Page 48 of Flirty Thirty

“Love ya, too.”

My thumb swipes the red button left, and I let out a long sigh of relief that my suspicions were squashed. I wouldn’t wish nausea on anyone, but better that than what I was thinking.

I turn around, and my feet stop in their tracks when I catch Cooper slowly running his hand over Tom’s back. My grumpy butt cat is nudging Cooper with his head, his purring so loud I can hear it from across the room. A smile teases at the corner of Cooper’s mouth, and something warm and winged rises in my chest.

“Feeling better?” I ask, leaning against the wall to gaze at the heart-fluttering view. Cooper’s eyes flick up, narrowing slightly at the fact that he got caught.

“Not another word, Miss Baker.”

18

Guarded Hearts

With Cooper’s tooth fixed and his brain back to normal, the next few days pass by in a blur of work and sex. Twice now at the same time. It’s my very sore attempt to try to prove tohimthat the fun part of a relationship is the sparkly first few days in. And when that doesn’t work, I prowl around in a very sluggish fashion, being as unladylike and uncensored as possible. Last night when he caught me spitting an impressive amount of toothpaste and saliva into the sink, spraying the faucet and his hand, he just looked at me with those gorgeous blues and said, “You’re adorable” and then wiped his hand off.

“Cooper,” I breathe, my voice getting caught in my throat as a surge of pleasure courses through me. My hands trip over a table full of paint supplies as I try to keep myself from tumbling to the floor. “A condom, babe. We need a—”

“I know, I got it.” He smiles against my lips, his hand snaking out from under my skirt to retrieve the foil package from his pocket. It takes me too long to realize I’ve uttered a pet name at him, and by the time I feel like I should take it back, he erases every thought I’ve ever had.

I think it’s the only cure for the terrifying notion that Cooper may just be the real thing I never wanted to find. Whenever there has been a moment when I feel that inexplicable emotion I can’t put words to, I jump him, eager to have my mind erased completely. This time… well, he only asked me to meet him here so we could go to a showing I set up for him. Instead I caught him in the middle of splashing paint over a giant canvas in one of the side offices. His eyes were dark and sad, and I instantly felt myself swirling into sorrow with him without even knowing if there was anything wrong.

Back when Julie first met Nathan, my mother asked her how she could fall in love so quickly, how she knew it was love that she felt. Julie told her that she feels everything Nathan feels, wants everything he wants, needs him as much as he needs her.

As that description started making more and more sense looking into Cooper’s sad eyes, I crossed the room and brought his lips to mine before I could give it any more thought. He didn’t seem to mind in the slightest—in fact, he’s also in a much better mood.

“Hi,” he breathes, his hand releasing the crook of my knee now that we’ve both been to our peak and back.

“Hi.”

“I’d say I’m happy to see you, but that doesn’t accurately describe it.”

I smooth down my skirt. “Having a rough day?”

He nods, turning around to take care of his own wardrobe. “I found some fraudulent charges on one of our accounts. If it’s who I think it is…” He lets out a long sigh, a soft smile somewhere in the worry lines of his face. “He’s a good friend.”

“A good friend doesn’t steal from you,” I point out, trying to be helpful, grateful once again for Cooper’s straightforward personality; he can so candidly talk about what is bothering him. I do not possess that particular quality.

“I know.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I want to talk to Robbie first. See what he thinks.”

“I can wait,” I tell him. “The place I’m showing you is vacant. We can leave whenever you’re ready.”

He leans forward and presses a gentle kiss to my forehead, so contradictory to our hard and fast romp not two minutes ago. It throws me, because I can’t help but appreciate how wonderful both displays of affection are.

“Actually… if you want…” He stops and shakes his head. “Never mind.”

“What?”

“Well, this room was set up to get these canvases painted for an ad we’re shooting. If you feel like playing around, that’d help us out.”

I snort and let my eyes drift over all the different colors on the table my butt was up against. “I don’t paint.”

“Neither do I.” He jokingly nods to the splash of blue he chucked at the far back, wall-length canvas. “Guess I’m a natural.”

Before I can give him crap about his painting skills, he pushes a quick kiss to my lips and heads down the hall. I crook my neck, letting my gaze follow until he’s no longer in sight. Poor guy. I know how it feels to have to fire a friend. And I set my hand to my heart and push away the sorrow that’s starting to creep back in there. I’m only empathizing. Yes. It couldn’t possibly be because I’m feeling what he’s feeling just because I’m strongly attracted to him. Yet, it’s the first time I’ve watched him leave a room without checking out his ass.

I shake my head, feeling ridiculous. He hasn’t proved anything, really. Our experiment so far has been…fun. If this is his definition of a long term relationship, maybe I could handle it. Even taking him to the dentist wasn’t boring in the slightest.

It's just because our relationship is young. I’m infatuated, is all. Infatuation: a foolish and extravagant admiration.

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