CHAPTER 3
COOPER
Two whole, endless days later, I’m fully convinced I’m an idiot.
I should have known it was only a matter of time before one of my brilliant ideas eventually came back to bite me in the ass.
By the time four days have passed, I’ve never been closer to doing exactly what Li said. Beg him to touch me.
How someone like me, who’s gone his whole life without feeling this kind of consuming, brain-melting desire, can feel like I’m going to come out of my skin if Liam doesn’t touch me, I’ll never know.
It’s only my innate, stubborn competitiveness that has me barely holding on.
And the fact that we’re actually seeing some progress wedding-wise.
I think.
I might be wrong. My brain has currently relocated to my dick, and it’s hard to tell.
A throat clears from somewhere close, and my gaze snaps up to meet Liam’s, who’s leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest, his T-shirt stretched over his biceps. His eyes twinkle when he catches me staring.
Oops.
Busted.
“What’s up, Coop?”
My dick.
No. Bad Cooper.
“Nothing.”
Liam makes a non-committal sound at the back of his throat, pure disbelief pouring out of him.
“Are you sure?”
I flash him a smile that hopefully says, ‘I’m perfectly fine,’ and not, ‘please let me get on my knees and suck your cock.’
“Of course!” I squeak very convincingly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
There is a beat of highly-charged silence before Liam leaves his spot and prowls towards me.
Yes, prowls, because there is no other way to describe it.
He stalks towards me, a dark grin pulling at his lips when I take a step back and my ass bumps against the edge of the kitchen table. I swallow when he corners me, when he gets so close, I can feel the heat radiating from his body.
His head dips, and he nuzzles my temple, his breath teasing the shell of my ear, making my eyes flutter with the need to let myself sink into the intoxicating sensation of his proximity.
“I don’t know, Coop.” His thigh brushes the zipper of my jeans, and I hiss while he chuckles. “Is your dick this excited because we’re meeting our wedding planner?”
Oh, God. The wedding planner.
Well, I’m not going to suffer alone in that meeting.
Liam clocks my intention a split second before I fist his T-shirt and erase even the last whisper of distance between us.
His eyes are a liquid dark green, the amusement bleeding out of them as I all but straddle his thigh, my trapped cock dragging against the hard muscle.
My exhale puffs against his throat when I lean in to place the barest of kisses under his jaw, where I know he loves it, speaking almost directly on his skin.
“Maybe I am,” I murmur, smiling when his hand shoots up to grip my nape and keep me firmly against him, stopping me from pulling back. “Maybe I can’t wait to get on with things, Li. I have a bet to win, after all.”
A low, soft growl builds in Liam’s throat, the sound making my skin pebble.
I know I’ve pushed him too much when the hand wrapped around my nape slides up to fist my hair while the other one settles on the small of my back and presses me harder against his thigh, making a small whimper bubble up.
Liam uses the grip he has on my hair to pull my head back, and the look he’s giving me is enough to make my dick jump.
“You think you’ll win this when you’re seconds away from riding my thigh?”
Fuck, he’s not wrong, but he’s not any different.
“Yeah. I think I’ll win this. Because you’re also seconds away from bending me over and fucking me right here.”
His smile is full of dark promises and even darker retribution, but his eyes grow softer, melting the longer he looks at me.
It makes my chest hurt, and it only gets worse when he lowers his forehead to mine.
“You drive me crazy, Coop.”
The love in his voice makes my throat tight.
“In a good way?” I mutter, reaching up for his lips.
“In the best way,” he whispers hoarsely before he captures my mouth with his.
He kisses me slowly, unhurriedly, in that quiet but intense way he does that makes me feel owned, thoroughly possessed.
Liam always kisses me like he’s branding me, like he’s reaffirming his claim on me.
Like he’s reminding me I’m only his.
As if I would want to be anyone else’s.
I feel drunk on him when he draws back, my lips tingling so much, I run my tongue over them in an attempt to soothe them.
Li curses under his breath, swooping in to kiss me again, but the doorbell beats him to it.
He groans, and I whine, which makes both of us laugh while we cling to each other, neither of us making any sort of move to get the door.
“How mad is Lily going to be if we don’t open the door to the wedding planner she found us?” he says in a tone so serious, I’m pretty sure he’s really considering it.
“Considering he’s her friend and he’s actually doing us a favor taking us on with such short notice? I’d say very. Plus,” I pause, sneaking in one last peck, smiling when he groans again, “the sooner we open, the sooner we get to start planning our wedding.”
Liam’s eyes flood with so much tenderness, it takes my breath away.
He takes a step back, his fingers threading with mine as he starts pulling me towards the door.
“Let’s go plan our wedding.”
***
It takes one warm handshake and one beaming smile for Li and me to decide that Dylan is the perfect guy for the job.
“Thank you for fitting us into your schedule, Dylan,” I tell him after we’ve taken our seats at the dining room table and Liam has brought all of us coffee. “I’m sure last-minute clients are the bane of your existence.”
Dylan waves away my concern, adding a vigorous shake of his head that has his light brown curls bouncing.
“Nonsense. I am more than happy to take you on,” he answers with a brilliant smile as he pulls out a notepad and several other things from his bag. “Plus, there was a last-minute cancellation, so this works out just fine.”
