Page 5 of Touch Me (Complete Collection)

“You have to think if you have a girlfriend?”

“No, not really.”

“No you don’t have a girlfriend or no you don’t have to think?”

“Both!” he said forcefully and she nodded.

“I feel so bad imposing on you.”

“Will you shut up already? You're not imposing. I don’t feel like you’ve crowded the space and I sure as hell won’t have you staying anywhere but here. I don’t have a girlfriend, and I don’t usually have…people up here.”

A giggle burst past her lips. “People?”

He knew she had deliberately misunderstood. “No. A person, one at a time. I never had a woman up here,” he finally explained laughingly and she joined in. The sweet sound of her mirth sounded through his apartment and seeped through his flesh to warm him. “But I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“I just wanted to know beforehand if there was going to be a girlfriend coming over… and we were going to have a bad situation on our hands.”

He shook his head vehemently no. “No one’s coming here.”

She nodded. It felt like she was with the old Cooper now, the one she could share anything with. She was transported to another time, when there were no work troubles, no relationships falling apart with deceit, and no heartbreak. It was just her and Coop, playing on their own and having a blast.

She casually placed her hand on his knee. Cooper instantly looked away as if he was thinking and she took another sip of her beer.

Cooper was not only thinking, he was planning on bolting out of his own apartment and never coming back. Never in his life had he had to hold back while he had the urge to kiss a girl. Hell, he had never felt so desperate. This girl with the long, wavy brown hair and brown eyes was making him nervous and jittery and he didn’t enjoy feeling like a teenager again at all.

“What about you?” he blurted out, unable to quench his curiosity.

“What about me?”

“Do you have a boyfriend?” His eyes roved wistfully over her face. It had gotten leaner, her cheekbones more pronounced. He was glad she wasn’t looking at him, and he used the opportunity to study her pink soft mouth to his fill. She had had round lips as a child, which made her look like she was always pouting. As a twenty-seven year old woman, the lips had flattened out and become fuller, and he had to swallow to suppress the need to taste them.

Darkness clouded her face and she glanced away. “Not anymore.”

Good! “Okay. So fresh start!” he said stupidly, insensitively, and a horrified smile spread across her face.

“Yeah! Woohoo! Broke up with my boyfriend! Let’s celebrate!” she mocked and he laughed out loud, doubling over.

“I didn’t mean it like that!”

“I know.” She fell against his shoulder again as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and his arm automatically claimed her slim shoulders. They fit together perfectly, and he was wholly content with just holding her. Have I ever done this before? No. He had never just sat there talking and clutching a woman like he was scared she was going to disappear. Especially while they were alone in a place, which had a bed nearby.

“You have an interview at noon tomorrow,” he announced to subdue his erratic thoughts.

“What?” She gaped at his face in confusion.

The nearness did not help his purpose at all. Maybe I should’ve waited until we were slightly further apart. “I called an old friend and asked if he had a vacancy at his bank. Luckily, they do, and it’s just your thing. Finance, money, accounts.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“What?”

“How did you find me an interview so soon?”

“I told you, I called a friend and he had a friend and so it happened.”

“At noon, is it?”

“Mhmm.”

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