Page 99 of Wrecked

Chapter 33 – Cooper

Dear God, he’s a sight for sore eyes. I scan Sam from head to toe, from his beautiful red hair piled on top of his head, down his lean, muscular body, to his chunky black boots. He hasn’t changed one bit. He’s just as gorgeous as the man who’s been haunting my dreams for the past few months.

Right now, he’s staring at me like he’s seeing a ghost.

“Sorry, darlin’,” I say. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You could have warned me,” he says as he tries to catch his breath. “You scared the hell outta me.”

When I take the necessary steps to close the distance between us, Sam automatically moves backward, his back hitting the door.

I know he’s probably mad at me for not being upstairs to greet him. Shane told me he was bringing Sam upstairs to see Beth first. “I couldn’t do this with an audience.”

Sam swallows hard. “Do what?”

“See you again.” As if that isn’t obvious. I haven’t laid eyes on him for three months. I haven’t heard his voice. We’ve had no contact at all.

To my surprise, I’m nervous as hell as I approach him. My body comes alive for the first time since he left. He’s paler than I remember, and that makes his freckles more pronounced. His brown eyes are wide as he watches me approach. I feel like a predator tracking down its prey.

As I close the distance between us, his nostrils flare. His posture tenses, and he’s fairly vibrating with repressed energy. I glance down to see the tell-tale ridge of a growing erection pressing against his jeans. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was relieved to see that.

But suddenly, signs of his growing arousal morph into anger and resentment. His brow furrows. “Well, you’ve seen me.” He points to the door behind him. “You can go now.”

When I take another step, he throws up his hands as if to hold me off. “No, Cooper. We’re not going to just pick up where we left off. If that’s what you came here for, you’d better go.”

His words say one thing, but his body language says something quite different. His cheeks are flushed, his pupils are dilated, and that ridge behind his jeans has doubled in size. He’s clearly aroused.

I grab his wrists and pin them to the door above his head.

“Don’t!” he snaps, anger rolling off him in waves.

But the interesting thing is, he’s not fighting me. He’s not struggling against my hold or trying to pull away.

“Don’t what?” I ask, getting in his face and challenging him.

He narrows his eyes defiantly. “Don’t you dare kiss me.”

Even as he says that, his gaze drops to my mouth.

“Who said I was going to kiss you?”

Suddenly, all the bravado leaves him. “Cooper, please don’t,” he says, sounding vulnerable and defeated.

That stops me in my tracks. I would never do something he truly didn’t want me to do. “Why not?” I glance down at the obvious sign of his arousal. “Looks like you want me to.”

Sam shakes his head. “I don’t. I can’t keep doing this. Not unless something changes.”

Fuck.“What we have together is good, damn it! Why can’t you be happy with that?”

“Because I’m sick and tired of being your dirty little secret! If you don’t want me enough to man up—”

I hate it when he refers to our relationship asdirty. It’s not! It’s… it’s everything to me! I need him like I need my next breath. I need him like I can’t live without him—because I can’t! These past few months have been fucking hell!

Desperate to touch him, to taste him again, I crush my mouth against his. The kiss is hard, hot and heavy, almost punishing. I taste blood, but I don’t know whose it is. I’m not sure it really matters.

I transfer both his wrists into one of my hands, freeing up the other so I can grip his jaw. “I fucking love you, and you know it!”

Sam makes a pained sound that hits me in the gut. He winces as he shifts his hips, probably trying to make room in his trousers for his straining cock.