“Perfect! Go pick out a couple of stuffed animals and we’ll be there in two minutes to watch it.” She nods excitedly and runs back out.
“You’re the strongest woman I know,” Cooper says once she’s gone. “You’re raising a beautiful, sweet, little girl. Thank you for taking such good care of her. But I’m here now. Please give me the chance to take care of you.”
“I want to, Coop. I want to so badly. But you’re the one who told me several times you don’t want to be a father or a husband. I know I owe it to you to let you get to know Bella, but I’m scared for her and for me. I don’t know if I can handle you breaking my heart again. What if you wake up one day and decide you don’t really want a family after all? Then what? What would I say to Bella? How would I explain to her that her daddy doesn’t want her? You heard her. She’s been on this daddy kick for weeks. She hears at school from all the kids who have a daddy. In her movies and shows there’s a mommy and daddy, or in many cases like the Disney movies, there’s only a dad and no mom. She wants one so badly. What if I tell her you’re her daddy and then you change your mind? It’ll devastate her. And I’ll be left to pick up the pieces.”
I wipe away a traitor tear and Cooper frowns. “Baby girl, I know my words don’t hold any weight and I’ve confused the shit out of you with everything I’ve said. But I promise you, I’m not going anywhere. The fact is, you don’t owe me anything, but please just give me a chance to prove I’m in this for the long haul with you and Bella.”
It suddenly occurs to me that he isn’t playing a game. He isn’t keeping points and it doesn’t do any good for me to play games. Bella deserves for us to try. We deserve for us to try. This is what I wanted for so long and I’ll always regret it, if I don’t give us a shot. Sure, there’s a chance Bella and I end up hurt, but I want so badly for the other option, the one where we end up together as a family.
So, I give in and say, “Okay, one more chance. We’ll see how good of a fighter you really are.”
Cooper leans forward and, grabbing my waist, pulls me up into his lap so I’m straddling him, one leg on either side of him. “Thank you, baby,” he whispers. Then he kisses me like I just told him he’s won the lottery, his lips attacking mine. His hands roam all over my body—up my arms, over my breasts, down my back. I can feel him getting excited between my legs.
Instinctively, I grind against his hardness while lacing my fingers into his hair that’s just long enough to grab ahold of. We continue to kiss, and his fingers tweak my nipples over my clothes. I need him. I need his body on mine without any clothes… and then suddenly I’m flying through the air, my butt hitting the couch. What the heck?
I shoot him a look that conveys he’s damn near lost his mind, but he shakes his head, quickly looking toward the doorway, and in the next second, in walks Bella. Holy. Shit. What kind of mother forgets her daughter is in the other damn room while trying to get laid?
“C’mon! Movie time!” Bella bounces up and down and then grabs one of my hands to pull me up.
Cooper starts to chuckle. Guessing what’s going on in my head, he leans over and whispers, “Tonight, baby girl. You’re all mine tonight.” And with that, my panties dampen.
Damn this man and his way with words.
Twenty-Two
Cooper
After Bella determines her bed isn’t big enough for all of us, we get situated in the living room, instead, to watch some movie called Frozen as Bella explains why she wants to watch this movie even though it came out a long time ago. It’s so hard to keep a straight face listening to my four-year-old explain why it’s okay to watch an old movie even though she has a lot of new ones.
“It’s not that I don’t want to watch Dolphin Tale. It’s still my favoritest ever. It’s just that I love Anna and Elsa and I want to be Elsa for Halloween. I can’t be a dolphin for Halloween because that would be so silly!” She says all this as she explodes into a fit of giggles at her own comment. I have no idea what she’s talking about, but she’s the cutest damn thing.
Liz obviously understands completely as they go back and forth about her Halloween costume.