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She curled her lip in disgust “She must think every woman is exactly like her”
“She’s an idiot And an annoyance But I don’t think we should give her any of our time Like you said, we just need to watch out for her”
“But your license—Cooper, we need to do so him a wary look “Ian Devlin approached me the day I broke up with you”
What theCooper tensed
“He knows about what I did to my uncle Like I said, those records are sealed because I was a juvenile, so he rubby hands on them”
“What are you talking about?” he bit out, trying for her sake to hold on to a semblance of calm
“He tried to black unless I convinced you to give up the bar”
He was going to kill him
He was going to fucking kill him!
His anger exploded and he pushed off the bed with every intention of finding the piece of shit and tearing him apart
Who the fuck used soainst a person?
“Coop!” Jess threw herself at his back as he was stor her whole body around him like a monkey It would have been funny if he weren’t so mad “No!”
He trembled with his fury “Get off me, Jessica”
“No! He is not worth it!”
“You’re worth it!”
Her arhtened around his neck “Coop,” she whispered “Calm down”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his blood still too hot “He can’t get aith this”
“Sweetheart” She slid off hi his face in her hands “The only way to defeat soetting his hands on anything on our boardwalk”
Cooper considered her words and slowly he started to tre”
“Yeah?”
“He really doesn’t want Devlin getting his hands on boardwalk property We can use hi”
“Good” Jessica gave hi her body into his “Now proo after Devlin With your fists”
He wanted to punch the s, soulless bastard’s face
But for her“I promise”
She relaxed against hiainst his chest “I’ him tomorrow?”
A rush of love crashed over hi away He kissed the side of her head and then turned to lead her back to his bed “Anything for you, Doc”
And he meant it
But best of all it no longer made him uneasy to mean it
He was sure
He was certain
Because the doc was a good woood woman was the most beautiful woman any man could have for his own
TWENTY-EIGHT
Jessica
Bailey stared at one round with a sadness that turned to tears as I told her my story
Cooper had assured me that I didn’t owe my story to anyone—but also that he knew Bailey and he knew Bailey loved me He said if I told my friend, all she would do was accept me and helprejected by the people I loved He’d also urged me to contact Theresa
“She’s your family, Jess Give her a chance”
I’d decided to be brave and take his advice
First, I was starting with Bailey
When I was done telling her everything I had gone through, she just shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks, and then she reached for ht I almost couldn’t breathe
Bailey pulled back to cup my face in an almost motherly way “How?” she whispered “How can soave me a watery smile “Bravest person I know, Jess Bravest person I know”
Relief poured through en out of her “Thank you,” I choked out
“I can’t believe you’ve been holding on to this so long” She pulled back “I wish you’d come to me sooner just so I could knock some sense into you about Cooper”
I laughed “Yeah I’m an idiot But I’m over that now”
She grinned “Good Soabout the inn? Does this ot you back?”
I gave her a shaky, apologetic s for the position at Dr Duggan’s clinic”
“Really?” She grabbed hted
I laughed again “Yes I’ you’re okay with that?”
“Of course I am Jess! You’re a doctor! Not an innkeeper Not that I won’t miss the help,” she hurried to assure me, “I’ll just need to find someone else I can trust”
“You will,” I assured her back
“So this is exciting” She gave me a wicked smile “You have no idea what you’re in for as a small-town doctor”
“What do you mean?” I said, concerned by the mischief in her eyes
“Being a s a full-ti with Coop on the beach—people will conosis” urled her lip in disgust “She must think every woman is exactly like her”