Chasing Dreams (Devil's Bend) (27 page)

He
turned away, running his hands through his hair before resting his palms on the
porch railing. He knew how the story sounded, knew that it made him appear weak
and needy, but he wasn’t going to lie to Tessa. In truth, he wanted what his
parents had found nearly thirty-five years ago and to this day, he never
expected it to happen to him. So when Tabitha had tricked him into believing he
was going to be a father, he’d been happier than he had been in years.

Cooper’s
body went rigid when he felt Tessa’s hands on his back. He hung his head low,
expecting her to tell him that he needed to go, he needed to go find someone
who could give him what he needed because she wasn’t that person.

But
damn it, he wanted her to be. It wasn’t very often that he found a woman who
treated him like a normal man. Like he wasn’t in the limelight. He liked the
way she tried to keep her distance, yet relented when he pushed because no
matter what, up until now, he knew she felt something for him too.

Cooper’s
back hardened when her soft, cool hands were replaced by her lips. She wasn’t
trying to seduce him, she was trying to comfort him, and when she wrapped her
arms around him, her palms flattening on his stomach, he almost lost control of
his own emotions. He couldn’t remember a time when a woman held him like that.
Like they actually wanted to ease his pain.

If
he hadn’t already been falling in love with her, he certainly was now.

Tessa
felt the thump of Cooper’s heartbeat against her palms, the warmth of his skin
against her cheek as she held on to him.

His
story wasn’t what she expected to hear, and the sorrow in his voice as he told
it hit her in a strange way. As much as she wanted to deny the truth, the
pained look in Cooper’s eyes had told her he wasn’t lying. And it helped to
explain the sadness she’d seen when she had brought up kids before. Some of
what he said was probably difficult for him to admit. Based on the way he stood
stone still in front of her confirmed it.

He
wanted a family, and he’d been conned into believing he was going to be a
father. Above all else, he’d done the right thing. Something many men wouldn’t
do. She had to admire him for that, even if her heart was breaking for what
he’d been through. She wanted to find the Tabitha girl and claw her eyes out
for hurting him like that.

Tessa
was just about to say something when her back screen door flew open, slamming
into the wall, making her jump. She turned to see Jack barreling toward her and
Cooper like the house was on fire.

“Sonuvabitch!
What the fuck did you do to my sister?” Jack growled as he moved closer.

Cooper’s
sudden movement caught Tessa off guard, and when she began to stumble, he
righted her and then eased her behind him as he went toe to toe with her
younger brother.

“Jack!
Don’t!” she yelled, trying to move around Cooper. He wasn’t having any of it,
and she was getting pissed off by the way that he was trying to protect her.

This
was her brother.

Slapping
his arm away, Tessa moved around Cooper, watching as Jack got right up in Cooper’s
face. Granted, Jack was closer to six-foot-six compared to Cooper’s
six-foot-two, so they didn’t meet eye to eye.

“You
bastard! If you hurt her, I’ll fucking kill you!”

“You
don’t want to do this, Jack,” Cooper warned, his voice calm but eerily low.

His
body language didn’t at all resemble the tone of his voice though. He appeared
rigidly defensive, but he wasn’t aggressive toward Jack physically.

“Nothing
happened,” Tessa told him, trying to push her way between them. “Dammit, Jack!
Nothing happened!”

“No?”
Jack barked, never moving out of Cooper’s face. “Then why did I hear you went
home last night after this shithead’s manager stopped in? How do you explain
that?”

Tessa
grabbed Jack’s arm and forced him back an inch. Not that she could’ve budged
him if he didn’t want to move, but he placated her.

“I
didn’t feel well,” she explained. That was the truth. After she spoke to
Marcus, her stomach had been churning painfully from her grief. But, in
Cooper’s defense, she hadn’t given him a chance to explain himself.

Jack
pinned his stare back on Cooper who hadn’t moved from where he was standing,
his fists clenched at his sides.

“You
hurt her, and I’ll hurt you. Understand me?” Jack asked.

“You
don’t want to do this, Jack,” Cooper repeated. “You’re gonna want to take a
step back.”

Tessa
could feel Cooper’s ire as it radiated off of him like a heat wave in summer.

