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Chapter One

Cooper eyed the crowded airport with all of the excite at his solitary confinereen, and white shades of the holiday season surrounded hi area looked identical to the next Then again, didn’t they always? Crying kids, harrowedwith their Christle chair

Weren’t people supposed to stop dressing like it was Christmas after the twenty-sixth? Orhim feel that way He hadn’t been merry on Christmas, and he hadn’t been happy on New Year’s, either

He hadn’t been happy in a long damn time

He rubbed his eyes and scanned the seating area There was one eeous brown haired wo heels, and a black knee-length skirt With a face and legs like those, she was probably saving the seat for her husband—some lucky bastard who probably didn’t appreciate her as he should

She looked up at him, as if she sensed his scrutiny, but quickly looked back down at her iPhone The contact was brief, but even so, he saw the flare of appreciation in those bright blue eyes as she dropped her head

She liked what she saw— husband or no

He approached her, his focus locked on her the whole tih to speak without calling across the room, opened his mouth, and then—

“Hey, Mister You’re on my coat”

Just as Cooper turned to apologize to the child speaking, the kid slammed a candy cane into Cooper’s stomach—pointy end first Another kid pulled the jacket out from under Cooper’s feet, and he stumbled backward He hit the floor so hard his breath whooshed out of hiate, where the attendant gaped at him, and a red heel rested on the floor beside his head

Danized those heels