9. Chapter 9
Chapter nine
Sutton
“ B e cool.” I elbow Cooper as we walk across Toasted, my favorite breakfast spot, to meet my mother.
She’s been blowing up my phone for the past two weeks, and I’ve been dodging her concerned calls with expert precision.
Cooper places his hand on my lower back, guiding me through the throngs of people and tables. The barely there press of his fingers into my soft cotton tee that is meant to be comforting has me spiraling in the opposite direction.
Cooper is voluntarily touching me. And it isn’t for my mom to see. She hasn’t spotted us yet.
No, he’s touching me for some other reason, and it has me on edge.
I halt my movement and look over my shoulder at him. “Stop it,” I snap at him through my fake smile.
His head tilts as he examines my face with confusion. “Stop what?”
“Touching me. It’s inappropriate.”
“I’m lost. What exactly is inappropriate about the way I’m touching you?”
I take a deep breath through my nose. “Nothing would be wrong if you weren’t who you are.”
A grin tugs at Cooper’s mouth as his fingers gently move back and forth on my lower back. “What’s so wrong about a boyfriend touching his girlfriend?” he asks in a flirty tone.
I lift a finger and point in his face. “Stop.”
He doesn’t stop. No, his smile only grows with the movement of his hand.
“Cooper,” I growl through gritted teeth. “Stop.”
His hand falls from my back, and I almost regret saying anything. Almost.
“Listen, my mom is no fool. She will see through your bullshit if you play it up too hard. Okay?”
“So what do you want me to do? Sit there silently like a monk?”
“Yes.” I clap my hands together. “Do that, it’s perfect.”
He frowns down at me. “I was joking.”
I turn around in time to see my mother catch sight of us. Her gaze narrows from across the room as she scowls.
“No time to change the plan,” I whisper-yell at Cooper, grabbing hold of his sleeve and dragging him behind me until we’re standing in front of the retro teal booth.
“Hello, Mother,” I greet, opening my arms for a big hug. I had hoped to whisk her into a giant bear hug the moment I saw her and squeeze her so tightly that one of two things would happen: she would either pass out from lack of oxygen and then wake up disoriented and forget all about why we’re here. Or she would get lost in the magic that is my hug. I mean, a mother-daughter hug is something beyond special. Add in the fact that I am her only child and am growing up so fast, and she should be a goner in zero seconds.
She stands still, eyeing me seriously as she wraps her arms around my back and allows the magic of my hug to take place. Soon, the tension will leave her, and then bam , lost to the memories in no time.
I’m about to congratulate myself when she pulls away far too quickly for my only-child spell to have ensnared her.
“Oh, no you don’t,” I say, pulling her back into me.
“That’s enough, Sutton.” She disengages herself from me.
I grumble but let her go reluctantly.
She gestures for us to take a seat, and I slide into the booth across from her before Cooper follows.
My mother stares at me, waiting for me to speak first. It’s a tactic she used to pull on me when I was growing up.
Well, that’s too damn bad, because I’ve had years to perfect this game with her, and I refuse to be the first one to talk.
We can sit here all night for all I care.
Silence fills the space. And Cooper’s gaze volleys between me and my mother.
Minutes pass without any sounds. Cooper stares at the menu through squinted eyes, pretending to look it over until he can’t take it anymore and clears his throat.
“I’m going to use the restroom. Order me a number fourteen and a water if the server comes by before I’m back.” And then he’s gone. The man practically bolts from his seat and then rushes around a group of teenage boys, nearly knocking one of them out in his rush to get to the bathroom faster.
Once he’s out of sight, my mom opens her mouth like she’s going to concede and be the first to say something when a server stops at the foot of the booth.
“What can I get you lovely ladies to drink?” she asks with a charming smile. She’s definitely going to get a big tip from me if she continues to interrupt like my guardian angel.
My mom replies with her usual brunch order. “A flight of mimosas and a Denver Omelet.”
I smile. “I will have an orange juice and the sampler, please.”
The woman smiles as she writes down my order.
“Oh, actually, can you make my orange juice with extra champagne?”
“You want a mimosa?”
“Yeah, an extra-champagney orange juice.” I nod.
“Okay, got it, hun. Anything else?”
“Nope, that’s it.”
My mother clears her throat and eyes where Coop had been sitting.
“Oh shit, Cooper. I’m sorry, my boyfriend is in the bathroom, and he asked for water and a number fourteen, please.”
The server takes our menus and walks off to grab our drinks and put our order in.
Deafening silence sits between us for the longest minute of my life before she blurts out, “It’s because I never gave you a decent father figure, isn’t it?”
“Huh?”
“The man jumping. It’s got to be some sort of long-lasting negative effect of not having a father,” she explains, stroking her chin contemplatively.
