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My dad takes off for the night, bidding us both goodnight before he goes, and we head up to my bedroom. I think about snuggling on the couch with him, but I don’t know if my dad has some secret cameras set up here that might catch us in the act. I say as much to Cooper once we’re in my room.

“I feel like this is our only safe place,” I say, sitting on the edge of the bed. “What if there are cameras down in the family room and the kitchen.”

“I thought you were inviting me in for sex,” he admits, and I giggle.

“I mean, of course. But I also thought it might be nice to just lay together and do normal things you’d do with your boyfriend.” My eyes widen as the word leaves my mouth.

“Did you just call me your boyfriend?” he asks.

I slap a hand over my mouth as my entire face flushes a bright red, and he starts to laugh.

“I just meant—” I begin, but he cuts me off when he bends over so I’m forced to lie back, and he drops his lips to mine as he hovers over me.

He drops his lips to my neck. “I know what you meant, and I can’t tell you how good it feels to hear you call me that.” He says the words softly against my skin, and I shiver a little as his words register.

“I’m embarrassed I said it first,” I admit, my heart still racing that the word slipped out.

He pulls back and his eyes lock on mine. “Don’t be. I think it’s cute.”

“Puppies are cute, Cooper. I’m a woman.”

He thrusts his hips to mine, and my chest races with anticipation. “Oh, I know you’re a woman. You’re my woman. You’re my girlfriend . You’re the only woman I want to be with.”

His lips move to mine. We kiss there on the bed like that for a minute or for an hour, I don’t know, but I feel lost in him like this. He pulls back and rolls to the side of me as our kiss starts to intensify from that languid luxurious kind into a more urgent one.

“Baseball, apple pie, baseball, apple pie,” he chants softly to himself, and I giggle. “What movie did you want to watch?” he asks, sitting up and glancing down at me. His eyes are a little hazy.

“Um, the one where you stick your dick in me?”

His eyes widen and he coughs a little as if I just made him choke on something. “You want to watch porn?”

“Homemade,” I say.

“Are you serious right now?”

I shrug. “I’ve never filmed myself. Have you?”

“Well, I mean…yeah, I have.”

I was hoping he’d say no, that this adventure could be special between the two of us, but I also know he’s been around the block a few times. He’s twelve years older than me. Surely there’s very little he has left to experience for the first time, and something in that makes me a little sad. I want to be special for him. I want to be a first for him the way he will be for me in so many ways.

He leans up on his elbow and looks over at me. “You seem upset by that.” His tone is cautious, and his brows are knitted together.

I lift a shoulder, surprised that he can read me so well. I shouldn’t be surprised. I think that’s what’s supposed to happen when you’re with the person you’re meant to be with.

“I just feel like I’ll never be your first for anything,” I admit.

His face softens, and he leans over to press his lips to my cheek before he lies back and stares up at the ceiling. “You’re the first woman I’ve been with who’s twelve years younger than me.”

I can’t help a little laugh at that.

“You’re the first woman I met at a blackjack table on her twenty-first birthday. You’re the first woman I’ve been with who’s the daughter of one of my friends. You’re the first woman I’ve been with in probably fifteen years who didn’t immediately associate me with baseball.”

He pauses, and then he turns and props himself up on his elbow again as he stares down at me. “And you’re the first woman who has ever stolen my heart the way you have. I swear to God, Gabby, I have never felt like this before. I’ve never felt like I would put everything on the line for a woman. I’ve never felt like I could see into my future with a woman before, and definitely not this fast. I’ve never felt like a piece of me was missing until I found you and you held that piece in your hands.” He leans down and presses a kiss to my cheek, and my heart races. “And maybe most importantly, I’ve never met a woman who I wanted to be with more than I wanted to be out on the field. So don’t you dare say you won’t be my first anything because you’re my first everything .”

My eyes fill with tears at his words, and one falls down the side of my temple, splashing down onto the blanket underneath me. Another follows in its wake, and he brushes it away with his fingertip.

I don’t know what to say to that. I don’t know how to take those beautiful words in and give him a response that’s worthy of what he just said to me. I don’t know how to make him feel half of what he made me feel simply with his words.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

He presses his lips together and shakes his head a little. “Thank you . Thank you for waiting for me. You knew we’d find our way back to each other. You kept the faith while I was a fucking idiot.”

“Stop,” I say sharply. “You were not an idiot. You were being cautious, and I don’t fault you for that. It’s something we still need to hold onto.”

He nods. “But right now, the house is empty…” He trails off suggestively, and I take the hint, tossing my leg over his and shifting us both so I’m straddling him.

And then there’s no more talking…just lots of moaning as waves of pleasure pulse through us.