Page 58 of Can We Just Be Happy Now?

“Promise?” I pull far enough away to look at her eyes, to be sure.

“I don’t trust anyone except you.” The magic words bring me back to her. I push my shorts and briefs down, aligning perfectly. Before grabbing her hips, I take a second to finally pull the sweatshirt over her head. I readjust her to the edge of the machine then run my thumb over her to see how wet she is, still perfect from when my tongue was hot and firm against her. My other thumb joins in, spreading her wide enough for me to push into her.

“Fuck,” I groan, stilling my movements for a moment, although the motion of the dryer continues some of the work for me. Her arms loop around my neck, her fingers tugging at the tips of my hair. I pull almost all the way out before driving into her. She moans, her head falling to my shoulder. I wrap my arm around her to hold her in place, to allow me deeper. “God, your pussy is so good.” She bites into my skin as if my words sent her straight to the edge.

“I feel you everywhere, Coop,” she manages.

I groan, feeling every part of my dick connecting us inside her, her arousal coating me and dissolving any friction as I push to the hilt. Fuck, she feels good–too good. I rub my thumb roughly against her clit, determined to make her come when I do.

Her toes fall from the edge of the washing machine behind me, as if she’s losing her strength to hold on. Linking her ankles around my waist, she brings us closer. I drive into her harder, one hand gripping her hip, and the other threading through her hair, fingers tight on her neck as I kiss her. With each thrust bringing me as deep inside her as I could possibly be, my orgasm becomes imminent.

“Sophie, baby, I need you to come for me.” Before all the rough words are out, waves of her orgasm pulse around me, pulling me to my own release. I keep up my rhythm as I spill into her and don’t stop until her body has nothing left to give except for a few residual twitches.

Still inside her, I push her head off my shoulder with my hands locked on the nape of her neck. My lips brush hers between breaths as both of ours even out. I have the urge to punctuate each kiss with a verbal declaration of how much I fucking love this girl. But I don’t give into it. Not yet.

Pressing my forehead to hers, I choose different words. “Everything is better with you.”

A soft smile pairs with her freshly fucked glow, and I fall even more in love with her. Moving her hands from my chest to her face, she yawns behind them, and I can’t help but chuckle. It must be at least 5 a.m., and I’m not sure if she’s even been to sleep yet. “Let’s go to bed.”

I pull out of her slowly as she nods, reaching for a towel on the shelf behind her. Once we’re cleaned up enough, I slide her off the dryer and she leans into my chest, wrapping her arm around my waist and refusing to let go the entire walk to my room.

She releases me long enough to pee and brush her teeth, and I tuck her into bed. As I’m about to crawl in next to her, her fingers brush my arm. “Can you get me a glass of water, please?”

“Of course.” Locking my hand on the back of her head, I kiss her hair, letting my lips linger and taking in her faded floral scent I’ve missed so much. “Be right back.”

The orange glow from the sunrise streaming through the kitchen window guides my way down the hall. With a glass in hand, I turn the sink on. As I wait for it to run cold, a phone lights up on the counter. It must be Sophie’s. I set the glass down and pick it up without thinking twice. It’s locked, but a preview of a text from a number she doesn’t have saved has popped up on the screen: Why’d you sneak out?

Chapter thirty-four

COOPER

THEN

Cooper, 19; Sophie's 17th birthday

“Just need to make a quick stop first,” I tell April as we drive away from the fraternity house. Troy and I live close enough to campus to walk to parties, but I showed up late after helping Dad with work.

“Okay,” April says sweetly, scrolling through her phone as I get on the main road. I met her at one of the first parties our fraternity threw this year. She’s in a sorority and shares my view on freshman year–the one I adopted after Sophie forced me into it anyway. We both try to take advantage of what college has to offer. That means we’ve hooked up a few times, but there is no level of commitment. It’s nice. I enjoy her company.

I park in front of the midnight blue house that sits next to my parents’ sage green one–not that you can tell with how dark it is. It may be nearing the end of Sophie’s seventeenth birthday, but it’s not over yet. Reaching in my back seat, I pull out the gift I’ve wrapped in a cut brown paper bag with a Nerds Rope tucked under the twine I wrapped around it in a haphazard bow. I hop out of the car, jog up to the Porter’s front steps and leave the present on the welcome mat. I didn’t write my name, but Sophie’s is scribbled across the front. Once she opens it, she’ll know who it’s from anyway.

Opening the car door and sliding into the driver’s seat, April gives me a pointed look. “What’s up?” I ask as I put my car in drive and pull into the Porter’s driveway to turn around.

“Was that a present for a girl? That you dropped off before taking me to your bed?” She knows our casual dating isn’t serious, and that’s reflected in her mostly teasing tone. But there’s also a hint of envy or suspicion or . . . something.

“It's just a book,” I tell her, and the sliver of worry fades as if it’s a gift that automatically discredits the idea of romance. If only she knew Sophie, whose exact idea of romance is a book–not that I’m trying to romance her. Truth be told, I haven’t tried to do much of anything with her since the football game last fall. I’m a sucker for traditions, that’s all.

When we pull into my driveway, the front porch light kicks on. My eyes are immediately drawn to the plastic grocery bag knotted and sitting in the entryway. Apparently, Sophie is a sucker for tradition too.

“Cupcake?” I ask April as I pick up the bag, unlock the front door and lead her inside.

Chapter thirty-five

COOPER

THEN

Hopping out of my car, I walk through the grass that separates the two houses and leads straight to the back. I’ve been so busy, I haven’t stopped by since I dropped off Sophie’s birthday book three weeks ago. I always forget how nice it is to be home until I’m here.

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