Chapter 9 #2
I felt his hips stutter and knew he was close, knew he was about to come just from grinding against me, and the thought made a wave of heat roll through me from head to toe, pushing me right up against the edge as well.
“Close,” I mouthed against his skin, hips aching with the urge to thrust harder, faster, my orgasm building past the point of no return.
Cooper nodded, a breathy, choked sound escaping him instead of words.
I gave his ass another firm squeeze, tightened my thighs, and held on for the ride as we soared together, the couch squeaking under us with every roll of our bodies.
Harder, faster, harder, faster, until the liquid heat welling up in the pit of my stomach spilled over in a sudden gush of bliss.
My orgasm hit so hard it made my ears ring and spots dance behind my screwed-closed eyelids, a moment of pleasure so sharp it was nearly pain. I was soaring, in the middle of a flying leap with the ground dropping away under me, the landing leaving me breathless, winded.
Cooper rocked me through it, drawing out the aftershocks with long, slow rolls of his hips that rocked both of us gently down from the peak. He sighed the most bone-deep sigh of contentment I’d ever heard before he stopped completely, hovering over me on hands and knees.
Fuck.
“Fuck,” I said aloud. No Piotr to complain about swearing being vulgar anymore. “Fuck,” I repeated, just because I could.
Cooper chuckled, letting out a long breath. He collapsed onto the couch, pulling me with him as he pressed himself up against the back of it, one arm looped around my waist to hold me close. Our legs tangled together, caught in our open but still very much on jeans.
We hadn’t even managed to undress. I was still wearing Coop’s shirt over my own. He’d wanted me that badly.
The sticky mess I’d wanted was smeared over my stomach where my shirt had ridden up. I ran my fingers through it, gathering a drop with my thumb and holding Cooper’s gaze as I raised it to my mouth.
The way he watched me suck it clean, wide-eyed and with his lips parted, made me feel like the sexiest man alive.
“Knew I should’ve made dessert,” he said, voice wrecked.
I laughed, another wave of warmth washing over me—this one less urgent, more comforting.
When was the last time I’d laughed in bed? Or… on couch.
Piotr would never have done that. He needed everything to be a performance. He needed me to undress for him while he watched, to be in control of everything I did or said or felt.
Cooper hadn’t. He’d let me have everything I wanted, and he’d said my name like he was whispering a prayer, and he’d made me laugh.
Fuck. Fuck, and fuck again.
Sex with Coop was fun. I’d forgotten it could be.
His big, warm, gentle hand landed on my thigh—the injured one—and I flinched.
“Sorry,” he said, taking his hand away in a hurry, an apology in his eyes.
I caught it and set it on my hip instead. He hadn’t hurt me—I’d only flinched because he’d touched me where I hadn’t expected it. No one had touched my leg except medical staff.
Now didn’t feel like the time to explain that, though. If I started talking about the past, that part of the past, I’d ruin the whole evening.
“Don’t you dare apologize for that,” I said instead, bumping his nose with mine and earning myself one of his big, bright smiles in response.
He was so easy to be around. I could’ve gotten very used to being around him.
“No?” he asked, eyes open and earnest.
There was no point pretending to myself that I didn’t want to do this again. For once in my life, I couldn’t wait to tell Avery they were right about something. They’d been so, so very right about Cooper.
That revelation could wait, though. I had more interesting things to think about now.
“I needed that,” I confessed with a sigh. “I needed that so badly. I should be thanking you.”
Cooper’s smile turned shy, his gaze flicking away from my face, tongue darting out to wet his lips.
Now that I’d gotten intimately familiar with them, I couldn’t stop noticing what a nice shape they were—full lower lip, soft, and naturally curved a little way up at the edges, as though he’d been born with a permanent smile.
He was so gorgeous like this. Shy and blushing with my come still cooling on his stomach.
I tilted my head to kiss him, soft this time, a brush of lips followed up by a hint of teeth scraping that lower lip I couldn’t stop looking at now. A thank you.
“Think I did, too,” Cooper murmured, gaze flicking back up to my face. His lips twitched, eyes sparkling, and I couldn’t resist kissing him again, slower this time, my fingers curling into his rumpled T-shirt.
