Unwanted Attention

Just a jog in the park...

Sunday morning started with a bleary head and a slight feeling of disgust for Dove as she decided to get up early and go for a jog to try and clear her mind of Cooper Henersley, thoughts that had managed to invade her mind all night, causing her to throw the magazine out in an attempt to be rid of him. The fact that he had sent her a couple of messages during the night and early this morning to express his disturbing obsessive nature didn’t make her feel any better over her own dirty thoughts, especially the fact that she had ended up actually cyber stalking him!

Dove felt much better as she jogged through the park, stopping by a water fountain for a quick mouthful, she was actually feeling like her head was starting to clear.

“Hey…hi there…” A clear male voice said behind her causing Dove to straighten with a start and turn defensively to find a man in casual clothes with wavy brown hair and brown eyes smiling at her familiarly.

“Ah…hello?”

“You don’t recognise me…that’s okay it was all a bit of a blur…I was at the speed dating last week, the names David…” He fidgeted nervously as he talked and ran a hand through his hair.

“Oh…look…I’m sorry I don’t really…” Dove looked around nervously herself looking for a way to leave. She was going to have serious words with her friends about this as proof to why exactly she should have never gone to that bloody speed dating thing in the first place.

“Easy…it’s okay, I get it…there were nicer guys there…” David interrupted her.

“No…” Dove looked at him strangely, he wasn’t bad looking why would he think that? “That’s not it…actually I regretted going, so I didn’t even fill in the form…”

“You didn’t?” His face lit up and Dove groaned inwardly. “So you didn’t pick anyone?” He smiled and sounded hopeful.

“No…so…” Dove stepped away to leave.

“So, I still have a shot?” He stepped in front of her, causing her to look up at him with apprehension. She frowned and stood her ground.

“No, not really…look…” Dove said with a scowl, David scowled back at her abruptness.

“Come on…I promise I’m not a psychopath…how about a coffee.” He pointed over to where a small mobile coffee cart was set up in the park over by the fountain.

Dove grimaced. Damn coffee carts! “I really don’t think…”

“Just one coffee…” He gave her stupid puppy dog eyes and pouted at her like he thought it looked cute and endearing. Dove gritted her teeth at the stupid look on his face but knew he wasn’t going to go away either.

Dove sighed. “Look, I’ll let you buy me one coffee on the proviso that after it if I still say I’m not interested you leave me alone.”

“Sure thing…absolutely…I promise.” David beamed at her. He did seem nice enough…too nice…too vanilla, like a puppy dog too eager to please, no thrill…

.

As they moved off towards the coffee cart a man in a black tracksuit stepped out of the shadows by the trees and leaned against the trunk of one, pulling a phone out of his pocket.

.

Cooper was sitting in on an early morning ‘board meeting’ of the ‘executive’ when his phone started ringing. He glanced at it and saw it was Simon. He knew Simon was on morning surveillance of his little Dove. He picked it up quickly, standing up and striding from the room to the surprise of the men standing around the shirtless guy tied to a chair who was bloodied from several cuts.

“I have to take this.” He muttered at them as explanation and left, Baz stepped up to take control. ‘What is it Simon?’

‘She’s having coffee with some guy in the park, she looked reluctant to go, but they seemed to come to some sort of agreement….thought you should know, do you want me to intercept?’

“Agreement?”

“Yeah, I kind of got the impression he twisted her arm to let him buy her a coffee, classic pick up type move…she was going for a jog”

“Where are you?” Cooper asked darkly annoyed that someone would dare try and pick up his Dove, in a park no less.

“Hyde park, by the fountain, from Knightsbridge side.”

“Keep an eye on her, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Cooper hung up, grabbed his jacket and left the warehouse, messaging Baz to let him know. He hooked his head to a guy standing by the car to go with him.

Simon stared at his phone in surprise. “s**t, he’s actually coming here…damn, Boss, what is it about this woman…”

.

Cooper parked his Audi in the car park. It was a glorious day and he knew he was going to get hot wearing his suit, but he had no choice, since he was armed, he had to keep his jacket on.

“Wait here.” He said to his man and walked the short distance towards the fountain and saw Dove sitting on the edge of the fountain next to a guy who looked like a golden retriever, sitting staring at her with adoring puppy eyes that made Cooper feel like plucking them out and feeding them back to the bastard. Cooper clucked his tongue in annoyance. Dove was wearing a very cute pair of pink shorts with a white t-shirt and a white zip through hoodie. She really loved pink and white.