I rub my temples. “I have a dad, Mom.” Albeit, I say dad in the loosest meaning of the word. The man might not deserve the title, but it’s his nonetheless.
She opens her mouth to respond just as the waitress brings over our drinks. Mom immediately sucks down one glass and starts on her second as the poor woman watches in horror. “Do you want another?” she asks as my mom finishes her second mimosa and moves on to her third and final.
My mom smiles. “I’ll take an orange juice with extra champagne.”
The woman’s eyes round, but she nods and walks away.
I sip on my juice, letting the alcohol swish in my mouth for a moment as I try to stall until Cooper gets back.
Where is he ? Doesn’t he know that he’s my buffer?
A silent buffer, but still. My mother hates yelling at me in the presence of another. Hence why I always make sure Vivian is around after I do something particularly motherly rage-inducing.
She cocks an eyebrow at me, and I go rigid.
Shit, shit, shit.
She’s going to explode on me. I can feel it.
I glance around the room, looking for the best way to flee, when I catch sight of Cooper striding back to the table.
I sag in relief as he sits beside me, pressing his thick thigh into mine.
With my focus on Cooper, my mother takes her opening. She reaches across the table and smacks my upper arm.
“Ow.” I grab the spot she hit. It didn’t actually hurt, but she doesn’t need to know that. “Really, Mom? Was that necessary?”
“Of course it was necessary, Sutton. What do you expect me to do? My daughter runs out on her wedding two weeks ago, and already, she has a new boyfriend living with her. This is necessary, and thinking that it’s not is crazy.” She pauses, looking me up and down. “Are you crazy? I think so. Do you need me to check you into a mental institution? ’Cause I will. I’ll do it, Sutton. Don’t you worry. Is this some sort of early midlife crisis? I don’t get it, Sut. I don’t. But you need to explain it to me right now. Or we are on our way to a hospital to check you in for a lovely seventy-two-hour hold. Do you understand me?”
I sigh, slumping back into the cheap vinyl seat. “Yes, Mother, I understand. But I’m not crazy. You know what is crazy? You’re questioning me about this instead of being supportive. Can’t you be like everybody else’s mom and be blindly supportive of my questionable choices?”
Her gaze narrows on me as her lips form into a tight line. It’s her pissed-off look that always had me cowering as a kid. Not today, though. Today, I will stand my ground.
“Everybody else’s mom would let their crazy-ass daughter run wild and go even more crazy. I’m not letting you get crazier. We have a family history of crazy, and I refuse to let it sink its claws into you.”
I open my mouth, ready to fight her once again, but before I can get a word out of my mouth, Cooper leans forward with a big grin on his face, jutting his hand out. “Hi, I don’t think I introduced myself. I’m Cooper. Aka the live-in boyfriend.”
My mom stares at him. Not acknowledging his hand or his words.
Cooper clears his throat, pulling his hand back. “I’m sorry for any confusion our unconventional situation might have caused.”
No, no, this was not the plan. He was supposed to be silent and look pretty.
Stick to the plan, Cooper. Stick to the plan.
“Why don’t you clear a few things up for me, then, Cooper,” she says in a calm yet scary voice that would scare anyone who didn’t know her.
With a not-as-confident smile on his face, he says through his teeth, “You know how it is. It’s”—he shrugs and waves a hand in front of his face—“stuff was”—he gestures up and down—“wow. And here we are. So yeah, it’s kind of like that. You know?”
My mom and I glance away from Cooper to give each other a twin look of confusion.
“Wow, Cooper, that cleared everything up for her. I’m glad you spoke up at this moment.” I pat him on the hand.
“Well, I’m glad he’s at least trying. Unlike you, Sutton.” She glares at me. “I’ve never, not once in my life, questioned your sanity until now. Actually, that’s a lie. I questioned a lot of things about you growing up, and the fact that you’re not a lesbian is one of them.”
I scoff. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t get it. You and Vivian would have been perfect together. It seems like a missed opportunity to me. I don’t get it.” My mom’s forehead wrinkles.
“As I’ve said a million times before, Mom, sexuality isn’t a choice. If it were, I would be all over Vivian, and Vivian would be all up in this perfect puss.”
“Don’t be so crass, Sutton, it’s unbecoming.”
I laugh. “Says the woman who told me to test drive the car before you buy it.”
“I was talking motor vehicles, and you know it.”
“Oh, okay. What about that time we went to see Forgetting Sarah Marshal when I was in middle school, and you said it was about time there was peen on screen?”
She rolls her eyes. “I don’t remember that ever happening.”
“Sure you don’t.”
My mom groans. “All I’m saying is I don’t understand what’s happening here. If you two had a romance brewing before this, why have I never heard of him before?” she asks, gesturing to Cooper.
