Savored: A Small-Town Contemporary Romance

by Sophie Stern

  “Cooper...”

  The way she said my name drove me crazy. I wasn’t sure if that was how love was supposed to be. I kind of thought so. My mom had always been a big fan of romantic movies, and she’d always loved saying that love made you mad.

  That was kind of how I was feeling. Being with Cordelia was something entirely different from anything I’d ever experienced before, and it made me feel a little bit wild.

  Soon she was naked, and I led her into the walk-in shower. There was a little bench inside, and I gestured for her to sit down. She did. The water was warm and the shower had steamed up, so everything felt wonderful and hot and incredible.

  “You looked so fucking good on your knees,” I told her, caressing her hair. It was already getting damp from the water.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I don’t know what came over me.”

  “Whatever it was, I hope it comes over you again.”

  “You looked good, too,” she said.

  “Me?”

  “When you were...”

  “Coming in your mouth?”

  She laughed, blushing. How did one woman look so damn perfect and sweet all of the time?

  “Yeah,” she said. “When you were coming in my mouth.”

  “Well, you took my cock like a champ. I’m impressed.”

  “Are you?”

  “Most people don’t like to swallow, princess.”

  “Most people are idiots.”

  I knelt in front of her then, looking up at her.

  “You are so fucking perfect,” I said.

  There was a part of me that was still in total shock. I was in the shower with Cordelia, touching her, playing with her. I was in the shower with the most perfect woman I’d ever met, and she’d sucked my damn cock until I’d lost all control. I wasn’t usually like that. I prided myself on being more in control than all of that.

  Still, I wanted more.

  I wanted to make her feel as good as she’d made me feel.

  I knew she’d been with the same guy for a long time, and I knew that things had ended poorly between them. I would venture a guess that Jake hadn’t take care of many of her needs. She’d been neglected for a very long time, and I was being given a rare opportunity to worship her the way she deserved. I could show her exactly what I thought of her. I could show her what a real man would do to the woman he loved.

  “Spread your legs,” I whispered.

  “Why?”

  “Spread your legs,” I repeated. I didn’t offer an explanation.

  She looked at me curiously, but she moved her legs apart.

  “Such a pretty pussy,” I murmured, stroking between her legs. I touched her soft folds with my fingers, teasing her body. She closed her eyes, and I could see her muscles tense.

  Yeah, sweet Cordelia liked this.

  “You are so fucking perfect,” I told her.

  She moaned. It was practically a fucking purr. Okay, so she liked being told how damn hot she was. Who didn’t? I could do that for her tonight. I could let her know exactly how fucking pretty she was. If she wanted me to tell her every damn dirty thing I wanted to do to her, then I would do it.

  Starting now.

  “Do you like to play with your sweet pussy?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she groaned. She spread her legs farther apart as I touched her, playing with her slowly, softly. I was glad she liked to touch herself. It made me happy that she enjoyed touching and being touched. That was important, too.

  There was no shame with Cordelia. There was no fear. She’d been through so much in her life. She’d been betrayed over and over, and she’d lost people she loved, and she’d felt like a failure so many times, but not now.

  Not here.

  In this place, with just the two of us, she could have safety. She could have a haven. She was free to be herself and to show just how damn sexy she could be.

  “What do you like to think about when you touch yourself?” I asked her. I moved my hands to her thighs and rubbed them, massaging her skin.

  She looked down and just smiled at me.

  “Everything,” she said.

  “Like what?”

  “Being touched.”

  “Like this?”

  I ran a finger gently up her thigh, but stopped just short of touching her pussy.

  “No,” she shook her head.

  “Oh, like this?”

  I ran a finger up the opposite thigh.

  “Not like that.”

  “Then how do you like to be touched, princess?”

  “You know.”

  “Tell me.”

  I wanted to hear her say it. I wanted to hear sweet Cordelia tell me exactly what she wanted from me, what she needed. I wanted her to be the one begging for sweet release. I wanted all of that and more. I wanted her to come undone as I played with her, and I wanted her fantasies to be totally, completely fulfilled.

  There was a part of me that knew this was it for me. No other woman had ever compared to Cordelia, and no other woman ever would again. In my mind, this was the first day of the rest of my life. I’d do whatever it took to make her happy, and I’d start with this.

  “I think about having my pussy licked,” she whispered.

  It was almost a sort of confession, and when I looked up at her, there was heat in her eyes. She wasn’t embarrassed about this. In fact, she was turned on. She was wet from more than just the shower. Sucking my cock had turned her on more deeply than I could have hoped for, and now our teasing banter had pushed her close to the edge.

  I wanted to lick her.

  I wanted to kiss her, to suck her clit, and to make her fall apart for me.

  She was an incredible person, and she deserved to feel incredible things, so when I moved between her legs and brought my lips to her body, it was with the intention of making her have the best orgasm of her life.

  She groaned as I touched her.

  “Fuck,” she whispered.

  That one word shot through my body, exciting me. If I hadn’t just come a few minutes ago, I’d be coming now. The way she whispered it was so damn perfect. She was perfect. This entire moment between us was wildly perfect.

  And I wanted her so much more than I could ever put into words.

