“How?” he rasped, holding up his hands helplessly.
He’d spent the whole week replaying the entire duration of his relationship with Cooper through his brain. Sure, there had been some give and take with the power, but back before, that had been fun. Even the role play they’d done had been sexy and refreshing, but he’d never thought of himself as a switch. But that was what Cooper wanted, what Cooper asked for.
Adam was frustrated at himself and his inability to get over the mental block that came with relinquishing the role of Dom. It shouldn’t be a hard thing, and it was only hard when they were apart. For whatever reason, when he and Cooper were in the same space, when he could barely breathe for the way his want constricted his chest, it was easy.
It was the space that made it hard. The in-between times.
“I think…” Grant spoke slowly, like he was trying to pick the right words, like there were actually wrong words at the forefront of his mind that he didn’t want to say. “I think sometimes people put up roadblocks that they don’t need.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?”
“I think…I think if you want to be with someone bad enough, there’s nothing that should stop you. Least of all yourself.”
“Spoken like someone who has stopped himself,” he countered, wondering what Grant had been doing behind his back to make those words fall out of his mouth laced with such regret.
Grant plastered on a smile that didn’t reach his eyes and grabbed both their coffee cups, practically jumping up from the table. “Do you want a fresh cup? It’s still early.”
“I want you to answer the question,” he said, shifting and watching Grant’s back. “Do you think that’s what I did?”
“It’s what you’re actively doing.” Grant threw a look over his shoulder as he closed the lid on his Keurig. “Making concessions for a partner shouldn’t take the mental gymnastics that you’re putting yourself through. I think you and Cooper are good together, but you have to let yourselves be together.”
“I know,” he grumbled, rolling his neck until it cracked. “I know.”
“Are you going to fuck it up again?” Grant brought back two mugs of fresh and steaming coffee.
“You sound like Cooper.”
Grant licked his lips and blinked, waiting for Adam to answer.
“I don’t want to,” he finally said.
“Can you get over yourself?”
Adam huffed and picked up his coffee, taking a drink that burned his lower lip. “I sure hope so, because I’m pretty sure this is my last chance.”
Chapter8
Cooper
It had taken all of Cooper’s strength and willpower to not invite Adam over for the weekend. Their make-out session on Friday night had riled him up beyond measure, but they’d already gotten ahead of themselves. Cooper wanted to make sure Adam was really in it with him before things went much further than some heavy petting and a frot in a guest room.
So he spent the weekend doing what he usually did. He worked on Saturday, with the only difference from any other weekend that he fielded some desperate-sounding text messages from Adam over the course of the afternoon. Sunday he took for himself.
Adam’s arrival on Friday had interrupted his progress on the deerskin flogger, so he decided to save it for Monday after work. His plan all along was to make a pair of matching floggers from the hide, and then also some cuffs and a collar…maybe a gag. He knew deerskin was unconventional for the gag, but Cooper appreciated the appeal of the soft and thick material against someone’s face while their jaw was locked apart and spread.
But he still had the flogger to finish.
It was with that thought in mind that he latched the lock on the front door of Totally Booked and flipped the light switch. Cooper had barely turned his back to the door when someone knocked on the glass.
“We’re closed,” he called over his shoulder without looking back, but they knocked again. With a sigh, he turned, only half surprised to find Adam there, chest heaving as he breathed.
Cooper turned the lock and Adam pushed open the door, the expression on his face morphing from frantic to hungry in the blink of an eye. He locked the door with a flick of his wrist and advanced on Cooper with a look of fierce determination in his eyes.
“What are you doing here?” Cooper asked, but Adam was on him, their chests pressed together in a flash. Adam walked them both backward until Cooper’s ass bumped the counter with the cash register on it. The pen cup toppled and the contents scattered. He tried to assess the damage, but Adam’s hand snaked around the back of his neck and pulled him forward, crashing their mouths together with no question of his intent.
Cooper softened immediately, his lips parting to Adam’s demand. The hand at his neck tightened and Adam’s other hand slid between them, curling around Cooper’s quickly growing erection. Adam stroked him through his pants, coaxing a steady slick of precum from the tip of his dick.
“You’ve been putting me off,” Adam whispered against him, nipping at Cooper’s bottom lip, already kiss-swollen.
