by S. K. Lessly
“Casey and I had an understanding. Yes, we were exclusively fucking, but we had no title. She told me before she accepted this arrangement but last night, she had told me that she only went along with it hoping that I’d realize she was the woman for me.”
Unable to remain quiet I questioned, “Yeah, but you said you decided to try with her. You two became an item. Right?”
He sighed and nodded. “Yeah, we did. For a time, I had felt as if I hadn’t treated her fairly. I hadn’t given her a real chance. I wasn’t sure about us and I couldn’t put my finger on why. There was just something holding me back. I decided that I needed to either man up and become exclusive or break it off and allow her to find someone else.”
“And how long were you two exclusively dating before she gave you the ultimatum?”
“Maybe a month, or something close to it. I think I told you this before. We were playing with the idea of us becoming exclusive. She was dating other people and I was doing the same. However, we were never intimate with anyone but each other. I honored that. She did too.”
I couldn’t stop the eye roll that came over me. I didn’t believe for one second slutty Barbie kept her legs closed for Shane. She didn’t seem the type in my opinion. However, I kept my thoughts to myself.
“Don’t get me wrong, Misty. I wasn’t a choir boy. But my dick only went in—”
“Okay, okay. I get the idea.” I interrupted, placing my hands over my ears.
My distress caused Shane to laugh. I wanted to puke.
“Not funny,” I told him. He laughed harder.
After a while he sobered and asked me, “Look, do you want full disclosure. I mean can I be real with you here?”
I sat straighter in my seat and nodded. “Please,” I replied and prayed I didn’t regret my statement.
“Okay. For a long time, I had thought about asking you out.” Uh… what?
“Really?”
“Yeah. You’re hot, Misty. A man would be a fool not to try.”
I shook my head. “Yes, I agree, but you never showed any interest in me. For a long time, I thought you didn’t like me.”
He frowned. “Why? Because I wasn’t hanging around you.”
I nodded. “Well, yeah. I’m not saying you had to be all up in my ass, but we barely carried on a conversation that didn’t include one or both of your brothers.”
“That’s not true. There were a couple of times you and I went to lunch together.”
“Okay, yeah, you have a point. But that was later. For a long time, you barely said two words to me.”
Shane shook his head and started to say something but thought better of it. He closed his mouth and grew silent for at least a half a minute before he spoke again and when he did, I could tell it wasn’t what he was about to say. Still, what he said blew me away.
“Misty, I’ve wanted you for a long time.”
Stunned I just gave him the whites of my eyes.
He continued when he realized he officially shocked me into silence.
“And no, I’m not going to tell you how long or when I realized I wanted you but let’s just say it’s been a while. Anyway, I wasn’t sure if my wants would be received. It wasn’t like you dated anyone of substance.”
I narrowed my eyes at his dig but he only smirked and went on.
“You dated not only pussies but those with skin darker than mine. I didn’t think you were interested, so I didn’t pursue it. I decided to stop playing around and see where the relationship with Casey would take me. Maybe she was the one for me and I was holding back out of fear.”
I doubted that last point, but again I kept my mouth shut. If anything, the Cooper men weren’t afraid of commitment. Yes, they loved women and all three had their fair share. Even Lili had some skeletons in her closet she wouldn’t want Nolan to know about. However, none of them had a problem with giving their hearts to someone when they wanted to. Some of them, i.e. the men, just made poor decisions as to who deserved their hearts. Well, except Pops of course. However, I bet he made some poor decisions in his life before he met mama Joe.
“After we decided to become a couple,” he went on. “Things between us were okay.”
“Just okay?” I asked, flabbergasted by the description of his relationship. I didn’t expect him to say they were just okay. They didn’t look just okay. They looked to be in love. But hell, what did I know.
Shane stood and drowned his glass. He looked down at me. “Are you done?”
