38. Cooper
38
COOPER
One Month Later…
I T WAS AFTER eight p.m. when I finally typed the last line of my article due ASAP for the weekend paper. The story had come across my desk a couple days ago with a deadline for tonight, which was accounting for the late hour.
“You still here?” Jill, one of my new colleagues, said as she powered off her computer at the cubicle across the room.
“Wrapping it up now.” I sent it off to the editor of New York News Now and stretched back in my chair, lifting my arms over my head so my body cracked after hours of sitting.
“I’m meeting up with a few friends at the Crown Bar if you wanna come? They make a killer Cosmo, and I’m parched.”
I grinned, her words only reminding me to call Hannah this weekend to catch up.
“While that sounds like a good time, I’m just gonna go home and pass out. It’s been a wild week.”
That was an understatement. In the month since Mick and his crew had been taken into custody, more had come out about their ties to other fatal drugs across the U.S. and into South America. It felt like there was something new every day, and even though I hated having to even think about them, I couldn’t help but feel like I was finally doing my part in shining a light on the situation.
Not to mention, New York City was brimming with endless scandals and possibilities, making it hard to choose where to narrow my focus.
“Pass out, huh? On a Friday night? Lame.” Jill slid her purse strap over her shoulder and shot me a wink. “See you Monday, Patterson.”
“Have fun.” I powered down my workstation, gathered up my belongings, and headed out. It was still bitterly cold, and yesterday’s snowfall still lined the sidewalks and streets as I walked to the train with the quickness of a focused but frozen New Yorker.
Not that I truly considered myself one yet, but the city was definitely growing on me. After my story about Mick hit the press, I was offered a job with several outlets around the city before ultimately settling on the one who’d taken a chance on me in the first place.
New York News Now was my dream job, and even late nights like this made me grateful I’d moved here in the first place. I had Alex to thank for that. I hoped wherever he was, he was at peace and could now rest easy knowing the ones responsible for his death couldn’t hurt anyone else.
And it sure as hell helped me to sleep at night.
“Oh no you don’t,” Ms. Edith said before I made it fully in the door. “You promised you’d stop by Levain and bring me a dozen?—”
Her mouth snapped shut when I pulled a blue tin out of my backpack and handed it to her.
“Your assortment of cookies, Ms. Edith, freshly made just for you.”
She lifted the top of the tin to inspect the contents, and then she looked back at me with narrowed eyes. “Well. You can follow an order, I suppose.”
Ha. She had no idea just how well.
“Anything else you want me to run out and get for you, just let me know.” I smiled and started up the stairs, leaving her to stare after me, no doubt trying to find another reason for an argument. Clearly she hadn’t expected me to actually follow through after her comment the other day about Levain Bakery, but it was fun to surprise her.
And piss her off at the same time.
I chuckled to myself and jogged up to the fifth floor, the route a lot easier now that I’d gotten in better shape. When I reached my door, I unlocked and shoved it open and my empty apartment greeted me with silence.
Some might find that lonely in a town as busy as this, but after a long, arduous workweek it was exactly what I needed. A warm bath and a drink wouldn’t be bad either, but I’d just have to settle for a glass of wine on the shower ledge.
I dropped my bag on my desk and peeked out the only window of my place, watching as the snow fell lightly on the fire escape. There was something so pretty about the way it dusted the old iron railings, and my lips tipped into a wistful smile.
Nights like this always made me thankful I’d been brave enough to follow my convictions and make the trek to the big city. People had doubted me—hell, I’d doubted myself. But here I was months later, not only surviving but thriving.
I had a steady job, which meant a steady paycheck, a landlord who’d finally decided I wasn’t a total ingrate, and nothing but my future to look forward to. Compared to the drug-infested alley I’d stumbled into during my first couple of weeks here, I’d say things were looking up.
I grinned as I opened the microwave and put a wrapped burrito in. So maybe my food choices didn’t exactly reflect the “thriving” part yet, but I was happy.
After my quick bite, I poured that glass of wine I’d promised myself and headed to the shower, where I stood until the hot water turned lukewarm, letting the heat work its magic on my tense shoulders. Hours at a computer was nothing new, but with the overtime I’d been putting in, they were definitely protesting a little this week. I really needed to invest in a better setup, maybe a standing desk.
I drained the rest of my wine and climbed out of the shower, placing the empty glass on the counter before I dried off and wrapped a towel around my waist. The alcohol and steam had done its job in relaxing my body and mind, and as I stared at myself in the mirror I slicked my hair back from my face, smiling at the ring on my middle finger.
It glinted under the light as I twisted it. It was a new addition, and I couldn’t stop looking at it as I made my way to the bed and pulled back the covers.
I tossed the towel aside and climbed in, more than ready to wrap myself in the smooth sheets I’d splurged on a couple of weeks ago.