I explain—well, explain might be a stretch.
I lie.
Because if I tell my mother the truth, she’ll tell everyone she knows about our lie, which will somehow get back to not only Dillon but also Cooper’s job, and then we’ll both be screwed. But luckily for me, Cooper interjects again. “It’s ’cause it’s all new. We’ve been friends for a while now, but there’s always been some underlying feelings. Right, Sutton?”
“Right…”
Just then, our waitress shows up and sets our plates in front of us, and once again, she’s an angel sent from the heavens with her timing.
The conversations pause as we all dig into the delicious breakfast food.
Taking a massive bite of his pancakes, Cooper gives me a small side glance and wipes his mouth with a napkin before clearing his throat. “Anyway, the reason she’s probably never brought me up, I can only assume, is because she’d gush over me, and you’d see right through her pretending we were ‘just friends,’ and she knows it. But also, she was probably afraid that if she did tell you about me, you would want to meet me, and I would become friends with you and eventually tell you all about the first time we met. She tried to make out with me, and I had to let the poor girl down. Gently.”
She giggles. I mean, full-on giggles like a schoolgirl for him. She’s eating his shit up, which is a blessing and a curse.
“I was drunk,” I grumble, swiping Cooper’s drink from his hand and taking a swig.
“That’s why I turned you down, but we both know that’s not why you made the move, baby.”
My cheeks flame. That night was embarrassing enough the first time, along with what followed that day at laser tag. I didn’t need that playing on repeat in my head for days.
Cooper’s hand finds my thigh under the table, and he squeezes. “She likes to pretend that it never happened. But I don’t. Because it was the first time we had ever met, and I knew then.”
“Knew what?” my mom asks.
“That we were going to be more than friends someday.”
I shake my head. “No he didn’t.”
He bites down on his bottom lip, tugging at the flesh as if he is debating what to say next. “I did. I can prove it.”
“How?”
He pulls out his phone and scrolls through his and Nate’s text messages until he finds what he’s looking for. He passes the phone to my mom first.
Her face softens and her shoulders relax, and then she smiles at me as she passes it back to him.
“Show me.”
“Ready to eat your words?”
“Whatever, show me.”
He hands me the phone.
There it is, the night of Rian and Amy’s baby shower.
Cooper
She’s the one.
Nate
Sarah? Please no, man. I will organize an intervention for you. She is the worst.
Noted. But no, not her. Sutton.
Really?
Yeah, she’s the one. I know it.
My heart pounds in my chest.
Cooper thought I was the one the first night we met.
Does he still feel that way?
I doubt it.
All we’ve ever done is fight since that first meeting.
He probably regrets those words.
I look from the phone to him. He gives me a small, shy smile as his hands fidget with the condensation on the sides of his cup.
I pass him back his phone as my mom asks, “Why didn’t you guys start dating then?”
“Well, you see. Cooper was hung up on this chick named Sarah. Can you believe it? He liked a Sarah. He’s a basic bitch.”
My mom snorts. “Who are you calling a basic bitch? You dated a guitarist, Sutton.”
“Don’t forget how she almost married him,” Cooper tosses out, and I poke his ribs.
He swats my hand away. “ Ow . That’s as basic as it gets. So keep your basic bitchiness to yourself and don’t go pointing fingers.”
My mom’s eyes dart between us before she starts laughing hysterically.
Cooper and I turn our glares on her as we both say, “What?”
“Nothing. I think this is absolutely brilliant.”
When neither of us responds, she continues on. “You two. You’re gonna kill each other, but also, you’re gonna fall so head over heels, it’s perfect. I don’t know what you two are doing right now, but I know it’s some sort of scheme. But all I can say is you’re perfect for each other. Sutton, baby girl, forget what I said about Vivian and you. This”—she gestures between Coop and me—“is the real deal. Willing to put money on it?”
“Mom, how many times have I told you to stop betting on my relationships? Gambling is an addiction. You don’t want to be an addict, do you?”
My mom tips her drink back. “Whatever. If you need any help with whatever this is that you’re doing, don’t come running to me. Because if I even catch a whiff of your insanity, I will have you both committed. I don’t know how I’ll do it for you, Cooper, but I will.”
“Mom, stop,” I groan.
“Don’t worry, honey. You two will still be together. I can make sure you share a little cell block. It will be pretty adorable, actually. I can see it now, you both in matching straitjackets.”
“We aren’t crazy, Mom.”
“Sure. You aren’t. Get your story straight, Sutton. People are going to have a lot of questions about a runaway bride and her new man she moved in not even a day after her failed attempt down the aisle.”
“We get it.”
“I don’t think you do. Even with everything you’ve told me, your body language suggests differently.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, trying my hardest and failing not to sound defensive.
