8. Chapter 8
Chapter eight
Cooper
“ W hat kind of porn do you watch?”
Heat spreads through my throat as I choke on my coffee, coughing and spluttering. It has been like that for the past week and a half that we’ve been living together. Sutton asking me off-the-wall personal questions that she claims she needs to know to help her sell the ruse of being into me. “Sutton, you can’t ask people questions like that.”
“Why not? You can learn a lot about a person from their masturbation preferences.”
“Yeah, a lot of personal things.”
She gives me a teasing smile, leaning her elbow onto the kitchen counter. “So, tell me, what is it? Stepsister or babysitter?”
I shake my head. “Neither.”
“Oh, come on, Cooper. If not those, then what?”
“Are you telling me you watch stepsister porn?”
“What?” She frowns. “Ew, no. I have much better taste than that. I happen to like double-penny porn.”
“You what?”
“You know, a good old two d’s going in at the same time. DP and I are like this.” She twists her fingers together.
I sit there gaping. How did I not know this? Why would I know this about her? This is something deeply personal and so goddamn hot that my dick stirs awake.
My mind fills with flashes of her bent over, riding another man while I take her from the back. It doesn’t help that I know what her ass feels like nuzzled into my crotch. Three nights in a row, I’ve woken up spooning Sutton with a boner, both of which I’m fairly certain she doesn’t know.
I clear my throat. “Have you—I mean—is that something you’re interested in, in real life?”
She shrugs a shoulder. “It’s definitely something I like to read about and watch. Have I ever done it? Nope, never had the opportunity. All the guys I’ve dated in the past were more interested in threesomes with two women instead of two men, which blows my mind because most of them could barely pleasure one woman, let alone two.”
“So, what I’m hearing is, you’ve had threesomes with other women.” I rake my gaze down her body as an image of her with another woman takes over my fantasy.
She smirks. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
I nod eagerly. “Yes, yes I would.”
Sutton hops up to sit on the counter. “Not until you tell me what kind of porn you like.”
With a sigh, I close my eyes. “Do I have to?”
“Yes. It’s the only way.” Her legs swing back and forth with her anticipation.
I groan, refusing to look at her as I whisper the words. “Hentai.”
A giggle escapes her lips. She slaps her hand over her mouth, trying to cover her obvious amusement as I lay my head on the table with a groan. “I knew you would make fun of me.”
“No, no,” she laughs, her hand coming over to rest on mine. “I’m not making fun of you, I swear.”
“Your cackling isn’t convincing.”
Her laughter comes to an abrupt stop as she chokes it back. “I swear, I’m not. You just took me off guard with that answer.”
Lifting my head, I sneak a quick peek at her. She stands there with a serious look on her face. Her cheeks pinched inward as if she’s still trying to hold her amusement back.
“Okay, fine,” I say, pushing myself back until I’m flush with the chair. I cross my arms over my chest, bracing myself for whatever crazy thing will fly out of her mouth next. “What does my preference tell you?”
She sits there quietly for a moment, pondering what it could mean. Her head tilts to the side as she narrows her eyes at me like she’s studying me. “I think it means that you’re a bit of a child at heart. With a great imagination.”
I smile at that.
“Or,” she says with a wicked grin, “maybe it means that you like to watch cartoons do it like a dirty pervert. Not that I am kink-shaming or anything, but…”
“I knew it was too good to be true. Can’t you, just once, stop when you’re being kind of nice to me instead of turning into the evil witch you are?”
She leans back against the kitchen cabinets as if she’s offended.
“Oh, please. Don’t even try to act offended. You love being mean to me.”
Her lips lift again into an irresistibly devastating smile, which makes my heart stop. “You’re right. I really do.”
“Cooper, your two o’clock prospective client is here,” Janice, the group secretary, says through my phone.
“Thanks. Send them on in.”
A knock raps on my door before it opens, revealing a familiar face. Audra, Nate’s older sister, and mine by default.
“Oh, look, it’s my favorite of the Fisher siblings,” I announce, standing to round the desk and wrap her in a bear hug.
She laughs, patting me on the back. “Please. Everyone knows you’re obsessed with Nate and always have been.”
“Okay, maybe a little. But you are my favorite female Fisher sibling.”
“I’ll take it.”
“What are you doing here? Is this a social call? Because you didn’t need to make an appointment to say hi.”
She looks nervous as she sits in the chair. She’s wearing clothes I’ve never seen her wear before—a nice dress, with a cardigan sweater over it. It’s a far cry from her usual tube tops and high-waisted jeans or sweats or, hell, anything that allows her to move.
