Happily Ever Afton (11 page)

Cooper ticked off the facts that were ticking him off as he yanked on his pants pulling the zipper up with one quick, angry movement, ‘funny, that sounds very much like a date to me – for an
engaged
woman at that!’ His steamed glance shot over his shoulder to where Afton lay sexily tumbled on the rumpled bed.

‘It’s a
fake
engagement, Cooper!’ She held up her hand, wiggling her finger, ‘this ring’s not real –
remember
?’

He didn’t respond and Afton sighed again and flopped over on to her stomach, burying her head under the pillow effectively exiting the conversation while leaving the alluring curve of her backside exposed. Cooper turned crossly to face her pausing for a moment becoming distracted by the pert rear jutting in the air as he fastened the cuffs on his sleeves. He glanced down at his watch.

No, I have got to get back to the office
!

These noontime rendezvous’ at Afton’s apartment were
wildly
exhilarating he acknowledged silently, but they were starting to wreak havoc with his busy schedule at work – and it wasn’t always for sex either. He’d played hooky several times to meet her at various Seattle destinations over the past few weeks…

Meet me under the clock at Pike Place Market at noon – look for the woman wearing a tan trench coat and nothing else
.

She’d texted the intriguing message to his cell phone one rainy Seattle day and Cooper had dropped the files he held on to his desk and sped from the office after reading it. Arriving promptly at twelve, he’d waited for her impatiently beneath the famous clock at the historic public farmer’s market, a tourist favorite facing Elliott Bay. She’d shown up driving him crazy with desire,
begging
for just one peek beneath her tightly belted trench coat as they’d strolled along beneath the large striped umbrella Afton held in the softly falling rain, picking out fresh fruit, vegetables and fish for their dinner for that night.

She’d bent double with laughter when the spotless white shirt to his business suit had been
completely
ruined when he’d reflexively reached out to catch a three-foot salmon tossed his way by an overly enthusiastic fishmonger, forcing him to return late to the office after he’d had to swing back by his penthouse to change.

They’d also gone up to the very top of the city’s landmark Space Needle one lunch hour in Afton’s determined, yet misguided, effort to help him conquer his supposed fear of heights. She’d held his hand tightly on the giddy ride up on the elevator to the Observation Deck.

‘Are you sure you’re okay, Cooper?’

Afton had checked with him repeatedly to make sure he was fine and when they’d reached the top she’d kept her hold on him, their fingers closely intertwined. She’d led him over to the windows providing three hundred-and-sixty degree views of the city of Seattle with miniaturized skyscrapers off in the distance and the sparkling waters of Puget Sound below – proceeding to turn him on tremendously by standing on tiptoes to whisper in his ear.

‘
That water at sunset is the same color as your gorgeous eyes
.’

She’d then directed him to take in the majestic sight of the soaring mountain ranges stretching out in all directions around them with Mount Rainier to the south, the Cascade Mountains to the east and the Olympics to the west. Cooper had pulled Afton close in front of him then, his arms wrapped around her slender waist from behind, chin resting on top her head.

He’d lifted a finger to point over to a towering Mount Rainier, ‘whenever I went to visit my grandmother at their house in Tacoma when I was a little boy, I would always tell her one day I was going to stand on the top of that mountain and wave over to her. I just couldn’t imagine that there was
anything
bigger in the world than that darn mountain.’

Afton had smiled, ‘but the little boy was scared of heights…’ she’d whispered softly reminding Cooper guiltily of his lie. ‘We all have our mountains that we have to climb in our lives,’ she’d said, her voice achingly tender gazing into his face. ‘One day you’ll make it to the top of that mountain, Cooper, I know you will.’

Cooper had fallen silent. Mount Rainier
had
been the first mountain he’d climbed starting his love of the endeavor – and his determination to plant his flag on top of each of the famed Seven Summits – the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. He’d ached to tell her that that day. He’d ached to tell her
everything
about him.

‘What’s
your
mountain, Afton?’

