Twist My Heart by Brooke Taylor (ebook audio reader .txt) 📕

of a proposition for me to even consider,” I continued. “I realize it must be strange. I know you think I’m using Nik, and yes, to some degree I am. He’s all I have, all I know—”

Coop cut me off. “What if you have someone else?”

“Who? You?”

He gave another annoyed grunt. Even from his profile I spotted the roll of his eyes. Frustration raised his voice. “You had a life before the tornado. People were in it. People who could help you.” He paused to take a drag off the blunt in his fingers.

Like Nik, he was good at talking to me, but not with me when he wanted to keep his distance. Question was, what did Coop have hidden behind his walls?

He hitched a shoulder. “Don’t you want to know who your friends and family are?”

I’m sure it did seem odd. I’m sure not wanting to find those people made me come off as cold, unfeeling…guilty, even. And maybe I was all of those things. But everyone was a stranger to me, how was I supposed to know who I could trust?

And what about Coop? Sure, Nik had faith in him and Leo assured me he’d have my back. Even Titan seemed to like him. But the voice in my head was screaming at me to pay close attention to this scruffy, gruff man who was so intent on scaring me away.

Desperate to figure out how I could connect to him, I asked, “Haven’t you ever not known what tomorrow held in store for you? You’ve been in combat. Surely you’ve had head injuries?” Nik had told me most of the Team Guys had had concussions, and many had long-term issues from traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs. “Maybe you never lost your memory, but have you ever lost your focus, your reality? All I have is this voice in my head. It tells me when to hold on and when to run. And it’s telling me not to go back. Only to go forward down this road, wherever it’s taking me.”

“Nik will be waking up soon. You should go.”

I couldn’t tell if he was being dismissive because he was satisfied with my answer or if I’d merely reached the limits of his patience. His eagerness to be rid of me was obvious, though. I turned to head back into the house, but stopped short of giving him what he wanted. There was more he had to say to me and if I left now, I’d never know what it was.

“You don’t like me, do you?”

Coop turned, looking me in the eye. His dark blue irises were dulled, but deep. “I’m trying to help you. And if you want Nik to sleep with you again, I mean like truly fall asleep, then you sure as hell better be there when he wakes up.”

I might’ve believed he was sincere, but between the superior tone drenching his voice and the hollow glare in his annoyed eyes, I knew differently. As it stood though, I still hadn’t quite figured out what Coop’s problem with me was. It went deeper than my screwing up his plans. I was close though. Things were starting to come together, and I feared I wouldn’t like the form they’d eventually take.

I shook my head, as much to clear it as to chastise Coop. “I don’t understand you.”

“It’s not a requirement for you to.” The disinterest in his eyes didn’t flinch, but his lip cocked in a smirk before he took another drag off the joint. “How about we both agree—the only reason I’m trying to help you is because Nik being well rested and focused serves my own interests.”

I studied Coop longer than I should’ve and my own smirk dropped. Swallowing back any more questions, I nodded. “Fine.”

I turned away before my curiosity and scrutiny increased. Pricking and teasing the edges of my mind was everything I already needed to know about Coop, I just hadn’t identified it. For now, all I wanted was to scarf up a couple of Leo’s potato skins and take the gruff jerk’s advice—crawl back into Nik’s warm embrace before his eyes opened to find me gone.

“Shit. Thea, wait.”

 

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Nik’s naked body tangled in the sheets, his leg kicking out over mine as he groggily pulled me against him. I shut my eyes and tried to commit every warm crush of his body against mine to memory. The way his arms crossed around me, holding me close. The tingles his lips brushed down the sensitive skin on the back of my neck, as his low, manly voice asked, “Where’d you hop off to, Tigger?”

I kissed his forearm. The soft, dark hairs tickled my nose as his scent radiated through me. “I was hoping you wouldn’t wake up before I’d gotten back.”

“I didn’t. But before I fell asleep you smelled like gunpowder, sex, and survival candles. And now you smell like you’ve been cheating on me with bacon.” His teeth lightly raked my earlobe as his body, hardened and ready for another heavenly round, spooned mine.

It was impossible to ignore the desires churning hot as images from the past several hours in this room flooded through me. Even as tender and sore as I was, I wanted to repeat them all. We need to hurry…

I reluctantly pointed to the bedside table where a plate of food and two cold bottles of Leo-endorsed sports drinks awaited him. “I brought you sustenance.”

“Leo’s famous potato skins? And I thought this day couldn’t get any better.” He shifted, reaching for the food.

“Enjoy it while you can, because things are about to get a whole lot worse.”

“Only easy day was yesterday,” he muttered.

I explained about the drone and the SUV while Nik ate. “We’re leaving as soon as possible. Coop’s boss already has a plane arranged at a private airstrip near Boulder. The plan is to make it look like Coop and Leo are leaving in the truck, but really it will be Coop and me.”

“What? No.” He washed