Page 37 of After All This Time (A Time For Love #2)

Cooper

I ’ve seen this all before.

Liam telling me it’s nothing, when it’s obviously a lie.

Him retreating into himself like he’s done the whole drive back, barely meeting my eyes.

That fucking devastated look in his eyes.

I’ve seen this all before but there’s no chance in hell I’m letting it play out like it did the last time.

That’s why the moment we’re inside, I’m fisting his T-shirt, and throwing him on the couch, using his surprise to my advantage.

It’s a testament to his distraction how easily I manhandle him until he’s seated and I’m straddling his lap, caging his body with my thighs and pinning him with my weight, with no way to escape.

His forest-green eyes are wild when my hands cup his face, making sure he doesn’t look away from me.

“Now, you’re going to tell me what the fuck is going on.”

He attempts to tear his eyes away from me but I don’t let him.

“None of that. Not again.” My voice is barely a whisper.

Undecipherable emotions swim in those dark-green depths as Liam’s arms come around me, holding me against him, one of his hands gripping the short hair at the back of my neck.

“Why didn’t you tell me what it was like for you when I left?”

My breath hitches, his words the last thing I expected to hear from him.

“How did you—”

He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter.” He releases my hair, his palm travelling to caress my face with a single-minded attention that makes my heartbeat thump loudly in my ears.

“You could have shut your door in my face, kicked me out of your life and instead you took me in, even after all these years. Why, Coop?” he asks, and his voice breaks as he utters my name.

“Because I never stopped believing that you were back because you were finally choosing me.” The lump that is lodged in my throat is distorting my words, but I don’t care.

My hands are still cupping his face and I shake him.

“I wanted you to choose me. Why didn’t you choose me, Li?

Why did you leave and never came back?” There is wetness running down my cheeks, and I realize it’s tears.

“You promised it would be just for a little while,” I whisper.

God, it hurts. It still hurts so much.

I feel his thumbs brushing away the tears that are running freely now.

But we never break our connection, letting the anguish and hurt flow between us.

“Tell me, Cooper,” he whispers hoarsely. “Give me everything.”

And God help me, I do, my chest cracking open right in the middle.

“I missed you so fucking much, Li. And it hurt so bad every time I thought that I wasn’t enough for you to come back, to be my friend again, the one person who knew me as well as you did and still chose to stay away.

” His image is blurry in front me, my eyelashes heavily spiked with all my bottled hurt.

“Is that why you stayed away? Was I not worth it?”

“No, baby, no, please don’t say that, please, never say that again,” Liam mutters in a frenzy, his words tumbling out of him, his hands touching every part of me he can reach, as if making sure I’m there, his eyes desperate and wild.

“I was so scared, Cooper. So scared that you’d hate me for what I did, terrified that I would come back and you’d look at me differently.

I tried to be so careful, to never let the change of my feelings for you touch you and instead I threw them in your face. ”

I can feel him trembling beneath me, shaking with his confession, and my heart squeezes in answer to his feelings. His forehead touches mine and our breathing almost synchronizes.

“I couldn’t face you, Coop, because I was a coward.

And because of that, we lost so much time we could have been in each other’s lives.

” He breaks the contact, but only so that he can pierce me with a gaze so intense and determined, I can’t look away.

“I cannot tell you how sorry I am, and I will never stop regretting causing you pain,” he pauses, his thumb caressing my cheekbone so tenderly I lean into the touch.

“But if you give me the chance, I will do everything in my power to make up for all the hurt you felt.” I watch as he swallows thickly, his eyes burning with emotion.

“I love you, Cooper. I’ve loved you for most of my life, and if you let me, I’ll prove it to you for as long as you allow me to. ”

It’s a good thing I’m not standing up because I’m pretty sure my knees would have given up on me upon hearing his words.

He loves me.

Liam loves me, and I can see everything he’s saying reflected openly, raw and true, in his expression that hides nothing.

And right then, in the arms of my childhood best friend, as we sit so close we might as well be one, with his confession of love still resounding inside me, nothing has ever felt more right. I’ve been searching for this feeling all my life but it has always eluded me and now I know why.

Because I’d already found it in him, and my younger self might have gotten a glimpse of it but never given the chance to understand it and embrace it.

And now I finally can.

I can let myself be swept away by this terrifying and devastating relief.

I can let myself drown in him, knowing he will be there with me.

