I couldn’t find paper when I slipped out of bed after I was sure he was completely and totally dead to the world, but I didn’t look closely at the paper towel holder either.
Not until now.
“Aspen,” I whisper.
“What?” she whispers back.
“All of his kitchen thingies are Fireballs-themed.”
“Kitchen thingies?”
“Like the paper towel holder. The top knob is the baby dragon. And he has a crock on his counter that has all of last year’s mascot options on it. Oh my gosh. I wonder if he has custom Fireballs plates.” I hop up and start digging, and I squeal when I’m rewarded with exactly what I was looking for. “Oh my god.He does. His plates have Fiery the Dragon on them. Hold on. I have to look at all of them. After all of this Fiery fan fiction, I need to know if he has Brimstone on these too.”
“Those are a recent addition,” the man himself says behind me.
I squeak and drop the plate, which clatters to the granite countertop but doesn’t shatter.
“Did you get caught?” Aspen whispers.
“Yes,” I whisper back.
“I’m out. Go jump him again. You haven’t sounded this relaxed or excited about anything in the entire time I’ve known you.”
She hangs up.
I look over my shoulder, and there’s Cooper, hovering behind me without touching me. He’s in nothing but low-slung boxer briefs, bedhead, tattoos, and a five o’clock shadow, and no small part of me wants to climb that body and kiss him senseless.
He doesn’t have to do a damn thing beyond stand there, and he turns me on.
I am in deep trouble.
He rubs his neck self-consciously. “I thought you left.”
“Oh. No. No, I just—I had to write something down. You were sleeping soundly, and I didn’t want to wake you.” But I couldn’t lie next to him without wanting to rub my hands all over him either, so I put my energy to good use rather than disturbing his sleep.
“I don’t usually crash like that.”
“You worked hard and you need to be in tip-top shape for your game later today.”
He grins, but it’s not full-strength. Whether that’s because he has something on his mind, or because it’s three in the morning, or because I wassupposedto take some hint and leave but didn’t, I don’t know.
But I want to.
I want to know if tonight changed anything for him.
I feel like it changed everything for me.
“You like my kitchen?” he asks.
“It’s so Firebally.”
His grin gets bigger. A little more Cooper-ish. “Mac—Mackenzie, Brooks’s wife—she’s the world’s biggest Fireballs fan. You met her when she umpired for your video. And since I’ve been…not my usual awesome self this year…she decided I needed a home makeover. But I draw the line at putting the Baby Ash toilet paper in my bathrooms. For the record.”
“I thought you were just being nice when you gave her the world’s biggest Fireballs fan title that day we shot our video. I mean, I knew about the mascot thing last year, but really, I would’ve thought half of Copper Valley would’ve turned out to do the same.”
He shakes his head. “I’m an amateur compared to Mackenzie. You should see her car.”
He’s still not coming closer, and there’s a wariness in his eyes that pokes at one of the softer parts of my already too-soft heart.
