“You’ve said as much.” An idea settled in the back of Cooper’s head that circled around to Adam’s proposal earlier in the morning. It was clear that Wyatt needed some time to process his divorce and the changes that would bring to his life. Cooper didn’t want to intrude on that and he didn’t think Adam did, either. “I could talk to your dad. Maybe he could come stay with me awhile so you could have some space here.”
“What?”
“We alternate between our houses anyway,” he said, “It wouldn’t be a huge hardship on either of us to just stay at my place for a few weeks.”
“That sounds a lot like moving in together.” Wyatt gave him a doubtful look. “And I don’t want you to rush that on account of me.”
“It’s not moving in together,” he said. “Think of it more like a test run. I think it would be a good thing for both of us.”
Wyatt breathed deep, his posture getting straighter as his lungs filled. “If you don’t mind…or if you think it would be okay.”
“I’ll talk to your dad about it next time I see him,” Cooper promised, grabbing his coffee and heading toward the front door. “I have to get going, but if you change your mind and decide you want a job…”
Wyatt laughed and rolled his eyes. “You’ll be the first person I call, Cooper.”
He mock-saluted Wyatt with his coffee and went into the living room, putting his shoes on at the front door in silence and wondering what in the hell he’d just done.
Chapter17
Adam
Adam sat on the spanking bench in the corner of Cooper’s workshop while Cooper fiddled away with gluing the soft fur lining to a pair of leather cuffs. The spanking bench was also a project in the making, one Cooper apparently hadn’t found time to finish.
Monday had dragged, and Adam spent most of it trying to figure out what he was thinking when he’d proposed to Cooper earlier in the day that they move in together. Cooper’s reaction had left him feeling a little nervous about the whole thing. He tried to play it cool, but he worried he’d fucked things up. Cooper had texted him at lunch to come over after work, and he had.
Ever obedient.
Adam exhaled loudly, drumming his fingers on the bare wood of the bench.
“Can we talk about this morning?” he asked after Cooper failed to bring it up.
“What about it?” Cooper pressed his weight down on the cuff, securing the glue between the two pieces of material.
“What I said. What I asked.”
“About us moving in?” Cooper asked.
He nodded. “I think it was a little rushed of me.”
“I don’t.”
“What?” Adam stilled his hands, jaw falling open. “Since when?”
“I thought about it.” Cooper pushed the cuff aside to dry and turned toward him. He looked so hot when he was in the shop, with a thick canvas and leather apron tied around his waist. There was something utilitarian about it that Adam found unbearably sexy, but he was sure sitting on the spanking bench didn’t help his mood at all, either.
“I’m sure it was more than that.”
“I talked with Wyatt this morning,” Cooper said, “after you left for work.”
“He emerged?” Adam feigned shock, clutching his hands together in front of his chest with a small laugh.
Cooper chuckled, untying the apron and hanging it on a wall hook. “He did. And we talked.”
“And he’s somehow convinced you that us living together isn’t a horrible idea?”
“Come upstairs.” Cooper gestured toward the steps, heading that way without waiting for Adam to confirm he would.
He did.
