Searching his eyes, she saw genuine sympathy. “It’s not like things have been great between us,” she said. “But I can’t believe he’d cheat on me. I’m so stupid.” Choking on a rising wave of emotion, she fought to continue. “Since we got back together, we’ve been taking it slow. No sex. It was my idea. Tonight, I decided we’d waited long enough, so I went to surprise him at his office.” She shrugged helplessly. “He was with his secretary. You know, with. And now that picture is burned into my brain. Couldn’t he just wait a couple of weeks for me? Was that too much to ask? You’re a guy. What do you think?”

“Great way to put me on the spot,” Cooper said good-naturedly. “I don’t want to be responsible for a woman hating men for the rest of her life.”

“Seriously, Coop.”

“Seriously, Soph,” he mimicked her. “I don’t do long-term relationships. I haven’t got a clue. I think he should have broken up with you if he wanted to be with someone else, but that’s as far as I’ll go.”

Cooper watched Sophie digest his words. Clearly, she needed some insight into the male mind.

“Have you ever cheated?” she asked.

“I copied Michael Portman’s answers on the senior calculus exam.”

“You know what I mean,” she said irritably. “Have you cheated on a girl?”

“I had sex with my girlfriend and her best friend at the same time once. Does that count?”

Sophie shook her head as if he were a lost cause. “You’re disgusting.”

“I’m a connoisseur of women.” Except that after that awful episode with Gemma, he was beginning to wonder: What if all the women he dated ended up hating him? Most of them took the breakup well because they’d known it was coming. Cooper never hid his intentions. Women knew the arrangement was only temporary, but maybe they hoped for more.

“Whatever you say.”

She obviously thought he was full of shit, that he was leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him. Hardly fair, but he couldn’t blame her, given what she’d been through.

“I’m sorry you have to be here for this,” she said abruptly. “It must not be much fun for you.”

“I can think of worse things to do with my time.”

“Really?” She raised an eyebrow, as if she were daring him to come up with something worse than listening to his sister’s friend complain about men.

“I could be forced to watch Downton Abbey reruns while drinking margaritas and painting my toenails.”

Sophie laughed, her sense of humor returning. “I really am sorry.”

“Forget about it,” he told her. “Now, how about you get in my car and I drive you home?”