Page 86 of Vegas Heat: The Expansion Team Complete Series

I open another box labeled Kitchen . “Where do you want these?” I ask, pulling out a wooden spoon.

He shrugs. “Wherever you want them is fine with me.”

Heat fills my cheeks as I think about those words. He wants me to put his kitchen utensils wherever I want them since we’ll both be using them. He’s making me feel a part of this move-in day even though I’m not moving in here…yet. We both know that I’ll be spending plenty of time here, but since we’re not telling my dad yet, I guess we can’t really make the move official.

Someday, we will. We’ll get there. But on the heels of my father’s engagement to Joanie is definitely not the right time.

Cooper is unpacking some boxes upstairs, and there are several service workers here setting up his internet and connecting his televisions in all the different rooms. We didn’t have much time this morning to inspect the place since the pod was already here when we arrived, so I’m glad we had that morning quickie before we took showers and headed over.

And man, was that a good morning quickie.

The way he kissed me after our words to each other about building our future together made me confident that he’s the last man I’ll ever kiss. He’s it for me, and he’s made it clear I’m it for him.

We have some obstacles to overcome, but what couple doesn’t? We’ll take them as they come, and we’ll emerge stronger for battling through them together.

My dad’s words about not wanting me with a baseball player ring through my mind.

But if he knew it was Cooper, certainly he’d approve…right?

It’s his best friend. It’s a man he trusts with his daughter since he’s been pushing us together.

Maybe that’s the point—maybe it’s exactly why he would be even more against what’s really happening between us. He’d never even see it coming since it’s his best friend and his daughter .

“Can I ask you a question?” I ask once Cooper reappears in the kitchen and the workers are out of earshot.

“Always.” He grabs some plates out of another box and chooses a cabinet at random to stack them in. He glances at me before he places them on the shelf, and I shake my head a little, nodding at the cabinet where I already started putting plates and bowls. He chuckles and moves to that one, and I love how we can already have silent conversations with one another.

“Why’d you tell your friends about us?”

He sets the plates into the cabinet with a rather loud bang, and then he turns toward me. “Uh…”

“You just seem to want to keep it a secret from certain people, yet the more people who know, especially people who are close to my dad, the more likely he is to find out before we figure out how to tell him,” I point out.

He draws in a deep breath. “Danny asked if I’d gotten back together with you at poker the other night. He was there when I, uh…helped you home when you were drunk at the bar, and I’d confessed what was going on between us to him. Rush and Nick heard the question and I couldn’t exactly back out of it, so I went the honest route. They’ll be discreet about it.”

“Yeah, Rush was real discreet when he asked if it was business or pleasure when I was looking for you in the weight room the other day.” I set my hand on my hip, and he takes a few steps toward me to close the gap between us. “They know, Mackenzie knows, Justin knows, and I swear I think Joanie knows. How long until he finds out before we’re the ones to tell him?”

“Hey,” he says softly, and he loops one of his arms through mine where I’m still holding onto my hip. He pulls me into him. “Chill, babe. We’re fine.”

I’m sure he’s right. I’m overreacting. I’m trying to be careful since the last thing I want is for my dad to find out about us from someone other than, well, us . But it just seems like every time we’re ready to tell him, something stands in our way.

Is that a sign?

“Maybe we should just tell him,” I say.

“Or maybe we should break in my new place since the internet guys just left and we’re all alone.”

“You want it again?” I ask.

“I always want it with you.”

I can’t help a little giggle at that.

“Before we do all that, though, I have something for you.” He opens the drawer closest to the fridge and pulls out a key. Looped onto it is a keyring that says Captain’s House .

I giggle as he presses the key into my palm, but his eyes are serious.

“This doesn’t have to be a big deal, but it sort of feels like one to me. I want you to feel free to come over any time you want. I want this to feel like home for you, too.”

