Page 117 of Collateral Damage
My mind races through the events of last night, greedy to parse apart every delectable moment. Every movement. Every moan. Every thrust and all the perfect orgasms we gave each other. Fuck, I’m getting wet just thinking about it, and I don’t have time for shenanigans.
I grab my phone off the nightstand. It’s almost ten. As tired as I am, I need to get moving. We’re due on set at noon, and I’ve got to go home and get changed, and since it’s a long drive to the other side of the island, I’m already running late.
If I wake him, we’ll have sex again, and I’ll be late. If I don’t, he might think I used him last night.
I peer around the bedroom, trying not to think too hard about all the nights I’ve spent in this house. Now that I’m finally inCooper’sbed, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more at home, but I peel myself from the sheets, hurry and change into my skirt and top, then give him a quick peck.
He wakes up with a smile and grabs me around the waist, a delighted squeal falling from my lips.
“Come to bed,” he mumbles.
I wriggle away. “I’ve got to get home. I’ll see you on set in two hours.”
He grumbles. “I want to keep seeing you now.”
I giggle. “Nope. Got to go.”
I rush away without a backward glance, secure in the fact that I handled that like how a friends-with-benefits girl would handle it. At least, I think that’s what we are? Are we more? The answer to that is still a little hazy. And the farther I drive away, the more my chest aches to turn around. God help me, I want to crawl right back into his bed.
Luckily, I make it to set on time. Cooper arrives ten minutes later, and we instantly lock eyes, my stomach fluttering. This is a crush on a level I haven’t experienced since his brother, but I was a teenager then, and I’m an adult now. I shouldn’t be so giddy.
We spend the following hours busy with our own tasks but also like two magnets rotating around each other, both knowing it’s only a matter of time before we’ll get to connect again. Honestly, we’ve been like this for weeks, but it’s so much more fun knowing he wants me as much as I want him.
Until one of the random assistants sidles up next to him at craft services and starts flirting mercilessly. He laughs at something she says, and she puts her hand on his upper arm.
I’m so fucking jealous I could scream, which is ridiculous. I’m not a jealous type. I don’t care if the guys I hook up with hook up with other women as long as we all agree to use condoms. This is different. Cooper is different. And wedidn’tuse condoms last night.
Another mistake.
So what if we’re clean and I’m on birth control? No condom is not something I do.
The only other man who ever got to have me bare was Ethan, and that was because we were in a committed relationship.
It’s been ages since I’ve had raw sex, but now that we’ve done it, now that I’ve felt him bare inside me, I can’t imagine doing it any other way.
Frustrated, I walk to the beach, hoping it’ll clear my head.
The sun is high in the afternoon sky and warm on my face, so I step into the surf to cool off. The waves lap at my ankles as I dig my toes into the wet sand, watching the water foam up and retreat. It calms my senses enough for me to breathe.
Maybe we shouldn’t have hooked up.
Or maybe we should be something more?
I’m toggling between the two ideas, knowing it needs to be one way or the other soon, because friends with benefits and nothing more is never going to work if I’m already a jealous lunatic a day in.
Cooper steps up next to me, his hands deep in the pockets of his shorts. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
He’s got one foot bare, and the other is his metal prosthetic, visible today for all to see. This is the first day I’ve seen him wear shorts on set. He usually hides the leg, but maybe after last night, he doesn’t feel the need to do that anymore. If we ever end this benefits thing, I hope I at least gave him a boost of confidence.
He fixes his gaze on the horizon, and I wonder if he’s remembering what happened in this water. We’re near the area where the accident took place. I’ll never look at this water the same way again.
“I don’t think you know what you did for me,” he says.
I turn to look at him, but he stays staring at the sea. “And what’s that?”
His smile quirks, and my stomach swoops. He’s extra gorgeous when he smiles like that.