Afton had hesitated looking over at the highest peak, the sun shining through the windows picking burnished highlights out of her chestnut hair, ‘maybe…maybe it’s that I have to learn to trust again.’

Her gaze had wandered from the mountain to far away, somewhere in the past. ‘I told you my father and mother got divorced when I was young and my father promised that he’d always be there for me – but he wasn’t.’ Her hands gripped his arms as they tightened around her comfortingly. ‘Always too busy with some new project at work. I didn’t see him much growing up at all – especially after he remarried…and he died before I could form a relationship with him as an adult.’

‘That must have been tough for you.’

Afton had nodded wistfully before continuing, ‘And then there was the whole debacle with Jason – all the lies he told me. It’s been really…
hard
… for me to trust or depend on a man again –’ she’d lifted Cooper’s hand tenderly to her lips, ‘like I do you, Cooper.’

‘
Afton
!’

Cooper’s voice had become urgent, his hands biting into her shoulders as he’d twisted her around to face him, ‘I want you to know I would never do
anything
to intentionally hurt you – do you believe me?’

‘Yes,’ she’d whispered shakily, ‘I believe you, Cooper.’

His head had come down; his mouth taking hers in a hard, almost brutal kiss knowing it was time to tell the truth no matter what happened. He’d opened his mouth to begin. ‘Afton, I need to tell you something I should have told you a long time ago…’

‘What is it, Cooper?’ Afton had asked tremulously, blinking up at him, ‘you can tell me
anything
– you know that…’

‘Excuse me, mister, but can I look through the telescope?’ The small voice had piped up out of nowhere.

Cooper had looked down startled to where a small boy had stood expectantly pointing to the telescope he was inadvertently blocking. His head had swiveled around then, taking in the class of wide-eyed second graders on a summer school field trip who’d inundated the Observation Deck – and their heavily frowning parent-chaperones who’d been warily watching their passionate encounter from a distance.

‘Er – we’ll finish our talk later,’ he’d muttered from the side of his mouth to Afton before they’d crept back to the elevator with sheepish smiles. But the time had never been right again…

Cooper’s mouth tightened grimly reaching for his tie draped over a chair – he was being a coward he knew it – but he just
couldn’t
take the chance of losing Afton now!

As Cooper slid his striped blue tie in place, Afton turned over again, pulling the sheet up over her body still bearing faint marks of passion from his powerful possession. She watched him as he finished dressing loving the sight of the lean, lithe body she now knew intimately – every glorious, mouth-watering inch of it. Her eyes wandered hungrily over him as he tucked in his shirt over an athletically flat stomach, noting his cheeks were still slightly flushed from their lovemaking, eyes still dark with quenched ardor.

‘Please don’t be mad, Cooper,’ she said in a sultry purr, ‘I promise I’ll make it up to you when I get back home after the Founders Day Celebration tonight – if you still
want
to stop by again later that is.’

She dropped the sheet away and her ‘come-hither’ smile and the way she posed what he’d earlier called her ‘sinfully seductive body’, were designed to let him know
exactly
what she had in store for him later. Afton was rewarded by seeing his anger disappear instantly, replaced by an emotion that was
much
more enjoyable for them both, the aqua-hued eyes
flaring
with it. The tie that had been almost in place around his neck was snatched off, the buttoned shirt quickly unbuttoned. Afton gave a squeal of delight when Cooper dropped back onto the bed levering her down onto the mattress beneath him.

‘Cooper, what about your job – you’re going to be late back to your teller window!’ she uttered the token protest while hurriedly pushing the shirt off his broad shoulders.

‘To hell with the job,’ Cooper muttered in a voice of rough velvet, ‘they can
fire
me for all I care!’