She sighs, rolling her eyes as if I am the dumbest person she has ever met. “It means you two don’t look very cozy. Actually, you both look the opposite. A kiss might sell whatever this is you’re selling.”
“A kiss?” Cooper asks, leaning forward onto his elbows.
My mom wiggles her eyebrows. “Kiss. Right now.”
I throw my napkin on the table as I bark out a laugh, leaning back against the booth. “We aren’t going to kiss just to convince—”
Cooper’s hand is wrapped around the back of my head and his lips are on mine before I can even finish my sentence.
What the hell?
Cooper is kissing me.
Cooper is kissing me.
Cooper is kissing me .
And it’s fucking spectacular.
I tense, hands flailing for a split second as I consider pushing him off me, but then I think better of it, relaxing and sinking into him as his tongue sweeps across my bottom lip, coaxing my lips open for him.
Everything inside me comes alive as his tongue rakes over mine. I clench my hands in his shirt, wanting to climb on top of him to get a better angle.
Cooper breaks the kiss, much to my displeasure. His eyes are still closed as he turns back to face my mother in the booth. I quickly let go of his shirt and do the same.
“If you continue to kiss like that, you won’t have any problems convincing people.” She stands and grabs her purse, winks, and then spins on her heels, leaving us to watch her as she walks out of the diner.
I lick my lips, not wanting to even glance in Cooper’s direction. Do we address the kiss? Do I pretend like nothing happened? Do I pretend it didn’t get my pussy throbbing? Because I’m not sure that is possible right now.
Cooper clears his throat. “Well, your mom is nice. I liked her.”
So pretending it never happened, it is.
I grab my drink, suddenly thirsty, and suck down the remaining contents before reaching across the table to finish off the rest of my mother’s mimosa.
With champagne courage, I respond, “Everybody does. She’s really great. Especially when she’s trying to have us committed to a psych ward. I mean, I don’t get it. So what if we’re being a little impulsive? That doesn’t mean we need to be committed, right?”
“I don’t know, it kind of sounds nice. Like a mini vacation with Jello. Maybe we should call her back and tell her we’re interested.”
“Interested in a trip to the looney bin?”
He hisses through his teeth. “I do have a lot I wanted to do this weekend, though. And if we left, Dillon would get the house.” He shakes his head as if talking himself out of it. “We can’t do it.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“But what if we have her commit Dillon?” He lifts his brow. “It’s a good plan, right?”
I tilt my head to the side. “We could make him look crazier than he already is.”
“Okay, let’s brainstorm.”
I pull a notebook from my purse and begin writing ways to make Dillon the Douche look crazy. Then I add a bullet point below it. “Okay, Cooper, shoot your shot. What do you think we do to him.”
“I say we make him think we’re doing stuff to him, and it makes him so crazy paranoid that he starts acting insane about everything, and then he doesn’t know what to do, and he assumes that we are screwing with everything, so he’s scared to go in the house until he can’t take it anymore. He has to leave because he’s terrified of us.”
I clap my hands together. “I love it. I’m writing it down.” I write increase paranoia beside the first bullet point before creating another one.
“What do you think about us making him shit his pants all the time?” I ask, chewing on the end of my pen.
When Cooper doesn’t respond immediately, I look up from my paper to see him staring at the pen resting on my lips.
He clears his throat. “I love it, but how are we gonna do that? Because that kind of seems like poisoning?”
“It’s not poisoning if he doesn’t ask us what’s in the stuff he’s eating.”
“Kind of still sounds like poisoning.”
I shrug. “Sounds like a him problem. I say we buy a lot of stuff high in fiber and maybe we decide to get some of that colon-cleansing stuff.” I smile. “Maybe you and I want to go on a cleanse. And so we just happen to leave it out. And he loves to eat and drink things that aren’t his, so it’s perfect.”
Cooper crosses his arms and tilts his head as he looks me over. “Why do I feel as if you’ve thought about poisoning people with laxatives often?”
I beam. “Maybe I just think that shitty people deserve shitty things to happen to them.”
Cooper nods as he waits for the bill. His eyes widen when he glances at the total. “What did you and your mom drink before I sat down?”
“Just the usual.”
“The usual cost you guys sixty dollars in drinks alone?”
“What can I say, we have expensive taste.”
Cooper doesn’t reply as he stares at me with disbelief.
“Are you going to pay or should I—” I lift my purse.
Cooper pulls his credit card out of his wallet. “You are a menace.” His voice is teasing and leaves no hint of actual anger.
“I don’t know why you’re looking so grumpy. You make so much more money than me. You’re banking, and this is your first year at this new job.”
