Chapter 20
Cooper
“So is he always your wingman?”Trix asks as we set up for dinner together at a picnic table at the campsite.
Ramsey and his friend have taken off to grab dinner at a local diner and left us to have our first campsite dinner. Thankfully, I’ve got a fridge and an outdoor kitchen on the side of Ramsey’s RV to make it a little easier.
“Did he say something?”
“I mean, he’s said a lot of things. If you ever decide to date, I think he might be a good asset.” She glances up to smile at me before she resumes making the salad.
“Should I be worried?” I feel more than a little nervous about what he might have said to her. Besides Quentin, he knows the most about how I feel. I didn’t even tell him. He guessed because, apparently, I’m that transparent when it comes to her.
“No. They were all good things. He looks out for you too.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think he’s worried about what my intentions are with you. Moving into your house. Stumbling out of your bedroom in the morning for coffee. That sort of thing.”
“Ah. Yeah. Well, he’s never seen me let a woman besides Lizzy stay at my house, so I think he’s just a little thrown.”
“He knew I dated Rob. Did you tell him?”
I run my fingers over the bill of my hat. When she questions me like this, I feel like I’m transparent.
“Yeah. Originally, when you moved in. He knew I was trying to date or at least take it more seriously and wanted to know quote ‘how the fuck that was going to happen when I had a smokeshow running around the place.’” I laugh and shake my head.
Her laughter peels through the air, and it warms my heart. Since we’ve gotten to the campsite today, she’s relaxed more than I’ve seen her since she found out about the footprints. She refused to sleep in my room last night and said she had to face her fears, but I spent most of the night in the living room dozing off and watching for lights under her door in case she needed me. I was happy to be somewhere where I could keep an eye on her more easily and fucking thrilled that she seemed to be able to breathe a little easier.
“He is… very blunt. Is he always that way?”
“Most of the time. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything, but I kind of love him for that. The guys on the team love him for it. It’s nice to know you get whatever he’s thinking, good or bad.”
“I don’t know if I could handle quite that much honesty every day.”
“You sure he didn’t say something?”
“He just… warned me, I guess you could say. About you and Lizzy. Just the kind of thing a good friend does. I’m sure Madison would be all up in your business too if she suspected this was anything more than us being friends.”
“She’s a scary one. Quentin’s terrified of her. Should I be worried if she finds out?”
“Quentin’s in love with her, and I’m fairly certain she’s in love with him and just in denial. And no reason to worry. Unless there’s something concerning in your background you haven’t told me about.”
“Well…” I tease.
“There better not be. If I have to sell you as Cincinnati’s hottest eligible bachelor, I need to know.” She flashes me an amused look.
“No, we’re all good.” I’d completely forgotten I asked her for help with that. Now it’s the last thing I want.
“When we get back, I can start working on it more by the way. I didn’t forget, just got a little distracted by everything that’s been going on lately. Do you want me to set you up on some dates?”
“About that. I think we should hold off on that.”
“Why?”
“You’ve got a lot going on. We need to figure out this stalker situation. Who to get involved to help us figure it out. If we should call the cops or—”
“I don’t want to call the cops. Once they find out who I am, they’ll contact my father’s security team to see if they have information that could help, and he’ll drag me back to Seattle. I need to find a private investigator or someone who can look into it discreetly. I’m still fairly certain it has to be a fan of yours. Especially if they came to your house…”
“Maybe. But it didn’t start until you showed up.”
“If it’s a woman, the fact that you’ve been out with me and then had me move into your place could have set her off. She could think I’m your girlfriend.”
“I guess that’s possible. I’ve never had anything like that happen before.”
“But you’ve never been serious with anyone before, have you? I mean, I know there were a couple of celebrity relationships. But I assumed those were more for show than anything.”
I wince. They had been. Neither I was particularly fond of remembering since both women had pretty much hated being set up with me.
“Something like that.”
“Ah. That bad, huh? Now I see why you don’t want to be set up. I promise I’m much better at it. You can ask Quentin. I mean… he obviously wasn’t going to change his mind, but if he wasn’t obsessed with Madison, I’m pretty sure he would have liked my picks for him.”
“I don’t doubt your talent, Trix. I just don’t think it’s for me.”
Especially not now. When I’m practically in the same boat as Quentin. I don’t know about being in love. I’ve never experienced it, and I don’t know what the early stages feel like. But if they start by being singularly focused on one woman who haunts you day and night, I’m in trouble. Because she’s it for me right now.
“All right. Well, if you were giving me a shot at it, what would your type be?” she asks as I set the food out for us, a mix of BBQ meat and veggies, including baked potatoes roasted on the fire. She’s got a salad and fruit all prepped for us along with some wine as I take a seat across from her.
“My type would be… Tall. Curvy. Long, dark-brown hair with some waves to it. Deep-brown eyes. A gorgeous smile. Long legs. Smart as fuck. She has to keep me on my toes and keep up with Lizzy. A little bossy when it’s about the important things. Up for new adventures. Doesn’t mind the outdoors or hanging out around my guys. You want the dirty list too? She’d have to be up for that.” I risk a glance up at her, and her face tells me she’s knows what I’m up to.
“The dirty list?”
“I have my own adventure list, Trix. Don’t look so surprised.”
