Someone to Love

Someone to Love. Copyright 2014 by Lena Hampton. All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. Though I wish that some of the places were real, they are not. All characters are derived from my imagination. Any resemblance to real people is incidental. If you or someone you know bare any resemblance to Cooper, please pass on my contact information.

to my favorite daughter and my favorite son

Ever since her parents sudden death, Noli (short for Magnolia) Freeman has been been travelling trying to outrun her grief and avoid getting too close to anyone she may lose. She returns to Indiana to help plan her cousin’s wedding and is immediately attracted to the groom’s best friend Cooper Smith. Too afraid to allow herself to love him, she leaves town soon after her bridesmaid duties are done.

Cooper hasn’t believed in love since his father abandoned him and left his mother a heartbroken shadow of herself. He vows never to fall in love and keeps all his ties to women loose. That is until he meets Noli. He thinks that she’ll be another temporary fling but breaks his vow and is rewarded with a broken heart when she leaves as suddenly as his dad did all those years before.

As hard as Noli tries, it’s impossible to block the memories of Cooper out of her mind or her heart, especially when there’s a permanent reminder of him growing inside her.

Can they get beyond their pasts and realize they’ve found someone to love?

Credits

Cover art:

• BigStock.com
  

Cover design:

• Danette Davis
  

Manuscript Edit & Review:

• Jessica Barrett
  

Someone to Love. Copyright 2014 by Lena Hampton. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American

This book is a work of fiction. Though I wish that some of the places were real, they are not. All characters are derived from my imagination. Any resemblance to real people is incidental. If you or someone you know bare any resemblance to Cooper, please pass on my contact information.

Cooper Smith’s hazel eyes locked with a pair of deep brown ones causing him to almost drop the case of liquor he was carrying into his restaurant. Noli Freeman had haunted his dreams and thoughts of her had terrorized his heart in the months since she’d left without notice. He just stood there and stared at her, ignoring the heavy weight of the case in his hands. Trevor had to clear his throat to prompt him to move from blocking the doorway. Cooper avoided taking the straight path to the back room which would take him right past the bar height table she sat at.  Instead, he traversed the obstacle course behind the bar. The rest of the order he carried in without walking through the bar all together.

As he put the stock into the proper location, his mind worked double time as he tried to convince himself he didn’t care that she was here. Each time he thought maybe she was here for him, he’d tell himself she was here to see her cousin, Diane. Diane had just married his buddy Jack earlier in the year. There would be no reason for Noli to be here to see him. The time for explanations into her sudden departure was long gone. Even if she was here for him, he didn’t want to see her, much less utter a word to her.

“Coop, did you see Noli out there?” Kayla asked.

“I saw her.”

“She’s here to see you.”

“I need to finish stocking. It’s New Year’s Eve and we’re going to be packed. This will run smoother if stuff is where it’s supposed to be.” He concentrated on the task at hand like it was surgery.

“I can finish putting this stuff up.”

“That’s okay. I want to do it.”

Kayla looked at him with raised eyebrows. She’d rarely seen him this dedicated to the menial tasks of owning a bar. “She’s been waiting a long time. Just sitting there waiting for you.”

He didn’t want to see her, but he didn’t want to have to send his employee out there to do his dirty work. So he’d just hide out.

“Tell her I’m busy and I can’t see her.” That resembled the truth enough to not be a lie. He was busy, because he didn’t want to see her.

“Why don’t you want to see her? Tell me the truth, did she experience the legend that is Cooper Smith and can’t give him up? Has she turned into a fatal attraction stalker?” Kayla said, leaning over a stack of boxes and exposing more of her not so subtle cleavage.

For the last few months her necklines had headed south at a steady pace while her hemlines inched north.

“Kayla, you’re not wearing the uniform.”

“Yes I am.” She stood up tall revealing the black t-shirt with his bars logo in white.

“You altered it.”

“You mean this?” she said, pointing at where she’d cut the crew neck to create a cleavage popping V neck. “I thought it was cuter this way.”

“It’s inappropriate.”

“No one else seems to think so.”

“I should fire you for altering the uniform.”

“This isn’t a uniform, it’s a t-shirt. Anyway, we both know you couldn’t live without me,” she said and bopped out of the storage room.

She was right, she was too important to the business and to him on a personal level for him to fire her. She was also right that he was a legend. There were many satisfied women that would verify his legendary status. But things had changed. He had charmed many into his bed for a few weeks then moved on. There were also some women who continued to pursue a relationship because they wouldn’t accept the fact that while he was loving in bed, he didn’t do love or relationships. Noli Freeman was as far as possible from being one of those women.

