Charming Cupid Page 6

  My sleeping pill had not completely worn off and I was still feeling a little groggy. I was happy that Madison seemed to have everything under control.

  “Thanks, Maddie, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “No problem.” She smiled. “How’d you sleep?”

  “Okay.”

  It was a lie. Even with the Ambien I’d only managed to doze off and on all night. “What about you?”

  “You know me, my head hits the pillow and I’m out.”

  I envied Madison’s ability to fall asleep so fast.

  Suddenly, the smell of bacon, eggs, and maple syrup filled my nostrils and made my stomach growl. All of the tossing and turning I’d done the night before over Cooper must’ve worked up one hell of an appetite.

  Madison and I stepped to a table for two and settled ourselves into the chairs. A waiter came over and took our drink orders and then explained the layout of the buffet. We got up and filled our plates, still going over the weekend ahead. I was doing my level best to be present but I found myself glancing at the door every few seconds to see if Cooper Briggs, the man, the myth, the legend was going to make an appearance.

  My behavior reminded me more of a middle school girl with a crush in the school cafeteria rather than a thirty year old woman at a resort she was about to speak at.

  Knock it off, I chided myself as Madison and I took our seats, this time with full plates of food. This weekend is not about Cooper Briggs. You have a job to do.

  I’d just taken my first bite of pancakes when I heard. “Good morning, Vanessa. And you must be Madison, hi.”

  That voice sent tingles skittering down my spine and caused the tiny hairs on my arms to stick straight up.

  I turned and the tingle settled smack dab between my thighs.

  Cooper Briggs was standing beside our table looking better than any man had a right to look carrying a plate of chicken and waffles. The thick cotton material of his black T-shirt perfectly molded to his sculpted chest and arms. His jeans were faded in all the right places and his jaw was covered in a five o’clock shadow that accented its square shape.

  “We’ve seen each other around,” his eyes locked on mine, “a couple of times.”

  My cheeks flamed. Was he going to bring up that he’d caught me ogling him on the patio?

  “But I just wanted to officially say hello.”

  Madison’s phone buzzed and she read a text that sent her popping up from her chair and slinging her bag over her shoulder so quickly that I was almost blinded by the sight of it whizzing through the air.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Nothing. I just need to make a call. Nice to finally meet you, Cooper. And you,” she pointed at me. “Don’t forget to eat. I’ll be back.” With that parting promise she disappeared through double doors that led out to the patio.

  “You forget to eat?”

  “Sometimes. Especially on seminar weekends.”

  “Do you mind?” He motioned to where Madison had just been sitting.

  My jaw dropped and I stammered, “Oh…I think she might be…”

  He settled into the vacated chair and set his plate beside Madison’s. “I’ll move if she comes back.”

  I leaned back in my seat, trying to put as much physical distance between myself and Cooper as I could. I knew the consequences of playing with fire and Cooper Briggs was so hot I was surprised he didn’t spontaneously combust.

  He must’ve noticed my retreat because a slow grin spread across his handsome face. “I don’t bite.”

  I straightened, feeling embarrassed that he’d caught my response to him. I had to watch that. Keep it under tight control. But it wasn’t going to be easy.

  He started to take a bite and then motioned to my plate. “Don’t forget to eat.”

  Using my fork, I stabbed several pieces of the pancakes and shoved them in my mouth. I wasn’t trying to look ladylike, I just needed to shovel this meal down and get out of here. Every second I spent around Cooper Briggs made it more difficult for me to remember who he was and his reputation as an unrepentant ladies’ man.

  Even though my mother had always turned a blind eye and swallowed her pain, I would never do that. It had been an easy promise to keep thus far because I’d never met anyone that tempted me. I had to be doubly committed now, though, in the face of the extremely tempting Cooper Briggs.

  “So, Vanessa Cupid, you are a difficult woman to pin down.”

