by Kat Baxter
“Yeah. You were having a good time. I can have more beer at home if I want. Ready?”
Again, his hand came to my back and he led me out to the car. He helped me in the seat then made his way around to his side.
“I asked Jackson and Brooks to come and help us move all your stuff tomorrow. For tonight you can sleep in one of my shirts or something.”
“Oh yeah, sure.” I rested my head against the cool window and closed my eyes. As long as Cooper and I had been friends we’d never lived together. We’d spent the night here and there when movies had run too late or we’d been too tired or drunk to go home, but still I couldn’t shake the feeling that tonight felt different.
“Did I tell you how pretty you looked today?” His deep baritone voice reached out across the silence of the car and my nipples hardened as if he’d caressed me.
“I think you mentioned it.”
“Well, I meant it. That dress is hot and you were a beautiful bride.”
“Thanks, Coop. You were a pretty hot groom yourself.” I waited a few moments before speaking again. “So I’d never heard you tell that story about when we met.”
“Yeah? Isn’t that how you remember it?”
“Sure. Just not the eyes part. You seemed to be laying it on a little thick. You could’ve just said that once you realized I was a girl, you knew you couldn’t yell at me.”
“It had nothing to do with you being a girl.” He forked his fingers through his brown hair. “Well, I suppose it did. But I meant everything I said about your eyes. They still get me. Right here.” He poked at his chest.
I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat, but I didn’t say anything else because words suddenly failed me.
What the hell had I been thinking kissing her like that?
Damn if my dick hadn’t been hard for the last four hours. Thankfully, I’d gotten Ally tucked into my bed without touching her further. My cat, Inara, had crawled into my lap on the couch and I stroked her calico patterned fur.
“You’re the only pussy I’ll be getting tonight.” She purred in response, flicked her tail, then settled down on my lap.
Then my phone buzzed. Again.
“Hey, Mom,” I said as I swiped to answer. “You’re up kinda late tonight.”
“Don’t you ‘hey Mom’ me! Have you lost your mind? I can’t believe you’d get married without telling me. And please tell me that Lucille had it wrong and that you didn’t marry Allyson?”
Nothing like my mother’s shrill voice to deflate my boner. I inhaled slowly and did my best to temper my response. My mother and I had fought a lot about Ally over the years. For whatever reasons, my mom had never approved of our friendship. And I’d never given a shit what she thought.
“Ally and I got married
“I don’t understand.” Mom’s voice was wilted as if all the fight had left her. “Is she dying? Are you?”
I laughed in spite of her stupid questions. “No. We just got married. We’ve been friends forever. You know that, Mom.”
“You love her?” It was a whispered question as if even she didn’t want to hear it said aloud.
“Yes.” That wasn’t even a lie. “I’ve been in love with Ally for years. I’m sure that’s not a surprise to you.”
“Well, then you need a proper wedding.”
“No. The ceremony worked. We’re legally married.” I knew my mom would want to do this. Steamroll over everything so it could be the way she wanted it. It was one of the reasons I hadn’t told her ahead of time. I could hear her breathing on the other end, clearly biting her tongue over something.
“At least let me host a reception. It isn’t right to not publicly do something. People will want to celebrate with you. Give you gifts.”
“Mother, that isn’t necessary. We have everything we need.”
“Cooper Michael Janns, you deprived me of your wedding, you will let me throw you a party to celebrate. I might not approve of your choice of brides, but I know when I’ve been beat.”
Fuck. “It’s not a battle, Mom.”
“Please,” she said. “I’m asking nicely.”
I closed my eyes and winced, knowing I’d likely regret my next words. “A small gathering. We don’t want a big party.”
She clapped her hands and managed an almost girlish squeal. “Thank you, Cooper. You won’t regret it. I’ll plan something perfect for you.”
“Please consult with Ally. This is her party too.”
“Of course. Maybe she can even make the cake.”
“She is not making her own damn wedding cake.”
Chapter 9
It was moving day and despite the fact that Ally had lived in an extremely tiny apartment, she had a ridiculous amount of stuff. Mostly books and kitchen paraphernalia.
My buddies from work were coming to help with the muscle and Jilly was supposed to arrive at some point to assist.
But I saw another familiar figure coming up my front steps and I grabbed Jackson’s arm. “What the hell is Becca doing here?” I asked.
Jackson shrugged. “She came with Brooks. I’m not sure what’s going on there.”
Damn it. Becca was the last person I wanted here today. Maybe I could put up with her nosy, gossipy, meddling. But she was also in HR at the company. All of which made her the perfect storm to turn moving day into insurance-fraud day.
I turned on my heel and went to find Ally. I cornered her in my bathroom and closed the door behind me.
“Cooper! What are you doing?”
I put a finger up to her lips. “Becca’s here.”
She frowned. “Who?” Her eyes went wide. “Oh my gosh, is that your girlfriend?”
“No. I don’t have a girlfriend.” I held up my left hand and wiggled my finger. “Married, remember?”
She rolled her eyes.
“No, Becca is the HR benefits specialist at my office. I don’t know why she’s with Brooks, but we need to make sure our marriage looks legit.”