Although she was smiling and appeared to be enjoying this guy’s company to any layman passing by, Cooper could read her body language and could see by the closed way she sat, folded arms, crossed legs and no eye contact that Dove was clearly in no mood to be sitting with this guy. That made Cooper smile.

He stalked over. “Dove…what a nice surprise seeing you out here on this beautiful morning.”

He smiled as warmly as possible as her large beautiful blue eyes came up, looking startled and met his cool ones. He could see the man in his peripherals straighten up and frown as he appraised Cooper.

“Cooper?” Dove said shocked.

“None other…who’s this?” He asked with a harsh tone entering his voice as he planted his feet and put his hands in the pockets of his pants, pushing back his jacket behind his arms and leering down on the guy like the six foot four gangster he was.

The other guy picked up the vibe straight away and baulked at the tall, lithe stranger that exuded a deathly calm aura. “Ah...I’m David…David Bennett.”

Dove looked from David back to Cooper with a frown. “What are you doing here?” Her voice was accusatory and Cooper couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Oh, you know…it’s a lovely day…sometimes it’s nice to get out in the sunshine for a breather, I’m actually in a meeting not too far away and needed to escape.”

Dove scowled and looked around the edges of the park suspiciously. “Is that right?” 

Cooper grinned at her. ‘She knows, but will she accuse me of it without proof?’

He looked back at David with a fierce expression. “So, you’re leaving now, right?” It wasn’t a question by the tone of his voice.

“Huh?” David looked startled, he looked at Dove who smiled meekly at him.

“Thanks for the coffee, but it’s still a no…” She said with a small apologetic smile.

“You heard the lady…piss off.” Cooper growled as he deliberately sat down, squeezing between the two of them and putting his arm around Dove’s shoulders while staring at David with those piercing ice blue eyes.

David was on his feet in a second when he got a glimpse of a gun holster inside Cooper’s jacket. “Okay, then…nice talking to you again, Dove…bye…”

David scampered off with his tail between his legs, making Cooper snort derisively at his cowardice.

Dove shuffled over on the edge of the fountain and removed Cooper’s arm from her shoulders. “Really? You’re not very subtle are you?”

“I find subtlety can be misconstrued as leniency.” Cooper growled in her ear before sitting back.

Dove chuckled and shook her head. “Well, it’s a no to you too, so you can go now.”

“Wow, you’re not subtle either, that rebuke actually hurt a little.” Cooper clutched his chest mockingly.

“I wouldn’t want my subtlety to be misconstrued either…” Dove retorted.

It was Cooper’s turn to chuckle. “Touche.” He leaned forward with his forearms on his knees, looking over his shoulder back at Dove. “So was he bothering you? Because it looked like you weren’t particularly happy.”

Dove regarded him silently, her large eyes contemplative. ‘He really is hot to look at.’

“He was from that stupid speed dating…damn, I knew I should never have gone to that thing…”

“If you didn’t go you would have never met me.” Cooper smirked, his eyes dark and smouldering as he looked at Dove’s downcast eyes.

Dove raised an eyebrow and met his gaze strongly. “Yeah…that too.”

“Dove…” Cooper chided her. “Don’t lump meeting me in with them.” His voice was calm, but dominant.

“Why not? I’m as interested in you as them.” Dove stood up, she was lying to herself, and started putting her ear buds in her ears. “Since you won’t leave…I will…” She pulled up her hoodie and turned away, jogging off.

Cooper watched her with a dark brooding expression. “Don’t ignore my messages!” He shouted at her as she jogged off. He had sent her two messages since last night’s kiss and she had ghosted him.

‘Bloody stubborn bitch.’ He could see the desire in her eyes when she looked at him, he was going to have to step up his game.

He glanced up and saw Simon in the trees. He flicked his head, indicating for Simon to follow her. He watched as Simon jogged off.

He sat up and ran a hand through his hair, looking around and chuckled to himself.

This woman was going to drive him insane.

.

.

As he entered his office Monday morning Patrick raised a hand and pointed silently over to a set of couches in the corner. Someone was obviously waiting for him. He glanced over and saw Toad, his head down staring at his phone.

“Toad!” He called out, as he stood in front of Patrick’s desk. Toad lifted his head then scrambled up to his feet.

“Bossman!” Toad greeted. He came over carrying a memory stick in his hand. “I got the results…”

Cooper frowned slightly and flicked his head. “Come on in then…”

He stepped through into his office passing Patrick. “Hold my calls.”

