Page 56 of Broken Heart

Maybe it was working.

Maybe everything I’d been doing was slowly breaking down the walls around her heart.

Maybe I had a chance.

“I’d love nothing more than to spend some time with you on Tuesday.”

“Really? Do you have to work?” she questioned me.

“No.”

Genuine joy radiated from the smile that formed on her face. “Do you already have plans?”

“My family typically heads to the lake house for a few days,” I revealed.

Skye didn’t attempt to hide her surprise. “There’s a lake house, too?”

I offered a curt nod in return. “Yes. And what usually ends up happening for this holiday is that my grandparents will host everyone there for a few days. Some of us go the entire time, while others might only pop in for a day or two, depending on whatever else we have going on.”

“Oh,” she murmured, dropping her gaze from mine. “Okay. Well, that’s okay then.”

I placed my finger under her chin, tipped her head back, and said, “I want to spend time with you, Skye. Yes, my family has something planned, but I don’t need to go there if you have something else you’d like to do.”

“I like your family a lot, Cooper. I’d never want to stop you from spending time with them. We can just figure out another time that works for the both of us.”

My eyes narrowed slightly. “And what do you plan to do all day long while I’m with my family?”

She shrugged. “I’ll just hang out, enjoy the time off, and probably get myself lost in a book.”

“How about I pick you up in the morning, and we spend the earlier part of the afternoon with my family? If you want some time that’ll be just the two of us, I can make sure we get that there, or we can even come back here and do something together?”

“Cooper, I don’t want to intrude or mess up the plans you have with them,” she insisted.

I shook my head. “You wouldn’t be. I don’t know if you could tell, but my family likes you, and they like you being there with me. Or, if you really don’t want to go, I’ll just come here and spend the whole day with you.”

Her eyes widened. “No. No, we can’t do that. I’d be happy to go with you. Yeah, yeah, if you want to go there and spend the day with them, that would be nice.”

Smiling at her, I reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Good. Then that’s what we’ll do.”

Skye nodded slowly. “Okay.”

This was it. This was the end of our night.

I needed to go, but I wanted to kiss her. Unfortunately, considering I had promised to give her time to think about what she wanted to have happen between us, I didn’t want to go for more than she was prepared for.

In the time I took to decide how I wanted to leave, Skye spoke. “Thank you for such a wonderful day today, Cooper. I had such a great time with you and your family. I hope you enjoyed your birthday.”

“I did,” I assured her. “And I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

“Me, too.”

We stared at one another in silence for a few brief seconds. “I should probably go,” I eventually declared.

“Okay,” she murmured. “Don’t forget your cupcakes.”

I took the container from Skye and turned to walk back toward the front door. Once there, I stopped, turned, and moved to kiss her on the cheek. But just as I was about to touch my lips to the side of her face, she turned her head. My lips collided with hers, and I quickly pulled back.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I… I was going to kiss your cheek.”