Throb(9)

Flustered, I ignore his comment and change the subject. “It sounded like you haven’t been here in a while?”

He nods and looks around. “It’s definitely been too long.”

“Too busy being a tycoon?”

“A tycoon, huh?” Lifting an eyebrow, he grins. “How do you know I’m a tycoon?”

“I can just tell.” I pause, but Cooper neither confirms nor denies my assumption. “Am I wrong?”

“No, you’re not wrong, actually. And what do you do? Aside from hustling cards?”

“Playing cards is sort of my job these days,” I say, trying to act like it’s a choice I’ve made, instead of something that I dread doing daily. I’d much rather be finishing up school than spending my nights in the high-stakes room, flipping cards to men who deal out hundreds like candy. Especially since most of them seem to think their stack of chips will impress me.

“You’re a dealer?” He doesn’t seem surprised. After all, I told him who my father was the other night.

“For now. I was in school, but had to take some time off.”

He nods, accepting my response without further prodding.

Another hour passes by in what seems like five minutes. Our conversation jumps from topic to topic, but there’s a buzz in the air that makes everything seem like it has a sexual undertone to it. He’s playful, some of his flirting innuendo is intentional, but my mind seems to want to read something filthy into everything he says. I finally eye the time on my watch. “Shoot. I didn’t realize it was so late. I have to work tonight.”

He nods and offers me his hand to stand up. The way he doesn’t let go and we walk to the car with our hands twined makes me feel like a teenager again. He opens my car door and I stop before getting in. “I probably would have passed right by this place and never even noticed it. It’s sweet that you come to your parents’ favorite place.”

“Pretty sure I’ve never been called sweet by a woman.” Cooper adds with a wry grin, “But if you like sweet, I’ll take it.”



My heart is heavy when we pull up to my apartment building. Cooper gets out to open my car door.

“Thank you for kidnapping me.”

“Anytime.” He says. “Are you going to agree to go out with me now, or do I need to kidnap you again?” He takes a step closer to me. “That one little taste wasn’t enough.”

My eyes close with dread. Everything about this man seems perfect, and yet I have to turn him down. Again. When I signed the contract for the show, I didn’t give any thought to what would happen if I met someone. Most likely because I hadn’t met anyone worth worrying about the last year. But of course, now I meet a man who gives me butterflies. And I can’t tell him about the show. Just like dating, disclosure of my involvement with the show itself is a violation of the terms.

Opening my eyes, feeling disappointment and regret at what I must do, I’m met by a sparkling sea of green intensity that threatens to drown me in lust, making what I have to say that much harder. “I can’t.”

Picking up on my lack of conviction or word choice, Cooper says, “Can’t? Or don’t want to?”

“Can’t.” I know it would be easier to lie and say I don’t want to, but something tells me he’d see right through me.

“Why?” He leans in just an inch or two. Our bodies aren’t touching, but the heat emanating from his skin ignites mine. Or maybe it’s the heat from my own body that sparks his. Either way, I can’t think straight with this beautiful man so close.

“I … I … I just can’t.”

“You can’t date me?”

I shake my head.

He leans forward to whisper in my ear. Voice gritty and strained, his warm breath sends a shiver through my body that I can’t even try to hide. “Can you kiss me?”

Too distracted to form a cohesive thought, I don’t respond right away.

Cooper pulls his head back slowly, the stubble on his cheek lightly grazing my sensitive skin, until we’re face to face. Smoldering eyes staring intently into mine, mixed with a hard, muscular body just inches away, make it easy to forget that he’s off limits. Banned. Forbidden. A complete violation of the rules of my contract. It only makes me want him more.

Swallowing hard, my mouth suddenly parched, I unconsciously run my tongue along my lips to moisten them, readying myself to finally speak. Cooper’s eyes drop, following the path of my tongue. As his eyes finally find their way back up to mine, I open my mouth to speak just as his lips crash down on mine.