Cooper opens his mouth to probably argue. I’ll never know, though, because I add, “Hush, boy. The pay-wage gap is real.”
He sighs, dropping his head back on the booth. “I can’t with you.”
“You can and you will.”
He peeks at me with one eye. “Oh really? So willing, so easily.”
“Please, that kiss told me everything I needed to know.”
His brows shoot up. “And what was that?”
“That you, my sir, want me.”
He leans in close enough to whisper in my ear. “That kiss was anything but one-sided.”
Heat flames my cheeks as silence stretches between us.
With a smirk, Cooper gets up from the table, leaving me sitting there in shock.
Sutton
SOS!
Answer, you hoe bag. I need you. Now.
Vivian!
Vivian
Jeez, it took me less than five minutes to respond, don’t get your panties in a wad.
Rude! I’m in crisis and you mock me. Shame, shame, shame!
My apologies, my lord. Please do tell me about your crisis, I am all ears.
Cooper kissed me.
Shut. The. Front. Door.
Now you get the urgency of the SOS?
Spill. Where? When? How?
At Toasted with my mom watching us.
…Your mom watched you two kiss?
Yeah, that’s not even the worst of it. The psycho actually suggested it.
I feel like this needs to be a face-to-face conversation because WTF!
The usual spot?
I’ll be there in twenty.
I grab my car keys from the dish by the front door as Cooper comes walking down the hall.
His eyes catch on the keys. “Where are you going?”
“Coffee run.” I turn, opening the door.
“Hold on, I’ll go with you. Just let me grab my wallet.”
“No,” I shout, slamming the door behind me and running to my car. I put the key in the ignition and begin backing out as Cooper stands on the porch, watching me with his arms crossed in disappointment.
I roll down my window and yell out “I promise to bring you back something” as I speed away as fast as my Volvo will take me.
When I arrive at the coffee shop, Vivian is standing on the curb with a muffin in one hand and a coffee in the other. The moment she spots my car, she jogs toward me. I pull into the closest parking spot, and she opens the passenger door and slides into the seat.
Swiveling her hips, she faces me. “When are you going to fuck?”
I rear my head back. “Excuse me? I’ll have you know I will never, ever have sex with Cooper.”
Vivian snorts. “Sure you won’t, and I’m never, ever going to eat this banana nut muffin.”
She broadcasts her point by immediately taking a bite of said muffin. My reflexes kick in, and I swat it from her mouth. The muffin flies at my windshield, crumbling into small pieces as we both gawk, speechless.
Vivian turns, the half-chewed muffin falling from her mouth as she gives me a bewildered look. “You slapped my muffin.”
“That’s what she said,” I whisper, still shocked by my own actions.
“You slapped my muffin,” she booms again with a glare.
“And I’ll slap your crotch muffin if you insinuate that I would have sex with Cooper again,” I yell back, hands flailing.
“I hope your car is filled with crumbs from my muffins forever. I hope you clean and clean but still find crumbs for years to come. I hope the ghost of banana nut muffins haunts you and this damn car until the day we die together.”
“You did not just put a muffin curse on me. You know how much I hate cleaning a messy car.” I stomp my foot against the floorboard.
“You bet your ass I did.” She grabs the door handle, attempting to flee the scene of my crime.
“Oh, no you don’t.” I press the lock on the door, trapping her wannabe witch ass with me.
“Damn it, Sutton, you can’t hold me hostage.”
“Don’t you want to hear the entire story?”
“No.” She crosses her arms over her chest and turns to look out the window.
“Not even if I tell you if Cooper used tongue or not?”
The corner of her lips curves up, and she slowly turns to face me. “Tell me everything.”
And I do. I tell her about our crazy plans for Dillon. About my mom’s insane plan to have us committed. But mostly, I tell her about how Cooper’s touch and lips were like water, and I was beyond parched.
My cell chimes with a text alert, and I freeze as I glance at it.
Cooper
I thought you were getting coffee…
“Oh my God,” I shout, throwing my phone at Vivian.
She reads the text, then looks up at me. “You don’t think he followed you, do you?”
Oh shit.
“I didn’t until you said that.”
Is he here? Does he know I’m talking about him? How does he know?
My gaze darts from my phone to the parking lot surrounding us. I survey everything from the shrubs outside the coffee shop to the cars parked a couple businesses over.
I’m panicking.
Nothing to be alarmed at, just a small heart attack in the works over fear of being found talking about Cooper.
“I’m joking, you idiot.” She laughs. “He’s probably just wondering where in the hell his coffee is since you ran out like a madwoman and promised him you’d get him something.”
“You think so?” I chew on my bottom lip.
“Yeah.”
“Should I text him back?”
“Do you want to text him back?”
“Stop it. Be helpful, not annoying.”
