Faithful (19 page)

I reach up and run my fingertips lightly across his cheekbone and let them trail down the back of his neck before firmly cupping it. “This is different. You seem like a new experience.”

“I’ve been here for a while, waiting for you to notice,” he says calmly.

“Oh, I’m noticing.” I chuckle softly, making him smile a little.

He nudges my legs farther apart with his knee and settles his weight on his elbows with his cock pressing against my eager center, his mouth descending on my neck and leisurely kissing my sensitive spots. The sensation of his cock prodding my clit; his warm, hard abs and chest barley skimming my skin; and his tongue behind my ear causes me to moan and arch into him.

I glide my hands down his back and around his tight ass to pull him closer to me. Unable to wait any longer, I take matters into my own hands, literally. I move a hand to grip his hard length, stroking it lightly then more aggressively. Cooper moans into my ear when I rub the tip against my wetness, circling it until I sense a change in his body. There’s a shock, an electric current, that’s undoing his willpower as he sucks and bites my neck.

“Oh, God. What are you doing?” I whisper.

“Biting, tasting you. I’m trying to make this last, and you’re trying to rush it,” he says, moving his face directly above mine. His breathing and heart rate escalate, his eyes shimmering with adoration as he looks at me.

“It’s natural to get very excited about someone new.” I kiss his chin and lick the stubble there.

“I’m trying to hold out so I don’t come in thirty seconds like a stupid teenage boy, and you’re making that very difficult.”

“If it helps, I feel like a naïve, teenage girl,” I confide. “I’m actually shaking.”

“Good. Let me take care of that for you.”

He kisses me deeply, his tongue taking over my mouth as his hand fondles my breasts. I stroke him more fervently, his cock seeming to lengthen and get even harder. He retaliates by sucking on my nipples until they ache, making me writhe in need. I wrap my legs around him, gyrating my hips and rubbing his cock against my clit.

“That’s it,” he grits. “We’ll have to save the appetizers for later.” He removes my hand and takes his cock, plunging into me.

“Yes,” I gasp. “Now I remember how to do this.”

He chuckles and holds still. “Give me a sec.” He pushes farther, and I gasp again as he fills me completely.

Gracefully swiveling his hips in smooth circles, he strikes my clit from an angle, building wonderful friction. I can’t get enough of touching him and running my hands through his hair and scoring my nails down his back. He arches back in pleasure and keeps up his slow, torturous maneuvers as he teases my clit with a finger, leaving my center soaking and swollen, on the verge of a climax.

“Ah, Imogene, you’re so wet,” he moans, removing his finger. He looks at me, his eyes ablaze as he licks his finger. “We’re both ready.”

While he gains purchase on the bed and begins thrusting into me, every muscle in his arms and chest tightly drawn, I greedily run my hands over his taut planes and hard ridges. Throwing his head back to flip his hair out of his face, he watches me with an intense aggressiveness as he drives into me.

I grip his shoulders as my climax erupts and keeps cresting. My inner muscles clench and Cooper, my skilled mind reader, doesn’t stop his relentless pounding until he has wrung every last tingling spasm out of me. My legs loosen their hold on him while I feel like I’m melting into the bed.

He drops back to his elbows and buries his head in my neck as he thrusts into me until he’s empty. He shouts something indecipherable as he finishes, and then I feel a sharp bite on the flesh between my neck and shoulder.

“Cooper,” I groan, hugging him and tugging on his damp hair.

He pulls his head up and regards me with a flushed, satisfied expression. Then he kisses me, his lips gently coaxing mine to let his tongue dart in for a sweet finale. He stays inside of me, keeping me in a snug embrace as he studies my face.

“Sorry, I got a little carried away there at the end. Did I hurt you?” He touches the area of skin he bit. It feels tender, but I don’t mind.

“No. I liked it. Does it look bad?” I ask, not wanting to let go of him just yet.

“It’s bruised and it’s going to look worse tomorrow. Wear a shirt with a collar.” He smiles and then slowly pries his body off mine.

He walks to the bathroom to dispose of the condom, and when he returns, I admire his beautiful physique as he climbs back into bed. I’m still sprawled in the middle of the bed where he left me. My muscles have that rubbery, detached sensation, as though I no longer control them.