“I have a hard time believing there are things you haven’t tried.”
“There are. Plus there are things I haven’t done in a long time. Got to knock one of them off the list the other night.”
She gives me a curious look and a tentative smile. “Like?”
“I haven’t done missionary since… I don’t know. High school?”
“Oh.” She looks down at her plate. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about… I didn’t mean to make that awkward. We could have—I would have been fine with—”
“No.” I grab her hand instinctively, and she stares at the spot we’re touching like it might burn her. There’s panic in my chest that I fucking said this all wrong. “No. I mean I liked it. I wanted it that way. Wanted you that way. You’re beautiful, and I wanted to watch you. Wanted to hear every sound you made for me. It was good. So fucking good.” I’m tripping over my words like I’m in high school and hating myself for not being able to charm her the way I could charm almost any other woman if I had the chance.
Her fingers move again, the tips of them circling over the inside of my palm before she tilts her head.
“It was good,” she agrees, looking off in the distance before a smile returns to her face. “So what else is on your list?”
“You still haven’t told me the rest of yours.”
“You heard the whole thing. Loudly. In your kitchen.” She lets a pretend shiver go down her spine as she takes a sip of her wine.
“I told you. I was in shock, and then once I heard I was on it, things short-circuited. You’ll have to tell me again. But hey, that means we knocked at least one thing off.”
“Two things now.” She smiles.
“Which things?”
“Sex with you. And camping.”
“Damn. We’re doing so well. You sure you don’t want to keep going?”
She gives me a teasing sideeye and a flutter of her lashes that has me thinking about what it would be like to try the one about sex outside. See how she likes sex on top of a picnic table.
“What’s on your list besides revisiting missionary?” She presses on.
“Going on a real date.”
“What does a real date look like?”
“Asking her out. Planning it. She says yes and gets dressed up. Bringing her flowers or something nice.”
“Another thing you haven’t done since high school?”
“More or less. Right up there with meeting the parents.”
“You want to meet the parents? I thought most guys hated that. At least if they’re not power hungry and wanting to meet your senator father. Rob hated meeting my parents.” She grimaces a little like she’s remembering it.
“If she wants you to meet the parents, it means she thinks there’s a future. Right?”
“Right.”
“So… I want to meet the parents. Take her out on a couple of real dates.”
“You’re making my job way too easy with all of your charm, Coop.”
“What else is on your list?”
She rolls her eyes, but she pulls her phone out and brings up the document that I’ve already had read out loud to me. I’m fibbing a little. Some of the other things on the list definitely stuck with me, but I want to see if they’re still there, and I want to know how serious she is about them.
“Am I reading this or just showing it to you? Because here…” She slides her phone across to me, and sure enough, it’s all still there.
“Am I allowed to check off completed items?” I look up at her while my finger hovers over the checkbox seated next to camping.
“Sure.”
I click it, and the one that mentions having sex with me.
“Unless it meant another ex’s brother. I guess I never thought about that,” I tease her.
“It was you,” she admits.
“This sex outside… did last night count, or do you think you need to try again?”
“We probably need to try again. The cabana had drapes and a lot of privacy.”
“We? Do we get to try again?” My heart skips.
“That was a slip of the tongue.”
I have to bite mine to keep from making a joke, and she sees how hard I’m trying not to say anything and shakes her head.
“I guess if you keep making me slip up… Maybe it is we.” She gives a soft shrug of her shoulders.
“Don’t give me hope, Trix. This list has some of my favorite things on it.”
“Like?”
Her for starters. But I’m pretty sure saying that will have her running. So the list it is.
“All of it? I mean… The tattoo thing I don’t know. I’m not big on them, obviously. Too indecisive to choose one. We’d have to swap out ex’s brother for my brother’s ex, but otherwise…”
“You’re into degradation? You seem too nice for that.”
“If she’s into it, I fucking love it. Especially when you pair it with rough sex. But we’d have to cuddle after.”
“Is cuddling on your list?”
“It’s a sub-item under brother’s ex only.” I grin at her.
A wry little grin pops up on her face, and she looks down at the list with me.
“Cream pie? Isn’t that a little…dangerous for you? A lot to gain if someone lies about birth control status. Madison would ream you up one side and down the other. She’s like that scene with Dorothy in the Golden Girls, screaming about condoms if she finds out a client doesn’t keep them on hand.”
“I said it’s one of my favorite things. Not that I do it regularly. A lot like the missionary sex.”
“Where I can be your first since high school?”
“Don’t tease me.”
“It’s not really, is it?”
“I love Lizzy, and I’m so grateful for her, but I didn’t need to learn that lesson twice.”
“You’re making this whole not finishing the list with you thing hard.”
“Good. Because I think you’re missing out by not having me for some of these. Like the impact play? Think about how good you could have it. I could spank that cute little ass until it matches the color of your lip gloss and then you could shove my face between your legs until you forget how much it stings.”
She nearly chokes on the sip of her drink she just took, and she stares at me wide-eyed.
“Cooper!”
“I have ideas for the temperature play too.” I grin in response.
“I think I need them after dinner before I choke on something.” Her eyes close when she realizes what she’s said, and I watch as she carefully opens one eye and peeks at me to see the smirk that’s spreading across my face.
“All right. After dinner we’ll discuss the rest and how we make them happen.”