turning away with a look of deep disappointment on her pretty face when she ran out of her allotment of balls.

‘Wanna go ride the carousel?’

‘
No!
  I…er… want to watch Jason for a minute – to see if he gets dunked,’ Afton quickly rejected Cooper’s offer when he made an immediate move to maneuver them in the opposite direction upon spotting Jason.

With great reluctance on his part he attempted to hide, they attached themselves to the edge of the crowd. An enigmatic smile floated across Afton’s face as she looked up at Jason that Cooper tried hard to decipher.

‘Hey mister – want to give it a go?’ The carnie in charge of the booth leaned over the counter, seeming to size Cooper up as a possible contender based on the circumference of his bulky forearms, ‘you get three balls for ten dollars and it all goes to the newspaper’s charity foundation.’

‘Sure, why not? I’ll take three balls.’ Cooper set his lemonade and the stuffed animal down on the counter and pulling out his wallet, handed over a crisp ten-dollar bill as Afton grinned her excitement.

‘Oh, you’re in for it now, Jason!’ she called over to the booth before taking on the role of cheerleader and pitching coach. ‘Come on you can do it – throw it nice and hard, Cooper – straight down the middle and make sure you hit the target!’

Cooper eyed the round circle off in the distance with a narrowed gaze. His years as star pitcher on his high school and college baseball teams came back to him in a rush as he wound up then threw with a swoosh, the ball whizzing through the air.

Bam! 
Ring!

It hit the target square in the middle and the bell sounded loudly as the bench collapsed beneath him and Jason went under for the first time, the cheers rising loudly from the crowd when he came back up with crystal-clear droplets of water sluicing off him in every direction.

‘Lucky throw, Stewart – bet you can’t do it again!’ Jason called the smiling goad over his shoulder as he briskly climbed back on to the bench to the sound of Afton’s delighted laughter.

Cooper picked up the second ball.

Bam! 
Ring!

Jason went down again then shot back up on another burst of laughter and continued cheers from the crowd. ‘Lucky bastard!’ Jason hollered as Afton sent up a gleeful hoot accompanied by more clapping.

Third ball.

Bam! 
Ring!

Jason disappeared beneath another wave of water. The crowd and Cynthia cheered Cooper on, but there was no laughter from either Jason or Afton now when he reappeared a moment later, angrily thrusting water-slickened hair back from his frowning face. Afton turned to Cooper with a puzzled frown of her own meeting his innocent look.