“Oh no. What happened?”
“There was a groom incident.”
“Oh. Is he okay?”
“He’s great. He just ran away with the best man,” Dylan quips and then chuckles when we blink at him owlishly. “Trust me. It was for the best,” he finishes cryptically.
Liam’s knee bumps against mine under the table.
“It’s a good thing we’re doing this so soon. Wouldn’t want you to change your mind.”
I gasp in mock outrage even as my lips twitch.
“You think I’ll change my mind about this?”
Liam shrugs, barely keeping his own grin in check.
“Just giving you fair warning.” He grips my thigh, the touch hot. “If you run, I’m coming after you. I love a good chase.”
Jesus, fuck.
This man is going to be the death of me.
Covering his hand with mine, I tangle our fingers together.
“Don’t worry, Li. You’re never getting rid of me. The only way I’m running is with your hand in mine. You know that,” I whisper, reminding him of both times I’ve done that.
The memories flicker in his eyes, and his fingers grip mine even harder.
A quiet shuffling sound manages to pierce the bubble that always surrounds Liam and me, and I turn to find Dylan watching us with a wistful expression.
“Sorry,” I mumble sheepishly while Liam chuckles unapologetically.
I shoot him a look that says I would smack him if my hand wasn’t otherwise preoccupied, but he just rubs his thumb over it.
Damn, that feels good.
Dylan shakes his head again, laughing.
“Don’t be.” The look he gives us is soft. “You were friends before this, weren’t you?”
The private smile Liam gives me says it all before he turns to answer Dylan.
“He’s been my best friend since we were kids. He used to get himself into all sorts of trouble, so someone had to be there to get him out of all that and rein him in.”
“Understandable,” Dylan agrees with a nod at the same time I say, “Lies. All lies.”
Liam’s expression changes, growing serious. Intense.
“We spent so much time apart, but when I came back, he was there, waiting for me, as if it hadn’t been years since we’d last seen each other.”
The roughness of his voice makes my throat tighten. Because I know exactly what he’s thinking, how he feels.
I say nothing, just silently squeeze his hand and let him know I’m here. I’ll always be here, no matter what.
Because he’s my Li.
There could be no one else but him.
My own voice is raspier when I speak, and even Dylan’s eyes look shinier than earlier.
“I swear, he always makes it sound like I was a damn menace.”
Liam lets out a soft chuckle just before he pulls me in to press a kiss to my temple that has me fucking swooning.
Me. Swooning.
Which he then proceeds to ruin.
“Do you need another recap of all your brilliant ideas?”
“Oh, shut up.” I elbow his ribs and he laughs. “Why don’t you recap something actually useful and tell Dylan what we’ve thought about so far?”
Dylan chuckles.
“Yes, please. I’m all ears. What are we looking for here? Movie-themed wedding, doves carrying the rings and placing them on your fingers, arriving at the ceremony in a hot-air balloon?”
I blink.
“Is that a joke, or is all that actually on the table?”
Liam grunts, pinching the bridge of his nose, which was exactly my intent.
Thankfully, Dylan plays along.
“Oh, it’s all definitely on the table.”
“What about a horse-drawn carriage?” I ask.
“Oooh, very fairytale-like!”
“A flash-mob crew?”
“I know just the right people.”
“Confetti canons and sky-writing?”
“I love the way you think,” Dylan chokes out, pressing his lips together.
“Well, the hot-air balloon idea does sound very interesting. And the carriage, too. I’ve always wanted to feel like a prince. What do you think, Li?”
It’s a miracle I get the question out with the way I’m biting myself so I don’t laugh.
But he knows me. He knows me so well. So, when his gaze darkens and he leans in to whisper in my ear, I relish the thrill that shoots in my veins.
“I think you’re a little shit, and I’ll make you pay for it,” he rasps. “And if my baby wants to feel like a prince, I’ll make damn sure he does.”
I have to clear my throat before I can speak again, something hot and fluttery making my chest buzz. There is a small, pleased smirk on Liam’s lips that definitely doesn’t make me want to kiss it off his mouth something fierce.
“That’s a ‘no’ on the hot-air balloon idea, Dylan. And pretty much everything else. In fact, we want to keep it small and private,” I say, locking eyes with my best friend. “Just us, our friends, and family.”
Li’s eyes are full of tenderness, his voice still thick when he adds, “We are huge fans of camping trips.”
“Of trails that almost kill us.” I grin.
“Of bike rides that threaten to send us rolling into a ditch.” He grins back.
“Of arcades.”
“And hot dogs.”
“And of sunsets,” I finish, unable to look away from him. “We love sunsets very much.”
Liam nods, and it’s only then I realize we’re both leaning with our forearms on the table, our faces inches from one another.
I tear my eyes away with great difficulty, and it’s only because we have company.
“I’m not sure how helpful all this is to you, though.”
Dylan takes us in with a quiet intensity for several seconds before he smiles.
“Minimal, intimate, soft but also alive. Somewhere close to nature. A sunset that bleeds into a starry night. How does that sound?”
There’s something squeezing my throat that stops me from answering, but Liam takes care of it because he knows.
He always knows.
We glance at each other, and I see my answer mirrored in his warm gaze.
“It sounds perfect.”