Page 103 of Collateral Damage
His erection is hard and ready underneath me, and I’m prepared to return the favor, but when I reach for him, he stops me, kissing me on the temple.
“Later,” he promises, and I don’t know how he can have such self-control right now. It truly defies reason. “We have to get back to work.”
Sure enough, someone knocks on the door, and Ricki’s annoyed voice calls out, “Get your asses down here. We’ve got a situation.”
Forty-Three
Sybil
Present - Age 27
“What situation?” I ask through the door, straightening Perry’s shirt and giving Cooper a pleading look. He’s still holding me, and he’s still hard, but the rush from my orgasm is fading, and nerves tingle through my chest.
“Just hurry up,” Ricki commands. I’m certain she knows we were doing something naughty behind this locked door. How loud was I?
Her footsteps retreat.
Cooper and I share a conspiratorial look, then we both burst out laughing.
“Oh man, I don’t want anyone to know what we were doing in here,” I say.
His laughter falters. “Are you ashamed?”
Ashamed? No. Embarrassed. Yes. This isn’t either of our bedrooms, and we shouldn’t have done thatat work.
I shake my head, but my response comes too late. Cooper stiffens, and the moment of levity evaporates. “Don’t worry. Nobody will say anything, and it doesn’t have to happen again.”
He carefully extracts me from his lap and helps me stand. Dread slinks through me. We both agreed we wanted to be friends again, and this has complicated that. But… it felt so good. Right.
“Cooper, we should talk about it,” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “You don’t have to say anything. I get it. You don’t want to ruin the friendship, and I don’t, either. We can chalk that up to me helping you out, and let it be a onetime thing.”
He doesn’t wait for me to reply as he slips out the door and closes me inside Perry’s room.
Confusion sweeps through my body, and I don’t know what to do with these feelings. We’re going to have to have a heart-to-heart about this soon. The way he left will eat me alive. Since when did I care so much about my relationship status with a man?
Since Cooper, I guess.
I freshen up and hurry downstairs. Perry and Cooper’s low voices carry from the mudroom off the garage. They’re clearly in a heated discussion, and when I hear my name, I know I have to intercept.
“You willnotask her to do that,” Cooper says.
“It’s good for the show,” Perry argues. “At least let me ask her.”
“Ask me what?” I step into the room, arms folded over my chest. “Well…?”
“Benton and Gloria are having it out right now, and your name is coming up a lot. I let her know you and Benton weren’t anything serious and aren’t sleeping together anymore.”
“I already told her that.”
“But you weren’t mic’d up, and we didn’t get it.”
My body prickles, as if a million eyes are watching me at once, but I can’t see them. I like my privacy; it’s been drilled into me since birth. A million eyes on me is exactly how it will feel if my personal life airs onTop of the World.
“You can’t cut around my name?”
“We can, but it’s better if we don’t,” he says. “People will want to know.”
