CHAPTER 4
LIAM
My body aches and my neck creaks as I turn the key and let myself into the apartment.
Which is understandable, considering work has been kicking my ass for a week now, and I don’t get home until it’s dark outside.
Taking my shoes off in the hallway, I empty my pockets on the counter and leave my bag on a chair while my gaze sweeps the living room, searching for Cooper.
There is no sign of him, but the low murmur of the TV tells me exactly where I’ll find him.
I pad softly to the bathroom and take a quick shower, letting the hot water soothe my aching muscles.
I change into a clean T-shirt and boxer-briefs while my stomach practically tries to eat itself from the inside out.
I know I should be heading straight to the kitchen, but I need something else first. Something more important.
The dim light from the TV screen falls on the big couch facing it when I venture into the living room.
And on Coop’s sleeping form.
A smile pulls at my lips as I take him in—sprawled on his back, in his rumpled T-shirt and black underwear, his chest rising and falling evenly, soft exhales escaping his parted lips—and I swear, my heart skips a beat at how adorable he looks.
It’s second nature at this point—sliding in next to him on the couch, wrapping my arms around him as I pull him in, crowding him against the back of the couch in the process.
“Mmm… Li?” he mumbles when I nuzzle his hair and breathe in his crisp, citrus scent, the one that always reminds of home.
“Shh, baby. Go back to sleep,” I say against his hair, and my earlier smile widens when he shakes his head, grumbling.
“Oh, man, did I fall asleep again? I even put on a stupid movie to make sure I stayed awake.” He burrows deeper.
“You’re tired, Coop. You can’t help it. Plus, I like finding you like this when I get home.”
He pulls back just enough so he can narrow his eyes at me.
“Like what?”
“Hogging the whole couch. Drooling. Snoring.”
He gasps, and I have to fight not to laugh at the indignant expression on his face.
“I don’t snore. You take that back right now.”
“Can’t take back the truth, buddy.”
“I hate you,” he mutters, but his eyes are soft. Lovely.
“Do you?”
“Yes, definitely.” He cranes his neck, bringing his mouth so close, I can already taste him. My eyes dip to his lips, and his eyes sparkle because he knows the effect he has on me. “You’re a bad, bad fiancé.” A brush of his lips. “And I missed you like hell today.”
“Fuck, Coop,” I only manage to utter before I fall into him, swallowing the sigh that escapes him, loving the way his whole body seems to melt when I take over, how he always surrenders completely to what he wants, to what he needs.
“How was your day at work?” I whisper roughly as I watch his hazy, half-lidded blue eyes.
“Good.” He smiles softly, a private smile he has only for me. “Dylan booked the venue.”
I nod, the impulse to trace the corner of his smile with my thumb too strong to resist.
Handing over things to Dylan and letting him have free rein over all preparations was the best decision we could have made. He’s fast, efficient, keeps us up to date at all times, and it’s almost like he can read our minds.
It’s all worth it just to see Cooper smile like this.
“We have our venue.” Some days, I still can’t believe it. This. Everything.
Some days, I still think I will wake up and this will all have been just a dream.
But he’s always there when I wake up.
“We have our venue, our best man and woman, and our officiant.” He grins, and I groan.
“Speaking of my dad, he didn’t text you with his idea of turning the reception into a murder mystery, did he?”
“No,” he answers quickly.
Too quickly.
“Are you sure?”
He chews the inside of his cheek before he sighs dejectedly.
“Okay, he texted me. But I let him down easy.”
“That’s good.”
“Told him we’ll fix something up after our honeymoon.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
We look at each other for all of two seconds before we’re chuckling, trying to kiss but failing because it’s impossible to kiss and laugh at the same time.
And it only gets worse when a loud growl pierces the quiet.
“Was that your stomach?” Cooper’s voice shakes with barely-controlled laughter.
“Afraid so.”
“Oh, good. For a moment, I thought you were turning into a werewolf.”
“Did Maddy slip you one of her books again?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Liar. He loves all the paranormal smut Nate’s girlfriend introduced him to. But before I can tease him some more about it, he goes on.
“Why didn’t you eat something when you came home? I left food for you in the kitchen.”
He says it so easily, like it doesn’t make my chest ache.
I gather him closer, close enough that his body lies half on top of mine.
Close enough that my hand slips under his T-shirt and I feel him shiver when I stroke his back.
Close enough that our legs tangle in a perfect mess.
“I had other priorities,” I tell him truthfully.
He nibbles on his bottom lip, the mischief in his eyes plain as day.
“Like what?”
“This. You.”
I can feel the way his breathing changes. I can see the mischief bleed out and morph into something else, something warm and mine.
