Page 21 of Cooper's Salvation
His turned and caught her before she could fall on her butt. “Back up. Say that again?”
“Ha-ha. Yeah, I know. Me speechless. Funny.”
“No. Back it up. What did you mean by feeling that waytoo?”
“Can we sit back down for a second?” She tugged his hand, pulling him along with her as she returned to the sofa. Once seated, she threaded her fingers through his. “I love you too, Coop. I have since the beginning. Just like you, I knew from the start you’re the one for me. But Tom was such a good man. He literally was my best friend. The one person who would always be there for me.”
Kara looked down at their linked hands. It felt uncomfortable talking to him about her relationship with her late husband when she’d declared her love for him.
“I don’t say this to hurt you. I just need you to understand.”
“I understand, sweetheart. Say what you need to say.”
She nodded. “For a lot of years, Tom was my only family. Being older than me, he had to leave the foster home two years before me. Yet he came to see me every day. When my turn came to leave on my eighteenth birthday, there he was, waiting to pick me up and take me home with him. He’d turned down singles accommodations on the base because he’d have nowhere to bring me.”
She smiled at the memories. Memories she would treasure for a lifetime.
“He was my safe place, my friend, the one person who never abandoned me. I loved him, but I suspect he knew I wasn’t in love with him. To be honest, sometimes the guilt of knowing I was it for him weighed heavily. And I suspect he knew that too. But the day I heard he’d died, it felt like I wanted to die too.” Tears welled up in her eyes and tracked down her cheeks as that day replayed in her mind.
“I heard along the grapevine that you’d survived, but time passed, and I never heard a word from you. I found a contact number for your dad, but all he would tell me was that you’d been gravely injured and were recovering. The more time that went by, the less I believed you’d ever contact me again. It felt like I’d lost you both, despite you surviving.”
Using their intertwined hands, Cooper pulled her into his lap and cradled her in his arms. “Ah, sweetheart, I’m so truly sorry for causing you such mental anguish. Yeah, my body took a major hammering in the explosion, but it was my mind that took the harder blow. What happened that day is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. As you’ve experienced, I still have nightmares about it. The hardest thing to deal with though is the survivor’s guilt.”
“I’m so sorry, Cooper. It must have been awful. I can’t even begin to imagine.”
“Trust me, K, I wouldn’t want you to even try.” He placed a tender kiss on her forehead. “It took me the better part of a year of therapy to get to a place where I wasn’t a complete wreck twenty-four seven. I knew I couldn’t come back to you in the state I was after the ambush. I didn’t want to put you through that hell with me.”
Kara lay her head against his chest, the steady beat of his heart in her ear easing the tightness in her own chest. It had been difficult enough getting over the loss of Tom. She didn’t think she’d have made it through if Cooper had died that day too. In fact, she wasn’t sure she’d have even wanted to.
Shifting, she straddled Cooper’s lap. She looked up into the face she loved more than life itself and thanked the deities for sparing him. Kara leaned into his chest and placed a soft kiss on his chin. Then on his jaw. Slowly, she peppered his face with soft kisses. When she reached his ear, she delicately ran the tip of her tongue along the shell.
“Sweetheart, you keep that up, and things are going to get real heated, real quick.”
“Oh honey, I hope so.” She grinned, even though he couldn’t see it.
Before she knew what had happened, Cooper had her flat on her back on the sofa, tucked beneath his big body.
“Yeah? Your wish is my command.”
She didn’t even try to hold back the groan of desire when he clamped his teeth over her nipple through her clothing. In response, she clamped her own teeth on the lobe of his ear. He growled. Honest to God growled. And damned if it didn’t make her wetter to feel the sound reverberate through her.
In a flurry of arms and legs, they shucked their clothes, eager to get hands on naked skin.
“This isn’t going to be sweet or slow, sweetheart. It’s gonna be quick and dirty – I’ve gotta have you.”
“Don’t care. Hurry, Coop.”
He leaned over to grab his wallet out of the jeans he’d flung to the floor mere seconds ago. Kara laved a tongue over the flat disc of his nipple and watched in fascination as the tiny bud puckered tight. She blew a stream of air over it, and satisfaction washed through her at his groan.
Cooper levered up on an arm as he awkwardly rolled the condom on one-handedly.
“Want some help?”
“Nah, almost there.” He swore as the tight ring of latex around the top of the condom snapped against his skin.
He inhaled sharply as Kara caressed the length of him. “Better?”
“I know what will make it feel better yet.” He grinned down at her.
