Chapter 16
“Almost there,” I whisper to myself as I pull Coop’s car into his parking spot. It’s been a long day at work and all I want to do is get home to him, curl myself up into his body and kiss him.
And do other things.
All the things.
We spent the last few days in each other’s arms, our bodies naked and eager, our lips locked as we got ourselves off. Over and over.
I’ve never had so much sex in my entire life.
It’s amazing. I’m addicted.
I want more. I want to try it all with him.
But it’s not just sex. It’s him.
I want to be with him all the time.
Shutting off the car, I grab my bag, nearly tripping to the elevator to get to him. As soon as I crash through the front door, I kick off my shoes, smelling food being cooked, and I know exactly where he’ll be. Dropping my bag onto the floor, I move toward him in a rush, pressing my face into his neck and wrapping my arms around his warm, sleek body. I don’t even hesitate.
He always welcomes my touch, he never turns me away.
Fuck, I love that.
“Mm,” he grins as I kiss my way up to his lips, taking him in a heated, drawn-out make-out session.
“Hey,” I finally say, arching my hips up against his ass, my hard cock pressing right into his crease. The perfect fit, I think. One day. One day we’ll get to that, but right now, I’m happy with this.
He pushes back against it, wiggling in my arms slightly before slipping away.
“Baby,” he begins, sounding slightly resistant.
“What’s wrong—” I begin but am cut off by the sound of unfamiliar voices.
“Oh, don’t let us stop you two love birds,” a sweet female voice says behind me. “I haven’t seen Cooper this happy in ages. He’s been telling us all about you, Matthew.”
I turn slowly and feel my cheeks heat. Oh fuck. Am I meeting his parents? Right now?
Goddamn, and I have a boner.
Good fuck. I need a pillow to hug to my lap. This is indecent.
“I messaged you to tell you they were here, but you must not have seen it,” Cooper whispers apologetically.
I blink over at him, discreetly adjusting my dick. Coop peers down at it and grins.
“I can’t with you,” I grumble. “Not a word,” I add as I make my way toward his mother and father, who are perched near the island. His mother’s lips are pulled up in a grin while his father watches me assessingly.
“You must be the boy that my son is so captivated with that he actually settled down,” his mother says fondly.
“Mom, honestly,” Coop grumbles as I shake their hands. His mom holds on a little too long, and his father squeezes my palm roughly.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” I tell them both, shifting under his father’s serious glare.
“I love your name. It’s very beautiful, very much you,” his mother says. “Since my son has so rudely not introduced us, I’m Isabella and this is Gio. We are so happy to make your acquaintance. Finally. We would have come sooner, but Japan was too gorgeous to leave.”
“I bet,” I say and then turn to look at Coop, who is watching me intently. There’s a stilted silence, and I feel the weight of it settle on me.
I’m losing the ability to breathe under the pressure.
I hear them say something in Italian, and Cooper glowers at them.
“Only English please,” he says and then turns toward me. “Love, would you like to help me pick out some wine? I think we need wine.”
I nod, thankful for the distraction. With shaking legs, I follow him to the small room in the back of the loft where he keeps his cases of wine, and as soon as we’re out of sight from his parents, he pushes me against the wall.
“I’m sorry, they just showed up without calling me first.”
“It’s fine,” I say as he presses his lips to mine.
“It’s not. But they won’t be here long. They just wanted to meet you. Someone let it slip…”
“What?” I ask as he kisses me again, distracting me with his mouth. Fuck, he tastes good, and I missed him all goddamn day. I’ve been waiting for this moment since leaving him this morning.
“I was planning to tell them about us when they got home from Japan but apparently someone already told them. I don’t know who, but they’ve been grilling me with questions.”
“Oh shit,” I mutter as his tongue snakes into my mouth and I breath him in deeply. I just inhale him, like a drug. I definitely need drugs at this moment, or something to get me through meeting his parents. Especially his dad, who seems very skeptical of me.
“But it’s fine, it will be fine. We’ll just explain it all to them.”
I don’t know how to explain though.
I don’t even think I can explain it to myself.
I just like Coop.
I like him a fuck ton.
