Page 21

This place is pretty sweet for a guy who works with a kids’ fitness organization for a living.

I know that’s not what he does, exactly, but I can’t imagine he’s making big bucks from his current place of employment. At least not enough to finance this fancy apartment—and he knows I’m smart enough to figure that out.

I decide not to ask. He’ll tell me when he’s ready. I’ll tell him I already knew, and then we’ll just move forward from there.

I have to admit, though, I’m curious as to when he’s going to admit what he used to do.

I get the sense he likes keeping it in his past, though I’m not exactly sure why. From what I gather about his ex-girlfriend based on snippets here and there, I can’t help but wonder whether she was with him because of his job, not because she actually loved him.

I imagine that happens far more often than it should in his former industry, and my heart breaks for him that someone would treat him the way she did. He’s such a good guy. He didn’t deserve that.

He ordered up lunch from the restaurant inside his apartment complex, and we eat out on the balcony. I’ve been here at his place for an entire hour already, and neither of us has even brought up sex yet since we’ve been so busy talking.

The snarky voice inside my head reminds me to tell Mia that we made it past the first hour without sex, but even if we didn’t, it wouldn’t have made a difference to me.

That flame burns bright, and each passing second we spend together, it gets more and more dazzling.

Once we finish lunch, we take a walk and end up at a cute little area with restaurants, shops, and bars that Cooper refers to as the Gaslamp Quarter. It’s only about a ten-minute walk from his place, and we find ourselves strolling along, hand-in-hand as we duck in and out of shops. He wears his hat pulled down low as usual, we steal kisses on the sidewalk, and we stop in one dive bar for a drink before we head back to his place.

On the walk back, he nods in the direction we just came from. “Another few miles that way is my office.”

“Have you talked to your boss yet?” I ask.

“Oh, Jesus. I forgot to tell you.” He snaps his fingers—the ones on the hand that isn’t holding mine. “It was that day we had phone sex, and then the week just got away from me. But yes, I talked to her. I told her I’m moving to Vegas, but I’ll still be able to help out from there.”

“How will you be able to help from Vegas?” I ask. He hasn’t told me much about what he does, just that it’s some organization and he gets to work with kids and help them become stronger and more athletic.

“It’s a long story.”

“I’m here all weekend,” I joke.

“When I first started working at StrongFitKids, the company partnered with the San Diego school district to promote healthy and active lifestyles for kids. I had a co-programming director, but she relocated to Vegas. When she moved, she proposed this idea to rework the program we were using in schools to get it into fitness clubs—so kids could go there while their parents worked out in the adult area. Her husband owns a chain of fitness clubs in Vegas, and she started it there. It’s been really successful so far, but Kaylee’s gotten really overwhelmed with all the work. Plus she just had twins in January, so she could use some help in Vegas since it’s growing so quickly. And Carla could use some help here in San Diego, too.”

“I’m looking for an internship for next semester,” I say. “I might be able to help out with your Vegas friend if there’s any sort of marketing angle to it.”

He considers that for a beat. “I’ll talk to her. I have a buddy whose daughter might be interested in helping out, too, but I’m still waiting to hear back from him.”

“Let me know. My advisor told me on Monday it’s never too early to start looking for opportunities. I think my dad might have something for me, but it doesn’t hurt to come up with a few options to make Dr. Foley happy.”

We arrive back at the building and head upstairs after a quick stop to a corner market so he can pick up some Slim Jims because, according to him, the four he has left feels like a really small supply, and as soon as we get inside, he kicks the door shut behind me and backs me up into it, his eyes dark with lust as he stalks his prey.

His lips slam down to mine, and we kiss in his foyer until I’m completely breathless. He is, too, and we both pant as his lips drag from mine down to my neck. His scruff is rough against my skin, a reminder that this isn’t just some dream but I’m really here with him.

His hips drive against mine, and I feel his erection against my side.

“I need you,” he says, his voice low and gritty and full of longing. “I love every second I get to spend with you,” he says, kissing my neck some more as I lean my head back to give him more space to work with. “Clothed or naked. Talking or silence. Laughing or not. But you’ve been here six hours, and right now, I need to fuck you like I need to take my next breath.”

Whoa.

I gasp at his words, and my only response is to jump up, wrap my legs around his waist, tighten my arms around his neck, and press my lips to his as this kiss in the front hall turns from hot to intense. “Fuck me, Cooper,” I say, my voice breathless and hoarse and needy.

