Someone to Watch Over Me by Anne Berkeley Read Free Book Online

ground. I was just Cooper, not poor,
abused, broken Cooper.
    Needing a little reinforcement,
I finished off my glass of wine.
    Tate followed, tucking himself
back into his pants. He left the button undone. “You don’t have to
talk about him if you don’t want to. I
didn’t mean to push. I was just curious.”
    Curiosity killed the cat. In
our case, a night of great sex. “It’s ok. I don’t mind talking
about him . At least I usually don’t mind.
You, I didn’t tell because, well, I just assumed that you’d have
second thoughts about me. I wanted to be with you , e ven if it was just one night.”
    “I knew you had a kid,” he
confessed, surprising me. “I asked the girl in the ice cream shop
after you left.”
    “You still came.”
    Tate crossed the space between
us. Pressed a kiss to my lips. “I like you, Coop. I want to get to know you. ”
    “You don’t have to say that. I
won’t delude myself to this being more than it is.”
    “And what is that?”
    “Sex.”
    “Is that all it was for
you?”
    “It’s not that I don’t like
you, Tate. I do , really, but it can’t be
more than that , even if you wanted
something more. I can’t.”
    “Why?”
    “For a million reasons. The
least of them being that you’re going back on the road in a few
weeks.” I sat on the edge of the sofa, pushed my hair from my eyes.
Tate sat across from me on the coffee
table . “ I can’t let my ex find out about Levy. All it’ll take is
one photograph , and he’ll know he’s his.
I can’t let that happen. He’s abusive, mentally and
physically.”
    “Is that why you ran off
yesterday, because you were worried there might
be cameras following me ?”
    I nodded, annoyed that my eyes
rimmed with moisture. “I might have overreacted a little. But Grant
is seriously screwed up.”
    “ Your eye
injury wasn’t really an accident, was it? ”
    “No.”
    “ He hit you
so hard that you needed surgery?”
    I
nodded. “I nearly lost my sight .
The police arrested him, but he came after me as soon as they
released him. The restraining order I placed against him is just a
piece of paper. It does nothing. He shows up every so
often , harasses me . By the time the cops come, he’s always gone. I
moved out, hoping he would leave me alone,
but somehow he found out where I
lived . Maybe he hire d a detective.
I don’t know. So far, he hasn’t mentioned Levy, so I don’t think he knows about him. If he did, I
really don’t think he’d leave me alone. I’m afraid he might try and
take him.”
    “Jesus. You deal with all this
alone?”
    “I have my parents.”
    “You said you didn’t see them
often.”
    “I talk to them on the phone or
on Skype so they can see Levy. But, no, I won’t let them visit. Each time I move, I hope he won’t
find me, but then I’ll get a phone call or a text and he’ll allude
to the fact that he knows where I am. I
won’t even let them send me mail anymore because I’m afraid he’s
reading it , and it’s possible he has.
I’ve lived here the longest, almost a year. But I’m afraid to let
my guard down. I don’t want to move
again.”
    Resting his elbows on his
knees, Tate propped his head in his hand, staring at me as if I
were some crippled puppy that someone threw out their car window
along the interstate.
    “I don’t want your pity,” I
sighed. “I’m not broken or mentally scarred. I don’t blame myself
for what he did. I don’t think I deserved it. I don’t blame the
entire male race either. I’m not afraid every man I date is going
to be just like him. That’s not why I’m telling you this. I told
you earlier—I tell everyone about my past. It’s for your safety,
Levy’s safety. I’ve seen what Grant can do. I don’t want anyone to
get hurt.”
    “What about you?” Tate replied,
nonplus sed . “You haven’t said anything
about yourself.”
    “That’s a given. Of course I
worry. I’m not completely selfless. But in the same breath, what
can I do?