As he made his way to his own desk on the other side of the spacious executive office he tapped the back of a chair. “Sit.” He ordered as Toad was dutifully following behind him.

Cooper unbuttoned his jacket as he sat down, hitching his pants up slightly and crossing his legs. He watched as Toad put the memory stick on his desk and then sat down.

“Give me the summary.” Cooper demanded.

Toad licked his lips. “Well, she went to a very exclusive university in France apparently when she was nineteen to twenty-one…”

“What do you mean, apparently?”

“That’s the weird thing and why I came over here instead of just sending you the files…I found something strange…when I did the general police check on her nothing came up but then when I couldn’t actually find any proof of her actually attending the university I started digging a little deeper…she has a sealed file…”

“Sealed file?” Cooper’s eyebrows rose and he sat forward.

“Yeah, with the French National Police, but it was sealed by some top government official with the CDJP…I’ve tried to get in but…”

"CDJP?" 

"Central Directorate of the Judicial Police...like our NCA..." Toad explained.

“Can you tell what it was pertaining to?” Cooper scowled. The NCA were one of the agencies that tried to hamper his own movements and business dealings and monitored his businesses and those of Don Luici.

Toad shook his head. “Nothing, can’t get anything on it at all, you’re going to need a better hacker than me for that…but one thing that did overlap and pop up was the fact that Dove was admitted into a drug rehab facility soon after…”

“Rehab?” Cooper frowned darkly.

“Yeah…if you look at the files, the way I read it is something happened to her, she basically disappeared for a year and when she returned her father had her committed for a year and used his money and influence to cover it up…”

“And this was when she was twenty?” Cooper asked, calculating that it was a decade ago now.

“Yeah, the two years between nineteen and twenty one.” Toad confirmed.

Cooper chewed his lip as he mulled over the information. ‘Just what are you hiding, Dove…?’ “Thanks Toad, I’ll have a look at the files later. You’re on Baz’s crew keeping an eye on her, too?”

“Yeah, I got the lates again.” The ‘lates’ meant the graveyard shift, sitting in a car outside her place while she slept.

Cooper smirked. “Good, f**k off then and get some rest.”

Toad grinned and sprang up from his seat. “Yes, Sir.”

As he left Cooper turned his chair to look out the windows. Sealed files, drug rehab…what the hell did you get involved in Dove? Is this why you are so determined not to have anything to do with me? You’re scared something from your past may resurface…

.

.

The next couple of days were busy for Cooper so he was thankful it took his mind off his new obsession. It didn’t however stop him from trying to message her in the mornings and evenings and still she refused to reply to them.

He tossed his phone on the desk late Wednesday evening and sighed, rubbing his eyes with the finger and thumb of one hand as he leaned his head back into his chair.

“Tired, boss?” Baz said from the couch.

“Fed-up.”

“Problem?” Baz asked concerned, he would do anything for Cooper, even die for him.

“Yes a certain little blond minx that thinks she can keep ghosting me.” Cooper snarled.

“Ah…” Baz took out his phone and messaged someone, within a minute he received a reply. He turned the phone around and showed Cooper, stretching out his arm towards where Cooper was. “Does this help?”

Cooper looked up and squinted over to see a photo of Dove taken through her balcony window, she was sitting on her couch, curled up with a hot drink reading a book, with a blanket over her knee and a ball of fluff beside her. Her hair was down and tucked behind her ear and the side profile candid shot was the most beautiful thing Cooper had ever seen.

“Send it to me…delete it off your phone!” He breathed.

Baz smiled and did just that. Cooper’s phone pinged and he quickly opened up the message, staring at it. “How did you take this?” Cooper asked.

“Drone.” Baz grunted.

Cooper looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “I asked to keep an eye on her movements not spy on her like peeping toms.” His voice chilled.

Baz glanced up and met Cooper’s angry stare. “Relax, boss. Toad sent it up at my request for the photo.”

“It was awfully quick…”

Baz sighed. “Alright, he sends it up every hour to just check, we guessed you wanted a thorough and professional surveillance on this one…”

Cooper frowned. “Stop the drone.” He was going to have to get Dove to start closing her curtains. He stared at the photo.

Baz sighed. “Yes, boss.”

Cooper leaned back in his chair, still staring at the photo. “Can’t wait till tomorrow, Dove…” He growled. She was going to get a shock.

 ...