  I licked her, teasing her body. She gripped my hair, pulling it, moving me even closer.

  “Please don’t stop,” she begged. “Coop, I’m so close. Please, please don’t stop.”

  She moaned, groaning, and I held onto her thighs as I licked her pussy over and over until she started throbbing, pulsating, and then she came undone. The orgasm that washed over Cordelia was the most perfect thing I’d ever seen in my life. I looked up at her as I licked her, watching her come apart. It was beautiful. It was gorgeous.

  That was what sex was supposed to be about.

  It was supposed to be this wild, wonderful thing. It was supposed to be totally incredible. Tonight, it had been. No, we hadn’t actually slept together, but we’d been intimate, and it had been such a rush. There was a part of me that hoped I’d be able to make up for all of the years we’d lost. Cordelia and I had lost a lot of time being apart, and I wanted to make up for it. I wanted to play catch up. Tonight had been a good start. Tonight had been wonderful.

  13.

  Cordelia

  I SPENT THE NIGHT WRAPPED in Cooper’s arms, snuggling the man who had saved me from a night of loneliness and self-loathing. He kissed me and cuddled me, and I fell asleep cradled up against him. I woke up wrapped in a blanket, and Cooper was gone. Judging by the way the blanket was wrapped around my legs and waist, I had a feeling that I’d been kicking or fighting something in my sleep.

  Nightmares.

  Awesome.

  At least I hadn’t been crying in my sleep, right?

  Well, not as far as I knew.

  I wrapped myself in a sheet and walked down the hall and over to the kitchen. Cooper was standing there at the coffee pot. He was dressed in a button down, dress pants,
and a tie, looking every bit the professional.

  “Good morning,” I said, yawning.

  “Hello, beautiful.”

  He strode over to me and kissed me deeply, pushing the sheet down and grabbing one of my nipples. He tugged on it just a little, playing with it. Instantly, I felt aroused and excited. Wild. I wanted him, and I reached for him, pulling him closer to me. He kissed me softly at first, but then more fiercely. I was delighted. Jake had never kissed me like this. I could kiss Cooper all day long if he’d let me.

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. We both had responsibilities and places we need to be. The kiss ended far too soon. He pulled away before I wanted him to. I moaned, upset that he had to go.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I don’t want to go to work, either.” Then, his eyes brightened. “Do you want me to call in sick?”

  I laughed, shaking my head. I wasn’t going to ask him to do that. I was a big girl, and I’d be okay. Besides, my day was going to be filled with errands. Uncle Ray would need my help with a lot of things, and I wasn’t about to leave him on his own.

  “I’ll be okay,” I said.

  “I’ll do it,” Cooper told me, and I knew that he would, too.

  “I know,” I said. “I’ll be okay. Really. I promise.”

  “I don’t know if I believe you,” his eyes narrowed, but in a playful way.

  “It sounds like you just want to skip school today.”

  “I always want to skip school,” he laughed. “And now that I have a beautiful woman to spend time with, it’s even more tempting to let my administrators handle everything today.”

  “Cooper, I promise I’m not going anywhere,” I said, cupping his cheek.

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  He kissed me again, and he poured me a cup of coffee. Then he produced a key and handed it to me. I looked up at him, curious. Had our relationship already progressed so much?

  “I trust you,” he said in explanation. “And I trust you to take your time here. Shower, get dressed, whatever you want to do. Hell, you can nose around the house if you like.”

  “Nose around?” I shook my head. “I haven’t heard that phrase in forever.”

  He shrugged.

  “I have nothing to hide. Just lock up when you’re done.”

  We kissed a little more, and after some more joking around, he turned to leave. He stopped at the door and looked back at me.

  “Hey,” he said. He pulled out his phone and handed it to me. Then he started laughing. “Before we go any further, can I have your number?”

  THE NEXT COUPLE OF days were a blur. Ray and I had so many decisions to make and so many things to do that one moment seemed to roll into the next. We scheduled Aunt Hannah’s funeral for the following weekend. It was the one after the fair, and it was after the grand opening of the shop. We figured since she was being cremated it would be okay to wait, and it gave us a little more time to get everything together.

  When I wasn’t helping him, I was working in the shop with my team. We had dozens of cookies and cupcakes to bake for the grand opening, and I was still working on finalizing the menu. We were making cookies, cupcakes, and muffins. We’d have other things, too, like croissants and bagels. I was so excited about everything we were making, but it was a sort of bittersweet excitement.

  I had promised Cooper that I would come by his booth at the fair and sit with him for awhile. It was supposed to be our second date, after all. I hadn’t forgotten about our planned meet-up. At times, it was the only reason I didn’t go completely crazy. It was good to have something to look forward to.

  On Friday night, I pulled my hair back into a ponytail, wrapped a ribbon around it, and dressed in jeans and a cute red shirt. I wore converse, grabbed a bag, and headed out to the fairgrounds.

  The Ashton Town Festival took place twice a year, and every time, it was this huge party. Everyone in town loved having festivals. Most places only had one carnival or festival a year, but not us. We lived for this stuff.

