COOPER

“Working hard?”

“Trying to research this case,” Caliope said, trying not to make eye contact with the younger Dixon.

“Hardly working?” Cooper smirked, “You’re sexy when you’re aggravated with me.”

Caliope rolled her eyes, “Do you need a lawyer, Mr. Dixon?”

“No, I’ve got my own,” Cooper shrugged, “Your secretary thinks I’m cute so it was easy to get an appointment. “

“For what…exactly?”

“Watch you up close.”

“Cooper, don’t you have a day job?”

Cooper’s blue eyes and dirty blonde hair screamed to be ogled, which Caliope tried not to do.

“You’re enjoying the run around, aren’t you?”

Caliope rolled her eyes, “If you’re not here to discuss law or a court case, we have nothing else to say to each other.”

“Oh, come on, Cali..” Cooper said, stepping inside and closing the door behind him, “Don’t be like that.”

Caliope sat back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest as Cooper stood in front of her desk.

“Covering up now?” Cooper smirked, “You give me peep shows all the time,-”

“I stopped that when I realized it wasn’t going anywhere.”

“Woah now..” Cooper held up his hands, “Are you saying there was a chance with us?”

“There was never a chance with us, Mr. Dixon,” Caliope said, “Please see your way out.”

“Don’t you have something better to do than stalk me?”

Caliope pushed passed Cooper as they strolled down the same aisle at the local supermarket.

Cooper smirked, “First of all, you know I’m not going to stop and second, I’m here to visit my father and his wife—thank you. I’m buying some fruit for dinner.”

Caliope sighed, “Well, you’ve got nothing in your cart.”

“Because I am a consumer deciding what looks good,” Cooper licked his lips, eyeing Caliope up and down, “I see what I want..”

“Oh. God...why did I end up with the creepy Dixon?”

“Almost four years later and you think I don’t know the real you, Cali? Come on...your little strip teases never stopped until you relocated.”

“I should call the cops.”

“You wouldn’t. You like me too much.”

“We’ve never even gone out on a date.”

“I don’t date.”

“Exactly,” Caliope shook her head, “I have to go. I’d say it’s nice to see you, but it isn’t.”

“Liar..” Cooper chuckled, “Meet me for dinner then.”

Caliope stopped in her tracks, “I thought you didn’t date?”

“I don’t. It’s dinner.”

“Are you buying?”

“I might.”

“Where? And please don’t say Castaway’s. I’m so sick of all of you taking the girls there.”

Cooper laughed, “Anywhere you want then. Maybe that pizza place you order takeout from every Thursday night..”

Caliope picked up some cans of vegetables and tossed them into her cart, “I bet you know so much,-”

“Wild flower, I know everything.”

“We’ve barely spoken since you went back to your girlfriend.”

Cooper frowned.

“Oh, didn’t think I knew that?” Caliope shook her head, “Oh..Chloe, right? The one you’d never,-”

Cooper pushed his body closer to Caliope’s. She was tall for a woman, 5′9, but still shorter than Cooper who stood well over 6′2, “She’s nothing to me, flower. Just a job.”

“Is that what I would be to you? A job?”

“Of course,” Cooper said in a hushed voice, his body now almost flush with Caliope’s, “We could have a lot of fun. I’ve never had a woman tell me no before you came along.”

“Get used to me telling you no,” Caliope said, “If you’ll excuse me,-”

“Should I use all those stupid lines my brothers use on their women to get you bed?”

“Like what?”

Cooper stepped back and shrugged, “Oh, I bet you’re so wet for me..oh, I bet if I stuck my finger inside of your pussy, you’d be dripping..oh...I bet if I took you from behind you’d be screaming my name all night, oh...wait! My favorite: Let me ruin you for all the other men.”

Caliope smirked, “Damn...”

“I don’t use those lines, flower, and you know it,” Cooper said, “You crave things like I do. You don’t bullshit people—at least not me, but I know you.”

Caliope—even though she’d never admit the attraction she felt for the most arrogant Dixon—wanted to tell Cooper to fuck off, but she enjoyed the chase.

He knew it, too.

Cooper smiled, “Dinner?”

“Fine,” Caliope sighed, “I’m hungry anyway.”

“Hungry for me,” Cooper belted, sarcastically as Caliope made her way to the checkout, “You have such a nice ass..”

“The charming Dixon.”

“If you want prince charming, you should try Max or Edgar.”

“I don’t need a prince and I don’t need a Dixon.”

Cooper nodded, “I’ll pick you up at 8—unless you don’t want to be seen with the arrogant Dixon?”

“Do I have a choice?”

Cooper was gone before he gave an answer.

“Girl...” Tonya shook her head at the register as Caliope paid for the groceries, “You two still going at it like this?”

“Ton, he’s a player and..well..”

“A dom,” Tonya blushed, “I know—which is exactly why I don’t get it. Why don’t you want to at least test the waters?”

“I don’t have time for a relationship right now.”

“Sex is sex.”

Caliope shook her head and laughed, “I don’t have time for that, either. Take it easy, Tonya.”

“You too, hon!”

Cooper watched her leave—watched her put away her groceries in the back of her car—and watched her drive off.

He’d tracked her for years—albeit illegally.

After all that happened with Delilah, Julie, and Hannah—he couldn’t risk losing the one thing he was obsessed with:

Caliope Downs.