Why couldn’t I be brave enough to ask?
We gaze at each other again, the lights of Cooper’s apartment low and the snores of the dogs softly filling the space. It’s odd, how I can easily imagine every night being like this. Playing with the dogs and then unwinding together . . .
What a lovely dream this will make when I close my eyes tonight. I glance at my watch, almost wincing at the hour. Morning will come soon.
Cooper finishes his wine, setting the empty glass on the coffee table.
I follow suit, straightening just slightly. “It’s late,” I murmur reluctantly as the seconds of the grandfather clock tick on. “I don’t know how safe I feel walking all the way home. Do you mind if I sleep here tonight? On the couch, I mean—”
“There’s no way I’d ever let you sleep on the couch,” he interrupts with a shake of his head.
I climb to my feet, picking up a soft pillow and fluffing it in spite of his chivalry. “These are so comfy. I’ll be fine out here, and I won’t even need a blanket with how warm it is this time of year.”
With a laugh Cooper springs up as well, snatching the pillow and lifting it over my head. His sudden closeness makes my throat tighten, goose bumps prickling my skin.
“No way in hell am I letting you sleep out here while I’m in that bed alone.”
Alone. Alone?
As in, he’d rather me be in it? With him?
The question rises up my throat but I swallow it down and try to steal the pillow back.
Cooper holds the pillow higher over his head, laughing while I jump and try to get it. I crash into his chest, biting back a moan at the feeling of our bodies’ contact. I lurch backwards, but his arm suddenly loops around my waist, stilling my movement. The summer heat seems to collect in this one spot, growing hotter and hotter by the second. My breath catches in my lungs, my arms softly coiling around his neck as he drops the pillow so that his other arm can wrap around me.
He pulls me against him, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows. “This is just another reason why today has been the best day ever,” he whispers huskily, his forehead lowering to mine.
I wait on bated breath, unable to breathe or speak or move. I am captivated by him, completely. “Why?” I whisper, shuddering in his arms.
“Because I got to kiss you for the first time . . .”
His face lowers to mine as I lift my chin, eagerly accepting his kiss. Time seems to screech to a halt, every pore on my body expanding to release steam as his lips press against mine.
In a flurry of movement we collapse back on the couch, my legs twining around his hips, my fingers raking through his hair. His mouth is everywhere, burning a trail down my jaw and throat. He kisses my neck, nipping gently. When his teeth graze my collarbone I gasp, tilting my head back to expose more sensitive flesh to him.
His lips return to mine, greedily drinking in another kiss that continues until our lungs scream for air.
Breaking away, chest rising and falling, Cooper drags off his shirt, exposing his muscled chest. Even in the dim light, I can see the lines of his strong body. My palms glide over his smooth skin, memorizing how he feels against me.
When I grab the hem of my shirt, eager to rip it over my head, he grabs my wrists and stops me. With a faint smirk, Cooper presses a long kiss to my mouth. “That’s my job,” he says, voice dripping with passion. “And I’m not in any rush.”
I nod, wanting to be agreeable, but I’ve never felt this intense attraction before, this intense desire to truly make love. Nothing matters but this moment, but this kiss, but him and the unbelievable way he makes me feel. I don’t know how to express this to him.
Luckily, I don’t have to. Cooper seems to know exactly what I want.
He hooks his arms under my knees and sweeps me off my feet. As he carries me toward his bedroom he whispers against my lips. “Summer . . . you’re so incredible.”
And for once, I don’t want to argue—not when I know where this is heading.
So, I don’t.
Instead, I tell myself to let go of my fears and hold onto this man with all my heart. It’s already his, after all . . .
Chapter 13
Cooper
The moment I wake I feel the warmth and weight of her sleeping body in the bed beside me. Morning light spills across the bedroom carpet, illuminating her sun-kissed hair like a halo. My breath catches in my throat, my heart melting in a way I never thought possible.
