She knew precisely what he was saying with that line, but that smile was as disarming as she was sure he'd intended it to be. He'd been able to win her over with a smile from the very start, she remembered, but that wasn't something that worked on her anymore. She couldn't let it work on her anymore. The way he was brushing it off, casually mentioning other meetings over the next few weeks had her suspicions stirring, though she wasn't sure whether she should be skeptical or not. Gen had just convinced herself that he was aiming for the Magpies and only them. "Oh," was all she said on the topic, letting him have his 'secret' for now. There were a lot of reasons that he would want to return to the Magpies, she wasn't so vain to think it was only for her.
When they paused at the apparation point, she could feel the tension thicken almost immediately as his eyes were on her. And then he opened his mouth, and those words sent her emotions catapulting. He had to know what that question would do to her, that it would send her back to that first day together, to that almost instant chemistry they'd experienced, to the laughter and sex and chocolate sauce... It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him if he had any chocolate sauce back at the hotel, too, but she had enough presence of mind to hold that one back.
"Cooper," she breathed, her tone filled with affection and exasperation all at once. The thought came up quite suddenly then, completely uninvited... Would anyone ever be able to make her feel what she'd felt with him? She wanted that again, but without the jealousy and fighting and fear that the man she was in love with would overreact to something and get himself killed in a stupid bar fight. And maybe, just maybe, she thought belatedly, she could find that with Oliver. But the way that thought made her stomach twist was something she refused to look closely at. "A hug..." The right thing was probably to politely decline, to say good night and walk away, but then it was just a hug, and he did give such good ones. "Okay," she conceded, feeling ridiculously weak-willed in that moment.
Hearing her say his name like that… He knew that exasperated tone, he heard it often from her but it still pulled a smile from him. He nodded when she agreed to a hug, oh she was going to be mad because he was definitely going to go for more. He had to just hope that she wasn’t going to slap him for it.
Cooper stepped up closer to her, one arm slipped around her waist while his free hand came up to cup her cheek. It was all a quick thing, happening far too fast for his liking, but a moment later saw him leaning in and pressing his lips against hers. His eyes slipped closed and he could feel it then, more than he had been able to while they were dancing. It was his Gen, he could feel his heart flaring to life as he kissed her. Though he felt his chest tightening with fear moments later as he waited to see if she might kiss him back or if this had all been such a bad, terrible, idea.
It all happened so fast, and yet Gen saw his approach as if in slow motion. His arm around her waist, his hand on her cheek... he was going to kiss her. She needed to stop him, to push him away and make it clear to him that this sort of behavior was unacceptable. Because it was. He was her ex, her past, and that was where he needed to stay. Because it didn't matter that he could make her laugh or make her heart race, not when she remembered the way he could infuriate her, too. Yes, they'd had some amazing, fun times, but they'd had some awful stressful times, as well.
She just wasn't sure where this moment fell on the scale.
Her head did tip back slightly, though she didn't exactly return the kiss. Her hands lifted, her palms resting against his chest to hold him back as she turned her head away from the kiss. "Don't.. don't do this to me, Coop," she whispered. She took a step back and looked up at him with shining eyes, emotions swirling in them. "I know this might be hard to believe, but my heart broke in December too, and I can't... go back." Because she didn't think he'd changed drastically in that time, and their problems would be the same, and she just couldn't live that way again.