Arching into his touch, I grab on to his hair and angle his head to have better access to his mouth.
He moans against me, and instead of pushing him away so we can get back to his parents, I just pull him closer. I just need a few minutes of this before I go out and face whatever questions they have, questions I won’t be able to answer.
“Oh god, let me blow you. Real quick,” he pants, as he reaches between us and grabs on to my hard dick. He squeezes it gently, the heel of his palm grinding down the hard, straining length, and I can’t help but let out a small groan.
“Shit. We can’t. Your parents are right out there.”
“Then be quiet. We can be quick,” he says as he falls to his knees and works my sweatpants down my legs, engulfing my cock in his mouth with deft precision, like he’s on a mission to get me off. And as much as I should pull away, because this is indecent and will give a terrible impression if they find us like this, I don’t stop him. Just let him suck on me until I explode straight into his mouth. He moans lowly as he drinks me down, and then I watch as his fist shuttles up and down his own dick seconds before it explodes across the floor, his mouth trembling against my thigh as he shakes from the force of it.
We just stay like that for a long minute, catching our breath, trying to regain ourselves. Seconds later, he finally stands on wobbly legs, and I stare down at the mess he made on the floor.
“Should clean that up,” I rasp, and he nods, swallowing roughly. He has a bit of cum on his bottom lip, and I wipe it off, my finger lingering on the corner of his mouth before pushing inside. He’s warm, eager, slick.
Oh fuck, he’s so hot.
He’s perfection.
How did I never notice this before? How did I not see?
I must have been blind because the man before me is absolutely flawless.
His eyes hold my gaze as he sucks eagerly on my finger until I finally pull my hand away.
“You drive me absolutely crazy,” Coop whispers, and I can’t help but kiss him again. Doesn’t he know that he does the same thing to me? That I’m lost without him?
I try to convey that in the kiss I lay on him, but I’m not sure it’s clear. I will have to tell him eventually, will have to put into words what’s happening inside of me.
When we finally manage to break apart, we quickly clean up the mess on the floor and then return to the kitchen, a bottle of wine in Coop’s hands.
I’m sure by the pink flush of our cheeks and our tousled hair his parents can tell what we’ve been up to, but thankfully they don’t say anything. They just watch with astute gazes as Coop pours them glasses of wine.
“So, tell Matthew about Japan,” Coop says, stirring the pasta on the stove, and I take a sip of my wine as I listen to Isabella regale me with what the two of them did in Tokyo.
When Coop finishes making dinner, he hands us each a plate of food and then leads us out onto the balcony. The two of us take a seat on our lounger, the blanket pulled up over our legs, our plates settled on our laps. His parents sit in chairs near the heater, their bodies turned toward us.
“I always forget how beautiful this view is,” his mom says, turning her gaze out and over the ocean. The sun is beginning to set, casting pinks and purples across the horizon like spun cotton candy.
“It is. Matthew loves it out here. Spends most of his day either on the beach or sitting out here, watching the waves,” Coop tells them.
I feel my cheeks heat as I place a bite of linguine in my mouth.
“I do love it,” I say softly and watch as his mom beams at me. “It’s a nice change from my old place and a relaxing way to decompress from teaching.”
“Ah, a teacher,” Isabella says, and I nod, swallowing another bite.
“Yeah, he teaches athletics and coaches on the side,” Coop says, making my job sound more than it is.
“Yeah, I mean, usually I just end up yelling at kids to stop putting balls in their pants,” I murmur, making his dad smile for the first time since he arrived.
“Well, aren’t you a cutie,” his mom says. “What age do you teach?”
“High school.”
“Well, you must be a saint then,” she says. “I remember Cooper as a teen. Smelly and rude. One time, I found him with his dick stuck in a bottle.”
“Mother,” Coop says with a huff. “I told you not to tell anyone that.”
“We never made that promise, especially when it came to meeting your husband,” his dad says with a grin.
“What were you like as a teen, Matthew?”
“A shit, mostly, but I never got my dick stuck in anything,” I say and then bite my bottom lip, worried I may have just offended his parents. The silence is heavy for a second before they both start laughing.
