Nico waited for her to be gone before asking the question that’d been on his mind. “So, you’re not together, together?”
“We’re together,” Cooper said flatly, scratching at the shadow of stubble making an appearance on the angle of his chin. “To the world, we’re together, and in many ways we share our lives together the way normal couples do, but I’m not hers and she’s not mine. Does that make sense?”
No, not really.
Nico leaned over and whispered, “Is she cooking the food, too?”
“She’s a great cook, but no.” Cooper picked up the oversized menu and steadied the bottom of it on the table, obfuscating his face. “There’s a skeleton crew, but they’ve all signed NDAs and have been ordered to stay in the kitchen. With the amount of money they’re being paid, they have no incentive to violate the rules.” Cooper peeked around the side of the menu. “This is Los Angeles. Anything can be bought for the right amount of money.”
“How can she afford to shut down the whole restaurant for a night?”
Cooper sighed and placed his menu flat on the table. “Let me just say this is the most expensive date of my life, so relax and enjoy it. Stassi’s family owns five restaurants and three clubs, one of which you and your boys frequent.”
Nico arched a brow, curious about which club he’d need to avoid in the future. “Pink Lotus?”
“Yep.” Cooper nodded, his eyes boring into Nico’s.
Nico picked up the ridiculously sized menu that had more options than the fucking Cheesecake Factory, and hid behind it. There were simply too many options for his ADHD-having ass to make a decision so he settled on the last thing he saw.
Stassi returned a moment later and took their orders, and then returned again about twenty minutes after with their food. She disappeared into the void of the kitchen after.
Nico examined his entree. A beautifully plated chilean sea bass with a calabrian chile glaze and a raspberry-glazed rice pilaf. His mouth watered, but deep down he knew he fucked up. Sure, he should’ve been content to enjoy the evening but it’d been six months since he’d been fucked and if he ate anything spicy, there was a more-than-he’d-be-happy with chance there would be no anal penetration on his end. And sure, he could fuck Cooper instead—if Cooper would allow it, but when it came to men… He was what he came to learn was a vers bottom, where the percentages were split somewhere along the lines of one percent top to ninety-nine percent bottom.
Nico forked a bite into his mouth and had what he could only describe as an orgasm in his mouth.
Cooper’s plate consisted of five wagyu beef sliders and truffle fries. He took the first slider into his hands, his eyes catching Nico’s. “How’s your fish?”
“Tastes like heaven, but if I’m being honest, I’m a little worried the spiciness is going to do a number on my intestines and I fear a worst case scenario of not being able to get that dick I’ve been waiting six months for.”
Cooper narrowed his eyes. “Have you ever tried not saying everything that comes to your mind?”
Nico shrugged, wishing he could locate the filter switch to turn it on. “I’m afraid I haven’t found the cure for that which ails me.”
Cooper finished off three sliders in quick succession while Nico picked away at the sea bass, trying to savor not only the meal but the time he had with Cooper. Alone, without fear of the outside world. Though, he caught his gaze wandering to the kitchen door every so often, just waiting for some nosy chef to pop his nosy head out of the kitchen and ruin both of the quarterback’s lives.
However, Cooper promised Stassi was holding the staff hostage inside the kitchen.
Speaking of Stassi…
Speaking of not being able to contain the thoughts in his head. Nico swallowed a bite, cleared his throat, and stuck his nose where it didn’t belong.
“Do you ever feel guilty?” he asked.
“For?”
“Stassi. She knows all of your secrets and wastes her life away being your beard?”
Cooper grabbed at his fries. “That’s n?—”
“None of my business.” Nico nodded, pushing his plate to the side. “I realize that.”
Cooper sighed and sunk in his chair. “She has an off ramp whenever she wants it. I’m not going to get into her business with you, but this arrangement makes her happy for her own reasons.”
Nico quietly contemplated what that could mean. What would make a woman stay with a man who wasn’t attracted to her? Why put up with that? Unless… “Is she a lesbian?”
“What part of not going into this right now went over your pretty little head?”
Cooper called him pretty.Nico was pretty sure that was a new one. It made his stomach flutter, injected dopamine straight into his allegedly pretty head, and made him want to take Cooper straight to the bathroom to let the other man have his way with him.
