Stolen Breaths Read Online Free PDF

or anything.”
    “I looked at him intently, attempting to detect some kind of mean bone or something. Not finding anything obvious, I said, “Okay, but I’ve got my eye on you Mr. Hudson.” Well, it was kind of true. I did have my eye on him, but definitely not because I was afraid of him, although, he did scare me, but for other reasons entirely.
    “Noted,” Cooper said. “I certainly wouldn’t want to get kicked in the face or anything so I will be on my best behavior. I promise.” And there was that damn grin again.
    The road led to some more back roads and we eventually ended up in a clearing overlooking streetlights and houses below. It was really beautiful. The air was warm with a tiny hint of a breeze. The summer day was slowly changing into a summer night, and we could barely hear the tiny bristling of leaves from the trees that outlined the perimeter. Cooper rolled the windows down and turned the engine off. He let the radio play, though, as he got out, came around to my side of the car, and opened the door.
    “So, what are we doing here?” I asked.
    “Well, Lily, we are going to sit on the hood of my car and just… be. We can talk if you want to talk, or we can sit in total silence if you want to be silent. We can sing along to our favorite songs on the radio. We can tell knock-knock jokes. We can throw rocks to see how far we can throw them. We can do whatever you want to do. I don’t care. I just want to know you.”
    I had never met anyone like him. Never. I know I was looking at him. I could feel myself looking at him. I think I was trying to figure him out or something. Was this guy real? I think I kept waiting for his flaws to be revealed to me like a neon sign, and kept expecting the warning signs to flash, but there was nothing.
    “If you’re going to keep standing there staring at me, which by the way, wasn’t one of the options, then it’s only fair that I reciprocate.” Cooper laughed, and then walked away to grab a blanket out of his trunk and placed it on the hood of his car.
    “Yes, it was,” I said
    “Was what?”
    “One of the options. You said you don’t care what we do, so…” I looked down at the ground and kicked up dirt with the toe of my shoe, then glanced back up at him and laughed. “Sorry, I wasn’t staring at you like that. I mean, I was trying to figure out how someone like you isn’t already dating someone or married or—”
    “Well,” he cut in, “timing seems to be everything, and it’s just never been the right time for any of that. What about you?”
    “That is a conversation that could take a while. Why don’t we talk about the easy stuff right now, like favorite color or favorite food. We can build up to that.” My tone was carefree and playful, and that was exactly how I intended it.
    “Sounds good, Miss Grayson. I’ll start. My favorite color is red.”
    I climbed onto the hood of his car and then spun around so I could take in the view. “Mine is pink, and I always feel like I should apologize for liking pink, because it’s so ‘girlie’, like I can’t be tough and still like pink. I do, though. And even though this was supposed to be the easy question, I always feel like I need to qualify my answer to that question, because… I’m just so used to getting looks from people whenever I say pink, like it’s predictable and I should choose something else. Not that you are saying that or anything, but I want to be clear that even though pink is my favorite color, don’t think I’m just lace and frills because I’m not.”
    Cooper didn’t say anything back right away. I looked over at him and he was staring at me with his mouth slightly agape. He had been tinkering with his phone but at some point stopped tinkering halfway through my run-on sentence. He put his hands on his hips and laughed out loud. “ That was the longest answer to the simplest of questions I believe I have ever heard, and you managed to do it without even taking a