Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 113923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
“You don’t say.” Cooper dons a sarcastic look.
“He’s not that bad. I don’t think he’s ever even played squash,” I say for a laugh, but the joke doesn’t land. “He’s a good guy. Not the type who’s a dick to the waiter or that kind of thing.”
Cooper chuckles softly. “You don’t think it’s telling that your answer is basically, he’s nice to the help?”
I sigh. I suppose I don’t know how to talk to a guy I just met about my boyfriend. Especially when Cooper is clearly hostile to our entire upbringing.
“You know, this might shock you, but if you gave him a chance, you might actually get along. We’re not all jackasses,” I point out.
“Nah.” Some light returns to his expression, and I take that as a good sign. “I’m pretty sure you’re the one exception I’ve met, and I’ve lived in the Bay my whole life.”
“Then I’m glad I could demonstrate some redeeming qualities of my people.”
He smiles, shrugging. “We’ll see.”
“Oh, yeah? That sounds suspiciously like an invitation. But you wouldn’t be caught dead making friends with”—I gasp for effect—“a clone, now would you?”
“Not a chance. Call it an experiment. You can be my test subject.”
“And what hypothesis are we testing?”
“Whether a clone can be deprogrammed into a real person.”
I can’t help but laugh. I’ve been doing that a lot tonight. Cooper might have those brooding bad boy looks, but he’s funnier than I expected. I like him.
“So are we really doing this?” I ask.
His tongue drags over his bottom lip in a positively lewd way. “Going down on each other? Hell yeah. Let’s do it.”
More laughter sputters out. “Being friends! I’m asking if we’re going to be friends! Jeez, Hartley, you are way too focused on oral sex, anyone ever tell you that?”
“Firstly, have you looked in the mirror? Jeez—” He halts, looking over at me. “What’s your last name?”
“Cabot,” I say helpfully.
“Jeez, Cabot,” he mimics. “How can I not think about oral sex when I’m sitting next to the hottest woman on the planet?”
A flush rises in my cheeks. Damn it. That rough honesty is wildly sexy.
Gulping, I force my body not to respond to his crudeness or the compliment. You have a boyfriend, Mackenzie. I spell it out for my brain. B-O-Y-F-R-I-E-N-D.
Is it bad that I’ve had to remind myself an alarming number of times tonight?
“Secondly,” Cooper continues, “are you sure we’re not gonna hook up?”
“Positive.”
He rolls his eyes at me. “Fine, then thirdly—yes, I guess I’ll settle for friendship.”
“How kind of you.”
“Right?”
“Oh God. I’m already reconsidering. I feel like you’re going to be a high-maintenance friend.”
“Bullshit,” he argues. “I’ll be the best friend you’ve ever had. I always go above and beyond what’s expected of me. I mean, I’ve liberated goats for my friends. Can you say the same?”
I snicker. “Goats, plural? You mean it wasn’t just the one?”
“Nah, it was only one goat. But one time, I did steal a goldfish for my friend Alana.”
“Awesome. I’m friends with a thief.” I poke him in the side. “I need to hear the goldfish story, please.”
He winks. “Oh, it’s a good one.”
We talk for so long, the two of us around the dwindling fire, that I don’t notice the black night turn to gray early morning until Evan and Bonnie come strolling toward us looking rather pleased with themselves. By then I realize I have a dozen texts from Preston wondering what the hell happened to me. Oops.
“Take my number,” Cooper says in a rough voice. “Text me when you get to campus so I know you made it back safe.”
Despite the warning alarms in my head, I punch his number into my phone.
No big deal, I assure that disapproving side of me. It’ll just be one text when I get home, then I’ll delete the number. Because as fun as it was to joke about our impending friendship, I know it’s not a good idea. If I’ve learned one thing from rom coms, it’s that you are not allowed to be friends with someone you’re attracted to. The attraction itself is harmless. We’re human beings and life can last years. We’re bound to feel physical attraction for someone other than our significant other. But anyone who places themselves directly in the path of temptation is only asking for trouble.
So when Bonnie and I stumble out of an Uber and climb up to our dorm, I’m fully prepared to purge Cooper Hartley from my phone. I send a solitary text: Home safe! Then I click on his number and hover my finger over the word DELETE.
Before I can press it, a message from him pops up.
Cooper: That was fun. Let’s do it again sometime?
I bite my lip, staring at the invitation. The memory of his dark eyes gleaming in the firelight, of his broad shoulders and muscular arms, jumpstarts my tired brain and tickles that spot between my legs.