Chapter 17
Beatrix
The sun’s gone down,and I’ve cleaned up most of what’s left of the party food and drinks. Ramsey is sprawled out on a lounge chair half-asleep, and Garner and Daphne are wrapped up with each other in the hot tub. Cooper swims up to the edge of the pool where I’m sitting, dipping my feet in and swishing small circles in the water, watching it form little sparkling waves in the illumination from the lights he has strung around the pool.
He runs a hand through his hair, sweeping it back, and several droplets highlight the rise of his cheekbones and the sharp cut of his jaw. The man is too pretty for his own good. Making him seem like one of the good guys for this PR project will probably be more difficult than I anticipated since I can’t even look at him without having dirty thoughts. Something that he must be able to read on my face when he grins and reaches out for me, wrapping his palms around the backs of my calves and gently massaging them.
“Water’s warm if you want to come in?”
“I’m not a very good swimmer.” I’m not keen to embarrass myself in front of him or the company.
“I don’t think you give yourself enough credit.”
“Treading water is about all I can manage.”
“We’ll have to add it to your list. We can work on it this summer. If you want.” The playful grin he gives me melts any protest I might have. This man can teach me anything he wants.
“Do you mind if we stay in the guest room?” Garner’s voice breaks through my daze, and I turn to look up at him. His fingers are intertwined with Daphne’s. She smiles at me, and I return it. I look back to Cooper to see what he’ll say since I’m currently occupying the space with suitcases and a dresser full of toiletries I have no permanent home for at the moment.
“That’s Trix’s room right now. You can have the room downstairs if you want.”
“She’s not sleeping with you?” Garner blurts out, the alcohol he’s had leaving him with no filter, and I tense. I see Cooper flash a look of concern in my direction.
“We’re just friends. I can move my stuff if you need it though,” I say before Cooper can speak.
Garner looks at me with a flicker of remorse on his face, like he knows he fucked up but also knows there’s not much he can do to walk it back at this point.
“No. No. You’re good. Downstairs is fine. I didn’t realize. I’m sorry.” He nods before he squeezes Daphne’s hand, and the two of them take off into the house.
“Fucking Christ, that boy’s a mess.” Ramsey’s behind us now too, shaking his head and then looking at me with sympathy. “Don’t fucking listen to him. He’s too dense for his own good sometimes.”
“It’s okay,” I answer softly, giving Ramsey a grateful smile anyway because I’m glad someone understands that this is awkward enough as it is.
“You care if I crash on the couch downstairs too? I don’t think I can drive right now. Didn’t drink that much, just exhausted.”
“Nah. Go ahead. But you better have some earplugs.” Cooper smirks.
“Garner’s a screamer? Why am I not surprised.” Ramsey laughs. “I’ll be all right. You two have a good one.” He nods a goodnight to both of us and then heads inside, sliding the glass behind him and leaving us with a tidal wave of awkward silence.
“Ramsey seems nice,” I say when the quiet stretches on too long for my liking.
Cooper laughs and shakes his head. “Ramsey’s anything but nice, but he’s a good guy.”
“You can be both?”
“He makes it work somehow. He’s a damn good friend. I’ll say that much.”
“Well, I can appreciate that. You’re a good friend too, you know. For letting all of us stay here. Looking out for us. Being so kind to me when you don’t have to.”
Cooper shrugs and looks off into the distance for a moment. I can tell compliments like that make him uncomfortable, so I splash him gently and grin when he gives me a shocked face before his hands are on me again.
“Come in. I’ll give you your first lesson.”
I pull off the swimsuit cover-up dress I still have on and toss it to the side. His eyes rake over my body, and the look on his face makes me feel about fifty times sexier than I’ve ever felt in my life. Cooper just has that sort of magic about him. That no matter what, he makes you feel like you’re the center of his attention. It’s the kind of thing I could get used to if I wasn’t careful.
He holds out his hand, and I take it as I slip into the water. It’s a little deeper than I am tall at this point in the pool, and I have to kick a little to stay afloat. But he wraps his arms around me and pulls me close, helping to keep me steady in the water where he more than touches the bottom. My hands are resting on his shoulders, and I can feel the way his muscles flex subtly as he holds me in the water.
“I think I need too much practice for this to go on my summer list.”
“I’m a good teacher. You might be surprised.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I taught Lizzy to swim. You can ask her for a reference.”
“I might do that. Make sure you’re not overstating your skills and won’t lose your patience with flounderers.”
He laughs. “You know Lizzy. If there’s anything she’s taught me, it’s to have a fuckton of patience.”
“She’s a pretty good kid though.”
“She is. But we had some rough years there for a while. She’s mellowed and found things that make her really happy, and that makes me happy. I just hope high school isn’t too hard on her.”
“I think she’ll be okay. She’s got a good group of friends, and once you’ve got that, high school’s not so bad. Even when it does get hard.”
“Speaking from experience?”
“It wasn’t the easiest time in my life. But then I didn’t realize how much harder being an adult would be at the time. It must be nice to live that kind of bliss. Do you think they’re getting around to inventing a time machine so we can go back and appreciate it while it’s happening?”
“Hmm. I doubt that. But we can work on right now. What else is on that list of yours? Remind me. I got a little preoccupied with one part of it.” He grins at me.
“I don’t think we need to do that.”
“Oh, I think we do. It sounded like a good list.” His brow furrows like he’s thinking, and he looks up at the sky. “Stargazing was on there, I think. Camping, too, right?
“Yes.”
“And there was definitely something about sex outside. Was that during the stargazing or the camping?