“I like him,” Isabella says, and I grin back at her, feeling slightly relieved. Guess I’m making an okay impression, at least with her.
“My opinion has yet to be formed,” his father says, his voice stern.
Coop huffs in frustration, but his father continues on. “What? Do we know what his motives are? You boys haven’t known each other all that long.”
I peer up at the man, seeing so much of Coop in him, the slight slope of his nose, the bunch of his brows, the auburn hair. Except, he seems more intense, more critical.
Especially of me.
“I’m not going to hurt him,” I say just as his mother nudges her husband.
“Leave him alone, Gio. Honestly. This is not the time.”
“I know that, but what do we really know about him other than the fact that he’s in serious debt? What if he’s after money?”
“I don’t want his money,” I insist and then feel the need to explain. “I don’t want a cent from him. I know I’m in debt, but I’m paying that off myself. It has nothing to do with Coop.”
Coop peers at his parents, his mouth pursed. “I know why you’re worried, but he hasn’t asked me for a thing. In fact, it was me who asked him to move in.”
“He did,” I say, moving my gaze to his father, who is eyeing me over the lip of his wine glass.
“Even so, I’d feel better if the lawyers drafted up postnuptial paperwork and you’d sign them, son.”
The son is directed at me, and I swallow. “Okay, I can do that.”
Coop rolls his eyes and throws his father a look. “Dad. Seriously. This isn’t your decision to make.”
“No, it’s fine,” I say and then shift away from him slightly. I don’t want his parents to get the wrong idea about me, that I’m here for his money, that I’m some kind of gold digger. It will taint what Coop and I have, and I’m not ready for whatever this is to be ruined. “I can do that. I can sign the paperwork.”
“Glad to hear it,” his dad says, and I nod, focusing on finishing my dinner. I can barely taste it and it goes down like cement and settles in my stomach like lead.
What a fucking waste of a meal.
Coop’s mood only sours from that moment on. He’s snippy and grumpy, and as much as his mother tries to soothe him with her kind words, it doesn’t work. I can tell she’s distressed over the change in conversation and the overall mood, so I pull Coop aside when he brings the plates in and hug him.
“Cooper,” I say softly into his ear. “It’s okay. You don’t need to be so grumpy over your dad trying to protect you. I don’t mind it.”
“I know, because you’re a good and kind man. But to be frank, it’s none of their business.”
“I know, they’re just worried about you. It’s fair if they don’t trust me, I don’t think I’ve made the best impression.”
Coop’s eyes narrow, and he grabs on to my arms roughly. “Yes you have. They’re just protective. They don’t want me to be used for my wealth. But you wouldn’t do that.”
“I won’t, and I can prove it by signing any paperwork your lawyers draw up. It’s fine. It will put them at ease when we tell them about the divorce.”
Yep. That was not the right thing to say. I know it the minute the words slip from my mouth. But at the same time, we can’t stay together forever like this, right? Not when we got together under such odd and mysterious circumstances.
But then again, since when have we ever followed the rules?
Coop’s eyes narrow on me. “Divorce? Is that still what you want?”
I swallow and try to find the words. Of course I don’t want us to separate. Is he crazy? But for some reason the words get lodged in my throat and don’t come out like they should.
“I see. Maybe we should just forgo the paperwork entirely,” he says as he stomps off, clearly upset.
I try to go to him to reassure him, but he’s already putting on a fake smile in front of his parents and carrying on like nothing happened.
I’ve ruined it. I ruined it all.
And his parents can see it. They can see how unhappy I’ve made him.
I don’t know how I could have made a worse impression.
As soon as the elevator shuts behind his parents and this disastrous evening comes to an end, Coop stomps to his room and slams the door. The bang echoes off the walls, and I feel my chest pinch. I’m such an asshole. Why can’t I ever say the right thing?
I move to stand outside our bedroom, worrying my bottom lip between my teeth. Does he still want me? Should I just go? My eyes sting, and I sniffle softly.
I hate it. Hate this feeling so much. But I’ve never been a quitter. Never just stopped because things got tough. I can’t give up now.
I have to fight for this, for us, and I will.
