Chapter 16 Silas #2
“Hurt…yes. Angry? No.” I pulled the blanket under my chin and sipped my wine.
“You can’t make someone stay if they don’t want to, and you can’t make them love you.
Alli and I always got along well. We could joke around, have fun, and the sex was nice, but we weren’t good in tough situations, and we didn’t like tough conversations.
For example, I wanted kids, Alli wanted to wait.
Wait for what? I didn’t know, and she wouldn’t say.
She’s a travel writer…or she used to be—and a good one.
She lost an assignment that would have required her to spend a month in Iceland after I landed in the hospital with a concussion.
She was so bummed. I was lying on the sofa and recouping with sunglasses on ’cause my vision was so bad that I couldn’t watch TV without them and she wanted to go to Iceland. ”
“You didn’t like that.”
I scoffed. “No. It wasn’t like I expected her to wait on me or anything, but I wanted her to want to be there.
And it sucked that she didn’t, and she thought it sucked that I didn’t support her career.
Those were arguments no one was going to win, and we had them all the time.
At the end, I didn’t care if she was home, and she probably felt the same way.
And I stopped thinking about being a dad ’cause our house wasn’t a good environment for a kid.
Trust me. I knew that story well. But I was still sad when it ended. ”
“Yeah.” Cooper didn’t have to say anything more. He’d been there too.
“It felt like failure. A terrible failure. And since she was the one who left, I was on defense, answering questions like, ‘What happened?’ when I didn’t fucking know.
But you have to tell people something, right?
Everyone is in on your worst moment, judging you, wondering where it went wrong, who did what, and which one of us cheated.
It sucked.” I inhaled deeply and continued.
“In that way, we were in it together. We bonded over our misery and as much as I didn’t want to talk about it, I was brutally honest. I told her, ‘I miss my friend. I miss the easy stuff. I don’t want you back, I don’t want to try again, but I want to wish you well.
It would be nice if we could at least say that much publicly.
’ And now…we are friends. Better than we were before, I think.
No pressure to perform, no tiptoeing around tricky subjects… just the easy stuff. It’s a relief.”
Cooper hummed. “That’s good. I can’t imagine dealing with a public divorce. That must have been difficult.”
I studied his strong profile and continued.
“Yeah. The reality is that I don’t have a low-profile job.
I didn’t play football to become famous, but I used to get mentioned in sports podcasts and blogs and whatever.
I dated a beautiful woman, and that was news on a slow news day.
People magazine wanted an exclusive on our wedding day.
My agent and the Devils’ publicist were all for it.
Alli and I didn’t mind, either. It was fun.
Until it fell apart and rando reporters wanted the inside scoop of our demise. ”
“And now she’s with someone who’s more famous and—”
I barked a laugh. “Dude. That’s like saying Elvis Presley is more famous than Wood Hollow High’s prom king. I’m a big fat nobody in that scenario, and I’m okay with it.”
“You wouldn’t have signed a new contract if you were okay with it,” he commented gently.
“Okay…true.” I nodded. “True. But I don’t care about fame.”
“Then why does the final season redo matter?” He set a hand on my elbow. “I’m not trying to put you on the spot, I’m just curious.”
“Funny you should ask. I’ve been thinking about this a lot.
” I leaned forward, suddenly intense. “I don’t need the money or the spotlight.
I like the idea of positive press or at least press about my game rather than a failed marriage, but if I get attention for coming back, I should do something with it.
Like sponsor a cause and raise a shit-ton of dough.
It could be for wildlife conservation, animal shelters, youth sports, or…
I don’t know. Something important. Something I can be proud of. ”
Cooper laced our fingers and kissed my knuckles. “That’s a great idea. I love it.”
That meant more coming from him than he might ever know, but I was awkward with compliments. “I’m full of big ideas and noble intentions. Or I’m full of shit. Who knows?”
“I know,” he said in a low sexy timbre that turned me inside out.
And that was that.
We stared at each other and smiled, hands clasped as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Later, we fumbled in my dimly lit room, removing clothing and sighing with pleasure at the first brush of skin.
We took our time, touching, kissing, sucking, stroking.
I slid between Cooper’s legs and took him in my mouth, swallowing his length like a porn star…
only gagging once. I jacked his cock and grinned up at him, soaking in the sweetness of his affectionate gaze.
Christ, I couldn’t remember sex ever feeling so carefree and easy.
I was comfortable with him in ways that were impossible with a woman.
Sure, we both had dicks and that probably had something to do with it, or maybe it was all Cooper.