“I’ll stop being annoying when you turn back into my bold and beautiful best friend again. Seriously, Sut, what is going on? Since when do you stress over a man?”
I sigh. She’s right. I’ve never been unsure or insecure. I’ve always known who I am and go after anything I want. Guys don’t make me nervous. They never have. I mean, they’re just guys, and the majority aren’t worth sweating over.
But Cooper is different.
I don’t know how, but he is.
And almost every time I’m with him, I either embarrass myself or end up in a pissy mood for the rest of the day.
I close my eyes and lay my head back against the seat. “Since when have I had to fake a relationship? Clearly, I’m a hot mess going through something.”
“Look, I understand.”
I peek at her with one eye. “Really? You understand what it’s like to go through with a marriage ceremony, only to refuse to sign the license at the end and have to enter into a stupid fake relationship bargain with a man you can barely stand to get your ex to move out?”
“No,” she says, “but I have watched a ton of rom-coms, so I feel like I can speak on the subject.”
“Um, okay…”
“Anyway, I think you need to take Cooper to town.”
“Town?”
“Yeah, pound town. Your reluctance to admit your attraction to Cooper is what’s causing these mini meltdowns.”
“Ha-ha-ha, lies.”
“Sutton, I think you like the guy and have since the moment you met him. But for some reason, you never gave him a chance. If you want my advice. Take the risk. Make a move.” And with that, she’s gone. Well, not gone-gone, but she does lean across me and unlock the car, then slip out to buy herself another muffin.
Take the risk. Make the move.
If only she knew. Her words replay through my mind on a loop, bringing up the memories of that first night. The night Cooper entered my life over a year ago.
I had maybe had two—okay, five—drinks too many. But in my defense, I needed every single glass of champagne that I drank after the disaster that was me knocking into the table of gifts.
I never failed at making a fool out of myself at Vivian’s mom’s fancy events. But I thought that time was going to be different. I mean, it was a baby shower; how much trouble could I possibly get into.
Apparently, a ton.
Add in Viv’s mom making Vivian feel like shit, and we were a mess. So booze was an obvious must.
I made the executive decision to be responsible in all the ways by sneaking Vivian’s phone from her purse and contacting her new boy toy to help get our no-longer-sober asses home.
Not long after, Nate walked in with another tall brunette man. He scanned the room, his gaze snagging on me for a moment as he smiled, and I waved, then pointed to a heavily intoxicated Vivian talking to Rian and Amy. Nate’s gaze found Vivian instantly, and his face lit up with a big smile. Nate nodded to the man beside him, who followed his line of sight until he found me.
The man made his way toward me as Nate trekked off to Vivian.
I didn’t bother to watch my friend anymore. Instead, I was captivated by the six-foot-something man with tousled brown hair and glasses who was grinning at me with a smile that warmed my skin.
“Hey, I’m Cooper,” he introduced himself before taking a seat beside me. “Nate’s best friend.”
I licked my lips, then took another swig of the drink in front of me.
“And you are?” he asked.
“Wet,” I muttered.
His eyes widened and his smile grew. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Sutton,” I said with a wink. “The best friend of your bestie’s new girlfriend.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sutton.” He offered out a hand for me to shake.
I placed mine in his, letting his grip swallow me.
His hands were twice the size of mine, and I couldn’t help the dirty thoughts that filled my mind as I wondered what else was big on his body.
“I’m sure the pleasure will be all mine later with hands like these.”
Cooper laughed. “I see someone has been hitting the bottle a little hard tonight.”
“Not so hard that I can’t get you hard.” I winked.
Redness crept up his cheeks.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve got a shy one on my hands .
God, that was hot.
It’d been so long since I’d been interested in someone who wasn’t completely full of themselves.
Cooper cleared his throat. “So I think the plan is Nate is going to take Vivian and her car back to his place, and then we are together.”
“You going to give me a ride?” I leaned closer to him, pushing my tits up to give him something special to look at.
He bit his bottom lip, suppressing a smile. “To your house.”
“Okay, I’ll let you give me a ride”—I lifted my fingers in air quotes—“‘to my house.’”
Cooper chuckled, shaking his head at me as Vivian took a seat beside me, Nate behind her. He pressed a kiss into her hair before sitting beside Cooper.
“Nice to see you again, Sutton. Hopefully, you won’t judge me too harshly based on the first time,” he said with a shy smile.
I smiled, looking into my glass. “Oh, honey, trust me when I say you made a huge impression. And I won’t forget it.” I downed the last of my champagne as Viv reached across me, trying to grab the last bit of booze we had at the table. “Oh, no you don’t, you beautiful, boozy bitch.” I swatted her hand away as Cooper picked up the glass and emptied it.
