Savage (Park Avenue Kings #1)

33. Cooper

33

COOPER

“ H OME” TURNED OUT to be an entire floor of a luxury building somewhere directly below Central Park. While that alone was impressive, I was more shocked over the fact that he’d brought me there.

While Lachlan turned on the lights, I stood in the middle of an enormous room with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the sprawling park below. It was an incredible view, all covered in a frost of winter white, but I had a feeling come spring it would be to die for.

As Lachlan walked back in the room, I noticed his shoes were gone, and so was his jacket. He’d unbuttoned one of his sleeves and started rolling it up his arm, and it was such a picture of relaxation that I never saw of him at Libertine. This was obviously where he felt most comfortable, and the fact that I was here, in his private space, meant he trusted me enough and wanted me there.

My chest squeezed, and I took a mental picture, committing this moment to memory. When I first entered the Libertine penthouse, it hadn’t felt at all like the kind of place Lachlan would live in, but this place even smelled like him, like a sexy, rich wood that immediately made me feel at ease.

Even in a place that boasted a freakin’ helipad.

“Hungry?” he said, as he finished rolling up the second sleeve. There was something so effortlessly sexy about him here in his element, and even though I knew he was referring to food, this whole scene had my cock taking notice.

I nodded. “Starving.”

Lachlan smirked, seeing right through me, as I figured he would. Hooking his fingers in the loop of my jeans, he jerked me forward, bringing my body against his muscled frame. Warm breath teased my lips open, but I only felt the graze of his mouth as he said, “You look good here.”

“Oh yeah?”

He nodded, grabbing hold of my ass, holding me right where he wanted me before stealing a kiss.“Come on.” He slapped my ass, and I yelped in surprise. “I’m making dinner.”

I followed him into a kitchen made for a Michelin-starred chef. “Wait, you’re making dinner? You don’t cook.”

Lachlan grabbed a pan from one of the lower cabinets and set it on the stove. “I don’t?”

He had to be faking me out.

“No, you prefer eating out and room service. I bet you don’t even know how to boil water.”

“Ha.” He grabbed a large knife from a block, flipped it in his hand, caught it by the handle, and shook his head as he muttered, “Don’t know how to boil water…”

The knife thing was impressive, but I wasn’t in the mood to eat burned meat. “Can I help?”

Lachlan pointed with the knife to the edge of the long island. “Sit and prepare to eat your words.”

It wasn’t a chair he was pointing at, so I hopped up onto the marble countertop and watched as he moved about the kitchen grabbing what he needed. That included a couple of defrosted Wagyu steaks from the fridge. Then he called out, “Think quick,” and tossed a bell pepper my way.

Onion and cilantro followed, and then he grabbed a wooden chopping board and slapped the two strips out to season. Salt was first, then the pepper, before he set it aside, washed his hands, and grabbed a second board.He gestured for the bell pepper.

“You’re really going to cook?”

“I really am.”

Wow. The man was just full of surprises tonight.I handed over the vegetable and watched as he washed and expertly cut it, slicing it vertically and then peeling it open to remove the seeds in one go. He moved onto the onion next and had it peeled and cut in minutes, the knife moving so fast it was practically a blur. He really must know what he was doing, because if I had tried that I’d be missing a finger or two.

“So where’d you learn to cook?”

He reached for an oil dispenser and poured a liberal amount in the pan. “Self-taught. I like to eat, so I figured I better learn to cook.”

“But you have a world-class restaurant at your disposal,” I pointed out. “You could go there every night if you wanted to.”

“I could.” He turned a burner on and set the pan on it to heat. “But then I’d have to people and, well, I do better on my own.”

“But I’m here.”

He walked over to me and moved between my legs, kissing me on the lips. “Tonight, I’m making an exception.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I like that. Being your exception.”

“You need to let me go, or the oil will burn.”

“Can’t have that.”

“Nope. I have something to prove now.” He winked and moved out of my arms, then picked up the board with the steaks and moved to the stove.

God, there was something so innately sexy about watching him cook, and to know he was doing it to feed me made my stomach flip.

Smart, gorgeous, protective, and a cook?Someone pinch me. I had to be dreaming.

The sizzle of the steaks hitting the hot pan sounded, bringing me back to reality, and when I glanced over to where Lachlan was leaning back against the counter, he was absently tossing and catching the cutting knife he’d used on the vegetables.

Up… Down… Up… Down…

He’d toss it up, and as it flipped through the air he’d never once take his eyes off the expensive strips of steak as it came back down and landed in his palm. It was as if the knife were an extension of his arm.

“You’re pretty good with that knife, huh?”

He didn’t miss a beat. When the knife landed in his palm, he spun it around and then stabbed it into the cutting board.

My eyes widened. “Should I, uh, be worried?”

A wolfish smile curved his delicious lips. “Probably, but when has that ever stopped you?”

He was right of course. What did he say? If I saw danger or trouble I ran right toward it, so why should this be any different?

“Never. So if you’re trying to scare me…it’s not working.”