“This place is nice, Cooper. It looks like you upgraded. That old geometry teacher’s desk has nothing on this one. What is this?” Audra raps her knuckles against the desk. “Is it solid oak? Pine? Mahogany?”
“What I’m hearing is you know nothing about wood.”
“I know about some wood.” She chuckles to herself, and I shake my head, trying to ignore the obvious sexual innuendo.
“What are you doing here?”
She glances around the room, ignoring my question. “This is a nice office. Looks like they gave the new guy something sweet on his first day. Ooh, maybe I should look into changing careers like you.”
I frown at her. “Trust me, you don’t want to do that. It’s not worth it.”
She gives me a skeptical look and motions around the room. “Are you sure? Because I think it could be worth it to sit in a cushioned chair like that all day.”
“Yeah, and in said chair, you’d have to listen to rich people tell you about how sad their life is. All the time. You’d hate it. You would loathe every moment.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
Her nonchalance over listening to the rich whine about being rich concerns me. It isn’t like Audra. She lives to make fun of the more fortunate. “Seriously, what are you doing here?”
Another nervous expression crosses her face. So un-Audra-like in the way she gnaws at her bottom lip and picks at her cuticles. Her eyes darting around the room.
She tucks her growing locks behind her ear and clears her throat as she looks me in the eye as if she’s gaining all her confidence right there, psyching herself up to speak to me.
“Not a social call. I wanted your professional advice on starting my own business. Well, not my own, per se. It would be with my best friend Bel. We were thinking of opening a store.”
“Do your parents know about this?”
“No, and I would like it to stay that way until I have everything planned out.”
“Audra… Your mom and dad are going to flip. I love you, but this is going to kill them. Is that what you want? To kill your parents?”
“Dramatic much? Listen, I don’t want to completely split myself off from Mom and Dad. I have a great business idea that would run in conjunction with the floral business.”
“So this is going to be a joint business between you and your friend. Are you sure you want to get into business with a friend? As far as I’ve seen, it’s not a good idea.”
“Bel is the best. We’re both super passionate about this idea, and it doesn’t work without each other.”
“What is the business idea?”
“It’s floral preservation. We would use resin to create one-of-a-kind keepsakes for people. We even thought about hosting classes maybe once a week.”
“You’ve thought this through?”
“I have.” She dips her chin confidently. “I just need help figuring out the financial aspects. Bel and I have already started saving. But we have no idea where to begin.”
I rub at my temples. “Have you thought about dancing? You love dancing. Why don’t you do that on the side for a while if you need something other than your parents’ business to keep you fulfilled.”
“Dance for me is an escape. It’s something I do for fun, and if I start using it as something to keep my career balanced, it will kill my love for it.”
“I understand.”
“Thank you. Before we go over everything and you get too deeply involved in helping me, I have one more request. Can you keep this between us?”
I nod. “I won’t tell your parents anything until you’re ready.”
“Not Nate either.”
“Okay, so you’re not only asking me to keep secrets from your parents but from your brother too. You know he’s my best friend. I can’t and don’t keep shit from him.”
“Oh, he’s no longer your best friend.”
“If he’s not my best friend, then who is?”
“It’s obviously… You guys are obsessed with each other.” When I don’t immediately respond, she rolls her eyes. “My God, I swear you’re like two dogs sniffing each other’s butt. Stop pretending like you can’t stand each other and admit that Sutton’s your best friend, not Nate.”
“That’s blasphemy. Nate is my one and only. Don’t get it twisted.”
“Yeah, that’s what every woman wants to hear. That the man they’re in a relationship with considers his best friend his one and only instead of them.” She slow claps. “Good job, Coop. I’m sure Sutton is going to love hearing that.”
“She will say nothing. Because she still considers Vivian to be her nonromantic life partner, just like Nate is mine. And besides, Sutton and I are just faking it.”
“Men are so dumb.”
“Hey,” I snap. “Insulting my gender isn’t going to get you any help from me.”
“I’m sorry. You are so smart. The smartest, even. I’m surprised Mensa hasn’t snatched you up yet.”
I let out an unamused laugh. “Okay, that’s enough. Now, let’s start with your financials and credit.”
A grin splits across her face. “Thank you, thank you, Cooper. You’re not gonna regret this.”
She stays in my office for an hour, discussing her plans and what options she might have for her business idea. Do I agree with her idea of striking out on her own without her parents? Not necessarily, but who am I to stop her from following her dreams? I know better than anyone what being stuck in a job you don’t want can do to you.