The metallic rasp of a zipper being unzipped was the last sound heard before all talking ceased in the room until the lunch hour was long, long over.

~~~~

‘Jason, how many times do I have to tell you – this is
not
a date!’

After uttering the clarification for the fifth time that night, Afton turned away on the packed dance floor making her way with quick strides in high-buttoned heels back towards their table. Jason caught up, ushering her with an iron arm around her waist through open French doors and out on to a nearby balcony at the historic Seattle mansion where the Founders Day Celebration was taking place.

The nighttime air was cool bringing needed relief from another hot summer day and a determined Jason tried once again under a bright full moon. ‘Let me just go back over to your place with you after the presentation ceremony so we can talk, Afton. I’ve told you – Mollie was mistake! It should
never
have happened and I’ve apologized over and over already,’ he stated with vehemence, bright blue eyes appearing to be measuring her reaction to this oft-repeated attempt at reconciliation.

‘Jason, I don’t want to go to –’ she initiated another weary protest, but was interrupted again.

‘We
belong
together, Afton! You know it’s true – you’ve got to dump Stewart and give me another chance – agree to marry
me
again!’

Afton found it was almost comical to be having such a serious discussion while they were both dressed in the ridiculous costumes the event called for. Guests to the invitation-only Founders Day celebration of Seattle’s inception by settlers in 1851, repeated a tradition from the society’s early nineteen hundreds, dressing in historic costumes related to a fledgling Seattle.

All the guests arriving that night at the stately Chillicutt mansion wore period costumes – women in flounced long skirts and heavily trimmed bonnets, men in frock coats and asymmetrical-tied cravats – and a few non-pc type wore Native American costumes representing the
real
first settlers of the area. Others like Afton and Jason dressed as historic figures of the day – she as a regal Queen Victoria in rented jeweled crown and a flowing velvet maroon ceremonial robe carrying a scepter in one hand, and he as her Prince Albert in black frock coat with silk-face lapels and black bow tie, worn with striped pants.

They were costumes Afton had selected for them both when they were still engaged – as the story of Victoria and Albert was a romantic one of an arranged marriage that blossomed into a storied love affair that did not end, even after Albert’s premature death.

‘Well, Afton, what’s it going to be? I know you can’t be happy with Stewart, not with what
we
had! You don’t fit into a rich man’s world and neither do I!’ Jason grabbed her arm when she tried to walk back to the ballroom where a band was playing lively music from a previous era. He spun her back to face him as he continued his persistent attempts at persuasion.

‘Jason – it’s just not going to work!’ she protested, but to no avail as his ears were closed to all of her objections, needing, she knew, to project a stable image of marriage and family so he would be in line for a desperately sought promotion at the paper to managing editor.

‘You’ve said yourself a
thousand
times over you can’t stomach people who think they own the world and everyone in it because they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth,’ he passionately argued his case.

‘Jason – will you just listen to me for a minute –’

‘Stewart will eventually tire of you – you know he will,’ Jason cut her off to warn, ‘and he’ll go looking for someone in his own crowd to be with! They
always
do! Let’s you and me build a life together – like we always planned.’

Afton looked into Jason’s handsome face and suddenly everything clicked. She
was
happy with Cooper.

Deliriously so
!

And Jason had it
all
wrong if he only knew. Cooper didn’t have money – but she didn’t care one bit! It didn’t matter to her at all that Cooper was a teller, heck she didn’t care if he was the garbage man! She
loved
being with him – and she wanted to be with Cooper
right now
! Before she could tell him so, Jason glanced over her shoulder, his eyes narrowing. He lowered his head and abruptly hijacked her lips in a passionate kiss so unexpected it shocked her into submission.

‘
Afton
!’

Afton broke free from Jason’s embrace, whirling around looking right into the furious face of Nicholas, Tsar of Russia – well
Cooper
dressed as Nicholas, and his face was just as dark and stormy as if he too had had to battle an uprising to save his rightful throne. Afton could not help but think, even in the circumstances, that the royal red jacket with medals and crosses crowded over his breast created a s
tunning
backdrop for his devastating, dark good looks.

She was glad, however, the long sharp sword at Cooper’s side was a fake because he looked ready to use it on Jason – or maybe even on
her
, she gulped.

‘Cooper! What are you doing here –’