The Risks We Take Duet Box Set

24. Cooper

COOPER

“ N ope. Uh-uh. Brady will always be Captain America,” Nattie insists, and I hide my grin behind my coffee mug.

Chloe grabs a blanket from the back of the couch and covers Carys with it, then spears Nattie with her eyes. “Sorry to break it to you, Nat. But Coop is the whole Captain America package with a shiny red-white-and-blue bow on top.”

We all laugh at Chloe’s description and Nat’s refusal to listen. She’s standing across the room, swaying with Nixon in her arms, trying to keep him happy while Brady makes a bottle. Apparently, she’s doing a lousy job, based on the noise that comes out of the tiny human that sounds like a baby pterodactyl.

“I know, Nix,” Nat shushes him in her sweet baby voice. “Auntie Chloe is insane. Don’t you worry about listening to her.”

Carys pulls the blanket tighter around her and burrows deeper against Murphy, who makes an odd face.

He leans his cheek against her forehead like my mom used to do when we were little kids, then rips the blanket away from her.

“Hey...” she grumbles, still half asleep. “Give it back. I’m cold.”

It’s about seventy degrees in here with the air conditioner on, and my girl is in sweats and a hoodie. She shouldn’t be cold. I try to control my reaction as I watch the interaction between Murphy and her, but it’s not an easy thing for me. She shouldn’t be tucked against him. I should be there with her in my arms.

“You’re hot, Care Bear. Like, fever hot.” He looks over at Chloe. “Do you guys have any ibuprofen?”

Carys’s teeth start chattering, and I feel myself getting pissed at Murph. “Give her the damn blanket back. She doesn’t feel good, Murph.”

He tucks it up around her as Chloe comes in with two pills in her hand and a bottle of water.

Carys sits up with a sigh and swallows the pills, then looks around at all of us. Her tired eyes hold mine for an extra beat before she drags them over Nat, who’s feeding a much happier Nixon.

“Sorry, guys. I must have caught a bug. I’m going back to Mom’s house. I don’t want to get Nix sick.”

I stand quickly because fuck this. I’m not going to let her go back by herself. But Chloe moves in front of me. “I’ll come with ya, Carys. I could use some time to sketch anyway. Just let me grab my shoes and my pad.”

Carys throws the blanket off and pulls her hood up over her head while she waits.

When did she get sick?

She was fine when I left her this morning.

Wasn’t she?

My phone vibrates in my pocket just as Chloe comes back into the room.

Chloe

If you’re trying to keep this on the down-low, you’re doing a shitty job, Coop. I’ve got your girl for the afternoon.

Holy shit.

How does she know?

Does anyone else?

How do you answer a text like that? Carys asked me specifically not to say anything about us. What’s this...? Day two? I can’t confirm anything. But there’s a big fat fucking difference between not saying anything and lying to someone about how I feel for the woman who no longer looks like the sun-kissed goddess I held all night last night. She feels terrible, and it shows.

And fuck... I want to be the one taking care of her.

L ater that afternoon, once Dad and Katherine are back from the movies and lunch with Callen, I use that as my excuse to go back to the house. Not that I don’t want to get a little time in with my dad. I do, but I also want to check in with Chloe and see how Carys is feeling without it being obvious. I’m a trained operator, and I already blew keeping us under wraps within twenty-four hours of getting here. The team is gonna bust my balls for this one.

I’m finishing up with the goodbyes with my sister, who’s crying like she’s never going to see me again. She knows exactly how to make me feel worse than anyone else ever can.

“Be safe, Cooper.” Nat hugs me close. I don’t know if she’ll ever forgive me for joining the Navy. “What time do you leave?”

I squeeze her back and press a kiss to the top of her head. “I need to head out around fourteen-hundred if I want to make my flight. Wheels are up at eighteen-hundred, whether I’m on the plane or not. And I need to be on that plane.”

Brady holds her back. “Let him go, Nat. We’ll see him again soon.”

“If you miss my wedding, Cooper Sinclair, I will never forgive you.”

Jesus. Don’t I know that’s the truth.

No pressure or anything.

She squeezes me one more time before stepping back.

“Love you, Nat.”

I pound Brady’s chest. “Take care of her.”

“Always,” he answers. And I know he will.

I quickly jog the few yards to my dad’s house. The rain has all but stopped, but the day is cold and gray. Overcast skies threaten to dump more rain any minute as I step inside, and Callen comes running.

I pick him up and toss him high into the air.

His floppy hair lifts from his forehead, and a smile stretches across his face as he squeals with glee. “Higher, Cooper.”

When he comes down, I tuck him into me like a football and run him over to Dad. “I found something that belongs to you.”

Dad laughs. “Pretty sure I’m not missing anything.”

Callen pops his head up. “Me, Dad. Me. You’re missing me.”