I don’t even attempt to protest, immediately surrendering to the ferocity of a kiss that sets my entire body on fire. Our tongues find each other quickly, his leading mine in a just slightly aggressive way that excites me. Gently at first, the hard contours of his body press flush against the soft of my curves. Then I reach up, my hands threading the hair curling up at the edge of his collar. Cooper growls when I tug, pushing harder against me, deepening the kiss as we move from exploring to feverishly groping each other.

Both of us are panting wildly as we break the kiss. He tugs at my lower lip, claiming it roughly between his teeth before fully releasing my mouth.

“Wow,” I croak out, my mind still in a daze as my eyes flutter back open. Cooper’s thumb rubs tenderly across my now swollen bottom lip as his eyes come up to reach mine again. Flicking down to my mouth and then quickly back to my eyes, he looks torn between kissing me again and saying something.

“See, that wasn’t so hard,” he rasps, one side of his mouth tilting upward into a sexy half grin. “And that, Kate, won’t be the last time that happens. I promise you that.”

My wobbly legs carry me up the stairs, but I feel Cooper’s eyes on me every step as they lead me away. When I reach the top, I make the mistake of looking back. He’s leaning against his car, arms folded over his chest, watching me intensely with those piercing green eyes. Eyes that tell me he’s a man that keeps his promises.

Inside my apartment, I lean my head against the door for a few minutes as the haze of lust clears and my knees find their strength. Replaying Cooper’s vow in my mind, I reach up to feel my still swollen lips. And all I can think of is Oh shit.





chapter five




Cooper


“Mr. Montgomery?” Helen peeks her head in the door hesitantly. “The division heads are all in the boardroom for your weekly pitch meeting.”

I look at my watch and back to Helen. “Tell them I’ll be a few minutes.”

Helen looks confused. I’m never late and she’s no doubt wondering why I am today, since I’ve been sitting at my desk for the last hour doing absolutely nothing. I just can’t seem to concentrate this morning. She nods without saying anything else.

“Helen?” I call after her before she heads back out to her desk. “What time is Miles’s production meeting this morning?”

“I’m not sure. Let me make a quick call.”

A few minutes later she returns and hands me a few papers. “This is the schedule for the next week. Looks like the production meeting started a few minutes ago.”

I stand.

“You forgot your jacket,” Helen points out as I make my way to the door.

“Reschedule the pitch meeting to this afternoon.”

“Really?” She sounds shocked. I rarely go off schedule, especially with weekly meetings. Another trait inherited from my dad. Don’t cancel meetings, it tells people there is something more important than them. Today, that’s exactly the case.

“Make it late afternoon. I might be a while.”



Miles’s production meeting is already in full swing when I slip in unnoticed. I pick up a pad and pencil from the pile on the table in the back of the room, as if I might really take notes on anything he’s saying. He’s rambling on about the art of sexuality, but I don’t really hear a word. My brother notices me and waves, his already robust delivery of his lecture becoming even more animated for my benefit. He’s always been the showman of the family. I’m surprised he never wanted to be in front of the camera.

I nod and quickly scan the room, my eyes landing immediately on her. Unlike the other attentive women clinging to Miles’s every word, Kate is doodling something on the pad in front of her, not paying a lick of attention. It makes me smile.

“Let’s start out with an example of what is not sexy. We have some clips from the show that landed on the editing room floor. This isn’t the first day of shooting, ladies. We need to forget the cameras already.” Miles motions toward his dutiful secretary, and the concealed screen at the front of the room begins to inch down.

The video starts off with a kiss so awkward, it makes me uncomfortable just to watch it. Jenny Clark and I did better than that behind the dumpster in the back of the school in sixth grade. At least the way I remember my first kiss.

A second kiss comes on, this one a little better, but the woman looks right into the camera the second it’s over. Not exactly the voyeuristic feel my brother is going for. A few more roll across the screen, none of which hold my interest for long.

I watch as Kate glances up at the screen on occasion, but her doodling seems to have her rapt. The corner of her mouth quirks up slightly as her pencil swirls around the corner of the page. It makes me curious what she’s drawing. Then suddenly her pencil stops, she raises her head, and our gazes meet. And hold. She blinks a few times, almost as if she’s deciding if I’m really standing here or not, then her eyes widen when she decides I’m really on the other side of the room.