  The festival was going to last all weekend, but the high school’s booth was only for tonight. I was looking forward to getting to help out, even if it was just a little bit. It was going to be nice to hang out with Cooper and get to be away from the gloom surrounding the rest of my week.

  I paid the $5 admission to the festival and then started wandering around. There were rides for kids and booths as far as the eye could see. I passed people selling pies and cookies, hats and scarves. I stopped in a woodcarving booth and examined some of the cool little things the owner of the booth had made. Then I checked out a few other places before wandering past the carnival games.

  Even though the festival had only started an hour before, it was already packed. People were walking around, laughing and joking with their friends. The music was loud, and I could even see a Ferris wheel. It was a good night to be outside on the town. Everything smelled so good. Everyone seemed so happy.

  I was sad that Hannah wasn’t there to see it.

  She had always loved the fair.

  Finally, I saw the high school booth. As I approached, I glimpsed Cooper standing with a woman. She had curly black hair and bright brown eyes. She was smiling, but her eyes seemed strained. Something had upset her. As I got closer, I could hear what she was saying to Cooper. His back was to me as I approached, so he didn’t notice me at first.

  “We have to do something about her,” the woman was saying.

  “Mrs. McMillan is annoying, but technically, she hasn’t done anything wrong,” he said. He sighed, and I hated that sound. He was stressed, just like his assistant. They both were.

  Who was Mrs. McMillan?

  And why was she causing problems for them?

  I got closer, and the woman turned to me. She pasted on a fake sort of smile. I’d already heard her talking to Cooper, so I knew she was anxious about someone.

  “Hello!” The woman said. “We’re selling gift baskets and auctioning some of them off. Take a look and see if any of them strike your fancy. We’ve got baskets with cookies, baskets with teacups, and there’s even one with cupcakes, I think.”

  “Thanks,” I said, smiling. “I think I’ll do that.” It was nice to see how many people had come together to make this festival a total success, and it was true that the baskets all looked incredible. Some of them were fancier than others, but they all had one thing in common: they’d been donated to help take care of my aunt. Now that she was gone, Cooper told me the money they raised would be used for her funeral and burial expenses.

  “Hey,” Coop turned around. “You made it.” He seemed happy to see me. That was a good feeling. Having someone actually want to be around you felt incredible. It was much better than the feeling I always had from Jake. I needed to stop comparing these two men, but it was impossible not to. When Jake had seen me, he’d looked annoyed. Bothered. Cooper looked enthralled.

  The woman looked from him Cooper to me and back again, and then she broke out in a huge grin.

  “You’re Cordelia,” she said.

  “I am.”

  “I’m Abigail.” She stuck her hand out and grinned. “And I have heard so much about you,” she said.

  I took her hand and shook it. I shot a questioning look to Cooper.

  “Abigail is my assistant,” he laughed.

  “Ah,” I said. “So you’re the one who makes sure he doesn’t lose his marbles at this job.”

  “Pretty much,” Abigail said. “I take full responsibility for his success.”

  “Hey,” he said. “I did a little bit of it on my own.”

  “That’s true,” Abigail said, smiling. “Actually, I think Cooper would be totally fine on his own, but we make a good team. We pull double duty to keep the crazy parents at bay.”

  “So I heard,” I said. “Mrs. McMillan? What’s the story?”

  “You don’t want to know,” Abigail said.

  “Actually,” Cooper looked at me thoughtfully. “She migh
t.”

  “Mrs. McMillan is the bane of our existence,” Abigail said. She lowered her voice conspiratorially, as though she was telling me a big secret. It made me feel like she trusted me, which was kind of a nice feeling, too.

  “What did she do?”

  “Not did,” Abigail said. “Does.”

  “Okay, so what does she do?”

  “What doesn’t she do?” Abigail shook her head. “She’s always missing appointments and deadlines, and then she makes us try to scramble to accommodate her when she screws up. Her husband donates a lot to humanitarian efforts in the town, and he owns one of the fast food restaurants, so she thinks that makes her immune to being a good person.”

  “She sounds like a terrible person,” I sighed. I felt bad for them: both of them. Nobody wanted to go to work only to have to deal with someone who gave them trouble. Nobody wanted to walk into the office each day and feel an overwhelming sense of dread.

  That had been what my time was like toward the end of my marketing days. When I’d been working at the office with Jake, things had been stressful and tiring, and every day felt like it was the worst day of my life.

  I’d hated it.

  Things now were different. Being able to walk into the bakery each morning and then just spend my time creating was wonderful. It felt better than anything I could have possibly imagined. It was, to be perfectly honest, the most incredible experience of my life.

  “You have no idea,” Abigail continued. “Last week, she actually pitched a fit because we sent her son home.”

  “Why did you send the son home?”

  “For wearing a shirt that had a mean phrase on it. It was pretty hateful, and I won’t repeat it. We gave him a chance to change, but he didn’t want to, so we had to send him home.”

  “I feel like that’s a pretty clear-cut rule,” I said. I couldn’t imagine holding the school responsible just because I didn’t want to make my kid obey the rules that had been set in place. That wasn’t to mention the fact that basic human decency would suggest you not wear things that could be considered mean or unkind to another group of people.