Page 10 of Touch Me (Complete Collection)

“Can we sit down and talk about this?” When she just gaped at him as if that was the most preposterous of ideas, he narrowed his eyes. “Please?”

“No, Cooper. I’m not sitting down. On second thought, why are we even having this conversation? I don’t care. I’m not your girlfriend, and I don’t want to be your booty call!”

She spun around and he grabbed her arm. “Don’t be stupid. You can never be my booty call!”

She scoffed. “Yes, I can, Cooper. Look at me! I’m standing here half naked with your jacket on me, and we met when? Yesterday! After fifteen fucking years!”

“Jen, seriously, you’re taking this the wrong way.”

“Am I Cooper?” She glared at him and he ground his jaw together.

The truth was, he felt helpless. Everything had happened so fast. One second she had been standing in the living room feeling like an imposition, and the next she was beneath him, with her perfect pink nipple in his mouth. God! She had tasted good. If he had ever fantasized about her in that situation, half naked, crushed under his body, at the mercy of his mouth and hands, he would never have guessed it would be so damn good.

“This is a mistake…all of it,” she cried, looking at the carpet. “I never should’ve. We never, we can’t ever…”

“Jen, just hear me out all right? I hired an architect, and I met Celia when she tagged along with him one day. She’s my architect’s sister, and that’s why she has a key.”

“I don’t…don’t have to hear this,” Jenny muttered, reaching for the bedroom door.

“Jen please. Don’t spoil this.”

“Spoil what? This is...this is nothing. This was all a stupid, crazy mistake. All I needed was a friend and …”

“Okay then…we take a step back. I agree,” he said through a throat which seemed to be stuffed full of dry clay. His mind was in overdrive, trying to find a way to cease the catastrophe that was waiting to strike. “This was not...right. It was impulsive. And we can move past it.”

Jenny stared at him with an expression that made his heart twist in his ribs. “I don’t know, Cooper. I don’t have the energy for this. I don’t have the fight in me...at least not yet. I should probably go, it’s for the best.”

“No way!” he said with a horrified chuckle. “No way, Jenny- ”

“This was wrong from the beginning. I felt wrong being here, and now after this...” She blushed and his gaze dipped stubbornly to the black bra visible at the opening of his jacket. She was clutching it in a death grip. “I’ll manage something. It’s probably best if we quit pretending like we’re the same…we were kids, nothing’s the same. We grew up, and now things can get…tricky.”

She was going to leave. She was going to leave, and after the disaster that had just ensued, there was no way he was ever going to hear from her again. He grabbed her arms and yanked her straighter, keeping a safe distance from her very desirable body. His mind was foggy, and his loins contracted in agonizing disappointment as he began speaking.

“I agree, Jenny. This was a mistake. It was wrong, and hell! I’m sure now we both know it’s not even like something we would want to do again. It was uncomfortable to say the least.”

Jenny flushed but kept a straight face. Uncomfortable? Not for me! That’s why I want to run.

“So we can just…we can let this go. If you can let this go, we can just coexist like friends again. Okay?”

When she still seemed ready to argue, he hurried forward. “I have a weeklong conference in Sydney in three days,” he lied. “I’ll be gone, you’ll have the place to yourself, and I think it could take even longer than a week, because there’s been some…problems…there.” As long as she stayed, as long as she had a place to stay, he was willing to move out of his own damn apartment. “What do you say? And don’t even worry about this...” He motioned at her body and she glanced way. “It means noting, and we can deal with this. We’re adults. We can just ignore it ever happened.”

**

Jenny hummed to herself as she opened the front door. It had been ten days since Cooper had left for Sydney, and she hadn’t enjoyed having the place to herself. At all. After the very embarrassing discussion, she hadn’t even seen him again. He had left the next morning without even waking her up, and left a note saying he was needed in Sydney earlier than he had thought.

He hadn’t even said when he would be back. She had been miserable. Even though she had spent just one day in his presence, it was a good presence. It was a thrilling, and wonderful presence.

The spacious apartment felt gloomy without him, and because she had been surrounded by stuff that he owned, she had felt awkward living there. She had accepted the fact that she just wasn’t the kind of person to feel at home at someone else’s home. It just won’t happen no matter what. The sooner she could get out of Cooper’s place the better.

She checked the answering machine but there were no messages from Cooper. She fell onto the couch and inhaled deeply. At least something was working out. Cooper had been an impenetrable, unyielding wall of support. First he had let her stay, and then he had found her a job that was fantastic to say the least. It was better than her old job, more central to the workings of the bank, and she felt more like her old self again.

Cooper had called two days ago, and had been genuinely happy for her when she told him she got the job. Every time she heard his voice over the phone, she couldn’t help but feel a tug of need. He was never going to be just Coop, her friend again. The crazy frenzy of passion they had shared ten days ago had marred everything.

The phone rang and she yanked it up on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Jenny.”

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