Throb(65)

“To showing off my woman in public,” he says, clinking his drink to mine then tipping his head back.

Watching his throat work as he swallows, for a minute I wish we had stayed in. My fruity drink goes down smoothly, the effects heightening the blissful state I’m already in. “I love that smile.” Cooper runs his finger along my bottom lip. “Your smile is always beautiful, but when you let yourself go and really relax, it’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen.”

I didn’t realize there was a difference on the outside, but he’s right on how I feel inside. The last five years have been tough, the past two even more so. I’m happy, although it’s always tempered with something else—a weight that keeps me grounded. The happy that Cooper makes me feel is like floating. I don’t know how he does it, but when I’m with him, it’s okay to let it all go.

“Do you dance?” I ask, wrapping my hands around his neck. The music changes from island steel drum to something slow and sultry with a heavy rhythm that pulses through the crowd.

He pulls me flush against him, sliding a knee between mine, and begins to sway to the music. Of course the man can dance, I should have known from the way he moves his body in bed.

We dance close, his arms wrapped possessively around me, holding me tight for three or four songs. Eventually he pulls back to meet my eyes. “I want this all the time. Dance with you, have you on my arm at events, that carefree smile on your face. I didn’t even realize it was what I was missing, until I found you. I want this. I need this.”

“Me too.” Our eyes meet. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life. “Soon. I promise.”





chapter thirty




Cooper


The bed has always been a place for two things—sleeping and fucking. If I wasn’t actively doing one or the other, I saw no purpose in wasting time lying around. Yet waking with Kate’s head nestled into my shoulder, listening to the sound of her rhythmic, peaceful breathing leaves me content to stay put the entire day.

She stirs for a while in her sleep before her eyes eventually flutter open. “Morning,” she says with a lopsided smile when she finds me already awake.

“Morning.” I smile and kiss her forehead. “Blanket hog.”

Her sleepy eyes go wide. “I am not a …” She begins to defend herself and then looks down. Both the sheet and duvet are wrapped around her body like she just lost a battle with a white boa constrictor. I, on the other hand, am completely exposed. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.” I pull her body on top of mine. “I’ll use you as a blanket.”

She giggles and the sound makes me smile. Shit. I’ve gone soft.

“What do you want to do today?” Kate props her head up in her hands.

“You.”

“You’ve already done that a half dozen times. Don’t you want to do something else? I don’t want you to get bored.”

“Bored of being inside of you? Never.”

She smiles. “Okay. Well how should we fill the hours between you inside of me this morning and you inside of me later tonight?”

I brush my fingers along her cheek. Something about hearing her say you inside of me, already has my morning semi erection swelling to a full-blown hard on. “However you want.”

She rests her head over my heart. “You said you came here all the time growing up, right?”

“Twice a year.”

“Well what was your favorite thing to do back then?”

I think for a moment. “An afternoon trip on the Jolly Roger. It was a big party boat done up like a pirate’s ship. It sailed out into clear water and Miles and I would swing on a rope and jump off. We’d make each other walk the plank, and snorkel with turtles. It was owned by Marguerite’s family. My Dad would sit on the top dock drinking beer with her uncle while we played for hours.”

“That sounds like fun. Is it still operating?”

“Not sure. I can call Marguerite.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“You woke up filled with questions this morning, didn’t you? Maybe I should fill you with something else to give your mouth a rest.”

She playfully smacks at my abs. “Seriously.” Gripping her lower lip between her teeth, she studies me for a moment. “What happened between you and Miles?”

It’s a question I’m not expecting. And, in all honesty, I’m not even sure it’s a question I know the answer to. “I don’t know. As we got older, he sort of just pulled away. Some people see the glass as half full, he sees the glass as half empty. And thinks it’s half empty because I drank it all on him.”