  Pin down. The moment that phrase left his mouth my mind started playing the X-rated fantasy I’d had the night before. His body on top of mine, his weight holding me in place, his lips and tongue exploring every inch of my body.

  I cleared my throat and blinked, hoping my eyelids would serve as the Men In Black neuralyzer and erase all the images I’d imagined.

  “Yes, Cooper, about that, I owe you an apology,” I said, the stiffness of my voice ridiculous even to my own ears, but I had to keep that formal distance. I had to fight against the strong undercurrent of feelings and arousal that tried to pull me down and sweep me away every time I was in the same room with him.

  “Coop,” he corrected me with wink. “My friends call me Coop.”

  One wink was all it took for my libido to start doing a jig. Arousal welled in me like the fifty-foot wave I’d seen at Mavericks in California when I was speaking at Half Moon Bay.

  I sighed and bit the inside of my lip. I could complain to myself that he was thwarting my plans to keep a tight rein at every turn, but I knew the truth. If my plans were that easily thwarted the problem was on my end, not his.

  I was weak in the face of his charm and charisma. That was the real issue.

  He caught my eyes with his laser-focused gaze. The heat shot through me and melted my insides. Yep. Just a big pile of goo. That’s all that was left.

  Run away, Vanessa! For God’s sake, get out of here now!

  My inner voice screamed at me to escape while I still held onto a shred of control, and I did my best to heed it. I stood on shaky knees. The only problem was, he stood with me.

  “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go over my notes,” I protested weakly. “It was nice seeing you again.”

  He put his hand on my forearm, the weight and strength of it was reassuring. It made me want to do nothing but close my eyes and sigh, relaxing into the capable comfort of his arms like I was sinking into a warm bath. I knew that was another dangerous temptation, but I was powerless to stop myself from craving it.

  “Don’t leave, Vanessa,” he said in a low, solid voice that made me want to trust every word. “Madison specifically ordered you to eat.”

  I was about to say that I had a granola bar in my bag when he stepped back from the table.

  “I’m sorry to have disturbed you. I interrupted your breakfast. I’ll go and you can eat and go over your notes.”

  I could see a dark cloud of disappointment settle over his features as he picked up his plate, and I used his perceived misery as a get-out-of-jail-free card to say, “No, it’s fine. Stay.” The truth was, I didn’t want him to go any more than I wanted to leave. The truth was I wanted to have breakfast with “Coop.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” My chin dipped in a sharp nod as I lowered back down to my chair.

  Mischief lit up his eyes as he sat back down, as well. “Good, because, I believe you mentioned something about owing me an apology.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Coop

  “I did a spit take when Wes and Luna told the story about—”

  “The anal beads!” Vanessa pointed at me as she finished my thought, then immediately was struck with horror as she glanced around the room to make sure that no one had heard what she’d said.

  No one seemed to be paying us any attention.

  “Yes. The anal beads,” I confirmed in a slightly less enthusiastic volume.

  “I can’t believe that you listened to my podcast.” Vanessa shook her head and I watched as she took t
he final bite of her eggs.

  It had taken a good twenty minutes, but she was finally relaxing and letting her guard down. It was a small victory, but one I would absolutely take. I wasn’t sure if she had this many walls up for everyone, or if I was special. But it didn’t really matter. I’d spent the entire breakfast doing my best to get around them and I was finally making some progress.

  “I saw you! You were paper!” A little girl said as she barreled toward us. I recognized her as being one of the family of six that had gotten on the elevator with us the night before. She had a head full of blonde curls that bounced as she rushed the table, her arms wide open before she launched herself against Vanessa.

  “Cardboard.” Her mom was right behind her with a baby swaddled against her and dark circles under her eyes. “She saw your cutout in the lobby.”

  “Oh, right.” Vanessa seemed a little uncomfortable about the cutout as she smiled and wrapped the girl in her arms. “Hello again, cutie.”

  “Hi!” The girl leaned back and thrust her fingers into Vanessa’s face. “I got my nails colored.”