Cooper wondered if his best friend, Jack, had known Noli was back but hadn’t told him. Then again, neither Jack nor Diane knew of the brief relationship between him and Noli so they would have no reason to update him on her. They didn’t know that he couldn’t do anything to keep her out of his mind. He’d not asked about her whereabouts but craved any information.

For the next hour he avoided the bar, even though it took him less than twenty minutes to finish stocking. He still refused to go out where she was. Instead he opted to go over some financial records, a task he’d been avoiding. That was preferable to giving her the satisfaction to say whatever it was she had come here to say. He hoped she’d get tired of waiting and just leave. After all, leaving was something she was an expert at doing.

On any other day he could do math in his head. Today he had to pull out the calculator and even that was somehow not adding the numbers up right. He gave up trying to concentrate on the task at hand and decided to give in. Confronting the source of his problem was the only way to solve it.

***

Noli had the taxi take her to Cooper’s house first. Her heart began to accelerate with each turn of the tires on the dusty road, but he wasn’t there. The taxi driver smiled wide as she paid a generous tip in addition to the three digit fare. When she arrived at his bar she was informed that he had run to a couple of suppliers to stock for the holiday weekend. The lunch crowd had dissipated so the bar was pretty empty as the staff prepared for the big New Year’s Eve crowd.

She wondered how long she would have to wait for Cooper to return. It didn’t matter how long she had to wait, because she would wait for as long as it took to talk to him. It had taken her months to build up the nerve to return and have this conversation with him, and she wasn’t going to leave until it was done. With each second that passed her resolve diminished and her anxiety increased. He wouldn’t greet her with open arms, and he was well justified in having less than warm regard for her. She was certain he’d like her even less once he’d heard what she came here to say.

To bide her time she sat and watched. She watched the TV, even though she couldn’t hear over the music playing through the speakers. She watched Kayla flirt her way to larger tips. She watched as another waitress poured half empty bottles of ketchup into other half empty bottles of ketchup. Noli smiled because she knew that was called marrying the ketchup. She watched as Trevor, one of the brawny bartenders, read a text message and left from behind the bar and headed out the door.

Noli was moving the few remaining shreds of cheese with her fork through the salad dressing residue on her plate when the door opened and Cooper walked through carrying a box. Seeing him again stole her breath just as much as the first time she saw him. His bulky muscles filled his shirt to capacity. It wasn’t his muscular physique that attracted her. It was the confidence of his smile and the laughter in his eyes that she could see even from across the room.

She noticed him long before he noticed her. Seeing him brought up a myriad of emotions. Part of her wanted to run and throw herself at his feet until he pulled her into his arms and kissed her because her transgression was forgiven. Another part of her wanted to hide behind a menu so he didn’t see her and she could just sneak out. There was still another part of her that was pulling out a mental sword and putting a shield in front of her heart to prepare her for the battle that was about to ensue.

When his eyes met hers, she gripped her glass tight. The smile that had crossed his face just moments before fell as soon as he saw her, which caused her heart to plunge. He stood at the door just staring at her. She couldn’t read the expression on his face and hoped her emotions were disguised by her neutral expression.

Trevor came and stood behind Cooper carrying a box as well. The other man’s presence forced Cooper to break their eye contact and move on. The bartender walked past her with the box in his hand but Cooper took the path furthest from her. Once again she was left with nothing to do but watch. Watch Cooper avoid coming near her and disappear into the back. Watch Trevor make several more trips outside and returned each time with a box. Watch the door to the back waiting for Cooper. He did not reemerge.

***

Cooper forced his feet to move towards her table. With each step closer he felt the anger that had been growing inside of him begin to wither. He knew that by time he was close enough to see the depths of her eyes or smell her sweet scent that it would vanish. For the sake of his sanity and his heart, he needed to remember that this was the woman that left him devastated just a few months ago. He put up a wall as he sat in the chair across from Noli with folded arms, not uttering a word. He just looked at her with cold, emotionless eyes and a raised eyebrow.

A hesitant smile crossed her face. “How are you?”

“You didn’t magically reappear all of a sudden just to ask how I am. I doubt that you even care at all. Why are you here, Noli?”