He chuckled and moved back to the stove, flipping the steaks to sear the other side. Once they were done, he slid them into the oven to finish them.

“Okay, flirt.” He gestured to the veggies. “Make yourself useful and bring them over here, would you?”

I headed his way as he pulled a second pan out and placed it on the stove, added bit of oil, and then tossed the vegetables in.

“Chef Stone,” I said, resting my chin on his shoulder from behind, “have I mentioned how sexy this is?”

“Got a thing for men in the kitchen?”

“Not necessarily men .”

“Oh? Someone who can wield a big…knife?”

I laughed. “That was fucking terrible, but yeah. I would watch you wield just about anything.”

“You’re trying to get me to burn this, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely not. Burned meat would be tragic.” Being a tease, I ran my semi against the crease of his ass until he groaned.

He turned and hauled me up by the back of my thighs before planting me on the counter again. After a quick kiss, he said, “Dinner, then dessert, troublemaker.”

I pulled out a knife from the block.“Hey, you think you can teach me that knife trick?”

Lachlan wrestled it from my grasp. “Hell no.” For good measure, he took the entire block and set it on the other side of the island.

“Aw, who’s scared now?” I teased.

“I’d rather not end up in an ER tonight.”

“What, you don’t have a surgeon on call to stitch me back up?”

Lachlan shook his head as he tossed the vegetables in the pan. “I enjoy your fingers too much to let you cut them off.”

Mmm, and now that only had me thinking about where I wanted to put them.

Once the meat came out of the oven and he put it aside to rest, I watched him put his knife expertise to use again by cutting up the cilantro.

“Don’t get me wrong, this is all fantastic, but I’m feeling a little useless just sitting here while you do all the work.”

Lachlan glanced up, ran his eyes over me, and said, “Don’t worry—you’ll be doing all the work later.”My mouth fell open, and he added, “But you can start by taking your sweater off.”

That was not helping the situation happening below the waist, but who was I to deny the sexy man making me dinner?

I got rid of the sweater, laying it across the bar chair behind me, but he didn’t say anything about the shirt I had on underneath.

As he tested the meat with his finger, he looked up and saw I wasn’t half-naked. “Really? That’s all I get?”

“Is there something else you wanted?”

He tossed the knife in the air without looking, caught it, and pointed the tip in my direction. “Yes. I want that shirt on the fucking floor.”

Now that was an order I was quick to follow—and seriously hard from.

Lachlan waited until I pulled the shirt over my head and threw it in the corner before he began to slice the steak. The delicious smells mixing in the air made my stomach rumble, but I wasn’t sure which hunger would win out if given the choice.

“Do I get a taste?”

“You think you deserve one?”

“I do.” I held up my hands. “All my fingers are still accounted for. That should get me something.”

Lachlan cut a piece off the meat and held it between his fingers as he walked back over to me, juice running down his hand. “This what you want?”

My dick jerked as I leaned forward and bit down. The meat’s flavor burst onto my tongue, rich and savory. Lachlan watched my mouth like a man in a trance as I chewed and swallowed, and when he went to walk away I grabbed hold of his wrist.

“Where are you going? I wasn’t finished.” I leaned forward to lick a path down his hand and wrist, lapping up the juice like the greedy man I was.

Lachlan growled. “Fuck, Cooper.”

I raised my eyes to his, and the dark arousal swirling there made my pulse kick.

“Uh uh,” I said. “Dinner first, then dessert.”

Lachlan’s jaw bunched as I let go of his arm, and minutes later he had everything set atop the island to prepare our meal.

“Well…” He looked over to me sitting shirtless on the counter and crooked a finger. “Come and get it.”

Was he kidding? I’d be lucky if I could walk from one end of the kitchen to the other with as hard as I was.

“I’ll come over there when you even the playing field.” I eyed his shirt and gestured. “Get rid of the shirt, Chef Stone.”

Lachlan pulled his shirt tails from his pants and I slipped off the counter, and with every step I took toward him he freed a button until I was standing directly in front of him. But when I reached out to touch him, he sidestepped me and pointed to the food. I turned to look at the impressive spread that now included tortillas and cheese.

“Trust me,” he said, “you’re going to need the sustenance for what’s coming next.”

A shiver raced through me as he tossed his shirt over the other side of the counter.

“Make up a plate, Cooper.” He pressed a kiss to the side of my neck. “The sooner you eat, the sooner I get to eat you .”

I piled up two tacos and moved to the other side of the island and sat. When he took the seat beside me, we dug in. Silence descended as if by some pre-arranged agreement. Or maybe it was just that we both knew what was coming after the meal.

Not to take away from how damn good the food was, but with a half-naked Lachlan sitting next to me, radiating some serious fucking heat, it was all I could do to chew and swallow my tacos and not choke on them.

When I took the final bite of my meal and turned, we each pushed our plates aside and looked one another over.

Then, as if he could read my mind, Lachlan grinned sinfully and reached for me.

“You better have left room for dessert.”