by Susan Stoker
Cooper leaned down and kissed her forehead before straightening. “You can. I’m coming to realize you can handle just about anything. From the first day we met, I realized that you were my reward.”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“I’ve lived my life from one day to the next. Not really thinking about the future, figuring I had my entire life to worry about that. Then after I was injured, I was struggling. I didn’t want to leave my apartment, didn’t want to interact with anyone because I was embarrassed that I had to ask them to repeat what they’d said to me so many times. I was bitter that I’d given so much to my country and didn’t have much to show for it. Then I met you and I understood. You are my reward. My reward for all that I did. All that I sacrificed. You are the cosmos’ gift to me for surviving that blast.”
“Oh my God,” Kiera whispered, shaking her head. “Cooper, no, that’s not—”
“I didn’t tell you that to freak you out.”
“Major fail,” she said dryly, blinking furiously to try to hold back the tears he could see pooling in her eyes.
“You’re everything I ever wanted in a woman. Self-assured. Successful. Intelligent. You don’t need me, but I’m hoping you want me.”
“I do,” she said immediately.
“All I’m saying is that from the first day I met you, I wanted you. And every day I’ve been near you since has only solidified that fact. Yes, I want to make love with you. I also want to fuck you. But I want to date you first. Get to know you. Have you get to know me. Is that all right?”
“Yes,” Kiera answered immediately. “God, yes.” She shifted under him. “But does that mean we can’t…make out every now and then while we’re getting to know each other?”
He chuckled. “No. We can make out. But don’t think you can make me forget that I want to wait to…” He sat up on his knees, made a circle with one hand and, using the pointer finger on his other, pantomimed the crude and rude version of making love.
Kiera laughed and reached up to grab his hands. “What you just did is kinda the sign for anal sex.”
Cooper immediately dropped his hands. Good Lord, the last thing he wanted to do was tell Kiera he wanted to fuck her in the ass on their first date.
But instead of being offended, she laughed at him. “If you could only see your face right now, Cooper. There are lots of dirty words I can teach you, but only if you promise not to show them to Frankie or anyone else.”
Cooper knew his eyebrows had shot up in horror. “As if I would! He’s seven!”
“I was only kidding. I know you wouldn’t.” She wrinkled her nose, which he thought was adorable, then said, “Okay then. I’ll show you how to say ‘fuck.’ Make a peace sign with both hands.” She demonstrated, holding up her hands.
Cooper mimicked her and waited with a grin on his face. If someone had told him right after he was injured that he’d be here, kneeling over the woman he longed to make his own, learning how to say fuck in sign language, he would’ve kicked their ass and told them to stop messing with his mind.
“Then turn one hand so the back is facing the floor, and with the back of your other hand facing the ceiling, knock them together…it kinda looks like two bunnies going at it.”
Again, she demonstrated, and Cooper could feel the dumb smile on his face. He copied her movements and she nodded up at him. “That’s it.”
Without a word, Cooper leaned down and kissed her. Using nothing more than his lips, he tried to show her how much she already meant to him.
Kiera tried to pull him down so he was lying on her, but he stubbornly refused to budge. Finally, realizing he wasn’t going to do what she wanted, she ran her fingernails lightly up and down his biceps and gave herself over to his kiss, letting him take control.
Cooper closed his eyes and concentrated on memorizing the taste and feel of Kiera’s mouth under his. How a kiss could turn him on almost to the point he thought he’d come in his pants, he didn’t know, but he’d never been happier in his life.
Pulling back, he gazed down at her and waited for her eyes to open. When they did, he said softly, “It’s late. I need to go.”
Pouting, Kiera asked, “So soon?”
“I’ve been here for hours,” Cooper told her.
“So soon?” Kiera repeated with a small smile.
He sat up and pulled her upright next to him. “Thank you for a wonderful first date, sweetheart. Want to grab lunch tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
Her answer was immediate and heartfelt. Even though he’d had a pretty good idea she was going to agree, he was still relieved. He’d dated enough to know that many times women played games, like thinking there needed to be three days between dates, or that agreeing to see a man too soon after a first date meant he would get bored and think she wasn’t worth the chase. Where they got those ideas, he’d never know.
“I’ll call you and we can figure it out. Okay?”
“Sounds good. Cooper?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being a good guy. For making me feel special. For being able to get past whatever shit went through your head after you were hurt to be the awesome guy you are today. For not getting dead while you were a SEAL. And for agreeing to volunteer at my school.”
“You’re welcome.” There was a lot more he could’ve said, but he figured the simple answer said it all.
On his way home ten minutes later, Cooper couldn’t hold back the grin. He realized that for the first time in a long time, he was happy. He was horny, but happy. Knowing he was in for long weeks of cold showers and masturbating while wishing he was with Kiera, he still grinned. It would be worth it. She would be worth it.