I nodded and handed him my half empty glass of wine. He took the rest of my drink down too and placed the glasses on the kitchen counter. When he came back to the couch, he sat closer to me and my heart started to race. I could feel a shift happening between us. I wasn’t sure what that shift was, but I was about to find out. Here we go.
“Have you ever just watched Josh and Sweets together? Or even my parents or yours? Have you noticed the love between them? It’s overwhelming right? It sometimes makes you sick to your stomach watching them.” When I nodded and made a face of disgust, he chuckled. “Yeah, I know. But honestly, that’s that kind of love that I want. I want that love that makes you forget everything and everyone but the one in your arms. I want that love that makes your heart drop to your stomach every time that person is around.” Shane scooted closer to me as I hung on his every word.
“It’s crazy. Josh and Sweets could be in the same room with a crap load of people and he’d find her in seconds. I’ve watched him watch her for about ten seconds before she would turn to meet his eyes. It was as if she felt him watching her, you know. And the moment their eyes met, I swear she would melt right there, just from the look in his eyes. That’s what I want.
“I want someone who would melt for me. I want to feel goosebumps all over her skin when I touch her. I want to see her eyes darken with lust and feel her heart beat only for me. And when I’m close, I want to hear the slight hitch in her voice simply because I’m near her. I want that feeling you get when the one you love is in the room. You don’t have to see them to know they’re there, you just know. You know what I’m saying?”
I nodded because, shit that was all I could do. I was hypnotized by his words, the look in his eyes and the sound of his voice. My heart was pounding a mile a second and that feeling he mentioned, the one that felt as if your stomach dropped. Yeah, that was me right now.
Shane shifted closer to me and stretched his arm on the back of the couch, his fingers inches from mine. He didn’t touch me, but I knew if he did, god, I wouldn’t be able to control what would happen.
I cleared my throat as quietly as I could and tried to gain control of my beating heart.
“And… you didn’t have this with…” I began but my words were lost the instant I felt his fingertips on my skin and the goosebumps that took that moment to appear. Good god…
“No, I didn’t.” he replied when my voice trailed off. He moved closer, sliding his hand along my bare thigh. He hooked his hand underneath my knees and pulled my legs from my body to stretch over his lap. He slid even closer to me and I couldn’t help the small gasp that fell from my lips.
“Casey didn’t look at me as if she’d die if she didn’t have me. I didn’t see that indescribable feeling of love, desire, hunger, or yearning for the one you can’t live without in her eyes.”
“You didn’t?” I asked softly.
He shook his head, cascading warm knuckles along my heated cheeks.
“No, I didn’t. And I wasn’t okay with that. It should’ve been that way. The moment I laid my eyes on her, my heart should’ve been beating with anticipation of touching her, tasting her. I shouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off her. It wasn’t like that with us and I refused to live my life with someone I didn’t desire every second of every day. That’s why I broke it off. I won’t deprive myself of that kind of love. I won’t settle, you know what I mean?”
I nodded again, still trying to get my body in control. I knew he could hear my heart pounding agai
nst my chest. Heat surged through my veins from his touch and his closeness was doing a number on my heart. I wanted to touch him. My hands itched with the need to feel him, but I couldn’t seem to move.
His fingers lightly grazed my collarbone, his eyes no longer on mine. They were focused on the trek his fingers made, as if he could see how his touch ignited my skin and was mesmerized by it. My breathing picked up as he traced the outline of the dress against my boobs. I was aching for more. I was wet for him, throbbing for him, desperate for him.
I can’t take this. He’s driving me crazy. I need to get his focus on something other than me.
“So, you um… believe that kind of love exists?” Yeah that was a dumb question; of course he did, but it was all I could think to say.
Shane’s eyes traveled back to mine, halting his movements.
“Yeah, I do. We see it every time my brother and his wife are in the room. Even if they’re fighting. They still can’t stay away from each other. Look at our parents. My father said he knew Ma was the one for him the second he laid eyes on her. That was decades ago and they’ve been married and in love ever since. I have no doubt your parents are the same. It does exist. You just need to have the patience to find that person that was meant for you. But once you do…”
His voice trailed off and he cupped the side of my face with his warm palm. His other hand continued to caress my ass and upper thigh.
