tell me you haven’t told all your new colleagues about the woman you picked up in the pub?’
Cooper sat wordlessly. She thought he would do that? He’d come here to tell her that what they’d had had been a mistake. He wanted to concentrate on his new job. A beautiful stranger had seemed like a great way to move back into the land of the living. But a beautiful colleague whom he’d see on a daily basis and would imagine in all sorts of ways would only confuse things for him. His gut twisted with the inevitable realisation that he wasn’t ready for this yet.
His stomach clenched into a tight knot. He lifted up his finger and brushed it momentarily against her cheek. He thought this was what he had wanted too. No complications. To forget all about it. But all of a sudden, as the woman he’d shared the most passionate night of his life with sat beside him, he wasn’t so sure.
‘Of course I haven’t said anything to anyone,’ he said softly. ‘I’m not that kind of guy.’
He heard her let out a huge sigh of relief. ‘Thank you, Cooper,’ she whispered. She saw the hurt expression on his face and gave her shoulders a little shrug. ‘I don’t know you, Cooper, I mean really know you. I had to ask.’ She leaned forward, picking up some of the red asphalt from the running track and letting it run through her fingers. ‘So what happens now?’
He turned to face her. Confusion spread across his face. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Cooper, you came halfway across town to come and speak to me.’ She put her red-tinged fingers on his arm. ‘What is it you want to say?’
Her heart was thumping in her chest. She knew what she wanted him to say, but from the expression on his face she knew he would never say it.
He bit his lip. He hated this. He wasn’t even sure how to say it. Maybe if he’d been here a few months and had met her at work, maybe if he’d been six months down the line and had met her in the pub, it would be different, but right now it just didn’t feel right and he had to tell her. ‘I’m not looking for a relationship right now.’
The words came out rapidly and for some horrible reason it had an effect on her that she hadn’t expected. It hurt. She’d been taught a valuable lesson years ago when her father had left her mother for another woman, and she’d spent months watching her mother break down. With that and David, she’d learnt never to depend on a man, only on herself. And she shouldn’t forget it. ‘I didn’t ask you for a relationship, Cooper.’
‘I know that but we’ve got to work together and—’
Melissa stood up, she didn’t need to hear any more. She patted him on the shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, Coop, we can work together.’
She picked up her rucksack and shrugged her shoulders into it, before glancing at her watch and starting to jog back along the track. She had to move quickly, before the tears that were filling her eyes threatened to spill down her cheeks. Some nights were best just forgotten.
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