My entire body aches for him. In a way I’ve never experienced. A savage need rumbles in the pit of my stomach that leaves me desperate to feed it. I moan, feeling the full length of his hardness pushed up firmly against my belly. “I want you,” I breathe out against our pressed lips.
“Patience,” he mumbles back.
I arch my back and use the wall to leverage myself, forcing my body lower in an attempt to bring what I want closer. I need him inside of me. He pulls his head back, amused, his mouth curving to a wicked grin. “That will only make it longer until I give you what you want.” He drops his head and sucks my nipple in.
Somewhere between agonizing torture and blissful euphoria he finally concedes. My head falls back, thudding against the tile, and I whimper as he pushes into me. He drives deep, filling me completely, and then stills, claiming my eyes under the same control that he possesses my body before he begins to move. Satisfied with our gaze locked, he sets an unrelenting pace, pulling almost all the way out each time before slamming back into the hollows of my body. The intensity of each stroke is heightened by the emotions I see in his eyes as he watches me, focused keenly on satisfying my needs before his own.
My body wilts as I come, but the way he says my name with a jagged edge as he fills me, never breaking our gaze, leaves me in awe of the passion we are able to ignite. Together. I’d heard the phrase a million times but never really thought it had any truth until this moment. Cooper Montgomery just ruined me for all other men.
chapter twenty-two
Cooper
“My dad died last year. He left my mother and brother drowning in debt. My mom is sick and my brother is disabled.” We’re lying in bed, the room dark, her head snuggled in the crook of my shoulder as her finger traces light circles on my pec. “My brother and I were in an accident a few years ago. I was the only one who walked away.” Her voice cracks with a sadness that wraps around my heart and squeezes. “I applied to the show because of the prize. I didn’t really give it much thought. I guess I never thought they’d pick me as a contestant.”
I already know everything she’s confessing, but it means a lot that she decides to share it with me. I kiss the top of her forehead. “I’m sorry. How bad is it?”
“The house is mortgaged for more than it’s worth and there was barely any life insurance after they deducted the loans my father had taken. He was an all-or-nothing type of man. Didn’t do things halfway. It was great when he was on a winning streak. But when he was losing, he didn’t stop until he had nothing left but the shirt on his back. He was missing the in-between gene.”
“And your brother?”
“He’s doing okay, health-wise at least, right now. We don’t burden him with any of the financial stuff. He’s already been burdened more than any other teenager should have to be.”
“Will the prize money get them out of debt, or is it just a temporary fix?”
“It depends.”
“On what?”
“On if I make it to the final four or the end. The final four is a Band-Aid. The end makes the problem go away.”
“I see the way he looks at you. You’re definitely making the final four.”
“I thought you didn’t stay to watch today?” She lifts, perching her head up on her elbow, and looks down at me.
Time for a little of my own confessions. “I’ve been sort of watching the dailies of the show every morning.”
“Sort of?”
“Maybe ‘sort of’ isn’t the right term.”
“What would be the right term?”
“‘Religiously’ might work.”
“You’ve been religiously watching the dailies of the show every morning?”
“Hence the unproductiveness I mentioned earlier.”
We’re both quiet for a while, and then I say what I’ve been thinking about since Damian Fry delivered the background report on Kate and her family. “Let me help you.”
“What do you mean?”
I shift, easing her to her back, and sift my fingers through her loose hair. “I’ll give you the money you need.”
“That’s sweet. But I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“I can’t take money from you, Cooper.”
“Then consider it a loan. You can pay me back someday.”
“I’ll never be able to pay you back. The bank was right in turning down my application. My student loans will strangle me for the next ten years.”
“I can’t watch you with him, Kate.”
“So stop watching.”
“You act like I have a choice.”