Page 90 of Five
“Neve.”
Climbing the two steps into the wooden structure, I curl an arm around an upright beam and study him for a moment. He stares back, his eyes dull and bruised from yesterday's fight and what I presume was a rough night.
Had he slept at all last night?
He seemed fine after we’d gotten home. He had tried to apologize, but I cut him off, assuring him that nothing that had occurred was his fault. If we were to lay blame anywhere, it should be on me. I’m the fool who insisted on going.
He had tried to argue, and Remi and I both had shut it down. It was just one of those things, something we couldn’t avoid. As crazy as this guy appears to be, it was bound to happen.
Cope’s jaw had clenched with the strength of his desire to protest, but ultimately he had kissed me and let me retire to my room to brood without further discussion.
I was so wrapped up in our near miss, so busy trying to reconcile it with my past without completely falling apart, that I didn’t look hard enough…I failed to see that he was hurting, too. Mentally and physically.
I unwind from the post and go to him now, placing my palms carefully on his cheeks. He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me into his body, and I raise up on my toes to kiss him lightly.
We’ve only shared a couple of too-brief, sweet kisses.
Hey, there.
Goodnight.
This is like a second introduction and a meeting between old friends, all at once, oddly familiar and brand new at the same time. Here in the shadows of the gazebo, it feels like we’re the only lovers in the world.
“Cope, what is it? What’s wrong?”
He rests his forehead against mine, his vulnerability cutting sharper in contrast with his usual carefree attitude. “Nothing. Everything. I’m kicking myself. That asshole never should’ve gotten as close as he did—”
I stop him with a hand over his mouth. “That’s enough. We talked about this last night. This is my fault, nobody else’s. You saved me, Cope, from the consequences of my own stupidity. That’s it…end of discussion.”
He shakes his head, the movement sending his nose bumping gently against mine. He flinches and my hand rises involuntarily. His poor nose. “It’s not though. I can’t get the sight of him with that gun against the base of your skull out of my head. I didn’t sleep last night—”
I shut him up this time by sealing my mouth to his and kissing him fiercely. If I can’t convince him one way, I’ll convince him another.
One thing I’ve learned in the short time I’ve been here is that Cope is a tactile, touch-loving man. He likes to joke and tease and have a good time, but he craves affection on a physical and emotional level. I’ll give him both, and I’ll tie the gift together with the kind of bow he can’t resist.
Tearing my lips away, I ease back a step, breaking his hold on me. I look up at him from beneath my lashes and allow my lips to curve into a naughty smile.
“Simple truth? I was a bad girl, Cope. In fact…I think I need to be punished.”
His brow furrows. “What? You weren’t—”
I go to my knees before him. His eyes round with confusion, then go dark with realization. “I shouldn’t have pushed to go,” I said. “All of that mess could’ve been avoided. So I need your hand in my hair and your cock in my mouth to make everything feel better,” I tell him, pushing away thoughts of what the children would think if I slipped and saidcockone day. “Think you can focus on that for a few minutes?”
For a moment he stares at me in silence, his mouth slightly ajar. Then the corner of his mouth twitches up in a smirk, and his hazel eyes take on a gleam that I have just enough sense to be wary of.
“Hell, yeah, I can focus on that.” His voice is as rough as his hands as they go to his pants and begin to unbutton.
I start to help him but he swats my hands away. “Hands behind your back,” he demands, tone challenging. “But take your shirt off, first. I want to see your tits while I fuck your face.”
Holy shit.I stare stupidly for a moment, suddenly aware that I may have unleashed a beast. This crude, commanding man is not the easygoing Cope I know.
And I like it.
Holy shit, do I like it.
I comply, so turned on by his sudden bossiness it’s not funny.
This will not make the Caroline chronicles, that’s for sure.
