Coop grips my hips, but he doesn’t rush me or try to take control. He seems perfectly content with my languid love making as his fingers skim up my sides to cup my breasts, which are heavy with arousal. When he sweeps his thumbs over my nipples, I moan and order him to do it again.
A lazy smile stretches across his full lips, but he does as he’s told and I arch into his touch, grinding against his pelvic bone.
Another wanton moan bursts from my lips, but I’m past the point of modesty. This man has licked and sucked and explored every inch of my body. There are no secrets left between us.
Not physically, anyway.
“I had no idea you could be so bossy,” he says, trailing a finger down my abdomen. “Not that I mind. I’m actually kind of digging it.”
I open my mouth to issue another command, but the words die on my lips when he licks his thumb and presses it to my clit. The little bundle of nerves sends a wave of indescribable pleasure straight to my brain and I quicken my pace, rubbing against his slick finger as I ride him, pushing us closer to the explosive finale.
“That’s my girl.” He rolls his hips, and the angle introduces a new sensation that has my toes curling so hard they freaking cramp. “I wish you could see how sexy you look right now.”
My cheeks heat at the compliment and I revel in the knowledge that I’ve given him a reprieve—however temporary—from the day’s events.
“Come for me, sweetheart.” He all but pants the words, and for the first time, I notice the sheen of sweat lining his brow. He’s almost there. “I want to watch you come all over my cock.”
“I want it too.” God, do I want it. “I’m close.”
So close.
He increases the pressure on my clit and stars explode behind my eyelids. I throw my head back, arching into his touch as I take and take and take. And then I’m flying over a cliff, Cooper’s name on my lips as I break over and over, his pleasure rushing in like the tide as his hips crash against mine. He buries himself deep, cock pulsing inside me as he rides out the powerful orgasm.
After, as we lay tangled in bed, his fingers toying with my hair, mine tracing circles on his chest, he clears his throat. “I really am sorry about today.”
“Don’t be.” I force myself not to look up, to keep my voice even so I don’t spook him. “I’m glad you didn’t have to face it alone.”
And pissed he had to face it at all.
“I knew the day would be shitty, but I didn’t expect—”
He doesn’t have to finish the sentence. The meaning is clear. He hadn’t expected me to shine a spotlight on his father’s domestic abuse.
I hate that I caused Cooper pain—hate that his father is absolute trash—but I can’t bring myself to regret telling him what I saw, no matter how tactless the delivery.
If only I’d realized sooner.
God, I’m such an idiot. His mother’s words about being a klutz replay on a loop in my head and I’m reminded of every movie ever where the abused spouse covers for their abuser with thinly veiled lies.
“My father’s always been a bastard,” Coop says, voice thick with emotion. His chest vibrates beneath my head and I want to wrap my arms around him, but I don’t dare move. Not when he’s talking freely. “Over the years, he’s gotten very good at hiding that part of himself from the public. After all, who’d vote for a politician who beats his wife and kid?”
My stomach roils, anger and disgust filling the space that just moments ago was aglow with softer, warmer sentiments.
“For a long time, I thought his Jekyll/Hyde personality was normal. That if mom and I just tried harder, if we could be a little better, he wouldn’t have to punish us. That’s what he always said, anyway.”
My heart aches at the thought of a smaller, defenseless Cooper suffering at the hands of that monster.
“Eventually, I realized that no matter how hard we tried, he’d always find a reason.” His body stiffens beneath me and the fingers that just moments ago were tangled in my hair, stop moving. “My mom protected me the best way she knew how—by using herself as a shield and taking the brunt of his rage—but it was never enough. No matter how many bruises he left, how many ribs he cracked, how lips he split.”
I mold my body to his, pressing my breasts and belly flush to his side, providing comfort the only way I know how, through touch. Cooper’s never been this vulnerable with me before and something tells me I’m the exception, not the rule. Do his friends even know he’s carrying this dark secret?
Probably not.
He wouldn’t want to worry them with his troubles.
After all, he’s made an entire college career out of being the good-time guy. The laid-back jock who can always be counted on to deliver a good time.
“The summer I turned sixteen, I had a growth spurt.” There’s a wryness to his voice and I can almost imagine a bittersweet smile twisting his lips. “I came home from practice one day to find him hurting my mom and I lost it. I pinned him to the wall and promised that the next time he laid a hand on her, I’d repay every bruise tenfold. Things were better for a while after that. It was a relief to know I could finally protect her the way she’d protected me for so long. But then I left for college like a selfish asshole, and without me there to keep him in check...”