The rugged lumberjack with a quiet, commanding presence was a force unto himself, and I wanted to be wherever he was in any way he’d let me.
I tongued his balls, flattened my tongue from the base of his cock to the tip. He moaned, grabbing my hair, wordlessly asking for more. I would have let him fuck my face…no problem. But I was hoping for something else.
I stroked him lazily. “Can I fuck you? I’ll go slow. I can make it good for you. If you’ll let me.”
Cooper tugged at my hair and bent to lower his mouth to mine. “Yes.”
I kissed him again as I reached for supplies. “Stay just like that. I want to see you.”
He gestured for the lube. “It’s been a while. We’re gonna need a lot of that stuff.”
“I got half a bottle, and I’m not afraid to use it,” I joked in a shaky tone. “But, um…let me get a towel.”
“Good thinking.”
I was gone for less than a minute and returned to find Cooper with his thighs spread, fingering his ass. “Hey, that’s my job.”
He chuckled as I swatted him away and took over, filling him with two fingers, three. Fuck, it was a sexy show. Cooper’s big body opening for me, his eyes at half-mast, his hand wrapped around his cock.
“I’m ready,” he grunted. “Just…”
“I know.” I withdrew and scrambled to find the condom I’d dropped on the mattress. I tore the foil and rolled it on, adding even more lube. “You know how you’re always telling me to relax? It’s your turn, baby. This python isn’t gonna fit if you don’t loosen up for me.”
Cooper snickered. “Python? I’m fucking an overgrown manchild.”
“Technically, I’m doing the fucking,” I countered, tapping my cock at his entrance.
“Then get on with it, Anderson. Let me feel that big dick of yours.”
Jesus. No pressure.
I licked my bottom lip and pushed—and oh, my freaking God, I was never gonna be the same again.
He was so tight, so hot, so hard. I glanced at our joined bodies in awe.
Cooper was big and hairy and undeniably masculine.
It felt so natural to let him take control.
It was what he did best. He was the boss, the dad, the guy who’d know what to do in any crisis.
Yet he was giving me this…honor, privilege.
It was proof of trust, and damn, I wasn’t going to let him down.
I moved by inches, so slow that my arms trembled with the effort not to collapse. “Is this okay?”
“Yeah, but…”
I rolled my hips experimentally, loving his hiss of pleasure. “What? Say it.”
Cooper gave a strangled laugh. “Fuck me, Silas. Let’s see what that python of yours can do.”
I rocked back and forth, eliciting another moan. “Tsk, tsk. Taunting the quarterback.”
“What are you gonna do? Call foul for unsportsmanlike conduct?”
I rested my forehead on his and chuckled. “Cool it, asshole. This is a serious moment for me. I’ve never done this and this is…you. I want it to be good.”
Cooper cupped my neck and kissed my brow tenderly…so tenderly. “It’s already amazing. C’mon, baby…fuck me.”
And I did.
I started slowly, for my sake as much as his. The last thing I wanted was to be a two-pump chump. I pulled almost all the way out and languidly surged forward a couple of times. But when Cooper grabbed my ass and hiked his legs around me, I took the hint and upped the pace.
The headboard thumped against the wall, and the bedsprings creaked under our weight as I thrust harder and deeper. Just as I thought it might be too much, he’d dig his heels into my ass cheeks or bite my shoulder. I took the hint and let go.
I couldn’t hold on. I was losing control…
and he hadn’t even touched himself. Wait.
That was my job. I went to stroke him, but Cooper grunted and flipped us over.
My dick slipped out and I half wondered if he’d changed his mind.
The look in his eyes indicated that he was in the same state as I was—a man teetering on the edge.
He lowered himself on my pole, gripped his dick, and rode me hard.
I’d thought I was in trouble before, but that was nothing. I splayed my hands on his hairy chest, tweaked his nipples as I watched his euphoric expression—head tilted, jaw tight, tongue tracing his upper lip.
Oh, my God. “I’m gonna…I can’t—”
“Yes,” was all he said as we came together.
It was everything at once. Cooper’s mouth on mine, my cock pulsing in his ass, cum spurting between us. I held him close, burying my nose in his hair, shivering through wave after wave of bliss.
We took our time resurfacing to reality.
The bed was a mess, we were a mess, but none of that mattered.
I should have asked if he was okay, if I’d been too rough, or he needed anything.
That was what a sensitive lover did for his partner, right?
But Cooper was holding me now. His fingers were in my hair, and his lips were pressed to my temple.
And all I could think was that I’d better tread carefully here. This guy would be so easy to fall for.