And I can let myself be happy in the rightness of this.

His eyes widen at the grin that tilts my lips, his own face lighting up in answer in front of my eyes.

“You shouldn’t make such promises to me, you know,” I tell him, biting my lip to smother my beaming smile. Unsuccessfully. “I might hold you to it.”

His arms tighten around me, gripping my waist with a strength that feels so damn good.

“I’m counting on it,” he says in a low, deep voice, as his gaze becomes heated, desire mixed with worship and adoration pinning me there, holding me captive.

As his grip tightens, my groin rubs against his, and I can’t help the groan that slips out.

My hands hold onto his shoulders, and keeping my eyes fixed on his, I boldly tilt my hips against his, needing to feel him, the friction both divine and absolute torture.

Liam’s mouth parts as his breath becomes shallow and labored, his eyes looking at me entranced, hazy with lust.

“Hey, Li?”

“Hm–yeah?”

God, the sight of him like this pours fire in my veins.

“Tell me again. Tell me you love me.”

I could burn, burn, burn in his gaze.

“I love you. I love you so fucking much, Coop. You’re my dream come true.”

A whimper leaves me and my eyes latch onto his half-parted lips, thirsty, so thirsty for them.

I crash my lips against his, in a brutal, savage kiss. It’s a battle and a surrender, anguish and relief, love and hurt all in a meeting of mouths, and tongues, and bruised lips.

His hand grips my hair tightly and his tongue plunders my mouth. It’s a move that screams possessiveness and ownership, and I fucking melt on his lap as my mind empties of everything and he’s the only thing I feel.

“I need you, Li,” I gasp out when he releases my mouth. “Please, I need you so bad.”

“What do you need, baby?” his voice is pure gravel and it sends a shiver through me.

“I need to feel you,” I whisper on his wet lips. “I need you on me,” I tease him with a nip, “inside me,” a harder bite, “please.”

A growl rips out of him before I’m suddenly moving.

Oh shit. He’s lifting both of us off the couch.

How fucking strong is this man?

And why does that make me so insanely hot for him?

The moment my feet touch the ground, I’m on him with a need I’ve never felt before in my life. It feels physically impossible to be separated from him.

He kisses me furiously as he tries to move us towards the bedroom, which is a pretty difficult thing to do considering we don’t see where we’re going.

All I can see is the crazed look in his eyes before he dives for my mouth again and again; all I can hear is the moans, and whimpers, and groans, that leave our lips; all I can feel is his hard body against mine as he maneuvers us to where we need to go.

We stumble into the room and a whine slips out.

“Come on, Li,” I mumble as I try to pull his shirt off him. “Come on, come on, come on.”

He covers my frantic fingers with his palm, and stills my movements.

He’s looking at me with green eyes full of warmth and softness.

“No need to hurry, Coop. I’m not going anywhere,” he says, bringing my hand to his lips, placing a tender kiss to my fingers.

And I go fucking lightheaded.

I don’t know how we get rid of our clothes because after that, I’m all sensation and no rational thinking.

All I know is that, after what feels like both eons and seconds, I’m on my back, with Liam’s hard body pressing me on the soft mattress, his hands cradling my face while he sucks on my tongue with greedy, mind-numbing pulls.

His mouth slips down my jaw and throat, and the way he licks and bites my skin with an intensity I know is going to leave bruises, makes my toes curl and my dick jump.

“You like to be marked, baby?” he whispers hoarsely. “You want my marks on you?

“Fuck, yeah. I wanna wear them for all to see.” And I fucking mean it. I want the proof of what we’ve done on me. I want to see it every time I walk past a mirror. I want to feel them throb beneath my fingers.

“Jesus, Coop. What are you doing to me?”

“Hopefully making you hurry before I lose my fucking mind,” I grumble and the bastard chuckles darkly.

“You know that only makes me want to take things slow,” he says as his lips move to my nipples. He takes one in his mouth and he has to physically keep me down, when he sucks on it, leaving it wet and hard.

I arch instinctively towards him, fisting his hair so that he keeps licking and nibbling on my sensitive nipple.

“God, that feels so good, Li.”

His eyes lift to meet mine before he grins, giving one last suck before he moves to the other.

“Fuck, I’m so hard,” I whine. Understatement of the year. My tip is leaking like it’s being paid, and the way my cock drags against Liam’s skin every time he moves makes it impossible for me to stand still.