Without any more hesitation, I gently push the door open and see Coop lying face down on the bed, his head buried under a dozen pillows.
“Cooper?” I say softly as I move toward him, feeling my lungs struggle to breathe.
He doesn’t respond, just remains absolutely quiet. Which is so not him. It’s eerie even.
Lowering myself to the edge of the bed, I reach out to touch him, but he scoots away from me, his head still buried under the pillows.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m an asshole,” I say, and he huffs.
“It’s fine. I’ll have the paperwork for our divorce drafted up tomorrow.”
The cement in my stomach rolls around, making me slightly sick. But then I wonder if I heard it right because his voice is muffled by the mountain of pillows. Maybe I was just imagining it.
“What?”
He rolls his head out from under the pillows, still facing away from me, but speaking much clearer.
“You heard me. You’re right. It’s better this way.”
“Coop,” I plead and reach out to touch his back, not wanting him to pull away from me, not after everything we built. Despite being angry, he arches into my touch, and I snake my hand up under his shirt, feeling his warm skin under my palm.
“And you know, maybe you should sleep in your room tonight,” he says glumly, and despite my chest nearly caving in, I just crawl up next to him and tuck my body against his.
He freezes for a second before I feel him scoot into me. My hand slides up his bare stomach and settles on his throat. My fingers cup his jaw, turning him toward me. And despite everything, he comes willingly, his eyes slightly red and wet.
I stare into those swimming depths and then lower my mouth to his.
He sighs into me as I kiss him soundly, his hand sliding into my hair and gripping the strands roughly. It sends a shock through me, straight to my heart and groin simultaneously.
It turns heated quickly, the two of us giving into the pleasure we know will come at the end. I roll my body on top of his and grind my hips against his as our lips meld, our tongues tangling.
“I’ll sign the postnup,” I tell him, looking into his eyes. “But I always pay off my debts. So there’s no way I’m divorcing you yet.”
He frowns up at me and murmurs, “Yet?”
“I think I have a very extensive list of things I need to pay you back for.”
He sighs as he leans up and kisses me roughly. “It could take years to pay off, you know?”
“Yes, I know. Decades even,” I tell him, and he beams up at me. I smile down at him and then take his mouth again.
And we don’t come up for air for ages, not until the sky lightens to gray outside and a storm rolls in.
And even then, I don’t want to fall asleep.
Not yet, my heart beats out. Not quite yet.
Coop is in a funk the rest of the week, his spirits slightly drawn. Even when we kiss he seems distant, tense.
I can’t stand it. Can’t cope with the distance between us.
So, it all finally comes to a head one night, my skin tight with nerves as I lay it all out.
“Cooper?”
“Hm?” he hums as he sits next to me on the couch, scrolling on his phone.
“What’s going on in your head? You’ve been distant the past few days.”
He looks over at me. “I have not.”
“You have. Ever since the night your parents brought up the postnuptial agreement. I thought we were okay.”
He sighs and then threads his fingers through his hair. “We are. I just…I just hate it.”
“Hate what?”
“Hate that you feel like you have to sign that shit. It just feels wrong. I didn’t go into this not trusting you.”
“I mean, we didn’t know one another when we got married, so it’s fine if you didn’t. I know that it took time for me to trust you. I was skeptical about you when this first started.”
Coop seems agitated by this, and I fear I’ve made this worse, always sticking my foot in my mouth. But then he chuckles lowly. “I mean, I get it. I admit, I did worry for a hot minute there that you were marrying me to take me to the cleaners.”
“No. I don’t want your money. I really don’t.”
“I know that,” he says and then snuggles into my side. “I know you don’t. I hate that my parents said all that. It makes me angry at them, and I haven’t been in ages.”
I lean up and kiss him, reassuring him with my mouth that it’s all okay. That I’m fine, that I don’t mind signing anything for his peace of mind, for his parents.
“Let me put your parents’ minds at ease. I want them to like me, Cooper. I want them to support us.”
He sighs and then nods, telling me that he’ll make an appointment with his lawyers first thing.
But the tension between us has been soothed, the distance between us evaporating with my reassurance. I don’t want something as silly as my signature on some paperwork to come between us.