Never in my life have I woken to a woman like this—one who has a command of my heart in the effortless way that Summer does. She hasn’t even had to try to lure me in with flamboyant sex appeal or lewd flirtations . . . she’s just been her natural, feisty, beautiful self and that has attracted me ceaselessly.
I think I knew even during that first conversation we had that I wanted her. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. I certainly wasn’t ready to admit it then, but she’s left me no room for argument now. I can only hope that this isn’t just a one-night stand to her. There’ll be plenty of time yet for that conversation, I suppose, but it’s a conversation that I’ve never wanted with anyone but her.
In such a short time she’s implanted herself so deeply in my heart. I can’t imagine my life without her now.
Around us, the dogs sleep soundly. Pup, still officially nameless, is curled up between Summer and me in the small space parting our bodies. He’s already opened his big eyes, watching me with interest, his tiny tail thumping up and down. I reach over and stroke his little head, the movement rousing the other dogs. They all lift their heads, eyes sleepy.
Though I want nothing more than to curl against Summer, feeling her soft skin press against every inch of my body, I carefully climb out of bed and herd the dogs out into the living room, pulling the door closed so Summer can sleep a little longer. I know that once Rosco is awake he’s not going to simply wait in bed until I move. He’s going to want to eat his breakfast right away. Hopefully the other dogs are ready to eat as well.
I make my way over to the kitchen, filling up the food bowls and setting them down. Eagerly, the four dogs each attack their own dish. Absently, I keep an eye on them while my mind drifts away. It takes me back to last night—the sounds of our pleasure echoing against the walls, Summer’s fingers raking down my back, my name on her tongue.
I’ve never known pleasure like that could exist. Not just pleasure in the mind-blowing sex, but pleasure in her company, in holding her afterward, in the sleepy giggles and pillow talk we’d shared. It’s all so simply beautiful, and it’s that way because of her.
On autopilot, my brain still in bed with Summer, my body walks me to the kitchen and I begin to make breakfast. After the delicious pancake spread she made me the other day, I want to show my appreciation and make her something tasty. It’s not like I’m a five star chef, but I know my way around the kitchen. I grew up cooking with my mother and have an arsenal of recipes under my belt as proof. I start cracking eggs for sausage and spinach omelets, glancing up as the dogs begin to play.
Though Pup is content to romp about, Sadie, Lola, and Rosco soon tire of his energetic puppy antics. When they do, he decides he wants to find someone new to play with and trots over to the closed bedroom door. When he scratches at it, I scoop him up with a laugh bringing him back to the kitchen.
“Let Summer sleep!” I tease, feeding him a small scrap of cooked egg and smiling at the warmth of his tongue on my fingertip.
He gazes up at me with those big ears pointed toward the sky, his eyes large and dark. Happiness swells in my chest at the sight of him. He’s going to make such a great addition to Rosco and myself . . . and hopefully Summer and her dogs as well.
A second later the bedroom door glides open. Footsteps wander up the hall as a sleepy-eyed Summer emerges. Wearing nothing more than my shirt, which hangs around her thighs, she looks radiant. She smiles at me coyly and pushes her blonde locks away from her eyes. If anything, her slightly ruffled bedroom hair makes her even more beautiful.
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The dogs all rush forward, leaping around her feet. She greets each one happily before making her way toward me. My fingers glide over her hips, pulling her against me with one hand while cradling a squirming Pup with the other.
“Morning,” she says shyly.
“Good morning” I whisper, fighting the urge to lift her onto the counter and pick up where we left off last night.
I can still perfectly recall what it felt like to be with her so completely. My body is tense with the effort to behave at least until we have coffee, so I settle for stealing a long morning kiss.
Summer gives a faint moan of bliss, melting against my chest. I pull her closer, fingers sliding down her spine. When my hands reach the edge of my shirt she’s wearing, I can barely resist slipping them beneath the fabric to feel the perfection that’s waiting for me.
“I thought last night was a dream when I first woke up,” she murmurs softly. “Was it just my imagination or was that totally amazing?”