Something I can’t live without.
“Can I tell you something, Li?”
“Anything.”
He doesn’t speak immediately, he just peers into me, his fingers fisting my T-shirt, his body clinging to mine.
“Sometimes, when you say things like that, my chest feels like it hurts so bad. It’s never hurt like this before you. But it’s the good kind of hurt, you know?”
My throat is tight as I nod. Because yes, I know it perfectly well.
“Do you feel like this too?” he whispers in a small, vulnerable voice that has my arms tightening around him.
“Yeah, Coop. All the time.”
The relief in his expression makes my heart pound.
Because it’s the relief you feel when you know you’re not alone in this.
He exhales heavily when he lays his head in the crook of my neck, burying his nose against my throat.
“Was it like this for you back then? When we were in high school and you started feeling things for me?”
His question gives me pause.
“Yes and no.”
He makes a humming sound, his soft breath puffing against my throat.
“What do you mean?”
“It was… different,” I say as memories of my moments with Cooper trickle in slowly, filling me with a strange sort of nostalgia.
“You were my best friend. The guy I played video games with almost every afternoon when we weren’t sweating our asses off on the basketball court, or racing our bikes until we were dead, or burning all our pocket money shooting aliens.
Then, suddenly, you were more. So much more. ”
I feel him pull back, lifting his head so he can look at me, so I can peer into his eyes while I speak.
“I loved it when you sought me out. Every time you put your head on my shoulder, or wanted my arms around you, or snuggled against me, you made my heart beat so hard. It was pure torture, but I thought I could die of happiness.” I chuckle now—now that I know how things turned out, now that he’s in my arms, his warm body tangled with mine.
“I was also scared shitless of doing anything that might make you uncomfortable.”
His blue eyes are wide as he listens raptly to every word. Sometimes, I forget I’ve never actually gone into detail about my feelings back then.
“Like what?” he asks in a breathless whisper.
“I don’t know. Like accidentally hold you too much, or give in and rub my thumb against your pulse every time I cupped your nape.”
God, I can’t even begin to count the times I had to stop myself from doing that.
A playful sparkle bleeds into Coop’s gaze as he presses tighter to me, my need for him rearing its head when I feel his dick twitch against my hip.
“So, you mean you never thought about making out with me?” he murmurs in a low voice that travels from his body to mine.
“That you never thought about what it would be like to lock my bedroom door during one of our high-school sleepovers and slip in a casual kiss on my neck? Trail it up, and up, until you found my mouth and fed me all your feelings, just like that?”
The light from the TV is plenty enough to see how blown Cooper’s pupils are right now.
Fuck, he’s really imagining it.
“Would you have liked that, baby?” I whisper hoarsely, applying just enough pressure on the small of his back so his cock rubs against my hip.
His lips part in a quiet gasp that pours fire into my veins.
“Are you thinking about us making out on your bed? We would have had to be so quiet so no one would hear us.”
It’s a fantasy—I would have never actually done anything to jeopardize our friendship—but it sure is fun and hot, thinking about it now.
I watch his throat move as he swallows. He peeks at me with his baby blues and nods, sending my pulse haywire. But it’s when his eyes drop to my mouth and he licks his lips that I know I’m seconds away from mauling him.
“Tell me what’s on your mind right now, Coop.”
“I want to make out with you so bad, Li.”
Fuck, this man is definitely going to be the death of me.
“Give me your mouth,” I practically growl, and I feel him shiver.
“But the pact…” he trails off, and, despite how gone he already looks, that glint of competitiveness never leaves his eyes.
I’m pretty sure my smile is all teeth.
“Are you saying you can’t make out with me without us ending up fucking?”
The earlier glint flares into a full-on flame.
“Of course I can.”
“Prove it then.” I pull him fully on top of me, and feel every perfect inch of his body on mine. I cup his face, thumbing the smile that curls his lips. “Make out with me, Coop.”
I can taste that devilish smile when he leans down and kisses me.
His hands frame my face, but they don’t stay still.
They caress my cheeks before they slide into my hair, touching, always touching.
His mouth moves on mine, and it’s almost reverent.
Like he’s taking it all in, drinking in every moment, every sensation. Like it’s precious to him.
Like I’m precious to him.
It hurts. It hurts so much, just like he said.
My arm wraps fully around him, and he melts into me the way I can never get enough of. I part his lips and sink inside, losing myself in him. Nothing else matters to me but this. Him.
His touch. His smile. His love.
I ache for you, Coop. In every possible way.
He holds on to me tighter, as if he heard me. And when he sighs into the kiss, I repeat the words out loud, needing him to know.
His shiny eyes are all I remember before he makes me forget all about eating.