“Felix?” he asked, tilting his head, those expressive brows furrowed in concern.
“Uh.” I licked my lips. “I missed… everything after you not being mad at me,” I admitted. “I thought you were.”
One of Cooper’s warm fuzzy blanket smiles spread over his face. “I didn’t pick Benji up this week because I promised my dad I’d work a few extra hours to make the time up. And… because I thought maybe you didn’t want to see me. But then I thought, y’know, I wanted to seeyou, and… you could tell me to go away if you didn’t want to see me. And I thought maybe you could use a night to relax before the big day. So. Here I am.”
He held up the bags again.
I wanted to kiss him.
I wanted to drag him inside and fuck him against the wall, actually, but I was willing to compromise on that for the sake of eating what smelled like truly amazing food first. I was starting to remember what it was like to enjoy eating.
Possibly not as much as I would’ve enjoyed sex, but there’d be time for that later. I hoped.
“I did want to see you,” I confessed. I’d wanted to see him all week and I’d been disappointed when he didn’t pick Benji up after Monday or Wednesday’s class.
Cooper’s whole face lit up.CouldI kiss him? Would he be okay with that?
I decided to find out, surging forward to close the distance between us and pressing my mouth to his, grabbing a handful of his shirt for balance. Cooper made a startled sound, but a heartbeat later I felt him relax, tension draining out of him.
We were okay.
I hummed as he leaned into the kiss, pulling back to tease him before kissing him again, savoring the warmth rolling off his body. It was late enough that the night had cooled, so it was nice to have my own personal furnace.
“How long do I have you for?” I asked, instead of doing the smart thing and taking advantage of him being here for however long Ididhave him.
“Mom and Dad volunteered to take care of Benji tonight when I told them I wanted to come see you.”
Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Richards.
A smile tugged at my lips. I took the bag with the sorbet in it out of Cooper’s hand, then curled my fingers around his now-free ones.
“Come on up.”
18
COOPER
“Well,he’s not nearly as hot as you,” I said between mouthfuls of sorbet. Felix was curled up next to me on the geriatric couch, head resting on my shoulder, sucking on a spoon while he showed me an Instagram reel of his old company’s new principle dancer. His replacement.
Felix huffed. “Avery said the same.”
“See, I knew I liked them.”
“And his assemblé isn’t as clean as mine,” Felix added around his spoon.
“That’s that one, yeah?” I said, pointing at the screen as the video looped and Kieran Henderson, my new least favorite person on Felix’s behalf, leapt up on one foot and landed on two.
“Look at you, knowing your ballet moves,” Felix cooed, tilting his head back to look up at me.
I was glad I’d come here. I really hadn’t been sure he’d want to see me, but I was glad I’d taken the risk. Having him curled up like this against me, letting me in on what’d been botheringhim, was worth the gut-twisting nervousness I’d felt about the possibility that he’d tell me to go away.
He leaned into it when I bent my head to kiss him, wriggling closer as he set his phone aside.
“I wish him all the luck in the world,” Felix said with a sigh.
“Really?”
“I wish someone would drop a chandelier on him,” Felix corrected, lips twisting wryly.
