Cooper (Wild Boys After Dark, #4)(15)
After talking with his mother, Cooper called Jackson on his way out the door.
“Dude, we’re down at the restaurant. Join us?” Jackson asked.
Ever since getting engaged to Erica, Jackson had been happier and less serious all the time. Hell, each of his brothers was happier now, and he had to admit, as he walked to the elevator, after just one day with Cici, he was happier, too.
“I’m heading down to get Cici. We’re going out to dinner, to talk, but let’s get together for breakfast tomorrow. I want you to meet her.” Never before had he been excited to talk with a woman. Now he couldn’t wait to get everything out in the open so they could hopefully move forward.
Jackson’s voice grew serious. “Everything’s cool, then? She isn’t pissed?”
“We’ll see. So far so good, but four years is a long time. And you know me—I’m not big on spilling my guts.” He stepped into the elevator and pushed the button, thinking about what he’d just said. “Except, I guess I am with Cici, because I told her about Dad last night.”
“No shit?” Jackson said. “Coop, I still can’t believe you fell in love with a woman and never told me, man. That’s f*cked up.”
“What’s f*cked up was that the f*cking attack screwed with my head for so long. I owe you and Erica a thank-you. It wasn’t until I realized that if you lost Erica, you’d lose a piece of yourself that I realized I’d already lost the best thing I’d ever had.”
Chapter Six
CICI FLUNG THE door open, holding an expensive camera in one hand and scowling at the infuriatingly handsome man leaning casually against the doorframe.
“Seriously, Cooper?” She held up the camera. “I can’t accept this.” She shoved the camera into his hands. He looked at her with shock and amusement in his eyes, which only annoyed her even more. “I can’t accept this or the other two cameras, or the lenses, the batteries, or the rolling equipment carrier. Jesus, Cooper. I’m not a charity case.”
He arched a brow and then looked down at the camera. “I guess the equipment I ordered for you was delivered.”
“Ugh! How can you be so calm, when I’m…not?”
He stepped closer, his inky lashes blinking over soft, midnight-blue eyes.
“How about a hello, and then you can yell at me.” He pressed his lips to her cheek. They were warm and tender and, goddamn it? now she was smiling.
“It was a sweet gesture,” she admitted, already calming. “Really thoughtful. But I can’t accept any of this.”
“Okay. I’m sorry if my gift gave you the impression that I thought you needed charity. I just figured it would take a while to get your insurance hammered out, and as much as I loved spending today with you, I thought you might want the freedom to take pictures without feeling tied to me.”
“You…” So I’m not tied to you? Now she felt silly. “I’m sorry if I overreacted, but we have a lot to work out, and I don’t want you thinking that I need you to buy me things, or take care of me.”
“Fair enough,” he said. “But you know me, Ceese. You know that I love taking care of you, even if it doesn’t include buying you things.”
She did know that. When they’d been together before, he’d never showered her with gifts, but he’d showered her with so much love and attention that she’d felt like every second of her life was golden. “I know, and I do love that about you. But…fair enough? You’re okay with taking them back? You’re not going to get upset?”
He slid a hand around her waist and tugged her in close. His body was hot and hard and his voice was low and husky. “Of course I’m okay with it. I would prefer that you were strapped to me every second.”
“Cooper,” she whispered, caught between wanting desperately to kiss him and needing to talk things through.
“I’d be happier if you’d keep the equipment and still spend every minute with me. That way I’d know you were hanging out with me because you wanted to and not because you had to.”
He pressed his lips to hers again, and she savored every moment as his tongue invaded her mouth, tangling with hers, and his arm crushed her body to his. His kiss was exploratory, playing over her teeth, tracing the outline of her lips, then dipping inside again. Her nipples tightened and spirals of ecstasy seared through her. She fought to hold on to what little rational thought she had left as she backed against the open door, returning his kiss with a hunger she didn’t know she possessed. They stumbled into the room, and he must have set the camera down, because his hands were on her waist, holding her close, his thumbs stroking over her hip bones in a hypnotic pattern as his mouth blazed south. He kissed her neck, nipping at her sensitive skin as his breath whispered against it.
“We should talk,” he rasped. “We need to talk.”
Her eyes fluttered closed as his tongue stroked along the swell of her breast.
“Yes,” she said breathlessly.
“I can’t stop kissing you.” He captured her mouth in a demanding kiss that sent rivers of heat through her veins and brought her up on her toes as she tried to get closer to him.
“Don’t stop.” She tugged at his shirt, searching for skin, and when her hands found his heated flesh, her breath left her lungs in a rush. “I never had a chance of resisting you,” she said as she pushed his shirt over his pecs and pressed her lips to his chest. “You’re so damn hot.”