Chapter 48
STEPHANIE
I greedily lean into him and let my lips graze over the coarse whiskers of his beard, enjoying the sensation of it, and then slide my mouth to his.
My hands slowly play with the slightly curled ends of his hair—which I can tell is going to become an addiction—and I do my best to show him that I have no intention of stopping this kind of activity any time soon.
He lets out a low groan as his hands slide around my waist and to my lower back, pulling me into him. I do nothing to resist.
Suddenly the sound of voices—coming from Deke’s side of the duplex—stops us. “You have got to be kidding.” Cooper groans against my lips. “Who can it possibly be now?”
He steps away, and I try to calm my breathing. Cooper turns and mirrors my position, looping his little finger around mine and squeezing, just as Cheryl opens the door. She sees us and stops in her tracks.
Cheryl’s lipstick choice today is hot pink, and she’s paired it with a light-green dress that cinches at the waist, accentuating her ample curves.
“Why hello, you two darlings. I didn’t know you were here.” Her eyebrows go up as she notices our entwined pinkies.
I can’t form any words, so I’m relieved when Cooper offers up an answer. “Yeah. Flew in last night. We’re out here . . . taking care of a few things this morning.”
“We stopped by to grab some of Lou’s sand toys.
” She takes a bag of toys out of the deck box.
When she stands back up, she lets out a stifled cough, her shocked expression focused on my face.
She drops her voice to a whisper and leans in.
“You’ve got some beard burn there, Steph.
” She gestures all around her mouth, then points to my face.
My hand, and Cooper’s eyes, fly to my face, where I can feel that I do, indeed, bear the signs of being thoroughly kissed by a man with a beard.
“Some Aquaphor should clear that up by morning. I’ll let you two get back to taking care of a few things.
” Then she turns and walks into the house—just as Marco appears in the still-open doorway.
Marco is a huge mountain of a man who is at least six foot three and 240 pounds.
He’s pure muscle but all heart. He’s a former rugby player that now runs the resident restaurant and bar on the island, Sam’s (not to be confused with Sam the person, who just had a baby).
“Hey.” His chin flicks upward in greeting.
“I wondered who Cheryl was chatting with out here. Great news about the baby, right? Have you seen her?” Marco adores kids, and his smile is all straight, white teeth.
“Saw her last night.” Cooper answers again, because I’m afraid that if I talk, I’ll simply announce to everyone that my lips were just on Cooper’s.
“Can’t wait to hold the jelly bean myself.” He looks over at me, and his eyes immediately catch on the beard burn. “Worth it?” His eyes shift to mine as he waits for me to answer.
I try to minimize the school-girl smile fighting to spread across my face, so I simply nod.
“Good for you.” He gets a beach towel. “Some Aquaphor should clear that up.” Then he looks back at Cooper, gives him a wry smirk, and goes back in the house.
I drop my voice so it won’t carry into the condo. “How did they both?—”
“No idea.” Cooper looks as stunned as I am.
“Has Marco had a beard before?”
“No clue.”
Cooper looks at me and surveys the damage. “Sorry about that.” He reaches up and gently touches my face.
“Are you really?”
“Not at all.” His eyes spark with something sultry and dead sexy as he turns toward me, his expression filled with a fire I want to pour gasoline on. This man will be my undoing.
“JUMPER!” Lou runs through the open doorway and flies into Cooper’s arms. I love Lou—and I’m glad she loves Cooper—but I decide that I’m done watching other women run into Cooper’s arms.
We begrudgingly decide our alone time is over and make our way inside with Lou. We help Cheryl and Marco make their way around the condo, gathering snacks and art supplies for Lou, since she’s staying with Cheryl until Deke and Sam return.
“—and Mr. Marco’s pancakes were shaped like letters.” Lou is telling us about her morning, but my mind is back on the deck.
Would it be rude to tell Cheryl and Marco to take Lou and leave because we have some more talking (kissing) we need to do?