His words were harsh, but he still was taken at how beautiful she was. Sitting across the table from her he could see she’d made some changes. Her hair was a mass of thick curling corkscrews and her face was void of all makeup except the sheer red tint of gloss on her lips. A memory of the pleasure of kissing those lips interrupted his thoughts. He looked down at the table to stop his amorous thoughts from leading him down a path of ill decision. He tried to focus on the table but instead noticed that her cleavage seemed more apparent. In fact her breasts seemed much fuller than he remembered. He shifted in the seat to adjust the treacherous tightening of his pants.

“I do care how you are. There are a million reasons for me leaving, but I won’t bother you with them because they all sound like excuses. I know there’s no acceptable excuse for what I did. I would say I was sorry, but that doesn’t seem sufficient either. I’m not here to ask for your forgiveness, because I don’t deserve it.” She looked into the glass of water clasped in her hands instead of holding eye contact.

She seemed nervous and a bit distressed. He thought her eyes moistened with the threat of tears. Despite the anger at her return, he still wanted to reach out and comfort her. He didn’t give into that desire.

“That brings me to my previous question. Why are you here?”

***

This was more difficult than she thought it would be. He was using her nickname, which he’d never done. He’d always used her full name as if it was his special pet name for her. She longed to hear him say Magnolia. Cooper radiated anger and she didn’t blame him. She left without saying goodbye or even telling him she’d be gone. Her leaving hurt her just as much as it hurt him. The past few months had been miserable for her and she could only imagine how he felt. Though his negative image of her was justifiable, he was going to have to put that behind him. They needed to find amicable ground to stand on. It was the only way to deal with the issue at hand.

“I’m here because I have something to tell you.” She couldn’t bring herself to say the words.

“If it’s not excuses and not apologies, then what is it? What do you have to tell me?”

She reached out and touched his hand that was resting on the table, but he yanked it out of her grasp. “I know you don’t like me for the way I ended our relationship, but I’m afraid that when I tell you you’re going to hate me even more.”

“I don’t hate you at all, Noli.” Even though he was still using her nickname and not her full name as he usually did, for a brief moment she felt some relief and hope that he wouldn’t be angry. That spark of hope was doused by his next statement. “I don’t think enough of you to hate you. We didn’t have a relationship. You were just another girl in my bed, nothing more than a prolonged one night stand.”

His words stung and a tear finally fell from her brown eyes and rolled down her cheek. She thought she saw regret in his eyes but his continence didn’t change.

She put her face into her hands to hide the remaining tears that escaped. “This is so hard.”

“Why don’t you go away for a few more months and come back when it’s easier for you,” he said with venom in his voice as he stood to go.

“Wait,” she said and grabbed his arm to prevent him from returning to the back. He stopped and shot daggers into her slender fingers clasped around his arm. She followed his nonverbal command and removed her hand from him. “I can’t say it so I’ll just show you.” Noli inched her chair back from the table and stood in front of him. She watched as several emotions danced across his face finally settling on an angry confusion.

The words she’d been struggling to say shot from his mouth. “You’re pregnant!” He grabbed her hand and began to walk her to his office. She snagged her purse with the fingertips of her other hand, but failed to grab the coat she’d used to conceal her belly up until this point. She struggled to keep up with his wide strides as he rushed through the almost empty bar. Every eye there was on them until he slammed the door.

Cooper paced back and forth, cutting a glance at the seated Noli every few seconds. She just sat there, too afraid to say a word, watching him with her head following back and forth like a spectator at a tennis match.

“Is it mine?”

She hadn’t expected the question, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. He had to know she could not have moved on so quickly. “It is yours, but don’t be alarmed. I’m not expecting anything of you.”

“Don’t be alarmed!” he shouted. He shook his head and leaned against his desk. “She says don’t be alarmed,” he said to himself. “Wait, what do you mean you don’t expect anything of me?”

“I mean that I just didn’t want you to not know. I mean I wanted you to know, because you not knowing would be wrong.”

The anger in his eyes pierced her at the core. She took several shallow breaths unable to pull a much needed full breath. When she could finally get air in she spoke. “I’m trying to say I just thought you should know you’re going to be a father, but I’m not expecting you to be a daddy.”

“Were you planning on coming here, dropping this bomb and being a ghost again?”

She hunched a shoulder. Her plan was to tell him. She had not allowed herself to think beyond that. There was no certainty in how he would react. Perhaps he would be satisfied with knowing he was a father and seeing his child on the occasional picture posted online. She knew he wouldn’t go for not being part of his child’s life, deep down inside, that’s why she was here. Though she was fighting it, there was something in her screaming for a family— her, the baby, and Cooper.