Chapter 27 #2
I’ve never laughed this much while with someone, but it doesn’t surprise me. In the thick of it, the room pulsing with tension, everything about this is right.
“All of them.”
“What? They make me hotter or something?” She’s joking, I’m not.
I nip at one on her hip bone. “So.” Another nip. “Fucking.” Nip. “Hot.”
As I kiss up her other leg, my mouth pauses before touching the scarred skin.
“That’s not so beautiful.” Sutton’s tone is meek, the opposite of her. Broken and reeks of a sad memory.
“I don’t agree. I think it is.” I peer up at Sutton from my position below her. “Can I touch it?”
She nods her head, hesitantly. I run my thumb over the white scar, feeling it’s raised edges. The skin around it tight, its texture marred from the stitches. “So beautiful,” I tell her.
“Wait. Cooper, I need to say this.” I pause, starring up at her. “I’m sorry I blamed you for my injury and having to quit hockey.”
“You don’t need to apologize.”
“I do, and I’m so sorry.” I nod. “I know it wasn’t your fault, but…you were the closest to me and easiest to blame. I was already so mad at you Cooper, but I know better. I know it’s my fault.”
I whisper in my kisses, tell her it’s not her fault. My fingers trail up and down her inner thighs. Sutton lets out a hiss when I kiss the scar.
I immediately pull away. “Are you okay? Did that hurt?”
“Good kind of pain. I promise.”
My mouth returns to her freckled skin. Kissing the scar again, then finally making my way to her center.
Sutton grabs my chin between two fingers, pulling me away and looking up at her. She rubs her thumb over my bottom lip, rubbing her into me.
“Be gentle with me. I’m not…I don’t—”
“I know what you need.” I blow lightly on her. “I’ll take care of you.” There’s a subtle nod. A subtle yet excited smirk. “Tap my shoulder if it’s too much.”
“Okay.”
The word barely leaves her lips before I’m on her. Giving her what she needs, taking what I want. Which is her. There’s no one or anything else.
Sutton’s back arches when I push a finger into her. My other hand has to hold on to her waist to keep her from withering and knocking us both over.
Dragging her between my teeth, her legs close in on my head.
“Shit. I didn’t—”
“Squeeze harder next time.”
Maybe I should have let her finish her comment, but I don’t want to hear about her with anyone else. I already had to see her on a date, already know she wants someone else.
But tonight, she’s mine.
And I’m hopelessly hers.
My heart beats, crashing into my chest in Morse code. I listen and realize my earlier thought was wrong. I don’t just want her to be mine. I want to be hers, maybe even more than the opposite.
“Cooper.” My name on her lips like this is something I’ll never be able to unhear. Not that I’d try to anyway.
Sutton tightens, I can feel it on my mouth and underneath my hand. Her abs go taut.
She curses and says my name again. And again. It drips down my spine, furrowing low in my stomach, before the next thing I know, I’m teetering over the edge with her.
I keep going till I can hear her breathing settle. Pull my mouth away from her, and stand up. I try to discreetly adjust myself, but my light gray sweats do a shit job at hiding the mess I made.
“Oh,” Sutton says. “You—”
“Came from getting you off. Sounds about right.” I sigh-laugh.
“Has that…uh…has that happened before?”
“Never.”
That appears to make her happy. I lean in and kiss her, addicted to the feel and taste. Sutton smiles against me.
I grab some paper towels and wet them, turning back to Sutton. Once she’s cleaned up and dressed, we head out, grabbing the duffle stuffed with our rain-soaked clothes and head to my car. I leave two twenties on the table.
“The rain stopped. Wanna put the top down?”
“Yeah, why not.
“Want to come upstairs?” Sutton asks me as I pull into the guest parking spot at her apartment, cutting the ignition.
It’s past midnight. My night of her being mine technically over, but I don’t argue. I open the door for her and scoop her into a piggyback ride when she wobbles.
I end up staying the night unintentionally.
We stay up late into the morning on the couch talking. A movie plays in the background, but it’s nothing more than white noise, neither of us able to pull our attention off of each other.
We talk for hours. Recounting stories from our shared childhood, moments in college we missed or were on opposite sides of the room to avoid each other.
Every few minutes, Sutton has to shush me, sometimes pushing a finger into my lips, then gesturing with her head, curls moving with her in the direction of Elliot’s room. I kiss her whenever I feel like it.
Sitting crisscross and turned toward each other, our knees bump. Our hands are occupied with a serious and never-ending game of thumb wrestling.
It’s almost four when she yawns the first time. When the movie ends, I carry a dozing Sutton to her bed.
“Stay,” she breathes out. Eyes shut peacefully, chest rising and falling after she drifts off.
I know I should leave, but I don’t. I selfishly walk around her bed and pull back the comforter. Her bed is comfortable, but it’s being next to her that has me falling asleep quickly and having the best three hours of sleep I’ve had in months.
I don’t expect anyone to be up when I get home, but walking into the kitchen, I find Jaxon and Dawson sitting over bowls of cereal—some new protein cereal that tastes like stale Cheerios, but Captain Nutrition approved us to eat.
“Well, well, well. Where have you been, young man?” Dawson asks jokingly.
Jax laughs around a big bite, a strawberry falling from the spoon.
I pull a bowl from the cabinet and grab the yogurt from the fridge instead. Layering it with berries and peanut butter while they stare at me.
“Don’t worry,” Jaxon finally breaks their silence. “I tracked his location. He was at Sutton and Elliot’s, and we both know it wasn’t for Elliot.”
“Did you and Red have a sleepover?”
“Or was she trapping you there against your will? Roasting you to an inch of your life.”
“We watched a movie, and I fell asleep.”
“Uh-huh.” They make eyes at each other and leave it at that.