Peeling back the blinds, I can’t see anyone from this angle. The darkness masking both of us.
In desperate need for some WD-40, the door creeks open.
“Cooper?”
I’m frozen.
She closes the door. “Cooper, are you here?”
I’m still frozen.Move, Cooper.
Sutton scoff-laughs in amusement at the TV, rotating her body around the room. She doesn’t see me, and heads to the kitchen.
“Carmichael, I know you’re here.”
Sutton.
My Sutton.My brain doesn’t even correct me, reminding me that she’s never been mine—not like that.
“I guess I’ll go lie in your bed naked or raid your underwear drawer. I know that’s where you keep your diary.”
Finally, my feet move. I stand in front of her, keeping my distance, barely. Barefoot, and a pair of Levi’s that need retired, they hang loose on my hips. No shirt, I discarded that after my sixty-third lap in the kitchen.
Itching to touch her, I shove my hands in my pockets. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“What are you doing here?”
Sutton’s eyes do all the talking, that’s how I know—just in time—to pull my hands from my jeans. Soft hands are thrown around my neck as she throws herself into my arms. Mouth sealed to mine. I catch her with one hand around her back, the other under her thighs hauling her closer, flush against me.
I walk us up against a wall, move a hand to cradle her head as we hit it. Run my fingers through her curls, kissing her deeper. Sutton’s explorative. Frantic, desperate hands in myhair, clawing at my back, grasping my biceps, slipped into my back pockets as I kiss her back just as needy.
I keep her pinned to the wall, leaning back to look at her. Thumbs rub over her cheeks, pressing into them as if I can feel and count each freckle. Twenty-seven on her left check, and I lost count on the other.
“Sutton.” I breathe, maybe pant, a sigh of disbelief. “What are you doing here?” Breathe, again. “Zach? Your date?”
“Date?” Her hazel eyes shimmer green. “We traded notes for a classes he missed Friday and today because of a pre-season games. If you would have answered my calls, or let me explain, you would have known that.” I open my mouth to speak, but the words die on my tongue. “You would have also known I told him that we can only be friends. There’s someone else that I like leaving me flowers, knowing all my secrets, making me laugh.”
I press a light kiss to her lips. “Who is that?”
Sutton leans further into my touch. “You.” She says it as if she’s relinquishing power, giving me the keys her heart.
It doesn’t take much for a smile to work its way onto my face, pressing my dimple in. Or for the remaining disappointment and doubt around Sutton and I to fade away.
“Sutton Elizabeth Davis. Youlikeme,” I tease, emphasizing the words playfully. “Tell me.”
“I have a speech of things I want to?—”
“They can wait. Tell me this.”
Sutton rolls her eyes at me—her signature one just for me. “Why? So your ego suffocates both of us?”
I shake my head no, giving her a quick peck. “Haven’t I already told you, I need to hear you say it.”
“Your words of affirmation love language is going to be insufferable, isn’t it?” I shrug playfully, scraping my teeth alongside her jaw and whisper in her ear before pulling back. “Don’t make me say it.”
“Now, Ireallywant you to.”
