A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, Paulina Ann, max2013, cameron1812, Destiny In Smoke, Cheryl, Erin, Guest (nice MASH reference...loved that show), and Jackie! Snagged the interview I needed on my trip, and all is well in the left coast land of the Corporate Mouse. So now...back to Bayport. My apologies for the delay in posting. Thanks to all who are reading!

Chapter 36

At least the dinner was good. Joe finished his last bite of ribeye steak with satisfaction. He glanced at his girlfriend's plate. Vanessa hadn't managed to eat much. Joe guessed she was too excited from being at the nightclub to do that.

He eyed her filet mignon longingly. Would it be rude to slip it on his plate and eat it for her? He figured it would be. Damn. Well, she'd better get a doggy bag. He didn't want it to go to waste. They probably didn't do doggy bags here either. And Vanessa would kill him if he asked for one.

Joe glanced at his phone for the hundredth time in the past hour. Still nothing from the feds.

He sighed and looked around the table. Iola and Cooper had their heads bent together in conversation. They were laughing and whispering, and it irritated the hell out of him.

The orchestra began playing, and Vanessa grabbed his arm. "We have to dance."

Joe sighed. He didn't want to do any more dancing. It wasn't his thing. But he sure didn't want any other hot male celebrities coming up to ask her.

"Yeah, in a minute," he said.

Cooper and Iola stood.

"We're going to head out now," Iola said. "I have an early morning call for Daybreak."

Thank goodness. Joe was so ready to leave.

"You guys stay as long as you want," Iola continued. "Everything is taken care of. Enjoy your dessert and dancing."

Shit. Joe didn't want her taking off without him. He shot a glance at Frank. Frank shook his head.

"Where are you going?" Joe asked.

"My apartment," Iola said, and Joe was sure he saw the color rising on her cheeks.

"We'll stop by when we're done here," Joe said, thinking he wanted a better look at the locks on her door.

Vanessa stared at him like he had a third eye in the middle of his forehead. "Oh, no, we won't."

"I'll text you tomorrow," Callie said, standing and hurrying over to Iola. "We can figure out a time to collect our stuff from you before we have to head back to Bayport."

"Just come by whenever you want," Iola said. "I'll leave a message for Tony at the front desk. He'll let you into my apartment."

Vanessa rushed over to join them, and the girls hugged Iola and exchanged kisses on both cheeks with Cooper. Joe had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. They were in America, not Europe. The double cheek kissing was a bit over the top.

Cooper and Iola moved toward Joe and Frank, and Cooper shook their hands.

"Thanks for everything," Frank said. "This was really nice of you."

"Yeah, thanks," Joe managed.

Cooper waved his hand. "It was nothing. Very nice meeting you both. I'm sure we'll run into you again some time."

Iola smiled at Frank and Joe, then slid her arm through Cooper's. "Good night, guys."

Joe watched her walk away from him, a pit forming in his stomach. He hated seeing her with another man.

Hated it.

OOOoooOOO

As Iola and Cooper entered her apartment a half hour later, she headed toward the kitchen. "Is there anything I can get you?"

Cooper removed his suit coat and draped it over the back of the club chair in her living room. "Maybe just a glass of water. I certainly couldn't eat anything else."

Iola giggled. "Me neither, and I don't need any more alcohol. I'm already a bit fuzzy after only two drinks."

"You Americans," he said with a teasing laugh. "Can't hold your liquor."

Cooper undid his tie, placed it on top of his jacket, then unbuttoned the top two buttons on his shirt as he moved toward her.

Iola rested her hand on the kitchen counter to avoid swooning. She had no idea that removing a tie could be so damned sexy. "See? I knew you wanted to get me drunk."

"I may try that sometime in the future, but not tonight." He picked up the glass of water she'd filled, then reached for her hand, leading her into the living room. "Tonight I want us to talk."

"Okay," Iola agreed. "What would you like to talk about?"

Cooper took a sip of his drink, placed it on the coffee table, then sat on the loveseat. Iola eased herself next to him, tucking her legs underneath her.

"All sorts of things," he said. "But mainly about us."

Us. Iola loved that word today.