She swallowed visibly. “Of course.” Then she put a hand to her belly, covering up the fin on her JAWS shirt. “This makes me nervous.”
“I’ve got it. But just don’t flip out if I grab you and kiss you or something.”
She nodded firmly, turned and left the room and I could have sworn she muttered something about a vibrator.
I’d just made it to the front porch when Becca bounded up the steps, her hair pulled into a ridiculously tight ponytail. She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head. “Getting married without telling me? Cooper, you’re a naughty boy.” She poked me in the chest with a glossy painted nail.
A hand snaked around my middle and grabbed onto a belt loop.
“He sure is, isn’t he?” Ally said, peeking around my body.
Her tits pressed into my back. They felt amazing. That combined with her hand that close to my zipper was playing havoc with my mind and body.
Dammit.
We’d been friends for more than a decade. She’d touched me thousands of times. Hundreds of thousands. And it had never felt like this. It was that night, the one in my bed when she’d come so hard as she’d kissed me. Until that night I’d been able to ignore my attraction to her, for the most part. Now she posed a constant temptation.
Needing to get her hands away from my dick area, I grabbed her and pulled her in front to me. “Hey, sweetheart,” I said, then kissed the tip of her nose. Anything more passionate and I’d need to take a break to go fuck my hand in the bathroom. We needed to stay out of public as a married couple as often as possible because all this touching was going to be hell on my libido.
“So what are you doing here, Becca?” I asked.
“Came to help. I heard Brooks and Jackson talking about it at the office and I figured another set of hands would be useful.”
Brooks, who currently stood behind Becca, mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ then gave me a pained grin.
“The more, the merrier,” Ally said. She turned away and the sight of her plu
mp ass in those cut-off shorts nearly killed me. I suppressed a groan as she stepped off the porch and headed out to the moving truck I’d backed into my driveway.
Forty minutes later we were hauling the last of the boxes into my living room.
“I can order out and get lunch for us,” Becca said, already tapping out something on her phone.
“It’s already taken care of,” Ally said.
I felt my brows rise, but I said nothing.
“I ordered pizzas a little bit ago and they should be here any moment.”
Becca’s face reddened and she slipped her phone back into the pocket of her too tight shorts. She nodded but didn’t say anything. But what she left unsaid was loud and clear. Becca felt like us guys were her territory. She worked with us, took care of plenty of things we needed at the office and she didn’t like Ally treading on her turf.
“Thanks for offering though,” Ally said with a genuine smile.
There was a knock on the door and then Jilly stepped inside carrying a pizza box. “Hey, jackasses, make yourselves useful and get the rest of these out of my car.”
Jackson jumped up and Brooks followed as he ran outside.
Jilly stopped in front of Becca and pointed a finger at her. “I don’t know you.”
“I’m Becca, I work with the boys.”
“Of course you do.” Jilly walked off to the kitchen and Ally followed leaving Becca and I standing there alone.
She cleared her throat. “I’ll get the paperwork started on Monday to add Ally to your insurance.”
“Yeah, great. Thanks,” I told her.
“She’s lovely. I just never realized y’all had that kind of relationship.”
I lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “We didn’t. Until we did.” Then I turned and headed to the kitchen too. The girls had already pulled down plates and put cold beer on the island.
She was moving in with me. I stood for a moment watching Ally work her way around my kitchen. I tried to find awkwardness in any of today’s events—her moving in with me. It was for a traditional reason, but it still fit. I was hit by the usual pang in my chest reminding me that we belonged together. Maybe this marriage would make her believe it as well, though I wasn’t holding my breath on that.
It wasn’t even the first time we’d lived together. I’d stayed with her when I was buying this house. I’d had to wait two weeks before moving in for them to re-carpet, repaint and make the inside livable. And I’d slept on Ally’s couch the whole time. It hadn’t been strange then, at least I didn’t recall it being so. So it wouldn’t be strange now.
Of course, I’d been dating someone at the time. My last real girlfriend if I recalled. She’d been pissed I wouldn’t stay at her apartment.
She’d not been the first to tell me I had to pick between her and my best friend, but she’d been the last.
Because Ally and I were friends. Best friends. No one and nothing would get in the way of that. Not Becca. Not HR. And not my dick. Despite the fact that my dick seemed to have a mind of its own suddenly. A mind that loved seeing Ally putter around my kitchen. The fucking traitor.
The weirdness was likely coming from the hot as fuck kiss, and not because of our “marriage.” Or because of our non-sexual procreation we were about to embark on. Or our alcohol-induced grinding session only I remembered.
The weirdness would go away. This was Ally. She’d been my best friend forever. Ally seemed fine. Obviously, the kiss hadn’t had any permanent effect on her.
Our friends had finally left which meant that now it was just me and Ally alone in my house. Our house.
I swallowed the panic that threatened. This wasn’t a real marriage with a real commitment. I shoved the worry away. It had been a few minutes since I’d seen her so I went in search of her. My bungalow wasn’t a big house so it didn’t take me long to find her in my office/guest room.
She stood there staring at the small daybed. It had been an after though, something I’d crammed into the room adjacent to my desk.