Dad takes him from me and sets him on the counter. “We need to wash your face before Mommy finds out I let you have chocolate, Cal. Or you’ll get us both in trouble.”

Dad washes Cal’s face, then hands him off to Katherine for a nap. He leans back against the counter and crosses his arms over his thick chest, looking like an older version of Declan.

“Wanna tell me what’s on your mind, son?”

“Just thinking about everything I miss, being on the other side of the country.” Best way to lie is to anchor it in the truth. I can’t exactly tell him I’m in love with my stepsister. Especially since I haven’t told her yet.

Dad eyes me skeptically. “That it?”

I nod. I have no idea how he does that, but he always knows when something is going on with one of us. Always.

“How are things going with this training?”

I have to choose my words carefully. It’s easier for him if he doesn’t know everything I do. “It’s going well. But I’m ready for it to be over. It’s weird not being with the team.”

“We miss you.”

“I miss you too, Dad. I miss all of you. I’m hoping I get a weekend to fly home and see a game in the fall.”

“Hey, Coop.” Chloe strolls down the hall and joins us in the kitchen. “Coach.” Her sketchpad is tucked under her arm, and her hair’s thrown up in a messy bun on top of her head with what looks like a charcoal pencil holding the purple tips in place. “Your girl’s not feeling too good, Coach.”

“Nattie or Carys?” Dad asks, concerned.

Chloe laughs. “Nattie’s still riding the engagement high. Carys is asleep in her bed. She’s got a pretty high fever. At least, I think it is. I didn’t take her temp or anything. But I was coming out here to scavenge for either medicine or Katherine. She’s got the chills again.” She looks at me, letting me know she’s filling me in as much as she can. “I figured Katherine would know best.”

“Thanks, Chloe. I’ll go get Katie.” Dad jogs up the steps, and I head down the hall with Chloe following behind.

“Can you buy me a few minutes?”

She pops her gum, then twirls it around her finger. “I got’cha covered, Coop.”

I open the door of Carys’s room and sit down on the edge of her bed, brushing my lips over her hot forehead. “Hey, baby.”

She moans, “Coop?”

“I’m here.” I push the hair away from her face. “Tell me what you need.”

“Water, please.”

I want to lie next to her. I want to hold her in my arms and let her sleep on me. I want to take care of her. But I can’t do any of those things yet. So instead, I stand and tuck the blanket in around her. “I’ll be right back.”

“No.” Her green eyes fly open. “Have Chloe grab it. You can’t be in here.”

“Carys . . .”

“No,” she rasps, then closes her eyes. “We can’t get caught, and you can’t get sick. Go, Coop. We’ll be back in California soon.”

“Soon, baby.” I brush my lips over hers and force myself to step out of the room. I close the door and walk back to the kitchen in time for Katherine to pass me in the hall on her way to Carys’s room.

Chloe’s sitting at the counter, sketching something... not sure if it’s a bathing suit or lingerie. But it looks sexy on the curvy woman she’s placed it on. I sit down on the stool next to her and look to see if we’re alone.

“How did you figure it out?”

“Oh, please. She couldn’t stop looking at you last night with those puppy-dog eyes she’s always had for you. The difference was you. She was looking, and you liked it. You looked too, but you were sneakier.”

“Seriously?” I didn’t think we were that obvious. “Come on... we weren’t that bad or someone else would have picked up on it.”

Chloe taps her pencils to the paper. “Yeah well, no one else walked into Carys’s bedroom to find it smelling like sex this morning. She was lying in bed in panties and grabbed your Navy shirt from the floor to cover up.” She flips the cover of her sketch book closed with a flourish and smiles. “Be careful, Coop. Murphy’s gonna freak if you hide this from him.”

Murphy’s gonna try to kick my ass when he finds this out is more like it.

Hopefully that will be the worst of it.

“We’re not even sure what this is yet, Chloe. We just want to take our time before we bring everyone else into it.” I regurgitate the words Carys made me swear to.

“Tell yourself that, if you want, but the look you had on your face earlier—when I brought her home instead of you—was not the look of a guy doing casual.” She cocks her head to the side and studies me.

“I never said anything about casual, Chloe.” I don’t even try to hide my annoyance at that inference.

I’m already over this conversation and wishing I was in a different room with a different girl.

“Good. Because she deserves more. And so do you, Coop. You’re one of the good ones. One of the best. And if any two people were ever worth dealing with the shitstorm you’re going to have to walk through to be together, it’s the two of you. Don’t fuck it up.”

She hops off the stool and kisses me on the cheek. “See you in a few months.”

I watch her leave and replay her words.

Carys does deserve more.

She deserves a man who can give her everything.

But she also deserves a man who can honor her wishes.

So for now, we keep the secret.

We take the risk. And damn the consequences.