We’re more important than that.
On Friday, he picks me up from work and drives me to his lawyers’ office, a fancy place in Laguna Hills with views of the ocean and leather furniture. It’s there that I’m handed the postnuptial paperwork, the lawyers droning on and on about what this means for me and for Coop.
I’m barely listening, just watching as Coop glowers and makes snarky comments to anyone who will listen, but I hope it’s one step closer to making a good impression with his parents. And with him as well. I don’t want him thinking that I’m in this for the wrong reasons.
I may not know what the hell I’m doing, but I want whatever Coop is willing to give me. Anything except money.
I don’t want any of that.
“Are you okay?” I ask as soon as we’re done and walking out of the offices.
Coop scoffs and folds his arms across his chest. “I’m fine.”
“Coop,” I say, but he just purses his lips and heads to his car, not even linking his arm with mine.
“It’s fine, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“But we should. We should talk about it.”
He stops and turns toward me, his hands on his hips. He looks angry and fiery, and it only makes me want to kiss him more.
“Fine, you want to talk about it, let’s talk.”
He glowers at me and I cock my head, trying like hell not to laugh. I should definitely not laugh. He’s upset, but fuck, he’s so cute.
“Can I kiss you?” I blurt and his body stutters, the anger on his face slowly dissipating.
“Yes, you’re allowed,” he says very snobbishly, but it doesn’t deter me. I just step into his space, angle his jaw up, and then press my lips to his.
He melts into me, his hands grabbing on my shoulders as he holds me against him. The past few days we’ve done nothing but cuddle and kiss, even blow jobs haven’t been initiated by him or me.
We don’t need it.
We really don’t.
At this moment in time, we just need to be close.
So we just snuggle and make out and then snuggle some more.
My forehead presses against his, our lips parting as we inhale.
“Feel better?” I ask, and Coop’s eyes dance.
“Somewhat. I may need a little more of that before I can fully be restored.”
My lips curl into a smile as I kiss him again, this time much more thoroughly. By the time we’re headed back to our place, both our cocks are hard and pressed up against the fabric of our pants.
Coop reaches over and massages mine, making my head fall back against the headrest of the car as I try like hell to stave off the orgasm that’s working its way through me.
“When I get you home, I’m going to suck your dick real good,” he tells me as we crawl through the Friday afternoon traffic.
If the people in the cars next to us looked a little harder, they’d see what Coop is doing to me, how he’s making me pant and moan.
“Take your dick out,” he tells me as we stop at a red light.
“Hell no, people can see.”
He grins over at me. “The windows are tinted. Take it out, husband.”
My hands shake as I unzip my pants and pull it out, watching as Coop wets his lips.
“Love your dick,” he says and then reaches out and cups me in his warm palm. He strokes me slowly the entire way home, driving me crazy with each twist of his wrist. When we finally park, he unbuckles and leans over, taking me into his mouth.
I hold on to his head for dear life as he sucks me down, over and over until I tip over the precipice and unload into his mouth.
He laps at me until he finally pulls away, his mouth coated with my cum, and I can’t help but bring him in for a kiss. My tongue swipes against his, and I taste my own release on him. It’s hotter than it should be.
“How about a bath and then we can sit outside and have a drink?” he says.
“Okay, yeah, that sounds really nice.”
“A celebration that you’re still with me,” Coop grumbles, his bad mood back. “Since you had to sign that damnable paperwork.”
“It’s fine. I told you this already.”
He mumbles under his breath as we make our way to the lobby and over to the elevator. As soon the doors close, I lean into him. “Don’t be so grumpy. It’s fine. Let’s just relax. Tomorrow we have a busy day.”
“Yeah, and a long drive.”
We do, a long drive to the high desert where we will drop off all the things Coop bought from the dollar store to Magnus. We actually plan to spend the entire day there, and my nerves are flaring at the prospect.
Although they’re calmed slightly by the fact that Coop will be there with me.
I lead him into the bedroom and leave him there while I start the bath, adding all sorts of shit into the water to make it bubble and foam. When I go to find Coop and tell him to get his ass in the tub, I see him rummaging through a box on the bed.
