Read Online Stolen Breaths by Pamela Sparkman - Free Book Online Page B

love that you eat like a real person and not like a bird. I’ve had dates that would pick at their food or just move it around their plate. Drove me nuts. I like that you’re not like that.”
    Realizing he was talking about taking other girls out on dates I instantly felt a pain in my chest. I wasn’t an idiot. I knew he’d dated other women. But it wasn’t something I wanted to think about. And it wasn’t a subject we’d discussed yet. I pushed that thought out of my head for the time being and tried to come up with something to say. “Cora…she seems nice.”
    “She is,” he said.
    Picking up a French fry I asked, “Has she worked for you long?”
    “She was there before I took over. She was my grandfather’s assistant.”
    I nodded my head and dipped my fry in ketchup, looking back up at him when I could feel his eyes on me. It didn’t embarrass him that I kept catching him staring. Instead he said, “Lily, go out with me tonight.”
    “Where?”
    “Does it matter?”
    “No.”
    “I’ll pick you up at seven. Glad we got that out of the way. Now, do you want to keep talking about Cora or shall we branch out and talk about something else?”
    Shrugging my shoulders I said, “What do you want to talk about?”
    Giving me a thoughtful, yet playful look, he said, “What do you want to talk about?”
    Our waiter stopped at our table before I could respond. “Is there anything else I can get either of you? Some dessert perhaps?
    “No thank you,” I said.
    “Just the check if you don’t mind,” Cooper replied without ever taking his eyes off of me.
    “Certainly,” the waiter said before placing the check on the table.
    Cooper reached around to his back pocket, removed his card and handed it to the waiter.
    “Thank you, sir. I’ll be right back.”
    In my head I had a list of questions I wanted to ask him but didn’t know which ones to ask first. If this was an open invitation to ask anything I decided to listen to my conscience (Maggie’s voice) and grab life by the balls. Using that figure of speech struck me as funny, seeing as I was applying it to ‘how to get to know Cooper better’ and I started to laugh at myself.
    “What’s so funny?” he asked.
    “Nothing,” I said trying to hold in my laughter. “I was just thinking about something Maggie said this morning. I do want to know something if you don’t mind me asking though.”
    “Ask away.”
    “Are you dating anyone?”
    “You mean besides you? No.”
    I brought my napkin up to wipe my mouth and smiled behind it. “That’s good to know.”
    “Anything else you want to ask me?” he said, leaning across the table.
    “Yes.
    “Shoot.”
    “Do you like brownies?”
    He raised one eyebrow. “Do I like brownies?”
    “It’s an important question,” I said looking very serious.
    “I love brownies.”
    Shaking my head in approval, I beamed. “Good answer.”
    “Why do I get the feeling if I had said no I would have been in trouble?”
    “No worries,” I said, taking a mental picture of his face in this moment and tucking it away for later.
    “Here you are, sir. It’s been a pleasure serving you both. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
    I gave our waiter a smile. “Thank you.”
    Cooper also offered a friendly thank you while he placed his card back into his wallet.
    “You, Lily Grayson, are an enigma.”
    “But you like me anyway,” I said with an impish grin.
    “You have no idea how much,” he whispered.
    Cooper stood up and took me by the hand. He placed his other hand around my waist and leaned his face close to mine. Feeling the warmth of his breath in my ear sent a wave of chill bumps all over me. Cooper noticed. “Are you cold?”
    “No,” I thought I said, but my voice betrayed me and nothing had actually came out…just the word formed over my lips.
    “Does this give you chills?” he whispered in my ear.
    I nodded yes instead of trying to speak again.
    “That’s good to know,” he whispered one final