  “They are so pretty,” Vanessa said as she examined her hand and then looked up at the little girl’s mom. “Hi, I’m Vanessa and this is Cooper.”

  “Hi, I’m Annie.” The woman smiled warmly. “Okay, Sierra, let’s let Vanessa and Cooper get back to their breakfast.”

  Annie reached for Sierra’s hand but the girl managed to evade her mother’s grasp and settled her palms on Vanessa’s face. She leaned close to her face and loudly whispered, “Do you want to make him your husband?”

  “Oh, ummm…” Vanessa’s cheeks instantly flamed a crimson shade as her eyes darted to mine. “No. No…I don’t.” Vanessa stammered.

  “Why not?” The girl seemed honestly perplexed.

  “Yeah, why not?” I grinned. Who knew that Sierra would prove to be such an incredible wingman?

  The girl kept her eyes trained on me but leaned even closer to Vanessa as she whispered just as loud, “I know you like him ’cause you smile at him like my auntie smiles at—”

  “Okay, Sierra. Time to go.” This time, when Annie reached for her daughter she got a hold of her forearm and in a ninja-mom move and had Sierra off of Vanessa’s lap in the blink of an eye. She mouthed, sorry, as she wrangled her daughter away from the table.

  I looked back at Vanessa and found her standing, gathering her plate. Her cheeks even brighter red than they’d been just a moment before. “I need to get going. Bye.” The words rushed out of her mouth as she hurried out of the room.

  I tried not to notice the sway in Vanessa’s hips as she left, but my eyes drifted to her backside despite my best efforts. The generous curve of her ass was like a beacon calling to me. My jeans grew tight and though I knew I should be ashamed, when it came to Dr. Cupid, I had the self-restraint of a teenager at the height of puberty, I was just relieved that everything was still working.

  My nostrils flared as two men held the door open for her and, like myself, noticed her curves. An unfamiliar tightness gripped my chest. It took me a hot second to recognize what I was experiencing.

  Jealousy.

  I didn’t like that other men were checking her out. Not that I could blame them. I’d done the same thing. Still, that didn’t change the fact that seeing other men ogling her awakened every dormant caveman instinct in me.

  Until this moment, I had thought that prehistoric DNA must’ve skipped me. I was sure I didn’t have the Cro-Magnon gene. But since I was currently playing out a fantasy where I tossed Vanessa over my shoulder and carried her up to my room while beating my chest and grunting at any man that dared look her way, I’d say that those genes had just been dormant.

  I sighed as I ran my hands through my hair. This woman was going to be the death of me. The only question was whether or not my death was going to be long and painful or short and sweet?

  I’d seen this kind of behavior over the past years in several of my brothers and a few of my friends when they met and got together with their wives. One day they were fine, the next they were goners. I just never thought it would happen to me.

  “I’m sorry, is Vanessa here?” Madison appeared beside me, her eyes darting around the room. She seemed even more on edge than normal.

  “You just missed her. Is everything okay?”

  “Um…well…yes and no. One of our attendees cancelled.”

  “Oh, is that a problem?” I’d been a keynote speaker at several conferences and although I’d never held one of my own, I assumed that cancellations were par for the course.

  “Well, he wasn’t just an attendee. He was going to be partnered with Vanessa.”

  “Partnered with Vanessa,” I repeated.

  Sign me up.

  “Yes.” Madison was scrolling through her iPad so fast her finger was a blur. “There’s a portion in the session on building intimacy. Vanessa participates and each seminar we pair her up with someone to do the exercises with.”

  Building intimacy. Ding, ding, ding we have a winner.

  The last six months I felt like I was banging my head against a wall and today everything seemed to be falling into place. I came down for breakfast and the first person I saw was Vanessa. Then when Madison was called away I got my first one-on-one date, to put it in Bachelor terms, with Vanessa. And now her partner flaked on an intimacy building exercise.

  Things were going so well, I almost felt like this was some kind of setup. But that didn’t stop me from taking advantage of the opportunity.