Chapter 7
“When are you coming back down?” Cooper asked Swede as he sat in his car outside the Riverton School for the Deaf. He’d learned that if he turned his hearing aid up all the way, he could use the phone without the teleprompter. Sometimes it was easier to go ahead and use the translation service, but when he spoke with his friends, and of course Kiera, he liked being able to talk to them directly rather than read their words on the screen.
He and the former SEAL had hit if off when he’d visited two months ago, and they’d kept in touch since then. They’d had a couple long conversations about how hard it was to acclimate into civilian after that of a Special Forces operative for so long. Swede had a lot of good tips that had made Cooper really think about his own life and finally come to terms with the shift it’d taken.
But for the last month, they’d been calling to simply shoot the shit. Cooper genuinely liked Swede and they’d made tentative plans for him to visit again. Cooper really wanted to go to Montana and see their ranch, and to bring Kiera with him when he went.
He and Kiera had spent time almost every day together, and he’d never been happier. Tonight was Friday, and after work she was coming over to his place. Tonight was the night.
He’d wooed and courted her for two months. He’d learned a lot about her, just as she’d done with him. He’d learned that if she didn’t have coffee first thing in the morning, he shouldn’t try to talk to her about anything important. Just as she’d learned he was very much a morning person rather than a night owl.
They’d had a few disagreements—he wouldn’t call them arguments—but they’d ended with better knowledge on both their sides of who the other was. All in all, Cooper was more than certain Kiera was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, and he hoped she felt the same.
Tonight, he wanted to make love with her. Wanted to show her how much he loved her. He knew she was ready, she’d been telling him with the way she clung to him when they made out, the way she begged him to keep going, and how she’d been pouting when he did pull away. He truly hadn’t meant to be a tease, but last weekend, when she’d accused him of just that, he realized that the reason for wanting to wait had long been made moot. He knew her, just as she
knew him. It was time to stop torturing them both.
Swede’s voice brought him out of his daydreaming about Kiera and back to the present.
“Thought I’d come down next week…if that’s all right.”
“Hell yeah. It’s more than all right. Will Allie be coming with you?”
“Not this time,” Swede said with a hint of displeasure in his tone. “We’ve got a couple of mares that are ready to foal, and she doesn’t want to leave them. Stubborn woman. We’ve got ranch hands that could easily take care of them, but she wants to be here.”
“You wouldn’t have her any other way,” Cooper said dryly.
“True.”
“How long can you stay?”
“Only a few days. Patrick said he’d put together a quick training session with Wolf’s team for me, so I can make it tax deductible and Brotherhood Protectors can pay for the trip.”
“Awesome,” Cooper told him. “Glad that’ll work out.”
“Me too. So I’ll be there on Wednesday and will leave on Sunday. That work?”
“Of course. You want to come to the school and hang out for a couple of hours with me on Thursday? I told the principal I’d give presentations to the older classes about the Navy and being a SEAL.”
“I don’t know sign language,” Swede admitted.
“No biggie. I can translate for you.”
“Then yeah, it sounds like fun.”
“Have you made arrangements for where you’ll stay yet?”
“Nope. That was next on my agenda.”
“You can stay at my place. That’ll save you a few bucks,” Cooper told his new friend.
“You sure I won’t be in your way?” Swede asked.
“Nope. I’m fairly certain I can stay with Kiera while you’re here.”
“That going well then?”
“Yeah. I’ve never met anyone like her. When I’m not with her, I’m thinking about being with her. And when I am, I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
“Sounds like me and Allie. I’m happy for you, man,” Swede told him.
“Thanks. So I’ll see you Wednesday. You need a ride from the airport?” Cooper asked.
“Nope. I’ll rent a car. See you next week.”
“Later.”
“Bye.”
Cooper clicked off the phone and immediately opened his car door. He’d been spending more and more time at the school and loved every minute of it. Not only did he get to see Kiera, he was able to spend time with Frankie and the other kids. He still rotated classrooms when he was there, but he always made sure to stop into her class before he left for the day.
Seeing Frankie’s eyes light up when he saw him was almost as good as seeing Kiera’s do the same. Almost.
Trying to keep his mind off the upcoming night, Cooper adjusted his dick in his pants and willed it to recede. The last thing he needed was to pop a woody in a classroom. That shit could get him banned for life…and for good reason. Taking deep breaths, he strode to the door of the school. He would stop by the main office and sign in, see where he could be the most useful, then see Kiera. It was going to be a great day.
Kiera couldn’t believe what a difference Cooper had made in Frankie’s educational and emotional advancement. Since the day he’d begun to volunteer in her classroom, Frankie had gone from being closed-off to the most popular kid in the class. All the other children wanted to sit by him, they vied to partner with him on assignments and he hadn’t sat alone in the lunchroom since that day.
He’d also begun to excel in all aspects of the curriculum. His signing was one hundred percent improved, now that he was putting in the effort to learn it. He was reading on the same level as the rest of the kids in the class and his math skills, which were already pretty good, were out of this world. One of Kiera’s favorite things about being a teacher was seeing a student make progress, and the progress Frankie was making was remarkable.