They must hear my thoughts, because they are suddenly making their way to the door, all of Lou’s stuff in tow.
“See you two later.” Cheryl turns around and waves. “Or maybe not. We’ll see.” Her brows go up as she shrugs, then she pulls the door shut, and they are all gone.
Cooper turns to me with a grin on his face.
“Are you going to kiss me again?” I hear the anticipation in my voice.
He chuckles. “Did you want me to?”
“Absolutely!”
And so he does.
Some time later, we start walking down the beach to Sam’s, Marco’s bar and grill, for lunch. “I have questions.” I was too invested in the kissing earlier to ask.
“I already told you that you can ask me anything you want.” He turns around and walks backwards, facing me.
“What have you told Adeline about me?”
He abruptly stops walking, and I slam into his hard chest with an “umph.”
He doesn’t answer right away, seemingly weighing his options. “Why do you want to know?”
“Why wouldn’t I want to know? According to her, you’ve been saying some pretty nice things about me,” I reach out, loop my fingers into his belt loops, and pull myself closer to him, “and I'd love to hear what they are.”
“You’ve already been told the important stuff.” His arms come around me and pull me in.
“She said you adore me.” I wag my eyebrows up and down.
“I do adore you—that’s not a secret. At least not anymore.” He leans in for a kiss, but I evade him.
“But I want to hear a few details about how much you adore me.” I show off more expert eyebrow work.
He releases me, then shifts in the sand and pauses for a moment. “That might not be a good idea.”
What on earth did he tell her? I’m a little taken aback. “Are you joking?”
“Stephanie,” his hand comes up and scrubs through his hair, “I wasn’t kidding when I said my feelings for you have been around a long time. I didn’t hold back when I talked to my family, or Frank and Addie. They know it all, and . . . I think some of it might overwhelm you right now.”
“You’re serious?” He nods.
“You’re really not going to tell me?” This is not what I was expecting.
I can see the wheels turning in his mind. His head moves up, down, and sideways. I have no idea what to make of this.
Finally he looks at me, but it doesn’t seem to relieve any stress.
He pulls out his phone and begins scrolling through something.
After what seems like an eternity, he holds out his phone.
“Here.” A text thread is open on the screen.
“I don’t delete texts, so I’ve still got the messages I sent to my family.
I’ve scrolled back to the day we met.” He runs his hand over his beard.
“There aren’t many things that make me nervous, but I will admit that I’m actually a little worried to have you read this.
” I can tell he’s serious. “But you can if you want to.” He extends his hand even more.
I look at the open phone screen and see a picture of me sitting on a bench with Lou in my lap. We’re both looking at my phone and laughing at something. I look up at Cooper. He’s genuinely nervous.
I close his hand over the phone and push it back to him.
He hesitates. “You don’t want to read it?”
“I do—but only when you want me to.”
I see the wave of relief wash over him. “Stephanie, I said you could read it, and I meant it.”
“I don't want to read it if it’s going to make you uncomfortable, because,” for all the glorious kissing we’ve been doing, there are things I haven’t said yet, and now I’m the one feeling a little nervous, “because I really like you too. A lot.”
He starts to laugh. “After how we’ve spent most of the morning, I’d made that assumption, but it’s still nice to hear.”
I give him a smile full of sass and fire and then wrap my arms around his neck to pull him in for a kiss.
He immediately turns his face. “We can’t. We need to let your face heal. I’m not going to be responsible for any more beard burn.”
“Cooper Mallory,” I step back and cross my arms with a fury in my eyes, “you kiss like a god, and now that I know that, it’s unkind of you to deprive me!”
“To be clear, you want to show up at the most public place on this island with even more of a red rash all over your face?” His eyebrows are up, challenging my sincerity.
Though no one is around to hear us, I drop my voice and move even closer. “I don’t want to—but I promise it will be worth it.” It’s a five minute walk to Sam’s Bar & Grill.
We show up thirty minutes later.