Cooper laughs softly at my content state and props himself up on his elbow, looking down at me with an incredibly sexy grin. I catch myself staring, lingering too long on each feature of his face, memorizing where the gray in his eyes turns silver and charcoal and where the curve of his lips meets his prominent cheekbones.

“Why me, Imogene? Why were you afraid of me? And why did you decide to go out with me?”

“Afraid is a strong word,” I reply, touching the stubble on his chin. “Cold, hard fear is more like it.”

He bursts out laughing. “Of me? What the hell for?”

“Because I’ve had my share of handsome men, and they’ve all turned out to be duds.”

“Thank you for the first part, I think, but that’s a shitty thing to lump me in with all your mistakes.”

“
Duds
is a strong word. I meant that, in one way or another, they severely disappointed me and failed to live up to anything that resembled what I had hoped for. And some of the jerks left me bitter and a little hurt. Can you tell?” I chuckle.

“I’m sorry you chose poorly, and I’m sorry I got in line behind all those duds,” he says with conviction. “I should have been at the front of the line.”

I laugh and playfully swat his shoulder before reaching for the sheet to cover myself.

“Wait, what are you doing?” he asks, flinging back the sheet. “I like the view, and we’re not done here. Oh, and I’m out of nicknames since you hate them all.”

Turning into him, I wrap a leg over his and cover my chest with my arm. “Imogene. I like the way you say my name.”

“Imogene,” his deep voice responds.

“I like that. So, no nicknames are required. And I doubt you’ve ever met another Imogene, right?”

“I haven’t,” he says, brushing my hair back with his fingers. “Imogene it is.”

“I’m actually getting used to
baby
, too.” I smile and close my eyes.

When you’re the center of someone’s attention—whether you’re a twelve-year-old girl on the playground with the boy who turns your stomach into knots or a twenty-five-year-old woman who realizes the worst possible man is the only one who interests you—it’s a chance to feel special and imagine you have the world in the palm of your hands. Cooper has my stomachs in knots, and at least for these few moments, he makes me feel special. I memorize and catalogue this moment in his bed, how he looks at me, because I don’t know how long this will last. A night? A week? Maybe it will be a summer affair.

“So, what are you doing, baby?” He laughs. “You’re scrunching your nose like you’re smelling something putrid.”

“No, it’s nothing.” As I open my eyes, his smile disarms me.

“Nothing, shit.” He kisses my nose. “You’re sizing me up, overthinking all of this.”

“Can you blame me? I’ve had a few lousy dates over the last year, and then there was the unfortunate time I spent with Wanker Jeremy.”

Cooper exhales slowly and drapes an arm over my waist. “Think of them as research and practice. You had to meet a few wankers before you met me so you’d know how awesome I am.”

“Ah,” I chuckle. “So how many women have you been practicing with over the last decade? A few hundred? Thousands?”

“Jesus, I don’t want to talk about people we’ve slept with. They aren’t ex-wives or ex-husbands, right? They don’t matter.”

“Good response. So, did you sleep with that Pilates chick? Because I have seen the way she admires you.”

“This is very interesting. You’re jealous.” He nips my ear lobe. “And, no, I didn’t sleep with her.”

“How is that possible? You dated her for like two months.”

“You kept track of that? Imogene…” He laughs and falls back on the bed, beside himself with laughter.

I’m not proud of myself; however, his joy over my blatant jealousy is annoying and embarrassing.
Kcuf
!

“I didn’t sleep with her, baby. You don’t have to be jealous.”

“Sure,” I respond.

He turns to look at me. “In that two month period you so expertly kept track of, we went out about four times, only because she kept asking me out for dinner. It’s a small town, and I could only come up with so many excuses before sounding like an asshole. So, we went out a few times and talked, and that’s all that happened.”

“Why didn’t you sleep with her? You know she wanted to.”

“Jesus, Imogene. I didn’t want to
be
with anyone from this town,” he says pointedly to me, “except for you.”

I quietly analyze this. He’s right. I’m doing my own kind of profiling and mind reading. I’m trying to figure out why he’s here with me and not with an athletic woman more similar to himself. A very limber Pilates woman would be perfect for him.

“I thought you’d come around and be a little bit friendlier so I could ask you out.” He rolls back on his side and pins me to the bed.