“It was amazing,” I promise her, again stealing a kiss as though my life depended on it.
Waking up with Summer in a bed filled with our dogs, that was heaven. It was better than heaven, it was heaven on earth.
If I can wake up like that every day, I know I’ll be happy forever.
Chapter 14
Summer
Warning: when the first thing you see in the morning is a gorgeous man at the stove, cooking you a breakfast that smells absolutely amazing while lovingly holding a puppy to his bare chest, your heart may very well burst.
This must be a dream because it never crossed my mind that I would be lucky enough to wake to such a sight. Yet, here Cooper stands, in all his half-naked, puppy-holding-glory. It’s all I can do to remember how to breathe.
Though I hadn't left the room at first, I’d woken the moment he got out of bed and watched with one eye cracked as he got the dogs and led them out. Once he was gone and the door was securely shut, I rolled over onto my back on the luxurious sheets of his plush bed and stared up at the ceiling.
This wasn’t my life . . . waking up with a billionaire.
Everything about Cooper was too good to be true. Last night, the way he’d held me and kissed me and touched me—it’d been magical. My body had never experienced such ecstasy or pleasure. And I’d never felt so magnetized by a single kiss.
Laying there, the smell of him still on the sheets, my mind wandered every which way. I wondered why I was still there, what I should expect, how to prepare myself for the inevitable heartbreak that I would be facing the moment I walked out of the bedroom . . .
Surely last night was nothing more than a one-night stand to him.
I expected to tiptoe out of the bedroom and find Cooper readying my dogs for me to take home. But then I’d heard eggs cracking. I’d heard laughter and dogs playing . . . and I’d had to come out and see what was going on.
But no mental pep talk could have prepared me for this . . . the fact that Cooper wasn’t shooing me away, but inviting me to stay for breakfast instead. The possibility of such a preposterous scenario had never crossed my mind.
These kinds of things don’t happen to me. Colin is the kind of thing that happens to me, but not this—not a billionaire cooking me breakfast with amusing questions dancing in his eyes as he kisses me telling me he wants more.
It was a lot to wrap my mind around, especially before a cup of coffee. I try not to let my thoughts run away with me as I remind myself not to drool over the gorgeous man before me. Instead, I pull the squirming Corgi from Cooper’s arms. “What are you making?” I ask, cuddling Pup as Rosco, Sadie and Lola nudge me for extra loving, which I happily give.
I set Pup down to let him join in the fun. The dogs seem just as content as I am. I’ve never seen Sadie and Lola look as happy as they do now. I’ve always known that they love to play with other dogs, but I hadn't realized just how much spirit it gave them to have that option on a daily basis like they do with Pup and Rosco. They’re becoming quite the little canine family.
“Omelets,” Cooper announces proudly, my mouth already watering. “I rarely get a chance to cook but when I do I like to go all out. Next time, I’ll make you French toast. It’s my mom’s old recipe.”
Next time.
The way he just casually throws that out there makes my whole body simmer with warmth. I sidle closer, stealing a bite of the omelet he’s just put on the plate. I close my eyes, head thrown back. It’s as delicious as it smells. When I open my eyes again he smiles at me, passing me a mug of coffee. I take a sip then set it down on the local paper, gasping when I see the day.
“Monday!” I cry out. With Cooper, the days seem to all blur together into a haze of fun and pleasure. “Don’t you have to be at work?”
“I’m the boss,” he says simply. “Besides, I want to enjoy breakfast with you first.”
I don’t know what to say, my tongue heavy behind my teeth. My emotions run high as I try to make sense of this.
Why would a man like Cooper be interested in me?
Why would he be making me breakfast?
Why can’t I stop worrying?
“Hey . . .” he says abruptly, laying down his spatula and turning me toward him. His fingers run up and down my arms, coming to a rest on my shoulders. He brushes my mussed hair back from my face, his hands warm and gentle. “What’s going on? Talk to me, Summer.”