“Cooper…”
“Either is probably a good goal to have. It was the next round. The rough sex and the getting spanked is where I got a little distracted, so you’re going to have to refresh my memory.”
“Oh my god. You know talking about this with you makes me want to die a little, right?”
“Is that what those sounds were that you were making while you finished the cake? Dying?” he pokes.
“Stop!” I laugh and put my hand over his mouth, attempting my most threatening look on him. He laughs, and then he reaches up to gently pull my hand away.
“Why does talking about this with me make you want to die?”
“Because I thought you were going to be my brother-in-law, and you were in that brotherly friend box.”
He makes a face that tells me he’s concerned about my well-being if that’s how I interact with my brotherly type friends.
“Obviously not after earlier but…”
“But…” His hand slips under my chin and runs down my jaw.
“I don’t know,” I mumble the words because I don’t really have objections right now. I know the ones I should have. The things I should say. But none of them manage to make it past my lips.
“You’ve never been in any sort of box for me. If anything, you run wild in my imagination.”
“Oh.” I’m winning awards for how eloquent I am right now. My high school English teacher would be impressed.
“So like I said, I’m more than happy to help you with any kind of list you have.”
“So helpful.” I can’t help the smile that erupts, and he echoes it.
“Think of me like a Boy Scout, Trix. Trying to learn to pitch a tent? I got you. Want to know how to start a fire? No problem. Need me to grab you by your throat until you can beg for me in another language? I’m all yours.” The smile he gives me ruins the last of my resistance.
Obviously, he didn’t forget everything on the list. I shift in his arms, and my fingers slip back over his shoulders to bring us closer. Because tonight, I think I’m his.
“It’s your birthday. Shouldn’t we be focused on your list?” It’s my turn for a devious grin.
“I told you. My list only has one thing on it.” I can see the restraint in his eyes, the way he’s making sure I know what he’s saying.
“So cross it off.”
His mouth is on mine a second later, and right now, I’m a little bit sorry I ever kissed any man who wasn’t him. I know I shouldn’t compare. But Cooper makes his brother look like a fumbling schoolboy. Especially when it comes to the way he kisses and the way he uses his hands. So I’m dying to find out if the rest will follow suit.
His kiss is all-consuming, and we move through the water until he has me pinned against the wall. His hands drift down my sides under the water, and I wrap my legs around his waist as he grips my thighs. I grind against him as my nails dig into the back of his neck, and he answers me by slipping one hand up my thigh to cup my ass, his fingers digging into my flesh. It sends sparks through me, leaving me wondering what it would be like to have him handle me how he wants.
“Fucking hell, Trix.” His eyes search my face when he comes up for air like he’s seeing me for the first time.
“I’m sorry, I—” I start to say, but he cuts me off.
“You’re not sorry, and neither am I. Not for this.”
I run my hand down his chest and over his abs until I hit the top of his board shorts, and he runs his teeth over my lower lip as he kisses me again. He groans into my mouth when I make my way under the band of his board shorts and wrap my hand around him.
“Sorry for this?” I tease as I stroke him.
“Nah. But I have to tell you the truth too.”
“The truth about what?” I ask, nerves bubbling up but not enough to stop me from my goal.
“Earlier, you admitted you watched me. But I didn’t finish admitting how much I think about you. Imagining it’s you there with me.” Every word is a labored whisper as he starts to breathe heavier against my lips, kissing me intermittently as he confesses what I already secretly hoped was true.
“What was I doing when you were imagining me?”
He lets out an almost inaudible groan and takes a breath before he answers.
“You were spread out on a bed for me, letting me eat your sweet little pussy while you grabbed my hair and pushed my face down, begging me for more.”
I let out a muted laugh, surprised by the answer as much as I am by the man. I slow the pattern of my hand and study his face.
“Not on my knees for you?” I raise a brow. I was almost sure that was what he was imagining when I watched him.
“No. I mean, I wouldn’t say no if you were offering, but I can’t stop thinking about what you taste like. How you’d sound coming while you curse my name. Feeling your fingers dig into the back of my scalp, and one of your pretty little skirts hiked up around your hips.” He kisses his way up my throat and then nips my earlobe. “I’d fuck you so good like that if you’d let me, Trix.”
“I think I need you to fuck me.”
His eyes light with the admission, falling over my face with a hint of surprise in them before a wicked grin forms in their wake.
“I can do that.”
He kisses me again, rough, like he wants to make a point, and then he’s pulling me out of the water in one swift motion, setting me on the edge of the pool. He follows me a moment later, and I watch as his muscles flex and the water rolls off him like we’re in some slow-motion thirst trap.
He grins at the way I have to pick my jaw up off the floor and then stands, holding a hand out for me. I put mine in his, and he hauls me to my feet, placing another tender kiss on my lips.
My heart is pounding out of my chest when he walks me to the oversized cabana he has out here by the pool. He pulls the drapes on three of the sides, and as each one falls shut, my heart beats harder. What we did earlier was… well, it was one thing. It was wrong, but it wasn’t this wrong. It wasn’t crossing the Rawlings Rubicon.
My fingers tease along the finished edge of the last curtain before I look up at him again. I’m scared he’s going to have the same sudden brush with the truth that I am right now and change his mind. But when I look in his eyes, there’s nothing there but pure, unadulterated want.
His mouth is on mine, kissing me roughly, and his hands roam over my body. I’m lost in him all over again. The way he tastes and the way he feels is so different from anyone I’ve had before. His fingers pause as they reach the edge of my swimsuit. He doesn’t ask permission, but every touch on my body is a request all the same.