My eyes fill with tears as I close my fingers around the key, and then he leans forward and nibbles on my neck a little. It has the effect of completely clearing my mind of pretty much anything and everything except more of Cooper on top of me, and he grabs me suddenly and perches me on the edge of his countertop. He pushes his way in between my legs so they’re spread open for him. “Mm,” he murmurs, his face level with my breasts. He looks up at me, and I set the key on the counter beside me. I loop my arms around his neck, our eyes sharing some mutual understanding before I drop my lips to his.

He wraps his arms around me, and I wrap my legs around him as his mouth opens to mine. I’m not sure how every kiss with him turns from sweet to fiery nearly in an instant, but the urgency and the passion between us is hot and heavy.

We kiss like that a few beats, but he’s a man on a mission, and it’s mere moments later that he’s pulling my jeans and my panties down my legs and tossing them on the kitchen floor before he makes a meal out of me right there on his kitchen counter.

He sucks on my clit before sliding his tongue down, dipping it into me, and then adding his fingers as his tongue laps at my clit some more. I lean back, my palms flat on the counter behind me, and I find myself completely lost in the sensations of his tongue and his lips and his fingers as he drives me closer and closer to my climax. “Oh my God,” I yell out, and then “Oh yes, Cooper, yes, yes, yes!” I scream as he carries me over the edge of bliss, my thighs clamping around his ears as my body thrashes against him. It's brutal and violent and beautiful all at once, and he hums softly against my body as he drives me all the way to the finish line.

I collapse back onto the counter, panting as my body comes down from the high, and he rises to a stand. He leans over me and presses gentle kisses to my neck, and it’s a pure moment of sweet delight as I think about how many times over we’ll do this right here as we fall deeper and deeper into each other.

And then, someday down the road once all secrets are revealed, we’ll live here together and we’ll create the kind of future we’ve already promised each other, the future we’ve dreamed about together.

We’ll do that as many times as we want right here in this kitchen. We’ll be as loud as we want, and we won’t have to hide from anybody.

I live in that bliss for all of a few moments before we hear the doorbell ring.

“Dammit,” Cooper mutters under his breath. He straightens, pulling his weight off me, and he helps me sit up again. He reaches down and picks up my clothes, and he helps me down from the counter before handing them over.

“My legs are still a little shaky after that one,” I admit, and he chuckles.

“I’ll go get rid of whoever’s at the door,” he promises.

I quickly pull on my clothes as he disappears, and I hear the door open a few seconds later. I’m pulling up the zipper on my jeans when I hear it.

“How’s the new place, man?”

My dad’s voice.

Oh, shit.

He had to have seen my car outside.

How the hell do I play this one off?

Cooper just gave me an orgasm on his kitchen counter and I was about to return the favor when my freaking dad showed up.

I sigh.

The bliss wasn’t meant to last forever, I guess.

I smooth my hair down and dive back into the box I was unpacking before Cooper came in with that little… interruption .

“I called in for some help from my shadow,” Cooper says, his voice carrying down the hall and into the kitchen, where I stand as they walk into the doorway.

“There she is,” my dad says, and he walks over and grabs me into a hug.

Jeez. My legs are still shaking from the vicious orgasm his best friend just gave me, and now I have to act like everything’s normal.

“Hey, Dad,” I say, my voice shaky and high-pitched. “Just, uh, taking out Cooper’s equipment.” My eyes widen at the potential euphemism. “Utensils! I’m unpacking his utensils.” I’m not sure if that’s any better, and my dad gives me a strange look while Cooper laughs.

Oh my God. Can he smell me on Cooper’s breath? I’m not sure why the thought darts through my head, but now I can’t make it go away.

“She’s been a huge help.” He opens a few cabinets to show my dad how much we’ve accomplished, my climax on the counter thirty seconds ago notwithstanding.

“Glad to hear it,” he says. “My little girl is a great helper, isn’t she?”

He musses my hair a little, and I get the sense he will always see me as his little girl. Maybe it’s because we missed so much time together, but every time I’m around him and Cooper together, I just get this weird premonition that he would never be okay with what’s happening between us. It would come as way too much of a shock when he truly thinks I’m nothing more than a much younger little sister to Cooper.

And I’m scared it has the potential to spell the end for us before we even really get the chance to get started.