He's My Associate
Page 14
Beside him, Ryan stuffed a very precisely folded piece of tissue up his left nostril.
“And I’ve had worse as well,” Ryan told her in a soothing tone. He smiled to her, looking ridiculous with a swollen nose and a spike of tissue paper already half stained in blood sticking out at an angle. “What man would I be if I didn’t step in when my fiance is getting pummeled?”
They smiled to each other, knowing. They weren’t hurt badly, and neither was Joseph. But if Cooper had learned anything about the last twenty-four hours it’s that the first thing he’d do when they landed back home is help his mother move.
But it was the wrong thing to say for tears began to trail down Cat’s cheeks. She glared at them and pinched Ryan on the arm.
“That’s not funny.” She sniffled. Cooper stepped forward to hold her. “I’m so sorry. It’s my—”
“It’s not,” Cooper told her. He’d told her before. He’d probably tell her again. “It never was. Never is.”
And Ryan…Ryan joined them to wrap his arms around them both.
They spent long minutes standing huddled together. Finally, Ryan sniffed and said, “You know, Cat, when’s the last time you saw the city? I bet you’re dying to see a play. And all the work Cooper’s done to make my apartment livable. Would you like to see?”
Cat sniffled before Cooper felt the barest nod against his chest.
He met Ryan’s eyes.
Cooper was done for. Ryan was it for him.
Cooper fucking loved him.
ONE YEAR LATER
Cooper’s office was a corner office.
It had a floor to ceiling window.
It had a fancy-L-shaped-desk-like-professionals-have like Cooper insisted when they went shopping for office furniture to make the space exactly like he wanted it to be. That had also included a white leather couch and two plush yellow leather chairs—for some despicable reason Ryan still could not fathom.
It had two plants, and neither of them were dying, thanks very much to Ryan’s continued nagging about consistent watering schedules. His own at home had been flourishing for four years now. If anyone knew about extensive indoor plant care it was him.
Ryan stepped around the desk to stand behind Cooper’s chair as he worked. Cooper was chewing on his lower lip as he read their latest brief out loud, so Ryan reached around to gently pinch the end of his nose to get him to stop.
“We’ll win this case just fine.”
“It’s my first as lead. I don’t want to miss anything.”
Ryan smiled, rubbing his hands down Cooper’s shoulders. The suit was Versace, a birthday gift. It was a wonder he ever got Cooper to wear it. He paused and looked a little closer, feeling something familiar. He pinched a white hair and flung it away.
“I told you that dog would be an absolute disaster. You have hair on your suit.” He frowned as he plucked another off. He thought about simply running the lint roller over their four month old Alaskan Malamute when they went home that night.
Cooper hummed and shrugged his shoulders away from Ryan’s searching hands. “Doesn’t matter. Case now. Dog later.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. Bored he leaned a hip at the edge of Cooper’s desk as he kept working. His hair was nice today, pulled back in a bun. His beard was trim. His brow scrunched in concentration. Ryan let his eyes glide lower, hooking for a moment on Cooper’s wonderful fingers before trailing over the mess of his fiance’s desk.
Ryan reached out and adjusted Cooper’s name plaque an inch to the side. Then realized it was dusty and made a mental note to wipe it down later.
“You should clean more often, Cooper. I got you that name plaque specially engraved last year for you, if you don’t remember, so I’d appreciate if you took a little more care when maintaining my gifts to you.”
“This office is in full sun. It’s dusty as hell, what do you expect?”
“You wanted the corner office.”
Cooper sighed. “I guess I did.”
Ryan reached out and pushed a loose paperclip with his pinky. The light caught on the ring with the inlaid sapphire he wore, turning it this way and that, catching the light again and again.
Cooper’s gift to him.
“You know,” Ryan muttered. Cooper didn’t stop typing. Ryan reached out, pushed Cooper’s name plaque another inch to the side. “It’s been a good year.”
Cooper glanced at him. “Best of my life, but you know that.”
Ryan hummed pleasant, let his palm drift over the plaque. “I do.”
“Ryan.”
“Cooper.”
Cooper caught his eye and Ryan smiled, devious.
“What are you thinking right now?” Cooper asked him, and oh if he didn’t sound hungry.
Ryan shoved the name plaque to the floor. Parted his thighs to sit back more fully on Cooper’s desk. Cooper leaned back in his office chair, amused and more than a little interested judging by the state of his trousers.
He gestured for Cooper to scoot closer. Let his fingers work open his own fly.
“Why don’t you tell me, associate?” Ryan asked him, and reveled in the way Cooper answered.
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