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He’s kissing me, and I never want it to stop, but the key sliding into the front door lock fills the silence in the kitchen.

I pull back and rest my hands on his chest. Confusion swirls all around me. He tells me one thing then does another, and I’m getting freaking whiplash from the constant change in direction. I push him back out of my orbit because I can’t think straight when he’s this close to me, but one thing rings true. “I never meant anything to you, so why do you care who I’m sleeping with?”

If I did mean something to him, if this wasn’t just a fling to him…wouldn’t he fight?

But he won’t. He’s just laying down and dying, and my only choice here is to lay it all on the line.

“Goddammit, Gabby, you know that’s a lie.” His tone is fierce, and I see some exasperation there at my words. Maybe he does have some fight left in him, or maybe he’s back together with his ex.

We both hear the front door open.

He gets a few more whispered words in. “I don’t know what to do. I fucking love you so much, but we can’t be together.”

I don’t know what to do.

I fucking love you so much.

A piece of my broken heart latches onto those words.

If there’s still love there between us, then that means we still have a chance.

“I don’t think we have a choice,” I say, our eyes locked when my dad walks into the kitchen.

My dad turns the corner and pauses as he sees us standing there facing off. He freezes a beat, and I swear he eyes me with a bit of suspicion.

Does he know?

Does he suspect something?

My heart races.

Cooper turns away first, breaking the connection, and I have no idea where we stand right now.

“Good morning,” my dad says as if he didn’t just interrupt one of the most intense moments of my life. He whistles a little to himself as he moves toward the refrigerator and grabs the carton of orange juice, and maybe that look of suspicion was all in my imagination.

Enough space must span between the two of us not to clue my father into what’s really happening between us, but I just went from hopeless to hopeful in a matter of seconds.

“Isn’t today a big day for you, Cooper?” my dad asks.

Oh, shit. It’s his birthday, and I haven’t even wished him a happy one yet. I keep my mouth shut, though, since I’m probably not supposed to know details like that about our houseguest.

Cooper nods, his eyes bouncing over to my dad.

“Any big plans?” my dad asks, and I grab two glasses from the cabinet so my dad can pour me some juice, too. I nod toward Cooper as if to ask if he’d like one as well, and he shakes his head.

“I’m meeting some buddies at Caesars Palace tonight.”

My dad is facing the refrigerator, and Cooper’s eyes fall to me again. He raises his brows, and I’m not sure if he’s inviting me or if he’s making some other sort of comment with those brows.

Either way, I know we need to talk. Happy birthday , I mouth to him without making a sound.

One side of his mouth lifts. Thanks , he mouths back.

“What’s the big day?” I ask for my father’s benefit.

“Old man Noah over here is another year closer to his midlife crisis,” my dad says.

“Old man?” Cooper repeats, raising his eyebrows at my dad. “Last I checked, you’re nearly a decade older than me.”

My dad laughs. “I never claimed I wasn’t in the middle of my own midlife crisis. What do you think that little red Corvette in the garage is?”

“A tribute to the late, great Prince?” I suggest.

Cooper barks out a laugh, and I can’t help my own giggle that he got a kick out of my joke.

My dad’s phone starts to ring, and he glances at his watch to see who’s calling. “Excuse me. I need to take this.” He heads out of the kitchen and down the hall toward the office, and we both hear his office door click shut.

Cooper’s eyes fall to mine. They’re so blue, and they have all this hope in them when before all seemed so lost.

“We should talk,” Cooper murmurs.

I nod, pressing my lips together.

“Stay with me tonight at Caesars.”

My brows dip as my eyes dart toward the hallway my dad just disappeared down. “To talk?”

He clears his throat, and my eyes slide back to his. When our gazes lock, fire burns between us. “To figure this out.”

It’s the place where we first met, and maybe it’ll be the place where we reconnect.

I nod. “Okay.”

I try not to allow too much hope into my heart, but I can’t help it. It balloons inside me in anticipation of tonight.

“I’ll text you my room details once I check in, and I’ll leave a key for you at concierge.”

I snag my bottom lip between my teeth as my thighs clench together. I know what this means…or at least I think I do.

He takes a step toward me and his gaze moves to my lips. “Stop biting it. I need it soft and ready for what I have planned.”

A soft gasp escapes me, and he chuckles.

“I thought we were getting together tonight to figure it out .” I put air quotes around the words he literally just said to me.

“Oh, we are. But I estimate it’ll take all of ten seconds to come to an agreement, and then we’ll have the rest of the night ahead of us.” His words are a flash of the old Cooper—the one I fell in love with. The one who made me feel like together, anything is possible. The one who didn’t know I was Troy’s daughter.

He drops his lips to mine for a soft kiss, one that only serves to drive the need between us to even more intense levels, and then he backs away just when I was about to open my mouth.

My dad is right down the hall.

It would be wrong to brush my tongue against his here in the kitchen.

But maybe I don’t care. If being wrong feels this good, then I don’t want to be right.

He chuckles at the look on my face. “Save that feeling for tonight, and maybe do a little hydrating since I’m planning a fairly intense workout this evening.”

My jaw slackens. I have an idea of what he has planned, and I’m ready for it. Whatever it is.