Page 25 of Summer Nights

He stepped closer to me. "I wanted to talk to you."

"I thought we already talked." Cooper unsettled me, and I wasn't sure what to make of him yet. I should be pushing him away because he got to me like no one else ever had. But my body had other ideas.

Now that we were alone in a house, my skin was humming with anticipation. Would he want to continue our pattern?

"We're alone in a house." His voice was low.

I raised a brow. "You want to christen every house we're alone in?"

"That's a tempting idea. But this will be Dalton's house."

"You're awfully confident about that. You don't even know what the offer is."

"I know that you will do everything in your power to ensure Dalton gets this house."

There was something about his tone and his words. He believed I'd take care of his brother. "Why are you so confident about that?"

He brushed the back of his knuckles over my cheek, and a tingle ran down my spine. "Because I know you, and you're good at your job. And you'd do anything for your friends and family, but you're not sure if they'd return the favor."

I sucked in a breath, not quite believing he'd been so honest. And I couldn't formulate a response because he was spot on. He understood me, and that was the scariest thing of all.

"I want to fuck you against this wall. But I'm not going to do that here." He raised a brow. "Unless you want to come back to my place. I can show you the kind of house you should be living in."

I gave him an exasperated look. "I know what real estate is available on the island."

"Come home with me, Ivy." His voice was gentle, pleading. "We don't have to do anything. I just want to show you the house."

"I sold you that house. I know what it looks like."

He sighed. "You haven't seen what I've done with the place."

My eyes widened. "Did you renovate the bathrooms and the kitchen?"

He nodded. "I did."

"I would like to see that." I spoke too soon, forgetting my rule about never going to a man's house. It was too intimate.

He placed a finger on my lips. "No take backs."

Then he turned away and headed toward the door. "You coming?"

"It doesn't sound like I have a choice."

"You always have a choice," Cooper countered, and the tender way he said it did something to my heart.

My throat tightened to the point that I couldn't respond.

He held the door open for me, and I moved past him, breathing in his familiar scent. The one I'd come to associate with hot sex. Would we have sex at his place? The idea unnerved me.

I waited for him to back his truck out, and then I followed him, wondering what the hell I was doing. I was breaking all my rules with Cooper. I should have run the first time he made a move.

I shouldn't have had sex with him a second time, and I never should have agreed to follow him to his house.

He turned on his signal at the red light to go to his house.

If I went straight, I'd be in my condo and kicking off my heels in a few minutes. But I wanted to see what he'd done with the house since he bought it.

I saw the work he did on other people's homes. But this renovation would tell me about his style. What he thought was important.

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