He lets out a little growl at my words then grabs on under my thighs. He carries me toward his bedroom, his mouth connected to mine the entire way. He sets me down on the bed, reluctant to let me go but doing it simply so he can start stripping off his clothes. I do the same from where I perch on the bed, tossing my shirt and bra in a pile on the floor as I kick off my shoes then shimmying out of my jeans and panties.

I lie back naked on the bed, and he pauses in his movements, his jeans unbuttoned but not pushed down yet, those gorgeous abs of his smiling over at me.

“Christ. Am I the luckiest guy in the world or what?” He stalks over toward me again, and he settles in between my thighs, his jeans still on. I wrap my legs around him as he presses a soft kiss to my lips, and my clit rubs right against the rough fabric of his jeans.

I moan at the sensation, and he rocks his hips toward mine, brushing against my clit again.

I cry out this time, and he breaks our kiss to offer a salacious smile down at me. “My girl likes that,” he murmurs, and he does it again as I tilt my neck back and push out my breasts, a clear invitation for him to do what he wants to them.

And does he ever.

He sucks a nipple between his lips then laps at it with his tongue, driving his hips toward me and hitting that magic spot over and over again.

I’m so close, so damn close to coming, when he stops. He moves off me, finally stripping off his jeans, and I pant as I impatiently wait for him to return. He grabs a condom and rolls it on, and then he moves back toward me, settling in between my legs again.

“We’ll take our time later, okay?” he asks softly, and I nod.

He lines up his cock and slides into me.

“Fuck, that’s so tight,” he mutters, and his lips find mine. He pulls back and looks at me, his eyes connecting with mine as he stills inside me.

A hot beat of intimacy passes between us, his blue eyes focused on my green ones, nothing between us except a condom, both of us here and present in this moment as emotions course through me in the stillness.

How can I possibly love somebody I just met?

It doesn’t make any sense.

It defies logic.

And yet…I feel it.

My pussy seems to contract all on its own, goading him into movement as his eyes stay on mine. I close mine as he pulls back and pushes in.

“Eyes on me,” he demands, and why is that so freaking hot?

My eyes open and focus on him again.

“I’m going to go hard and fast now, okay?” he murmurs, and I nod.

And then he delivers.

Hard. And. Fast.

And holy fuck, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my life.

My chest tingles with butterflies and my stomach flips as he rocks my body thoroughly and vividly, the heat between us palpable and the intimacy thick all around us.

He hammers into me, long, strong drives, pushing himself all the way to the hilt before pulling out, over and over, his eyes on mine as I start to see his cloud over with the need to come. Watching it all unfold as I hang on for dear life at the intensity of his body slamming into mine is something I’ll commit to memory and dream about for the rest of my life.

I lose my mind as everything around me starts to fade away except Cooper and the way he makes me feel—not just physically, though that’s certainly topping the list at the moment, but also emotionally, and spiritually and mentally and every other pillar of health that exists. I force my eyes to stay on his as my climax slams into me with brute force, my body quaking as it hits the peak. With anyone else, it might feel awkward…but this is Cooper, and nothing has ever felt awkward with him. It’s been natural since the moment he patted the chair next to him and told me he’d teach me how to play blackjack.

And it’s as I’m coming in that state of numbness, my mind and body lost to the pleasure, lost to Cooper himself, that the words come out of my mouth before I can stop them.

“I love you.”

His face contorts as he loses his mind, too, and as he comes, my cheeks flame with the juvenile words that escaped my mouth. I study his face, his beautiful face with the sexy, masculine scruff, the blue eyes that are so pure, so kind, so beautiful, the straight nose and the perfect jawline, the light smattering of lines that prove more than a decade stands between us. I study those lines and admire them for every laugh he’s laughed, every smile he’s cracked, every frown he’s made, every emotion he’s ever felt, and when his thrusts start to slow and his cock stops twitching inside me, he drops a kiss to my lips, and then he buries his face in my neck.

“I love you, too,” he whispers, his breath warm near my ear, and tears fall from my eyes as I feel like this is the type of love people wait their whole lives for. The type of love people dream about and pray for and long for.

I only hope we can carry this feeling well past these first two weeks and hold onto each other through whatever the future may bring.