“And you believe you’ll find it, find her?” I asked him, waiting for the answer that I knew would stop my heart.
“I already have. She’s sitting right in front of me,” he replied and I damn near fainted where I sat.
“Shane.” I whispered and closed my eyes as his words invaded my soul.
I felt his other hand against my cheek and he shifted closer to me.
I opened my eyes to find pools of liquid desire and something else I refuse to acknowledge staring back at me. I gripped his wrists and started to pull away from him, but he held me close.
“No, don’t do that,” he commanded, his voice low but firm.
“Shane, you can’t—” I began but a finger to my lips stopped the denial from falling.
“Don’t fight this.” He leaned in close and rubbed his nose against mine. “Just let it happen, baby. Just feel…”
His lips found mine then and I relaxed under his touch and well I… let it happen. I let myself feel and it was glorious.
He kissed me sweetly, reverently. His tongue caressed mine slowly, taking his time, relishing in my taste, the touch of me. The kiss was sensual, beautiful, head spinning, and heart melting.
His arm snaked around my waist and he lifted me to pull my body under him as he shifted us both until my back met the couch. I pulled my dress up slightly so he could fall in between my thighs, right where he belonged. I buried my fingers in his hair, waiting for him to deepen the kiss, however he didn’t. He took his time tasting me, owning me, controlling me with just his lips and tongue. It was driving me crazy; he was driving me crazy. I wanted him to take me, to drive his hard cock into me and dry hump me until I lost my mind.
I wanted him to rip the front of this dress down and suck on my nipples until I came just from the ministration of his tongue and lips. But he did none of those things. He continued to drive me in-freakin-sane with his restraint. It took a minute before I realized he was making love to me. He was showing me how he felt about me through his kiss, his touch.
I broke our kiss. I had to. I couldn’t breathe.
Shane buried his face in my neck and kissed my sensitive flesh. My hips surged into his and I circled them against him. I couldn’t help it. He held me still, however, his fingers digging into the skin at my hip as he held me in place. I groaned. He chuckled. Bastardo!
“Shane, please,” I begged on a pained whisper.
He lifted his head and brought a heated gaze to my face.
“Tell me what you want?” he asked and I started to give him a ‘are you fucking kidding me?’ look, but I stopped. This moment didn’t need my sarcasm. His question was loaded with all types of innuendos, but I picked the easiest one that would give me exactly what I wanted and please him at the same time.
“You.”
He smiled.
“Your wish is my command.”
Our night ended with him making sweet love to me all night long. He caressed my body lovingly, adoringly. He took his time giving me his heart, his body, and his soul. He whispered sweet nothings to me, telling me how good I felt, how I was his and no one else's. I swore it was a night I would never forget.
It changed things for me. Probably for the both of us.
The connection we’d felt was something we both hadn’t felt between us before. It was raw and overwhelming and beautiful.
By the end of the night or beginning of the next day, our bodies were slick with sweat and our muscles had been pulled and stretched in ways we’d never imagined possible. Regardless, we never slowed down. We never stopped.
Goodness, he had said so much I couldn't remember all of it. I was too busy feeling the wall I had put up around my heart crumbling to little pieces. Warmth had spread throughout my body and it had taken everything for me not to tell him I loved him and oh, was it resting at the tip of my tongue.
It’s been only a week of this two-week plan to woo me and I had to admit, that shit was working.
5
Misty
The following work week became surreal. Things between Shane and I went so effortlessly; it felt as if we did this all the time.
The workday started off business as usual, however that didn’t last long. Shane had initially called a meeting with the CIA for today, but they flaked out on us, claiming they needed more time to get their shit in order before they met with us. We had a tentative date for the end of the week or at the latest the following Monday.