“Jack,
stop. Cooper didn’t hurt me,” she told her brother. She looked up at Cooper,
waiting until he looked at her before she said, “He wouldn’t hurt me.” The
sudden realization made her body tremble and tears rush to her eyes.

He
wouldn’t hurt her. He was one of the good ones. Even if she was scared
senseless about what that meant for them. She didn’t want to invite more
heartache into her life, but she found that she trusted him. Something that she
didn’t do easily. After Richie died, leaving her utterly alone and Chad had
tried to sabotage her reputation because he didn’t get his way, rightfully so,
she was jaded.

But
just like Izzy suggested, Tessa had managed to give Cooper a chance. And here
he was copping to his innermost insecurities, and she knew without a doubt that
he wasn’t going to hurt her. At least not on purpose.

“Never,”
Cooper whispered, his eyes locked with hers. “I promise you that.”

Grabbing
Jack’s arm, she applied as much force as she could, pulling him backward. “Now,
go on. Thank you for wanting to protect me, little brother, but it’s time for
you to go.”

Jack
stood motionless, staring at her like she had morphed into something alien
right before his eyes. “Fine,” Jack said quietly. “Just remember that I won’t
tolerate anyone hurting her. You get me.”

“Sounds
like we’ve got something in common,” Cooper answered, his brown eyes calmer
than they had been moments ago.

Without
another word, Jack turned and stalked back in the direction he came. The screen
door slammed once more, followed by the front door a few seconds later.

“I’m
sorry about that,” Tessa said, pacing away from him.

Cooper’s
warm hands stopped her movements as they rested on her shoulders. He turned her
to face him and Tessa’s breath lodged in her chest. “Don’t be sorry. I’m glad
to know that he’s got your back. I feel better knowing you’ve got someone in
your corner.”

Tessa
nodded, fighting the tears that had suddenly appeared to cloud her vision.
There was so much emotion churning inside of her, she wasn’t sure she’d be able
to hold them back much longer.

That’s
when her feet were swept out from under her, and she found herself in Cooper’s
arms, a squeal escaping her as she tried to kick her legs.

“Hold
still, woman. I’ve got you,” he muttered as he started moving. “Barely,” he
said with a laugh.

Tessa
slapped his chest as she laughed. “I figured you were stronger than that,
cowboy.”

Cooper
managed to pull open the screen door as the dogs pushed their way into the
house before he followed behind them.

“What
are you doing?” she asked when he closed the back door and locked it.

“Keeping
your brother out. I figure if he comes back, this way he won’t interrupt. Lord
knows what he’ll do when he hears you screaming.”

Tessa
laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. “You plan to make me
scream, cowboy?”

“More
than once, darlin’. More than once.”

“Promises,
promises,” she goaded him as he moved down the narrow hall to her bedroom.

Without
any finesse whatsoever, he dumped her on the mattress, making her laugh again.
The giggle quickly died when his hard body came down over her, his hips fitting
between her thighs until she was wrapping her legs around him and trying to
pull him closer.

“Seems
like we’ve got on more clothes than necessary,” Cooper said with a mischievous
gleam in his eyes.

“Then
you should remedy that,” she taunted.

The
mattress dipped, and she bounced slightly as he pushed up to his feet abruptly.
She couldn’t tear her eyes off of him as he stripped out of his jeans in record
time. Once he was fully naked, he grabbed her shorts and pulled them down her
legs, panties going with them.

When
he came back down over her, the only thing she had on was her tank top and bra.
“I think you forgot something,” she told him seriously.

“Working
on it, darlin’,” he crooned in her ear, his tongue tracing the outer shell. “I
promise, I’m going to have you naked soon.”

His
voice sent chills racing down her spine. His words reminded her of all of the
times she had heard him sing in the last few months. His voice was like rich,
dark chocolate coating her skin. Sweet, warm, delicious.

As
though he knew she was thinking about his voice, he sang a chorus from one of
her favorite songs of his.

From the first time I saw her

Her smile spoke to my soul

My heart found a home

Right there in the arms of my
angel in blue jeans

“I
love that song,” she whispered to him, cupping his stubbly jaw as she looked
into brown eyes that drew her in, held her close.

