Meant to Be (Sweetbriar Cove #1)(55)

"Good."

Poppy slipped her arms around him, and rested her head against his chest. Cooper lay back, feeling her body rise and fall with every breath. An unfamiliar sense of peace swept over him.



       
         
       
        

It felt good to just be like this. A moment of still, in the midst of all the passion. No drama, no noise. No need for words, even. Just a simple calm, making everything right with the world.

He felt a rush of gratitude and tilted Poppy's chin up to kiss her. She melted into him, and if he could have kept them there for hours, suspended like that, he would have. But suddenly an angry siren cut through the calm.

Poppy broke away. "What's that god-awful noise?"

Cooper groaned. "My alarm." He hopped out of bed and looked around for his phone. "I usually go for a run before work."

"Make it stop!" Poppy buried her head under a pillow, and he laughed.

"I'm trying. Where are my pants?"

"Umm, downstairs, maybe?" Poppy bit her lip, and shot him a wicked grin. "I seem to remember losing them on the stairs . . ."

"That's not all you lost." Cooper couldn't resist diving back in bed. He rolled her under him, and Poppy shrieked with laughter. He trapped her body close, and she smiled up at him, sleepy and perfect.

"It's all a blur. Remind me?"

He kissed her bare collarbone.

"Mmm," Poppy sighed. "It's coming back to me now . . ."

He kissed his way down her chest, loving the taste of her. But the alarm didn't stop, it kept screeching like a demon, until finally Poppy sat up. "We need to find that thing, and break it into a million pieces."

He would toss it out the window himself right now, but Cooper had to drag himself away from Poppy's soft, naked body and go search for it in the hallway. He found his pants thrown over the banister, halfway down the stairs. He grabbed his phone from the pocket and quickly shut it off.

"Thank you!" Poppy called. She appeared, wearing his shirt, and bounced down the stairs to him. "Who invented that sound, anyway? It's not natural!"

"Some fiend." Cooper wrapped his arms around her. What was the matter with him? He couldn't go more than ten seconds without touching her, needing her body curled against him where she belonged.

Poppy smiled up at him. "So are you going on that run?"

He grinned. "I think I've had my workout for the day."

"That was technically yesterday . . ." Poppy said, sliding her hands up his naked chest. "It's a whole new day. And I'd hate to interrupt your cardio routine . . ."

She kissed him, and Cooper forgot everything but the warm, hot taste of her lips and how she pressed so eagerly against him.

She wanted him again. This incredible, firecracker woman was just as hungry for him as he was for her, and damn, it made him feel good. 

"You're right." Cooper picked her up suddenly and braced her against the wall. "Routine is important." Poppy's eyes sparkled, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He slipped his hand between them, stroking her until she moaned, loving the sounds she made.

Loving everything about her.

He pushed her shirt up over her head and spread her thighs wider, so ready to sink inside her and claim her body all over again-

The door opened behind them. Cooper tensed. "Whoever you are, you better have a damn good excuse for barging in right now!" he roared, without turning.

"Well, it is my house."

Poppy gasped and froze in his arms.

"Aunt June!"





18





June was here. In the house. And Poppy was pinned, half-naked up against the wall about ten seconds away from an epic orgasm.

Oh god!

She pulled away from Cooper and scrambled to dress herself, but her shirt was nowhere to be seen. "June!" she cried, covering her bare chest with her hands. "I didn't know you were coming back so soon."

"Clearly." Her aunt was grinning in the doorway, swathed in a bright purple pashmina. "I see you've been making friends with the neighbors. Cooper," she nodded, her eyes sparkling with mirth.

"June." Cooper's voice was strangled. He quickly set Poppy down and refastened his belt, retrieving Poppy's nightshirt. She grabbed it out of his hands and pulled it over her head.

"How was the cruise?" Poppy babbled. "Was it fun? I never wanted to try one, you're just trapped out there for days, hostage to food poisoning and buffet tables, but I saw your photos and it looked like a great time."

June arched an eyebrow. "Not as much fun as you've been having," she said. "Coffee's on, is it? Cooper. You'll stay for a cup."