“So I look Hollywood?” he asked with a laugh as he put them on.
“Because there will be thousands of pictures of you snapped, and they’ll look for that one that can be badly interpreted. Trust me, with all of the ways we move our facial muscles, invariably there will be one that probably looks like you hate me or something, and they’ll pounce on it.”
“Are you shitting me?” His mouth was hanging open in astonishment.
“Not shitting you,” I told him grimly, and then we pushed out into the sunshine and were met with dozens of paparazzi with cameras. They like to skulk about the airport trying to catch any celebrity that comes through. I ignored them as we rolled our bags to a chauffeur waiting for us in front of a dark sedan with a sign that read GOODNIGHT. The photographers followed, crowded, got pushy with their snapping cameras and questions being thrown at me left and right.
“Eden…are you and Cooper Mayfield in a relationship now?”
“Eden…are you going to be filming with Brad…”
“Eden…what do you think of Lilliana Prentice moving into Brad’s home this past week?”
I didn’t respond, but that one was interesting. He didn’t waste any time, and I’m assuming things were definitely over between Lilliana and her husband. I did wonder if Lilliana knew that Brad was at my house in Georgia just a few days ago trying to make things right with me.
Coop follows me upstairs to my bedroom, carrying both of our suitcases. Colleen’s coming over in a few hours to go over the legal documents to break my contract on Brad’s film. She’s also dying to meet Coop, so that’s the real reason she’s coming, although she graciously offered to pick up his tux we’d ordered for tomorrow tonight’s award ceremony and deliver it to us.
My master suite is beautiful, and it’s the one room in the house that I actually decorated to my tastes. The rest of the house is simplistic, as I’m not here enough to really enjoy it. But my bedroom is where I relax, and I wanted it to reflect a peaceful design. My walls are done in silvers and slate blues, as are the roman shades in different patterns. My bed is actually a unornamented box frame with a square wooden headboard with a live edge, stained a dark mahogany. The wall facing the ocean is nothing but floor-to-ceiling windows with a private balcony accessed by French doors. There is nothing more relaxing than to go to sleep with those doors open and feel the sea breeze coming in.
The sound of Coop setting down the luggage catches my attention and I turn to face him. I clutch my hands in front of my stomach and ask, “So what do you think?”
He doesn’t say anything, but his expression says it all. It says, I love your house because you stuck to your heritage. I’m also sorry that this is about the only thing you’ve had to remind you of home over the years.
Damn, intuitive guy.
We’d stopped and grabbed lunch at one of the local restaurants off Sunset Boulevard, but there’s so much to see and do around here I’m not really sure where to start.
“What do you want to do?” I ask hesitantly, quickly changing the subject before he can give me an honest answer to my question. “I can take you sightseeing. Or we can go hang out on the beach. Shopping even.”
Coop walks to me, his long legs eating up the distance in no time. His hand slides into my hair at the back of my head and he grabs a fistful, tugging on it gently so my face tips back. He bends down, grazes his lips against mine, and murmurs, “I want you to get naked and get on your bed. I’m here in LA with you, and now I want what you promised me.”
My eyes go wide as pleasure skitters down my spine from the rough need in his voice. “Right now?”
“Why wait?” he asks me, his hand gripping a bit harder, and the little sting to my scalp is exhilarating. Coop’s always been control in bed, even a little forceful, but I felt he had more bristling under the surface, and my body responds to that prospect immediately. My legs get rubbery and my panties get wet.
Coop turns my body around just by his hold in my hair and then gives me a gentle push toward the bed as he releases me. “Get naked, get on your hands and knees, and push that ass in the air.”
“Coop,” I whisper as I freeze in place. I don’t stop because I’m scared or nervous, but because I’m almost paralyzed with such potent desire my mind goes blank.
Stepping up behind me, Coop moves my hair away from my neck and brushes his lips there. “You okay?”
I nod, shiver…nod again. “Uh-huh.”
“Can you take my cock in your ass?” he rumbles.
My entire body shudders. “Uh-huh.”
“And you got some toys we can play with to help you get loosened up first?” he asks, and I can hear the subtle humor in his voice.
I nod again, then lift a shaky hand to point to my closet. “Pink box on the top shelf.”
Coop moves to the closet, gets the box I described, and brings it back to set on the bed. He opens it up and peruses the contents, his hands picking up various toys and examining them.
“I fucking hate thinking about you using this shit with—”
“I didn’t,” Eden breaks in, because she knew where I was going. “Not with Brad because he wasn’t very adventurous. But before him, several years ago, there was—”
Coop holds up a hand, the palm facing me as he continues to rummage in the box. “Don’t want to know about it.”
I snap my mouth shut and try not to smile about his jealousy. Surely he understands I may have had an active sex life after we broke up, because I sure as hell know he probably had a more prolific one than I did.
And yeah…I don’t want to think about that either.
Coop finally pulls something out, turns to me, and holds it out. “This is what we’ll use.”
I swallow as I take in the glass butt plug that’s not the smallest one I’ve got. It’s been a long time and I know this could get…uncomfortable.
But I also trust Coop and I know he wouldn’t hurt me. I would have never trusted Brad with that toy Coop’s now holding. He would have never understood how to use it other than with brute force, and I’m awfully glad that Brad was a dud in the sack.
“Lube?” Coop asks, but there’s nothing clinical in his tone. It’s husky, warm, and tinged with lust.
“Nightstand,” I whisper.
“Good,” he says with a feral smile that should scare me but excites me instead. He nods toward the bed. “Naked. Ass in air.”
“Okay,” I breathe out in a whisper, and start to undress.