I bite my lip, considering lying. I don’t want to put pressure on this, whatever this might be. But I also can’t help but worry about whether this might be anything at all.
There are so many questions flooding my head that I can’t help but let one rush out.
“I don’t understand what you want from me,” I finally sputter, though the comment makes even less sense spoken aloud than it does in my head.
“What I want?” he echoes, blinking in bewilderment.
My chin moves on its own, nodding as words tumble out of me. “You're a billionaire, you’re basically a tech genius. You live in this luxurious apartment and you work in a huge skyscraper, that you own! I just don’t get what you would ever find attractive in a woman like me. I’m just a dog walker, just an average girl who lives paycheck to paycheck. There isn’t anything special about me that could keep a guy like you satisfied, Cooper, and I just . . . I just don’t want either of us to get hurt thinking this is something it’s not.”
“Nothing special?” he repeats before abruptly shaking his head. His fingers curl tighter around my shoulders, his body angling down just slightly so he can gaze into my eyes with his own fiery baby-blues. Emotion etches across his face. “Do you not know what kind of woman you are, Summer? Do you not see how amazing you are?”
“Cooper . . .”
He shakes his head fervently. “You are everything, Summer. I’ve never known I could feel like this. I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time. You’re sexy as hell, smart as a whip, you don’t cater to me, and you’re just as devoted to your dogs and your business as I am to mine. I have never once met someone like you and I never expect to be lucky enough to meet anyone like you again.”
“So what does this mean?” I ask, voice and knees shaking.
“It means that I want to see where this goes. It means I want to wake up next to you, surrounded by our dogs, for as long as you’ll let me.”
Tears well in my eyes and I nod, leaning in to embrace him tightly. I have to let go of my insecurities. I have to manage to open my guarded heart. I’ve never truly trusted a man like I’ve trusted my dogs, but I know that with Cooper I have to try. The happiness he pulls from me is too precious not to take a risk.
“I should go home after breakfast,” I mumble into his chest, clinging to him tightly. “That way you can get to work.”
“Or not,” he answers abruptly, his fingers closing around my own.
I look up at him questioningly, forehead crinkling.
He clears his throat, swallows hard, and embraces me a little tighter. “What I mean is
. . . why don’t you stay? For good, Summer. With me.”
Chapter 15
Cooper
Summer doesn’t answer right away, her jaw going slack. Her arms, which were still around my neck, curl slightly tighter as though she’s expecting me to take my offer back.
“I’m not saying you have to move in all the way right now, but Summer . . . I think this thing that we have growing between us, with you and me and the dogs, I think it’s one in a million. I think you’re one in a million. I don’t want to have to watch you walk out that door not knowing when you’ll be back. Waking up next to you was more amazing than any dream I’ve had.”
“So you want me to be your live in dog sitter?” she asks, half playful, half serious, her eyes narrowing on mine, searching for my intentions.
“You know, for my entire life I’ve worked toward building this tech firm of mine. I never thought anything would ever compare to the dedication and love I have for it. Now, I’m seeing that I don’t want to make my life about work. Since meeting you, I’ve wondered how much of Rosco’s life I’ve willingly missed just to get extra things done in the office. I’ve wondered what other things I’ve missed and the fact is, I don’t want to miss any more.”
“What are you saying?” she whispers haltingly.
“Somewhere deep in my heart, I’ve known that I can’t continue to work as hard and long as I do now. My assistant has been telling me that since she started working for me, but I’ve never wanted to listen. I think now it’s time I do. I’m going to call her and tell her I want to step back a bit and let the people I pay to help me run my business actually do just that.”
Summer leans against my chest, her fingers trembling in mine. I pull her against me, resting my chin atop her head. I can feel her heart beating like crazy in her chest, though mine is doing the exact same thing. I’m terrified of what comes next, but I’m even more terrified of losing her.
Cooper: A Clean Billionaire Romance (The Billionaire Boyfriend Series Book 2) Page 9