I didn’t bother with my tablet, nothing on there sparking my interest more than stretching out on this bed in bliss and staring out the window. The snow was starting to come down even harder now, and I was grateful I’d gotten home before it got too bad out.Warm and cozy in my bed, safe, no unwelcome intruders…
Closing my eyes, I stretched out, pushing my arms up under my pillow, and that was when I heard it.
The slight screech my window made as it was pushed up slowly.
Anticipation flooded my body as the bed dipped near my feet. I opened my eyes to see a shadow in the dark climbing up over me, their face shielded beneath a hood and mask.
“I was wondering if the snow was going to keep you away,” I said as he lowered over me and placed his hands on either side of my head.
“Nothing could keep me away from you.”
Every part of me heated at his words, even as the melted snowdrops from his trench coat fell onto my bare skin.
I usually played into my pre-Lachlan character on nights like this, the one who had welcomed his masked vigilante, no questions asked. But tonight, I wanted to see his face, and when I reached up to push his hood back and lower his mask, he let me.
“Trying to call the shots tonight?” he teased.
“Just feeling a little greedy.” I unbuttoned his coat and pushed it off his shoulders, and he sat up and took it off the rest of the way.
Like that, hovering over me in the moonlight, I’d never seen anyone so stunning or savage in their beauty. He’d hate my saying that, but it was true.
As he lowered back over me, I arched up into him and entwined our fingers. He kissed where I wore his platinum ring, the one he’d given me—which hadn’t been for any other reason than I was “his,” and he wanted that claim on me somewhere.
And I was only too happy to have it. The ring and the claim.
“It’s been a long forty-eight hours,” I whispered against his lips as I slipped my hands under his Henley.
“Well, someone had an important story and told me to stay away.”
“I didn’t say stay away. I said you were a distraction?—”
“And you’d be finished quicker if you could work on it on your own.” His lips curled over the top of mine. “If that’s not a ‘get lost,’ I don’t know what is.”
“Aw… So I’m feeling greedy and you’re feeling needy.” I chuckled, and Lachlan nipped at my lower lip.
“Careful, Scout.”
I trembled at the nickname he’d fallen back into calling me. “Or what?”
“Or I’ll tease you all night until you’re begging me to take you.”
“That’s supposed to be a threat?”
“No, that’s a fucking promise.” He kissed his way from my lips to my ear. “And I’ve had forty-eight hours to think of ways to make you cave.”
I turned my head on the pillow, capturing his lips in a crushing kiss, groaning into his mouth and arching up into the solid body pinning me to the mattress.
Lachlan tore his mouth from mine too soon for my liking, then shoved the covers aside. When my naked body came into view he cursed.
“Have I mentioned how much I love you?”
I kicked the sheet and quilt the rest of the way free and grinned at him, my body on full display for his hungry eyes. “Not since the last time you snuck in my window.”
Lachlan ran his fingers up my thigh to where my erection throbbed. “Then let me rectify that.” He wrapped his fist around me, and I took his face between my hands and pulled him down on top of me as he whispered, “I love you.”
Those words were still so new, so exciting to hear from him as he stared down at me like I was the most important thing in his entire world. I speared my hands through the silky strands of his hair, holding him close.“I love you too.”
“Good, because I have a proposition for you.”
“He says while casually stroking my cock.”
He chuckled and gave me a quick squeeze. “Want me to stop?”
“Definitely not.”
His dark eyes roamed over my face. “Move in with me.”
My heart stuttered. “What?”
“You heard me.”
I’d thought I had. But either he was joking and I wasn’t laughing, or…he was serious.
When I could form words again, I managed, “That’s a rude joke, Lachlan Stone.”
“I’m not joking. Move in with me.” The intensity in his gaze had me slowly realizing that he wasn’t just saying this on the fly. He’d put a good deal of thought behind it.
I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest, and all I could do to alleviate how much I was feeling was to play it off. Especially with his hand still wrapped around my cock. “Well, I don’t know. Does this place have a helipad?”
“Is that a dealbreaker?”
“It might be. I never know when I might need one.”
His lips curled into a sexy half-smile. “Then you’re in luck.”
Those talented fingers of his began to stroke me again, and I moaned. “Can I give up this place, with its amazing square footage and incredible view?—”
“And your favorite neighbor.”
“Ah yes, who can forget Ms. Edith? I don’t know if she’ll let me go that easily.”
“I’m sure you can pay her off with more of those cookies you bought earlier.”
My mouth fell open, and I began to laugh. “You seriously are a stalker, aren’t you? It’s a good thing you’re so fucking hot.”
Lachlan tightened his fingers around my dick, and just like that, I stopped laughing and pushed up into his hand.
His lips brushed beneath my ear, his hot breath on my skin making me shiver. “I didn’t hear you say yes.”
No, he didn’t, and that was only because he needed a taste of his own medicine.
“Tell you what,” I said. “Why don’t you do your best to convince me and maybe you’ll hear that word come out of my mouth tonight?”
A gleam entered his eyes at the challenge, and before I could tell him I was only teasing, he flipped me onto my stomach and pinned my hands up by my head.
And then he spent the rest of the night convincing me.