“Wait a minute. You’re saying you haven’t slept with anyone in over a year?”

“I didn’t say that. I didn’t sleep with anyone from Hera. I never said I was celibate.”

“Oh, of course. You and your damn bike just roamed the countryside, visiting all the little towns to find women to screw. It was your own little fuck quest.”

“That’s exactly what it was,” he says, sarcastically. “A fuck quest. Jesus. Did you sleep with that moron who bought you a drink at the bar?”

“The guy at the pool hall? I was there with—”

“With Emma and Lauren. I know. I was there with some of the guys from the shop,” he says in a very measured tone.

“Were you jealous?” I ask, surprised at how hopeful I sound.

“Yes,” he hisses.

“Huh.” I let my silence torture him a bit longer.

“Well?”

“I thanked him for the beer, and he and his friends talked to us for a while. Small talk.”

“I know. I saw that part. I was sitting across the room,” he says, exasperated. “Did you ever go out with him after that?”

“Did you try to ask Leo or Lauren about that?” I ask, tickling the corded muscles on his arm.

“Imogene.” He settles himself between my legs, his growing erection pressing against my soft belly.

“I can’t help it. I had no idea you were keeping tabs on me and my lousy dates.” I kiss his cheek. He’s still glaring at me, waiting for an appropriate response. “I did not go out with him.”

“Good.” He looks relieved.

“But I did go out with two other guys,” I add, giving his luscious lips a peck.

“I already know about those bozos. Those dates both died an early death. Lauren said you were home quickly and complained about them being boring.”

“Wow. I was joking, but you really did keep track of who I went out with.”

“It’s not like I had to ask anyone. Lauren gabs about you all the time to me and Leo.”

“And it’s not like you were suffering, right? You had women here and there.”

“Can we stop talking about these other people who don’t matter?”

“Absolutely.”

“Are we past the uncomfortable stage where you expect me to be a jerk? Am I in good standing now?”

“I think so.” While I run my hands down his back, looking down between us where his cock is getting harder and longer, Cooper also looks and adjusts his position to accommodate his erection.

He exhales slowly before fixating his aroused gaze on me. “You think so? What do I need to do to convince you?”

A million dirty things go through my mind. “Ah … gah,” I stammer some gibberish which I assume is very telling to former Agent MacKenzie.

His devilish grin is followed by a quick nip on my breast, then he kisses his way down to my belly button. I jump and wiggle in reaction to his licks. I know where he’s going and my body is going into hyper-drive. I fist my hands in his hair rather forcefully, causing him to jerk up and sit back on his knees.

“You’re very squirrely. Don’t move, Ms. Walsh.” He jumps off the bed and opens up a dresser drawer, rifling through socks and underwear he just tosses about the floor.

“What are you doing? The condoms are on the nightstand.”

I’m wondering if I should be concerned that he already forgot he has protection, but I’m more anxious to get him back to taking care of business with me. I was barely getting wound up and excited to watch Cooper go down on me. It’s been so long I’m pretty sure my vagina has forgotten what a tongue is. It was not Jeremy’s specialty; in fact, I’d say most guys have missed the proverbial mark with me.

“Found it.” He opens a black box and pulls out two pairs of handcuffs.
Handcuffs!

“Really? You’re into that?” I ask, a little scared and excited at the prospect of being restrained.

“Never was before, but since you’re here, it seems that I am.” His smile is a little evil, making me laugh in surprise, as he grabs my left hand and slaps on one cuff so fast my wrist stings.

“Hey, I’m a delicate flower,” I squeal as he yanks my arm to the headboard and secures the other cuff to the bedpost just as quickly.

I watch my hand hang limply from the silver cuff as Cooper crawls over me like a savage beast, his muscles straining with tension. It’s obvious that all of his caveman blood has gone to his cock. He’s in full predator mode, aggressive and demanding. I’d be lying if I didn’t say my arousal is like a Geiger counter that has shot through the roof.

He secures my right hand to the opposite bedpost just as roughly. With my arms raised and pulled tightly, I try to catch my breath and ignore my aching wrists, focusing instead on the ache swirling below.

“There, my delicate flower, that should keep you still,” he murmurs as he skims his chin down my chest so his beard stubble gives me goose bumps.