Somewhere along the line, his mind had gone blank. “I think I missed a step.”

“No, you didn’t.” She sniffled and struggled to get herself under control. “I’ve just taken too many. It’s my fault. You’ve been nice to Keenan, and you’ve been honest with me.” She sighed, dropped the damp sock in her lap. “Believe me, I know my emotions are my responsibility.” Because he was still staring at her, like a man who’d just had the friendly family dog lunge for his throat, she smiled. “I’m sorry, Coop. I shouldn’t have dumped all that on you. I didn’t even know it was all bottled up.”

This time he took a step back. “Zoe, I like the kid. Who wouldn’t? And I’m attracted to you. But—”

“There’s no need to explain.” Steady now, she rose. “Really, there isn’t. I don’t expect anything from you, and I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. But I feel a lot better.” And, oddly enough, she did. “When I go to bed with you, we’ll understand each other.”

“When you—”

“I think we both know that’s going to happen,” she said calmly. “We both want it to, and it’s smarter to face that than to live with all this tension. Keenan’s been wanting to spend the night with a friend of his. I’ll arrange it.” She laughed a little at Coop’s expression. “It’s a little hard to be spontaneous with a four-year-old around. I hope you don’t mind planning out a night together.”

“No, I mean, I don’t— God, Zoe.”

“If you’d rather not, or if you want some time to decide, that’s all right.”

He studied her face, felt that same greedy tug, and a flare of something entirely different. Entirely new. “No, I want you. Whenever.”

“How about Monday night?”

“I’ve got a twilight doubleheader on Monday.” He couldn’t believe he was standing here planning out a wild night of love like a dentist’s appointment.

“Ah . . . Wednesday?”

He nodded. “Wednesday’s good for me. Do you want to go out somewhere?”

It was sweet, she thought, really sweet of him to ask. “It’s not necessary.” She laid a hand on his cheek. “I don’t need flowers and candlelight. I’ll come upstairs after Keenan’s settled.”

“Good. Fine. I . . . better get back to work.”

“Do you still want to have Keenan tomorrow?”

“Yeah, no problem. Tell him to come on up.” Coop backed toward the door as Zoe began folding laundry again. “I guess I’ll see you.”

She listened to him walk up the steps. He was certainly a mistake, she told herself. But she’d made others. Life got too mundane when you avoided all the wrong turns.

Chapter 7

“He shoots, he scores!” Coop made appropriate crowd noises as Keenan dunked the basket.

“I can do it again! I can, okay?” From his perch on Coop’s shoulders, Keenan swung his sneakered feet.

“Okay, you’ve drawn the foul.” Coop scooped the palm-sized ball up and passed it into Keenan’s eager hands. “It’s game point, kid, ten seconds to play. This free throw is all or nothing. Got it?”