Cooper turned his head, and his eyes were soft as he looked at her. "I want to make sure we've got this properly sorted. I want you in my life. I want us together."

Iola smiled. "So, in the American vernacular, does this mean you want to be my boyfriend?"

Because she honestly could not wrap her brain around that. Saying 'Cooper Armstrong' and 'my boyfriend' in the same sentence, without being followed by 'restraining order' didn't seem possible.

Cooper chuckled. "I most definitely want to be your boyfriend."

"Why?" Iola blurted out. She couldn't help that one.

"Why not?"

"I-I don't know," Iola stammered. "I guess because you could be with anyone you want."

"I want you," Cooper said.

Iola had to mentally force herself not to look around for the Candid Camera team. "Me?"

Cooper chuckled. "Yes. You're beautiful, warm, generous, smart, and sweet. You're also refreshingly honest, and you have no agenda."

"Agenda?" She really had to start saying more than one word at a time, or he was going to cross 'smart' off his list very quickly.

"Celebrity is a two-edged sword, Iola, and this business is mostly filled with narcissistic fame-whores," Cooper explained. "Women I've met either want to be with me so they can tell the tabloids all about it, or they're wanna-be actresses looking for exposure, or they want to ride my coattails, or some other horrible thing I haven't even thought of yet."

"That's awful," Iola said.

"Nobody is real," Cooper said. "And I'd about given up on finding someone I truly wanted to be with. And then I met you. You're none of those things. And what's most appealing about you, is that you have no idea how fantastic you are."

Iola smiled. "I feel the same way about you. But there are a few things you need to know about me first, before we continue this relationship."

Things she thought might stop it in its tracks altogether.

OOOoooOOO

Joe felt sick having Iola out of his sight. With everything going on with the crown prince, he was too afraid of something happening to her.

Even the thought of eating the leftover filet mignon on Vanessa's plate now turned his stomach.

Frank glanced down at his phone, then over at Joe. "Everything's fine. The building is covered, remember?"

"Do we know if they've turned the contact yet?" Joe asked. If they could get someone from the embassy on their side, things would be much easier.

"They're working on it," Frank said. "Try not to worry. They said there's no immediate danger."

"I can't help it." Joe fidgeted with his silverware, tapping his knife against the table.

Vanessa glared at him. "Don't do that here. What's wrong with you? You seem very on edge."

"It's our case." He set down his knife. "The feds are working on an informant, and it's making me nervous."

"Well, try and forget about it." Vanessa leaned close to him. "We are in a very romantic place, and I want tonight to be special."

Joe smiled and gave her a soft kiss. "I know. I'm sorry. I'll try and be better."

"I'm sure Iola is having a very special evening right about now," Callie said, a sly grin on her face.

"No kidding," Vanessa agreed. "Those two are so freaking adorable together."

"What are you talking about?" Joe asked.

"Have you been on another planet?" Vanessa asked. "Or maybe your case has you too distracted to notice."

"Notice what?"

"Cooper and Iola." Vanessa looked at him like he was a complete idiot.

"Somebody's going to get lucky," Callie said in a sing-song voice.

Joe shot Callie a sharp look, and she responded with a glare of her own.

"And I for one, couldn't be more thrilled," Callie said. "Nobody deserves happiness more than Iola."

Joe felt sick. Would Iola really sleep with that jerk? How could she? He wasn't worth her time. Maybe he should text her. Make sure she was all right, and check to see if that asshole had gone home yet. He took out his phone.

"Don't. You. Dare." Callie bit off the words while staring straight at him.

Before Joe could respond, a waiter approached their table with a giant tray of desserts.

"Compliments of Mr. Armstrong," the waiter announced.

Vanessa sighed. "Cooper is so amazing, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he's a peach," Joe said, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he put his phone back into his suit coat pocket and reached for a huge slab of chocolate mousse cake.

OOOoooOOO

Iola took a deep breath. This was going to be embarrassing, but it had to be said. "Cooper, I need to tell you a few things, because I want to be completely honest with you. That's very important to me in a relationship."

Cooper nodded. "Me, too. And your honesty is something that appeals to me. It's quite rare these days, unfortunately."