“Been a while?” I asked, staying close enough for the tips of our noses to touch this time. The moment would have to end eventually, but I couldn’t bring myself to let it just yet. This was the most at peace I’d felt in six months.
Longer, maybe. Maybe much longer.
“Eight months,” Cooper admitted, voice low and deliciously rumbly. His fingers were rubbing little circles into my hip—I wasn’t sure he knew he was doing it, but I didn’t want it to stop. I wasn’t used to cuddling like this, but I was quickly realizing I could be a slut for it.
“Six,” I said in response. Part of me wanted to tell him my last time hadn’t been nearly as good as this had, but that felt like too much, too soon.
Besides, I wasn’t about to marry the guy. Even if he might have ruined me for all other men. I was only here temporarily, until I… got back on my feet.
I ignored the twinge that thought set off in my gut.
“Before…?” Cooper asked, eyes glinting as they searched my face.
Now it was my turn to look away. I nodded, wetting my lips, half wanting to say something, half knowing that if I started, I’d say too much.
My problems weren’t Cooper’s problems, and I was starting to imagine a couple of weeks in which we had uncomplicated sex a handful more times before our lives separated again.
That was all this had to be. It’d be good for both of us. Cooper didn’t have time to date seriously with Benji to take care of, I wasn’t sticking around…
The more I thought about it, the better an idea it seemed.
“Well,” Cooper spoke up again. “All the important parts seem unscathed.”
I snorted, burying my face against his shoulder. He let me, let me curl up next to him and cling and soak in his warmth and the pleasure of contact with another body.
Piotr wouldn’t have.
Avery was right. He was a dick.
I just couldn’t see it until someone treated me with basic human decency.
No. No, that wasn’t true. I’d known, secretly, for a long time. I’d just been too much of a coward to leave. Too afraid of losing my career.
Which was exactly what had happened anyway.
“Thank you.” I sighed against his shoulder. “I guess you have to go home?”
Cooper tensed, his fingers going still.
“Yeah,” he said after a heartbeat. “Yeah, uh. Benji.”
The reluctance in his voice did something soft and wriggly to my insides. I hadn’t actually intended to kick him out, just to let him know that I got it, I knew he couldn’t stay forever.
But if he didn’t want to leave just yet…
“Well…” I said, toying with the hem of his t-shirt between us. “You can’t go home smelling of sex.”
Cooper’s fingers drew another slow circle on my hip.
“I can’t?”
The way his brow rose made my lips twitch, and I had to fight to stop from smiling to keep up the tease. I was starting to understand Cooper’s brows, which had a language all of their own.
“Definitely not,” I said, sliding my fingers under his shirt to brush over his bare skin. “The water pressure here is good, though.”
That was true, and about the one saving grace of the apartment. That, and the view.
The view of the bay through the kitchen window, but also the current one of Cooper’s face as understanding dawned over it.
“Is it?” he asked, voice warming, fingers moving again.
“You should find out for yourself,” I said, unable to stop the smile spreading over my face. So much for teasing him. “The taps are a little tricky, though.”
“Oh?”
I nodded, biting my lip in a final attempt at pretended seriousness.
Unfortunately, the way Cooper’s eyes lit up as he looked over my face made it impossible to keep up. I couldn’t help smiling at him.
“Gosh,” he said, curling his palm over the jut of my hipbone, stroking with his thumb instead now. “I might need someone to show me how they work. Got any ideas?”
“I’m no expert, but I’ve started to get the hang of it. Could show you the ropes.”
Cooper nodded, doing a much better job of pretending to be serious than I had. He must have had practice with Benji.
“I’d be so grateful if you did that,” he said, voice getting low and rough again. Despite the fact that I’d just happily come my brains out, my pulse sped up a beat. Or ten.
“How grateful?” I asked, gaze flicking to Cooper’s lips even as my own turned up at the corners.
Cooper leaned in, his late-night stubble grazing my cheek as he put his lips to my ear.
“Very.”
A shiver ran down my spine, warm arousal blooming again in the pit of my stomach.
I linked my fingers with the ones he had curled over my hip, taking his hand. “Then let’s show you these taps.”