“Yeah, he’s super sweet.”
Our hands come together like they always do, and when we reach the car, he asks, “My place or yours?”
“Let’s mix it up and celebrate at your apartment.”
29
Story
The chicken was good but not as good as Cooper’s mouth on my body. The tremors dwindle as I gasp until my breathing evens out.
His head pops up from between my legs, but his fingers still work their magic down there. “You’re ready for me,” he says, starting to crawl up my body.
“What makes you think that?” I tease and run my hands over the sweat glistening on his shoulders.
“I’ll give you a clue.” He kisses me, and though he wants me focusing on the taste of what we just did, the gentle prodding of his erection against my entrance has me leveraging his body for my own purposes—to feel him deeper inside me.
“Oh fuck, babe.” He pulls out, disbelief cinching his expression together. “What are you doing?”
“You feel so good,” I say, wanting to feel all of him with nothing between us. I’m a loose cannon, too turned on to think beyond this bed. I pull him closer, bobbing on the tip just ever so slightly. And he lets me, soaking in the sensation. I know he wants me just as badly, but he’s restraining himself. I whisper in his ear. “I want you, Cooper. So bad that my body aches for you.”
The five o’clock shadow has grown to a seven and scratches against my cheek when he slides his gaze to me. The dulcet, desperate groan reveals his struggle to fight between what we want and what’s sensible. He moves his arm up and strokes my cheek. “We can’t, Story. You’re not on the pill.”
“I just want to feel you. All of you.”
He kisses me again, our mouths clashing as he steals every one of my breaths away. He sinks into me, just a little more with caution, and then pulls out again. “That’s all you get for now.” And he calls me the tease.
“Just once.”
As he reaches for a condom, I lie here panting next to him while my body is left empty. Kissing each nipple upon his return, the energy sparks through me, and I try to wrap my legs around him. A smirk lies squarely on his face, but he still looks up and says, “Trust me, baby. Once won’t be enough,” he says pointedly. “But I promise to make you feel so good.”
I know he’s right, but I’m still fighting my traitorous intentions that have thrown caution to the wind. One feel of him bare and I could tell the difference. Is it wrong to crave that feeling? I push up on my elbows and face him again. “I’m getting on the pill next week. I have access to the university doctor until campus closes next Friday, and I’m going to do it.” The words come out as if they’re a threat.
“Okay. If that’s what you want, I’m not going to object.”
I lie back down as he returns to hover over me with his erection sheathed in a condom. Sweet kisses aren’t what I want, so I say, “I want on top.”
Maneuvering, we swap positions until I’m straddling him and sliding my body against his hardness until we’re both slick. With my weight balanced on my hands pushed against his chest, he lifts his cock so I can slide down. I sink down slowly, not wanting to rush the initial connection, my eyes closing as I savor every inch of him.
We’ve been together for five months, but every time we’re together like this, it’s like the first time all over again—the stretching, a mild burn, and the fullness . . . The overwhelming feeling of how he fills me so completely. But maybe that’s also the emotions taking over.
I lift my hips and slide back down, and then again, rocking back and forth and watching how I affect him. The pinch of his brows, the lashes squeezed when it appears to be too much for him. The glory of his determination and the demise of his willpower. It’s all on display for me to see.
That line between pain and pleasure vibrates between us, each kiss and push, thrust, and pull driving us for more. “So good,” I say, taking what I need from him.
Holding my hips, he digs his fingertips into my skin, controlling them to take what he needs from me.
I lean forward and kiss him, kiss him so hard that we forget that there’s another world outside this bedroom. But as I struggle to keep up, bouncing up and down to reach our peak, he flips me over, and commands, “Turn around.”
I roll over and get to my knees, eagerness corrupting my veins. His hand slips between my thighs and lower, wedging my knees apart even farther. There’s no kindness when he thrusts into me this time. I’m thinking there might not even be love. This is raw desire, us setting ourselves on fire just to feel the heat.
I’ve never felt such madness—my body craving and my thoughts going wild.
Though I’m braced on the bed with my hands fisting the blankets, I turn and look over my shoulder just to see him again. I expect rawness to add a cold tint to his eyes, but that’s not what I find. I find love prevalent in the green like he always holds for me.
He scrapes his nails lightly up my spine as his fingers slide into the hair at the nape of my neck and then higher until he’s cupping the crown of my head. With that hand pushing my head forward and his other pressing to my belly, I start to lose myself. Closing my eyes, I let my mind rest and my body take over, meeting him thrust for thrust. My chanted name becomes a swear to the siren who taunts and a praise to the muse who inspires him.
His erratic movements push all the right buttons until I scream his name in pleasure, then he returns the favor, and we release together.
In the aftermath of our downfall, my body is spent in the most delicious ways, and I fall to the mattress. He falls on top of me, kissing my cheek. The feel of his lips caresses my shoulder before he rolls to the side but keeps a leg draped over the back of me.
The sound of our breaths mingling is all that’s heard in my ears. My neck is peppered with more sweet kisses before he collapses next to me, the weight causing the mattress to dip and the gravitational pull is too much to resist. At least, I’ll blame gravity for me smothering this man with my body.
When I open my eyes, he says, “I want us to be together.”
My smile is lazy and full of the pleasure we just experienced as one. “We just were.”
He chuckles and finds my hand to hold it. “I feel like this is déjà vu of a conversation we’ve had before.” He’s right. It is the first time we committed to be exclusive, though I was already his long before he asked me.
Then the laughter lightens and eventually subsides altogether. Lying on our stomachs facing each other, I stare into his eyes as he stares into mine, our hearts entangled as much as our bodies. “We’ve done a great job of avoiding talking about what’s going to happen after graduation.”
“Stellar job,” I say, hating that the future lies fully in the unknown. I’m a planner by nature.
“You’ve never mentioned New York to me directly, but I heard Lila ask you about it.”
I can’t answer why this was a topic I avoided with most people, specifically with him. What if my dream doesn’t come true? I just don’t want people to see me fail since it’s expected of me. “I don’t know what I’m doing or where I’m going. I have no money to move, so everything is based on if I get a job in the city.”
“Have you sent your résumé anywhere?”
“No.” Although I find relief when his brow is released from worry, we still have a lot to discuss. “What about you?”
“I haven’t had my scores sent anywhere.”
“Doctor? Lawyer? Bumming around for the summer and taking a break?” I lean forward and kiss his bicep simply because his muscles deserve more attention. “What’s the great Cooper Haywood going to do with his life?”