Viv’s gaze narrowed. “Who is this, and why do you both want me to be miserable?”
I trapped her hands between mine. “Babe, you’re trashed.” I paused for a moment. “But so am I. I called Nate off your phone to get us since we’re both far beyond the point of driving.”
Vivian practically melted. “My unicorn came to our sloppy rescue. Awe.”
“And it turns out he was out with his friend Cooper, so here is the plan: Nate is going to drive you and your car back to your place or his. No one cares which one. And Cooper here is going to take me home in Nate’s truck.”
“Oh my God, Cooper? As in thee Cooper? As in Coop? As in Nate’s nonsexual, or at least I don’t think, life partner?” Viv practically bounced with excitement as she stood from the table to move between the two men before settling in Nate’s lap.
“I like you,” Vivian slurred with a smile.
Cooper did the same. “And I like you.”
Nate wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her back into his chest.
“Stop it. I’m trying to get to know your Sutton,” Vivian said, pushing forward. “Tell me every embarrassing story you know about this one behind me. Because I need to knock him down a peg, you know? Like, I need him to be a skosh less attractive.”
Coop scooted closer, his stare twinkling with excitement. “What level of embarrassment are we talking about? Like, called the teacher ‘Mom’ or masturbation stuff?”
Nate glared. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
Viv smiled, planting a loud kiss on Nate’s lips before looking into Cooper’s eyes and responding, “Masturbation.”
We didn’t stay much longer after that, seeing as Nate was not a fan of his best friend and new girlfriend joining forces to tease him. I, for one, would have loved to watch the two of them spill secrets all night. But alas, the soberest of us all was in charge and put a stop to it all.
I hugged Vivian, placing a hand on her back and pushing her closer to Nate, who wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her to his side and down the sidewalk to where the valet had her car parked.
We watched them climb in as I asked, “You think those two will be okay?”
“Nate and Vivian?”
I nodded, trying to stand still and not sway the way my body was desperate to.
Don’t move.
You aren’t that drunk.
You are steady, like a tree.
No, trees move with the wind. You need to be like a wall.
A brick wall.
You will stand still and not stumble.
You will not fall, damn it.
“Yeah, Nate is the best person I know, and trust me when I say he is going to take better care of her than her mother would.”
I snorted. “Good to know.” Viv’s mother was a raging bitch and the main reason the two of us drank like we did tonight. But that didn’t feel like something I should be sharing with a stranger. No matter how attractive he was or if he made my pussy flutter with hope.
“Come on. I’m parked this way.” Cooper tilted his head toward the parking garage down the street.
I barely made it ten feet before my drunkenness struck.
Turned out that willing yourself not to sway and stumble didn’t work. I tripped over nothing as I tried to walk beside Cooper.
“Whoa there,” he said, catching me by the shoulder and pulling me into his side.
“My hero.” I fluttered my lashes at him.
“Are you good, or do you need to hold on to my arm?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” I waved him off like he was being ridiculous for even suggesting I was too wasted to walk.
Which I wasn’t.
I was practically sober.
Yep, I was a sober Sutton.
“You sure? Because a second ago, you seemed to lose your footing?”
“That’s not what happened,” I said calmly.
“I’m fairly certain it is.”
“Nah, you see, I was actually stepping over something and overestimated how high my foot would go, so when I went to bring said foot down to the ground, I miscalculated. Hence the almost-fall-like event.”
“You were stepping over something?”
“Yep.” I nodded so enthusiastically that the world around me started to spin for a moment. Slowly, I blinked, trying to right the world with Cooper being none the wiser.
“What was it?”
“What was what?”
“What were you stepping over?”
“Oh.” I searched my mind for the most reasonable answer and blurted out, “A small family of mice.”
“Mice?”
I wanted to slap myself across the face. Mice ? What was I thinking? But it was too late to change my story. So I ran with it.
“Yes, there was a momma, pappa, and two twins all scurrying along our path, just trying to survive.”
“Really? Because from my perspective, there was nothing but air.”
“Of course it looked like nothing to you. Everyone knows that distance makes things look much smaller than they actually are and sometimes invisible to the naked eye.”
“You’re saying because of my height, I couldn’t see the family of mice?”
“See, you get it. For a moment there, I was getting nervous that I was going to have to explain measurements and all that jazz, and to be honest, I’m not that great of a teacher.”
“That your final answer?” He raised an eyebrow in question.
“Yes sir.” My head bobbed in a one hundred percent sober manner.
“Okay, then. I guess I have no choice but to believe you.”
“Thank you.”
“Come on,” he said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and tugging me with him as he walked.
I shivered as the breeze hit me. The air had grown colder since the beginning of the baby shower, and I was deeply regretting not wearing a dress with sleeves.