“What are you doing?” I ask as I move toward him, reaching for the hem of his shirt and pulling it over his head.
As I do this, I glance down and feel my cheeks heat.
Oh.
“I just want something in my ass,” he tells me, like it’s no big deal.
“Um… Okay,” I say and then watch as he pulls out a plug of some sort, a few inches long and thick at the base.
“I’ll meet you in there,” he says, and I feel my throat bob.
“Can I watch?” I ask, and Coop freezes, his eyes meeting mine, a flash of lust lighting up his gaze.
“Of course, if you want to.”
“I do,” I say, and he lets out a shaky breath, grabbing the plug and some lube.
He walks into the bathroom, setting everything on the counter before working his pants off.
“You can get in the tub,” he says as he shuts the water off. The bubbles are nearly falling over the lip of the tub, and I know that once I get in, they’ll topple over, but I do it anyways. Coop watches me as he uncaps the lube and sets his leg on the edge of the tub, moving his hand behind him. I can’t see his finger enter his hole, but I can tell when it does because his eyelids flutter shut and he lets out a shaky breath.
My hand slips to my dick as I watch him, grabbing on to the aching length as Coop works himself open.
“How does it feel?” I ask, my voice low and throaty.
“Amazing,” he tells me as his eyes meet mine. “Love my ass being stuffed full.”
That only makes my dick throb harder.
“Turn around, so I can see,” I tell him. “I want to watch.”
His eyes are nearly black as he turns and bends slightly forward. He has two fingers inside of him, and I watch as they move in and out, stroking that secret place of his. But even from this angle, I can’t see well enough. I shift up and reach out, my wet hands grasping his cheeks and spreading them.
Coop lets out a low groan and arches back onto his fingers, his hole swallowing them deftly.
“I need more lube,” he tells me and hands me the container. I squirt some on his crack and watch as his fingers stuff the gel into his ass. The squelch, the sight of it, make my dick positively ache.
I never thought I’d be into ass-play, but I like everything when it comes to Coop, it seems.
“Would you like to put the plug in?” he asks me, his fingers moving away from his opening, showing me the wet puckered hole.
“Yeah,” I say, half leaning out of the tub.
Coop hands me the toy, and I squirt some lube on the tip, watching as the clear droplets run down the sides. I place it at his stretched opening and push in, making Coop arch up and gasp.
“Oh fuck,” he moans. “Oh fuck yes.”
I work it in, careful not to hurt him, but he seems to take it so well. What would it be like if instead of the plug, it was my cock pushing into him. Would he like that?
With the way he’s panting and groaning, I think he would.
“Oh, fuck yes, more,” he says as I work it in and out of him, drawing it out, not wanting it to end. But it has to. Eventually I stop, pushing it all the way in, watching as his hole engulfs it and the base sits right between his cheeks.
I push on it and he gasps. “Jesus, Matthew.”
“Yeah,” I manage to say. It comes out choked and dry. I need a glass of water.
Coop turns around and his cock is hard and pulsing, the tip covered in precum. My tongue peeks out, suddenly wanting a taste of it, but I’m unable to ask because Coop is moving into the bathtub, straddling my legs and kissing me senseless.
“You’re so perfect,” he moans as he licks his way into my mouth. “My Matthew.”
The way he says my name, a needy groan, makes my entire chest cave. I reach between us and bring our cocks together, jerking them in tandem, making our kisses grow frantic. Our teeth clash, our tongues warring with each other as my fist works our bodies over the edge.
We’re panting, the heat of the water making me feel faint, but I don’t stop. I just keep stroking until Coop is crying out, his lips ripped from mine, his head thrown back. As he comes, I push against the plug, and he shouts my name, making my entire body shudder with the force of it.
When we come down from the high, the two of us panting, I just hold him to me, my hand pressing against the base of the plug, pulling little whimpers from Coop as I do.
My hands can’t stop touching it, imagining my cock inside of him. Part of me wants to pull it out and slide my dick inside, but I don’t. I just continue to toy with it, continue to pull those small, needy whimpers from him.
Love that sound, love that I’m the one who makes him this crazy.
I want to do it again.
And again.