The little boy’s situation at home was apparently much more stable now that he and his dad had settled in and his mother was out of his life. At the last parent-teacher conference, his father had admitted that his ex had tried to contact Frankie a few times by calling and hoping her son would answer the phone, but luckily the dad had intercepted the calls. Without the toxic influence of his mother, the little boy was blossoming and thriving.
But it wasn’t just Frankie who was doing exceptionally well. Cooper himself had apparently gotten the sign language bug and was learning ASL at an amazing rate. He freely signed with the other teachers at the school now and very rarely had to ask Kiera to interpret, or for a sign anymore. He’d showed her an app he’d been using to help teach himself and it was amazing how well it had worked.
Cooper might not have a college degree, but he was smart, very smart, and Kiera felt extremely lucky to be with him. She’d questioned him a lot when they’d first started dating about if he really wanted to be with her, an older woman who wasn’t exactly Miss America, and he’d reassured her over and over until, one night, he’d actually gotten pissed at her.
It wasn’t exactly a fight, but he’d been so frustrated with her lack of self-esteem when it came to their relationship that he told her it was making him feel self-conscious. He’d said that if he didn’t want to be with her, he wouldn’t. But he was extremely happy for the first time in his life and being with her made him proud, and had made his transition to civilian life easier.
When she’d thought about it, Kiera had realized he was right. She needed to stop asking herself why Cooper was with her and just enjoy it. No one was pointing and laughing when they went out together. But the bottom line was that if it didn’t matter between the two of them, to hell with what anyone else thought.
Once she got past her own hurdles with their ages, the last month had been idyllic…except for his stubborn refusal to have sex. Kiera was starting to get a complex. She’d all but begged him to make love with her the other night and he’d still refused. What guy did that?
It was confusing and frustrating, but it didn’t make her want to break up with him. She just wanted to understand what was holding him back. When they’d first starting dating, she’d gotten it. She liked that Cooper wanted to go slow and really get to know each other before consummating their relationship. But now? She was ready. More than ready. She was going to have a serious talk with him tonight and see where his head was at.
The class was currently having their “talk circle.” It was an informal time every day for each child to get to tell the others something they had done the night before or just share a story. It helped with their sign language and social skills.
Little Jenny typically told the class what she’d had for dinner the night before, Rebecca liked to talk about the new puppy her family had just gotten. The rest of the class members each had their own quirks and generally Kiera knew what they would talk about. But not Frankie.
The things he talked about ranged from the mundane to what his mother used to tell him. Kiera would never forget the day he’d opened up—she figured it was because Cooper had been there—about how his mom had told him he got sick and lost his hearing when he was a baby because God made a mistake in letting him be born in the first place and was punishing him.
Kiera had been appalled, and had done her best to reassure him that whatever his mom had said wasn’t true. But it wasn’t until one of the little girls in the class had innocently told him, “But if you weren’t here then we couldn’t be friends,” that he’d seemed to loosen up. Thank God for the innocence of children.
Today in the talk circle, Frankie wanted to know more about Cooper’s time on the SEAL team.
“Can you tell us more about when you had to use your secret signs with your friends?” he asked Cooper through signing. He’d been obsessed with the topic ever since Cooper had first mentioned it.
She and Cooper had talked about the boundaries of what the first-graders should hear about his military career and what they shouldn’t, so Kiera had no do
ubt that Cooper wouldn’t tell the children something that would scare them.
When he answered, he signed slowly and precisely so all the kids could understand him. She was so proud of how far he’d come in his signing ability and confidence.
“One time we were in the jungle and were watching the bad guys. We had to be very quiet so they didn’t hear us.”
“Like hide and seek?” Frankie interrupted.
“Exactly like that, bud,” Cooper signed with a smile. “Anyway, I was lying near one of my buddies and saw a huge snake in the branches above his head. I knew he was scared to death of snakes, so I signaled to him that there was danger above his head. We had no signal for snake. He nodded and signaled back that he understood and was watching the bad guys. I shook my head and tried to tell him again, but he again misunderstood. Finally, I pointed over his head, then made a weird sign for snake, like this…” Cooper demonstrated, using an exaggerated hand movement that looked nothing like the ASL for snake, and all the kids laughed.
“That got through to my friend. He couldn’t stand up because the bad guys would’ve seen him, he couldn’t scream because again…bad guys.”
“What did he do?” Frankie signed with a big smile on his face.
“He fainted,” Cooper told the little boy and the rest of the kids. “He was so scared, he literally closed his eyes and passed out right there in the jungle in the middle of the job.”
Everyone giggled. Kiera loved the sound. Her classroom was typically very quiet, unlike a room with hearing children. But when her kids laughed, it was one of the most joyous sounds she’d ever heard.
“Did the snake get him?” Frankie asked when he’d stopped laughing.
Cooper shook his head. “No. It didn’t come anywhere near him. It just slithered away as if my friend wasn’t worth his time. Want to know the best part of the story?”
“What?” Frankie impatiently signed.
“From that moment on, my friend’s new nickname was Snake.”