“What are you doing?” I asked
She jumped, her hand coming to her chest. “You scared the hell out of me.” She glanced back to the bed, then the small closet that was crammed full of boxes. “Just trying to figure out where to put my stuff.”
“What stuff?”
“My clothes and shoes and stuff.”
I scratched my head. “Isn’t that already in my closet?”
“Yeah, but that’s your closet.”
“No, Ally. That’s our closet. It’s more than big enough for all of our stuff together. There’s no reason to try to move things in here. Besides, you’ll be sleeping in the other bedroom.”
Her blue eyes widened. “I don’t think so.”
“I insist. I’ll sleep in here and you sleep in there.”
Her face relaxed, but she still shook her head. Had she thought I’d been suggesting we share a bed? Huh. Interesting her mind went there. Especially since my mind seemed to have bought a vacation home there and was considering moving there fulltime. The thought wasn’t unpleasant to my way of thinking, but I didn’t say anything to her about that.
“I can’t kick you out of your bed.”
“Sure you can. Besides I can get work done in here and then just crash. It’ll be great.” I rubbed at the back of my neck. I had a momentary worry I might not sleep at all the entire time she was here. But that was ridiculous. “We’ll still have to share that bathroom though because you know I still haven’t finished the one on this side of the house.”
“Cooper, I’m not taking your bedroom. I’ll leave my stuff in your closet, but I’m sleeping in here.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but she gave me a look that silenced me. Arguing would be futile. I’d just wait until she fell asleep and then I’d move her to my bed.
“Is it weird?” I asked her.
“What?”
“Moving in here with me?”
“No, but it seems like it should be. I mean aside from not being sure where I can put everything, I’ve always been comfortable in your house.”
“You did help me pick it out.”
She smiled warmly and everything inside me heated. I rubbed at my chest as if to wipe away the feeling.
“It’s a fixer-upper, but I’ve always loved this house and the work you’ve done so far has been amazing.”
“Thanks.” Now that she was here and we’d possibly be adding a child in the mix, one that would potentially live here with me some of the time, once Ally and I divorced, I’d have to look into someone else finishing the work for me. I wouldn’t have time to go slow. My third bedroom was still gutted down to the studs and I just pretty much always kept that door closed.
She yawned, her mouth opening wide and her eyes watering. She gave me a goofy grin and my heart palpitated.
“It’s late for you. Do you need me to help you do anything in the bathroom, show you how to operate the shower or anything before you go to bed?” Because holy fuck, she was going to be showering in my house. Naked. Every day.
“I don’t think so. I think I’ve used your shower before.”
“Come on, let’s make sure I have clean towels for you.”
She followed behind me and I grabbed towels out of the linen closet. The thought of her naked and soaped up in my shower had me fighting back a fucking boner. It had to be that make-out session we had a few weeks ago when she’d made me come in my pants. I’d jerked off to that memory pretty much every day since. Okay I had every day. Some days more than once.
But she’d been drunk and didn’t remember any of it so despite it being one of the highlights of my sexual experiences, it might as well have been nothing more than a dream.
I handed her the towels and then stood in the bathroom watching her like a fucking creeper. My brain finally started working again and I realized I was just staring at her.
“Okay, well yell if you need anything. I’m going to go feed Inara and get some work done in the living room.”
She reached out and grabbed my hand. “Thanks, Coop. For everything. You are truly the best friend a girl could have.”
I squeezed her hand and turned and walked away. Yep, best friend. That was me. The best friend.
Not the lover.
The best friend.
Chapter 10
It had been four nights since Ally had moved in and once again after she’d fallen asleep in the guest room, I’d gone and gotten her to move her to my bed.
Every morning she griped at me for it, but I just let her rant and then I’d do it all over again that night. Eventually, I’d wear her down and she’d let me have the guest room.
I had just laid her down and was working the covers up and over her when her eyes opened. Sleepy, half-lidded and beautifully blue eyes stared up at me.
“I told you to stop this,” she murmured.
“I’m a terrible listener,” I told her. I leaned down and kissed her head. “Night, Allycat.”
She grabbed my hand as I turned. “Sleep in here, Coop.” She rolled over then, snuggling down in the covers. “We’ve shared a bed before.”
Sleepy Ally was quickly becoming my favorite version of her. “That’s probably not a good idea.”
She slow blinked at me. “Why? It’s a big bed.”
That it was. My king bed took up the majority of one wall in my room and it was ridiculously comfortable. Then again, I’d paid a fortune for the top of the line mattress. I’m not gonna lie, I hated that damn day-bed in the guest room and the way I had to sleep at an angle because I was too tall to fit. If I didn’t crawl into bed with her she’d start to wonder why and her knowing how I truly felt about her right now would be terrible. She would freak out.
“It is a big bed. And too comfortable for me to resist,” I said. I quickly discarded my jeans and my shirt then climbed in. I nearly groaned from the pleasure as I sank into the familiar comfort.
“Night, Coop.”
“Night, sweetheart.” I hadn’t intended to use that endearment. Or any other, for that matter. But that one kept slipping out.
Ally’s breathing had already deepened in her sleep. I fought the urge to roll closer to her and wrap my body around hers.
