THE NEXT MORNING, on their way down to breakfast, Cici couldn’t take her eyes off of Cooper. He’d stayed with her overnight, and they’d made love again this morning. It was languid and loving and left her swooning, like the years hadn’t ever come between them. When he’d returned to his room to shower and change, she’d lain on the bed thinking about him and Melody. She had almost told him about her last night, but she still felt a sense of protectiveness. She’d tell him tonight before they left, for sure.
He stood beside her wearing a gray button-down that was faded at the elbows and looked like it was an old favorite. She wanted to cuddle up against it and feel his hard body beneath the soft fabric. His shirt was untucked, his jeans fit like a glove, and his black boots took him from professional photographer to badass artist. She loved his professional side as much as she loved his badass and protective sides. And that protective side was one she knew would come alive around Melody.
She sighed inwardly, wanting Melody to know her father. She knew Tegan would give her hell for falling for Cooper again, but the truth was, she’d never fallen out of love with him. She’d tried to call Tegan this morning, but there was no answer. She and Melody were probably already out and about. Melody had always been an early riser. She smiled, thinking of the way Melody bounded into her room in the morning, bright-eyed and wide-awake before the alarm. She missed her little blue-eyed princess.
Cooper lifted his dark eyes to hers, catching her staring—again—and smiled. Oh, how she loved that smile of his. It was welcoming and warm and just devilish enough to reveal the wickedness in him.
He laced his fingers with hers and squeezed her hand. “That’s the sweetest smile I’ve seen all morning.”
I was imagining you and me in bed and Melody jumping into bed between us.
“Just thinking of how we’ve come full circle and that it feels good.”
When she was lying on the bed this morning watching him dress, she’d allowed herself to imagine a future with him. She’d expected it to be harder to imagine than it had been. She could see them seamlessly creating a life together, as easily as they had this weekend. She pictured him with Melody, and not once, no matter how hard she tried, could she conjure up a negative reaction. That wasn’t Cooper. Cooper might look hard-edged and serious, but she knew the real Cooper, the sensitive, intelligent, sensual man inside of all that edgy hotness.
The man who’d tried to protect her heart by breaking his own.
He pulled her against him and kissed her senseless.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“For what?”
“For giving us a chance. I know how much faith it must take for you to let me into your heart again, and I appreciate it.” He kissed her again, holding her to him as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. He slicked his tongue over her lower lip. She wanted that tongue in her mouth, on her skin. She knew exactly what pleasures it was capable of bringing her. Thankfully, no one was waiting for the elevator, and when the doors closed, his gaze turned sinful, and he captured her mouth in a possessive kiss. Her hands slid beneath his shirt, and a moan escaped her lungs at the feel of his hot, hard flesh. Moving fast, he pushed his hand beneath her skirt and into her panties, like a heat-seeking missile to her pleasure point, stroking her into a frenzy of greedy desire. His mouth latched on to her neck, sucking and grazing her sensitive skin with his teeth as he took her right to the edge. She went up on her toes, acutely aware of the elevator floors ticking by.
“Come for me. Fast and hard,” he rasped against her cheek as he dipped his fingers deep inside her. Her mind spun away as a glorious, earth-shattering orgasm, heightened by the danger of being caught, claimed her.
“Christ, Cici, you’re so fucking hot.” He claimed her mouth again, bringing her down slowly.
Her legs felt like rubber, and she had no hope of her mind functioning at all, but when he withdrew his fingers and licked them clean, she nearly came again from the erotic rush of wickedness that was Cooper Wild. He kissed her hard, and she tasted herself on his hot, wet tongue. Just as she thought she’d melt to liquid and puddle at his feet, he gathered her in close.
“I want more of you for breakfast,” he said as he rocked into her again. “I want everything with you, Ceese. I want to have breakfast with you, make love to you after dinner, fall asleep with you in my arms. I want to share your secrets, fulfill your dreams.”
She couldn’t think, could barely breathe past the thrum of love coursing through her, and when the elevator doors opened, she knew she probably had that well-fucked look her sister often sported—and she’d once been jealous of. Although jealousy was nowhere in sight as a broad-shouldered, startlingly handsome man, whose jaw held the same chiseled appeal and eyes held the same piercing stare as Cooper’s, walked in with a beautiful blonde practically glued to his side.
“Coop!” the guy said, grinning like he’d just discovered the answer to all the world’s questions.