Page 18 of Blow Me Away
Elliott nodded, sending a small, weak smile his way. They fell into a comfortable silence, his hand reaching for hers and intertwining their fingers together as he drove. She couldn’t help but think back to the night they agreed to do this.
“I’m worried feelings will get involved,” she told him honestly. “I can’t get wrapped up in feelings, and if you really want to do this, you can’t either.”
Cooper nodded in what he hoped came across as agreement, but the mischievous look he had in his eye gave him away. “The moment that happens, if it happens, I promise to be honest with you.”
“Why do I feel like it’s stupid of me to believe you?”
“Because it is.”
She never would’ve thought that was something she should’ve told herself.
§
They pulled up to the event center, Cooper parking the car before climbing out to walk around and open Elliott’s door for her. The two of them walked towards the main doors with her arm looped through his as he walked at her pace, not wanting her to get any blisters from her heels.
“Are you ready?” He asked before pulling open the door. He had turned to face her, grabbing both her hands between his own. “It’s never too late to run.”
Elliott chuckled softly as she shook her head, removing one of her hands to bring it up and cup his cheek for a moment before she let it fall to his shoulder. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think it was you who wanted to run.”
“Since when have you known me to run away from anything?” He countered with a raised brow, a challenging look in his eye.
“There’s a first time for everything, lover,” she teased.
The door suddenly slammed open and one of Cooper’s teammates, Brad, came stumbling out with a glass of beer in his hand. She raised a brow as he wrapped an arm around her man’s shoulders, jostling him as he separated the two of them.
“There you are,” Brad said before his eyes trailed over to Elliott. “And I see you brought a date. What’s your name, sexy?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she answered, a sly smile on her face.
Brad’s face lit up for a moment before his eyes narrowed slightly, a smile of his own gracing his lips. “Someone’s a little feisty, aren’t you?”
“You don’t even know the half of it,” Elliott told him, trying her best to hide her satisfied grin upon seeing the flustered, boarding on an angry look that Cooper’s face held.
“Come on,” Brad said suddenly, slapping his captain’s back before he walked backwards toward the door. “We have about half an hour until dinner.”
He disappeared inside, leaving the two of them alone. Elliott was about to follow him in when Cooper’s hand gripped her forearm, pushing her against the cement pillar so she was pinned. A wave of lust immediately flowed through her, a slight slickness appearing between her legs.
“What did I say?” he asked through clenched teeth, invading her space as he dipped his head closer to hers.
“Don’t play into it,” she replied, recalling his words from earlier.
His eyes narrowed slightly as his head tilted to get a better look at her. “So, why did you play into it?”
“I didn’t think you were serious,” she lied with a shrug.
“Liar,” he breathed out, his hand coming to wrap around her throat as his other went down to her hip, slipping under the slit of her dress and caressing her bare skin. “Your ass is going to be seven different shades of red after that little stunt.”
Elliott angled her head upwards, brushing their lips against each other before she whispered, “Promise?”
Cooper released a groan as his nails dug into the skin at her hip, his head falling into the crook of her neck. He pressed a kiss to the taut skin before moving up to bite her earlobe, and a breathy moan slipped past her lips.
“You better shut that pretty little mouth of yours before I put it to work,” he told her, pulling back to look her in the eye. “Otherwise, I’ll be finding some quiet corner or coat closet to punish you in.”
“You act as if that’s not my intention.”
Not giving him a chance to utter a response, she closed the distance between them and planted her lips on his. They shared a passionate, heated kiss, both of their yearning pouring out of them. He knew he had to stop it before he took her back to the car and missed his last banquet of his baseball career.
Her head was resting against the pillar as he reached into his pocket, and he surprised her as he pulled out a tube of lipstick that was the same shade she was wearing. She smiled as she took it from him, her grin growing as he pulled a little mirror out as well and held it open for her.