Since that freed up most of us in the office, I turned some attention to a few cases that had been thrown my way. They were surveillance jobs on potential terrorist cells in D.C, nothing fancy. I spent the majority of my days in the field. When I wasn’t in the field, I was in his office, going through surveillance video or paperwork. Sometimes he’d help. Or there were times when he did his own thing.
Let me explain something. In the past, when I worked cases, I barely saw Shane. He would be doing his thing and I would be handling business. Rarely did I bother him or need him to help me with a case. If I needed help, I had gone to Josh or Malcolm.
After last night though, things had changed. Shane would call me into his office and ask what I had on my plate or ask me a question so minuscule, he could have emailed me. From there he’d talk me into staying in his office somehow and I’d agree because I was a weak woman. I’d find a place on his couch and hang there for most of the day.
This had gone on for two days before I understood what he was doing. He wanted me with him and who was I to deny what he wanted. Except, when we were in the same room together, the man couldn’t keep his hands off me.
We’d start off with a whole lot of space between us. Hours would go by without a word between us, both deep into our thoughts or the work in front of us. Shane would be at his desk, working on the computer, looking through the crap load of folders on his desk or he’d take calls. As the day went on however, he’d end up next to me on the couch.
A hand would find my thigh or arm, or feet, or leg, frankly any part of my body he could find and he’d caress me. You would think it would be annoying, however it wasn’t. It felt amazing, comforting, soothing. Goosebumps would flutter along my skin and one or two things would happen, okay one thing, we’d end up sucking faces.
Goodness, it was as if we were high school kids or something. Honestly though, it wasn’t all him. There were a few times when I’d look up at him and feel my heart start to pick up its pace.
The man was a stunner. He was so fucking hot, especially when he was concentrating on his computer screen. His forehead would be creased, his eyes narrowed on
the screen in front of him, his jaw tense and mouth… yeah that sexy ass mouth of his was either in a hard line, or relaxed and hypnotizing.
Okay so yeah, there were times when I started the sucking faces sessions. I’d go to him, push his chair back from his desk and either claim his mouth or I’d drop to my knees, pull out his dick and make most if it disappear inside my mouth. Neither one of us complained about the disruption, especially not me. By the time his tongue was down my throat, my body was screaming for him.
Anyway, the effortlessness between Shane and I was surprising and it didn’t stop at the office. It continued well after the sun had gone down. He’d catch me before I left for the day or he’d call me. He’d ask what my plans were for the night and I’d say nothing. He would then conveniently suggest us doing something together. I’d say yes of course, because as I said I was weak woman. From there we’d either pick up dinner on the way to his place, call for something to be delivered or he’d cook. Nothing too fancy, steaks or baked chicken, salad, things like that.
We’d shower the day away, eat and unwind on the couch watching television and talking about our day. Of course we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, that went without saying. As the result, we’d make love or fuck until we passed out. Then when the sun came up, we’d do it all again. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
God I could get used to this. Hell, I was getting use to this.
I was a giddy mess. A smile was plastered on my face every time we were alone together. My heart beat just a bit louder, harder when he was close. My spirit was light and my soul weightless. He made me laugh at times. Pushed me when a case was getting to me, supported me whenever I needed it. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like he didn’t do these things before. Things were just… yeah I’m gonna say it again… different between us. He was different. I was different. We’d changed.
I didn’t feel like I had to hide behind a wall or something when I was with him. I felt myself relax with him. I let go and it felt amazing. He had asked me to let him show me just how easy it could be with him, and I saw it, felt it every day. Sure, I wasn’t naive. It couldn’t be this easy every single day, if we were in a relationship. There would be times when he’d piss me off or I’d do the same to him. However, my mind kept drifting to my parents. Through the years rarely had I seen them fight. They’d get into a few disagreements, but it wasn’t ever a blowout. Maybe they were just good at never arguing around me, who knew. But from what I remember, if they were mad at each other, it didn’t last.