  “I’ll do it.” I had to actively work to keep my hand from flying up as I eagerly volunteered.

  Madison looked up from the screen that she’d been glued to. “You’ll do it?”

  “Yep. Put me in Coach.”

  Her head shook slightly back and forth. “Tom was vetted.”

  “Vetted?” I had no idea what the vetting process was but bring it on.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, vet me.”

  She smiled and I could sense her hesitation. It was totally understandable considering the circumstances. The only contact that she’d had with me so far was sending me emails saying that Vanessa wasn’t available when I’d tried to set up a time to get together with her.

  “Well…I’m not sure.”

  Her phone buzzed and she answered it. “Hi. Yes, I’m on my way. No, everything’s fine. I’ll be right there.”

  She hung up the phone and I could see that she was on the fence. I figured that a little push couldn’t hurt.

  “When does the session start?”

  “Twenty minutes.”

  “Did you vet any of other attendees?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “But it’s more than that. I’ve already paired all of the singles up using their compatibility profile. I can’t change things now.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  She stared at me for a moment and I could see that she was not only assessing me, but also her lack of options. “It’s a significant time commitment. There are two sessions, a morning and evening that are four hours each. I’ll only need you for an hour in each of them.”

  “No problem.”

  My instant and easy agreement only served to give her more pause. “Are you here on vacation, or work?”

  I had to fight a grin at the way she was basically asking if I was stalking her boss. “I’m doing a soft launch of a product line that is hitting the market next month. I know the owner here, Liam Sullivan, from when I played ball so I decided that Oasis was the perfect place to do some test marketing.”

  As I laid out my cover story I remembered that I needed to stop by the spa and check to make sure that the product had arrived. I’d told Sullivan that I’d do a quick meeting with the staff to go over the benefits of my new line.

  “Oh, okay.” My response seemed to put her mind at ease for a beat but then her cheek hollowed and her mouth twisted as if she were considering something. “Let me check with Vanessa. She might want to cut the entire
thing.”

  “I’ll go with you.” I figured I had a better chance of convincing her if I was there.

  If Madison gave her the option, I was sure I knew her answer. I’d get cut faster than the rookie who showed up piss drunk at training camp.

  As we headed to the conference rooms on the opposite side of the resort, I heard a ringing sound coming from Madison’s pocket. There wasn’t any break in her stride as she tapped the earbud in her right ear. “This is Madison.”

  “I’m sorry, who?” She slowed to a stop and covered her left ear with her hand to block out sound.

  “Oh, hello Mrs. Cupid. No, Vanessa is preparing for the seminar. Yes, it is in Oasis Springs.”

  Madison lowered her voice and walked away from me. I wasn’t sure if she was walking away to hear better or if it was because the conversation was private. It sounded like she was talking to Vanessa’s mom. In the DGD (deep Google dive) I’d done I hadn’t been able to glean that much information on her.

  I knew her name was Celia and that she was much younger than Vanessa’s father. Like, twenty years younger. I’d seen two pictures of her and she was gorgeous, just like her daughter. But that was it.

  “Madison?” I called her name after she disconnected the call and began speed walking away.

  She turned and when she looked at me it was as if she’d honestly forgotten that I was even there but then her fingers snapped in recognition. “Oh, right. Um, something’s come up. Something else has come up that I need to take care of. If I need you it won’t be for a couple of hours. Can I text you and let you know?”

  “Sure, do you need my phone—”

  “I have it,” she cut me off with a sideways grin.

  Of course she had it. I left it each and every time I’d contacted Vanessa.

  “I’ll be in touch,” she promised.

  I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I was really excited to find out.

  CHAPTER 10

  Vanessa

  As I crossed the stage, I was thankful that I’d given this same talk so many times that I could recite it in my sleep. If I had to think about what I was going to say, I’d be screwed. Thankfully, the words were flowing without any conscious thought on my part because right now I was having a hard time focusing.