Iola fingered the hem of her sweater. "Well, you know I was taken from my home when I was seventeen years old, and that I've spent the last four years living in virtual isolation. I mean, cloistered nuns have had more interaction with men than I did."

Cooper smiled.

"And before that, I was a teenage girl. I've only ever dated Joe, and he was a teenager, too." Iola knew her cheeks must be flaming red now. She looked down at her skirt. "We…we weren't celibate, but we were young and inexperienced, and you're older, and much more experienced…and…I…"

Cooper took her hand. "Iola, stop. What you're worried about isn't even on my radar, love."

Iola's voice was very small. "I don't want to disappoint you. I also need to tell you that a physical relationship isn't something I enter into casually-"

"Nor do I," Cooper interrupted.

Iola gave him a questioning look.

"You need to stop reading the tabloids."

"I need to stop jumping to conclusions." Iola was now even more embarrassed, if such a thing was possible. "Hollywood has a reputation for that sort of thing."

"I'm not part of the Hollywood crowd," Cooper assured her. "In fact, that whole culture is what I hate most about my profession. It's also why I live in New York and London. I avoid Hollywood as much as possible."

Iola nodded. This next part was going to be difficult for her, because she wasn't sure how to explain it. "I, um, I also want you to know that my life has changed so radically from what it was six weeks ago, that my head is still spinning. I went from thinking I was going to be executed, to feeling like I'm living in a dream. I don't think it's all sunk in yet."

Cooper squeezed her hand. "I can't even imagine what you've gone through. But I'm not afraid of it. You can tell me anything you want to. And if you don't want to tell me anything, that's all right, too."

"It's not that I don't want to tell you," Iola began. "It's that I don't know what to say. I wasn't treated like a prisoner, I was treated like a queen. I was never uncomfortable, never hurt, never molested, nothing like that. But it was still awful. People don't understand that."

"Love, you had your freedom taken away," Cooper said. "Of course it was awful. You couldn't live your own life, your family thought you were dead, and you were a prisoner. A prisoner in a gilded cage, but a prisoner nonetheless."

Iola nodded. He understood. He'd verbalized what she hadn't been able to.

"Yes, exactly. A prisoner in a gilded cage. Nobody was allowed to address me, unless I spoke to them first. And if they did speak to me, they had to keep their eyes averted. I couldn't have a conversation with anyone, because that wasn't allowed. All anyone could do was answer my requests with a brief yes or no." Her voice broke. "I was so lonely."

Cooper reached for her, pulling her onto his lap, and holding her close. His arms around her were so strong and warm. Iola placed her hand against his solid chest, and felt the sure and steady beat of his heart. It was comforting. She leaned against his shoulder and he kissed the top of her head.

"Little things make me jump," Iola continued, feeling more secure. "Certain sounds trigger something in my head that makes me remember. It's getting better, but still…"

"Don't worry about that, my sweet," Cooper murmured into her hair. "That's quite normal and expected."

"I have nightmares," she said. "I wake up feeling like I can't breathe, and I think I'm back in Rei Ta Viti for a few seconds until I can get my bearings. I'm panicked. I…I wouldn't want to scare you out of a good night's sleep."

And right there she'd just insinuated that they'd be in bed together. Not ten seconds after telling him she didn't jump into physical relationships. Iola felt her cheeks warming.

"That would never frighten me," Cooper said, stroking her hair. "And besides, I've been told I snore. You'll probably lose more sleep than I will."

Iola giggled. "I'm willing to take that chance."

She slid her hand over his shoulder, and around his neck. This felt so right, so comfortable. She could stay like this forever. Iola snuggled close against his chest and drank in the smell of him. He smelled like heaven.

"Me, too." His voice was low, sensual, and close to her ear. "I don't want to rush this, Iola, and I won't. I'm a very patient man. And I want things to be right, more than I want things to be right now. But my feelings toward you are not the least bit casual, and I want you to know that you can share anything with me. Anything at all. You won't frighten me away, I promise."

Iola turned her head and found her lips about a half inch away from his. He closed the distance, giving her such a tender kiss that she felt tears in her eyes. She kissed him back, sliding her fingers into his baby soft hair. Cooper groaned and deepened the kiss, turning it so heated that she almost forgot her own name.

She was in so much trouble.