Dawn tilted her head to the side. ‘I think so. This town...it’s desolate. Everyone—or almost everyone—has abandoned it and left it. But it’s still beautiful, in its own way. And one day, maybe that fire will stop burning. Maybe life can return here.’
Was she describing the place or herself? He hoped it was the former. Although, he had to admit, he felt a sense of kinship with Centralia as she described it. As if he were the town, and the fire burning the place up from the inside was Rachel’s and Melanie’s betrayals, and everything that had ever made him feel like he couldn’t trust the world.
Maybe it was time to put that fire out at last.
Time to feel something again.
Maybe even love.
‘Then let’s go.’ Cooper tugged on Dawn’s hand and led her back towards Claudia. He hoped her ghosts were gone.
But he knew for certain he was leaving his own behind in this ghost town.
* * *
Dawn shuddered a little as she pulled Claudia away from Centralia and back towards the interstate. The town had been interesting, if creepy, but the most fascinating part to her had been how Cooper had reacted to the place.
She didn’t mind that he clearly hadn’t been listening too attentively as she’d given him her best tour-guide impression, because he’d obviously been lost in thought. He’d taken her hand again, and kept hold of it as they walked, as if that were just normal for them, now. Better still, she’d actually been able to see his expression turning lighter, his shoulders relaxing.
Odd as it sounded, something about that eerie, toxic, abandoned town had let Cooper release something. She hoped it might be his past.
‘We should make it to New York tonight,’ Cooper said as the more familiar landscape of the I-80 surrounded them once more. ‘What do you want to do then?’
‘What are my options?’ she asked.
‘Well, we could carry on, arrive at the beach house late tonight and bring this whole road trip to a close.’ He left that hanging there, obviously waiting to see how she liked it.
Dawn’s nose wrinkled up. She didn’t like it very much at all, as it happened. ‘Or?’
‘Or we could stay in New York and have a night on the town before we go get you your closure.’
‘I suppose it would be better to arrive in the morning than late at night,’ she said, giving him a small smile.
He returned it. ‘Closure does work better when you’re well rested, I’ve heard.’
‘Plus it would just be rude to arrive so late,’ Dawn went on.
‘Exactly.’ Cooper grinned. ‘I guess I’d better find us somewhere to stay, then.’
He pulled up the familiar hotel app on his phone, and Dawn bit her bottom lip, forcing herself to keep her eyes on the road and not on his phone screen.
Not even to check if he was booking two hotel rooms or just one.
* * *
They switched driving again when they stopped for coffee in New Jersey, and as night started to fall Cooper drove them through the Holland tunnel and into the bright lights of New York City.
‘Where are we staying?’ she asked as they stuttered through the stop-start city traffic.
‘You’ll see,’ was all Cooper would say.
She assumed he’d have booked one of the more famous hotels, mostly because she knew he liked quality. Which was why she was surprised when he pulled into a small, private parking garage right next to Central Park.
‘Where are we?’ she asked as he cut the engine.
He flashed her a smile. ‘Home sweet home.’
‘You have an apartment in New York.’ Of course he did. How had she not remembered that before?
‘I do.’ He reached out across the seats and took her hand. ‘Care to stay here with me tonight? I can book you a hotel, if you’d rather. I did look, but given the luck we’ve had with that booking app lately... I figured, if we had to share a bed, I’d rather it be mine.’
She saw the real question in his eyes and swallowed hard. This wouldn’t be like last night—awkward distances and pretending to sleep until her body overcame her mind and she passed out. This wouldn’t be two friends sharing a bed out of necessity.
This would be them. Together.
Tomorrow they’d be with Justin. She’d find her closure and be ready to move on—to go and find her own future. And Cooper... Well, he was ready to find love again, she was certain. But it couldn’t be with her.
‘Just for tonight?’ She met his gaze and saw understanding there.
This couldn’t be anything more. They both still had healing to do to move on from their past relationships. Not to mention the fact that family gatherings would be beyond awkward. And hadn’t he been the one to point out that she’d never be happy living the life of the corporate wife he—and Justin—both needed?
For once, Dawn was stepping into something without thinking about forever. Tonight wouldn’t lead to a white dress and a happily ever after. When it was over, she’d still be the same Dawn she’d always been, the Dry Run. And Cooper... He’d do what men always did after they left her—find the love of his life.
She could give him that.
She’d take one night of pleasure in his arms then set him free to find his happy ending.
And maybe, just maybe, she’d find hers one day too.
But until then she was going to enjoy the moment, for a change.
‘Just for tonight,’ Cooper murmured back to her, the air thick between them.
Dawn smiled. ‘Then lead the way.’
* * *
‘I can still take you out for that fancy night on the town, if you like?’ Cooper offered as he pushed open his front door. How long had it been since he’d been back to his New York place? It couldn’t have been more than a month or so, before the Europe trip and the wedding that wasn’t. But somehow it felt much longer, as though he was a different person, now he was here again.
Or maybe it was just that he wasn’t used to being here with company.
He dropped Claudia’s keys and his own into the bowl on the kitchen counter, and ignored the stack of mail sitting next to it. His housekeeping staff in the building kept the place in good shape while he was away, and he knew anything of importance would already have been forwarded to the office.
‘Maybe...it might be nice to actually spend a quiet night in, for once,’ Dawn said, a soft, promising smile on her face.
Did she know what that look in her eyes did to him? The one that told him that whatever she had in mind for him wouldn’t be all that quiet?
Probably not, which might actually be why he found it so damn appealing.
He could see how Justin had fallen for her all too easily. What he still couldn’t understand was how his brother had come to the conclusion that Dawn was a gold-digger. Everything he’d learned about her over the last week had showed him a different person altogether.
A woman he’d fallen for, even when he’d thought his heart was dead. Even when he’d believed the worst about her, he’d wanted her.
And now, finally, he might get to have her.
He wasn’t thinking about tomorrow, wasn’t going to imagine what might happen when she saw Justin again or when Justin realised the truth about her. She said she was over him, but she didn’t know the whole truth yet.
And, as much as Cooper knew that he should tell her, he couldn’t. Not when it might take away this one small chance he had with her.
Tomorrow, all their truths would come out. But until then he was more than happy to keep living the lie.
‘A quiet night in sounds perfect to me too.’ Leaving his bag beside the counter, he moved closer, towards where she stood by the front door. ‘So, would you like the full tour?’
‘Sounds great,’ she said. Her tongue darted out across her bottom lip, and Cooper bit back a groan.
The woman was trying to kill him.
Worse, she was killing him and she wasn’t even trying.
Another step and the space between them disappeared. Dawn dropped her own bag by her feet and leant in when he raised his hands to her waist, resting against another of her mesmerising, brightly coloured tee shirts. The ones he’d been dreaming of stripping off her for almost a week.
Would tonight finally be his chance?
He bent his neck, his lips achingly close to hers. But he couldn’t kiss her. Not without being sure.
‘Dawn...’