“I
hope so,” he muttered with a smile. “It’s about you.”

Tessa
stilled.
About her?
“Seriously?”

“Yup,”
he answered, his fingers sliding under the material of her tank top, pushing it
higher on her torso until he got it over her breasts.

A
strange echo erupted in her chest, like she had been hollow before and now all
of a sudden there was something swirling inside of her.

He
pressed a gentle kiss to her mouth before pushing up onto his knees and ridding
her of her tank top quickly. Because she didn’t want to wait, Tessa unhooked
the front clasp of her bra and maneuvered out of it as fast as she could, her
eyes never leaving Cooper’s.

“So,
what are you waiting for?” she asked breathlessly. “I want you inside me.”

“Oh,
darlin’, that will all come in due time.”

He
shifted, and Tessa felt his hands on her butt, pushing her up the bed until she
was closer to the pillows at the top. As he settled between her thighs, she
glanced down at him, waiting with bated breath for him to do something.
Anything.

“You’re
a frustrating man,” she joked when she realized he was taking his time, staring
between her legs as he parted her with his fingers. The warmth of his breath
against her sensitive nerve endings was making her crazy.

“Hmmm,
but it’ll be worth the wait, I promise. I’ve waited to do this again for so
long.” His eyes traveled up the length of her body until they met hers again.
“I crave the taste of you. I want to feel you squirm against my mouth while I
fuck you with my tongue.”

God,
she loved when he talked like that. The eroticism of the words drove her wild.
Something she didn’t think would happen again. She had vowed for the longest
time that she would never let herself lose control like that with another man.
But with Cooper, it was almost as though she didn’t have a choice. It was like
he insisted that she lose her inhibitions when they were together. And the
pleasure he wrought from her body was so worth it, she couldn’t even try to
control herself, even if she wanted to.

His
thick fingers spread her wider as she watched. When his head lowered, she tried
to focus on what he was doing, but the second the heat of his tongue trailed
lightly over her clit, Tessa’s head fell back on the pillow, a moan escaping.
“I love when you do that,” she admitted.

“When
I lick your pussy?” he asked.

God,
could he make this any hotter? Just his words alone… “Yes. Yes, when you do
that.”

“Say
it, Tessa. Tell me you love when I lick your pussy.”

Tessa
tensed, her body straining to fight off what he was asking her to do. It was
one thing to enjoy what he did, what he said, but to repeat it. She couldn’t.

She
felt his breath between her thighs once more, and she thought he was going to
move on, but he didn’t. “If you want me to continue, you’ll tell me.”

“You’re
incorrigible,” she bit out.

“I’m
many things, darlin’. Tell me.”

Tessa
groaned as his breath teased the sensitive tissue, her pussy begging for his
touch. “I love when you lick me,” she said, her words reflecting her
uncertainty.

Cooper
pushed her legs farther apart, his big hands flat on the inside of her thighs,
holding her open to his gaze and Tessa wanted to beg him to lick her.

“Lick
you where? Repeat after me, Tessa. ‘Cooper, I love when you lick my pussy’.”

Oh,
God! She nearly came up off the bed as his tongue briefly touched her clit, an
obvious attempt to torture her. “Cooper, I love – Oh, God! – I love when you
lick my pussy!”

As
soon as the last word left her lips, his mouth descended on her, and she
screamed, the sudden heat against her needy nerve endings almost sending her
over the edge. To her relief, he slowed his movements, his tongue searching,
seeking, torturing her as he lapped at her over and over again. She was a
writhing, moaning mess by the time he drove his tongue inside of her. “Cooper!
Please!”

“Please
what?” he asked, the smile in his voice evident.

“Please
make me come.” Now
tha
t she could say.

“My
pleasure, baby,” he growled, the vibration reigniting the embers, making the
flames burn hotter until she was gripping the comforter beneath her hands, her
muscles locking up one by one until she was thrusting her hips upward, pressing
against his mouth. When he began flicking her clit relentlessly, her orgasm
exploded like a violent earthquake, knocking her off balance as she tried to
hold on to the last vestiges of her sanity.