Cooper’s hand moved to my arm and began rubbing up and down, creating a friction of warmth on my skin… and in my pants.
I burrowed into his body, soaking up his heat. Hints of bergamot and pepper lingered on his shirt, and I wanted to drown in his scent.
I didn’t say another word as we walked to the truck, mostly because I was too busy trying to figure out what brand of cologne he must wear to have my mouth water like this.
When we got to Nate’s truck, Cooper opened my door and helped me into the seat before moving around to the other side.
He climbed in, closing the door with a gentle sweeping motion before turning the key in the ignition.
Letting the truck warm up, he buckled his seat belt, then turned to me. “Put your address into the GPS.”
“Ooh, bossy. I like.”
“Sutton.”
“Cooper.”
“I need you to put your address in so I can drive you home.”
“Fine.” I leaned forward and pressed my fingers into the truck’s touch screen. It took me two attempts to spell my street name, but I finally got it, and I turned to Cooper, smiling. “Huzzah, I did it.”
Cooper’s deep chuckle filled the cab of the truck as his eyes roamed my face.
“Your eyes are very pretty.”
“Thank you.” He blushed and turned away from me, backing the truck out of the parking space before driving out of the parking garage and onto the street.
“Spectacular, even,” I added, resting my head against the back of the seat.
“What makes them so spectacular?”
“They remind me of shimmering pools of water.”
“My eyes are an amber brown.”
“I didn’t say it was clear water.”
A smile quirked up on his lips as he turned left.
My attention jumped from those bright eyes to the way his hands gripped the steering wheel. His long fingers lifted to allow the wheel to slide back into its original position. But it was the way his thumbs swept back and forth across the leather that had my breath hitching and me squirming in my seat.
If I kept moving like this, my body was going to get the wrong idea.
I bit my lower lip as my core throbbed.
Too late .
God, I was horny.
But not regular, run-of-the-mill horny.
I was horny for him .
For this mesmerizing man.
I wanted to pull those black frames off his face and do deliciously bad things to him.
“Sutton?”
“Huh?”
“I said we’re here.”
I turned away from him to look out the window, and there was my small house. Not a light in sight. I sighed, chastising myself for once again forgetting to turn on something to not only keep the burglars away but also help me not break anything as I made my way through the clutter that currently was my living room.
“Walk a girl in?”
Cooper smiled. “Sure.” He pulled the key from the ignition and hopped out of the car. Not sure if I should wait on him or not, I opened my door and stepped out, not remembering how high the truck was from the ground.
I fell, only to be caught by Cooper’s strong arms once again.
“Let me guess, mice?”
“Nah.” I shook my head. “Baby opossum. The thing looked feral but fierce.”
The grin on his face only grew as he helped me right myself and followed me to my doorstep.
“So,” I said, rocking back and forth.
“So…”
“Think we should exchange numbers?”
His brows quirked.
“So you can text me to tell me you got home safely.”
“I’m not the one who went on a champagne bender tonight, Sutton.”
“That Vivian sure is wild, am I right?”
He gave me a knowing look but still pulled out his phone and asked for my number. I rattled it off, and he repeated it back to me. “I’ll text you when I get home.”
“Or…” I stepped closer to him. “You could come inside.”
“Sutton…”
I stepped even closer until there was only a small breath between us. “I thought you were going to give me a ride.” I winked at him suggestively.
“In the truck,” he said, hitching his thumb in the direction of said vehicle.
“We can do it in there if you want, but I prefer to be able to stretch out more.”
“You’re drunk, Sutton.”
“I’m barely tipsy.”
“You almost fell two times.”
“There were extenuating furry circumstances.”
He sighed. “I can’t.”
“Come on, Cooper.” I ran my hands up his hard chest, relishing in the feel of his muscles tightening under my palms. I lifted onto my tiptoes, my lips brushing against his. “You know you want to.”
He didn’t pull away. He didn’t do anything. So I took my shot and latched my lips on to his.
His hands found my shoulders, and he pushed me a few inches away. “Not tonight. Not when you’re drunk.”
The sting of rejection slammed into me as I stumbled backward. My ankle rolled in my heels, causing me once again to lose my balance as my back hit my door with a thump.
Cooper stepped forward, but I put my hand up. “I’m fine.”
“Sutton, I…”
“You can leave now.” I turned around, careful to keep my weight off my now-aching ankle. Slipping my key into the lock, I opened the door wide enough to slip through and shut it without another word.
“Goodnight, baby opossum,” he said, as I waited there silently with my back to my door until the sound of his footsteps disappeared, followed by the purring of the truck’s engine drifting down the road.
Sliding to the floor, I pulled my heels off my feet and threw them to the side.
“I’m such an idiot,” I groaned, burying my face in my hands.