Page 134 of Cougar

Cole slaps Zach on the shoulder. “Good luck, dude.”

He drops a kiss to the top of my head and walks out the front door.

Hopping onto the stool that Cole just vacated, I reach for my wineglass and bring it to my lips. Nope. Still tastes like shit.

“Zach, as much as I’d like to knock some sense into you, I think you know you messed up. I’m not going to disregard your feelings about what happened yesterday. However, the way you reacted is unacceptable and just wrong. You deliberately broke my daughter’s heart over your bruised ego.” He opens his mouth to speak, but I hold up my hand. “You punished her for choices Marcus and I made for her. You punished her for being the person Marcus always wanted her to be. Believe me, I’ve been there. I get it. Trusting someone isn’t easy, especially if you’ve been hurt in the past. We all have our insecurities, which makes it harder for us to trust someone not to use them against us. Even those we love. Jay was raised by two parents who loved and respected each other completely. She knows how a man is supposed to treat a woman because Marcus led by example. If she loves you, then she loves you with her whole heart. If you love her, then you have to love all of her. Give her some space. Let her figure it out.”

“I don’t want to lose her,” he chokes out and presses the heels of his hands against his eyes. My heart breaks for him because I know exactly what he’s feeling. “I love her.”

“I know you do.” I press a hand to his back. “I’ll tell you what Marcus used to tell me: trust her enough to do the right thing for both of you. Can you do that?”

* * *

Cam

The garage door leading into the house slams, and a moment later Zach appears in the kitchen. “Hey, I—” The look on his face has me clamping my mouth shut. Zach is a big boy at 6’2, two hundred pounds, but all I see right now is a little boy with a broken heart.

He straddles the stool at the island and drops his head in his hands, shoulders shaking.

I haven’t seen Zach cry since he was a kid. This whole situation far exceeds typical teen drama, so I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do here.

Opening the fridge, I grab a Gatorade for Zach and a beer for me. I set down the Gatorade and pull out the stool beside him. Twisting the top off my beer, I toss it on the counter before bringing the bottle to my lips. “You wanna talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about? I fucked up.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic?”

He lifts his head and glares at me through teary eyes. “Are you serious right now?”

I raise my free hand in defense. “You’re the one who acted like a dick and set this whole thing in motion.”

“I didn’t expect to see pictures of my girlfriend kissing some drummer and hanging all over Tyge Reynolds floating around social media.”

Brows furrowed, I narrow my eyes. “That’s not what happened and you know it. I’m no rock star, but I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with the paparazzi. They don’t care about you as a person. They only care about the money shot and how to spin the story. Marcus used to say, ‘If you feed the beast, it’ll eat you alive.’ So I’m telling you, don’t feed the beast or you’ll lose her for good.”

Cam

“Cam,” Emerson calls out as she walks into the house. The tap of her heels against the wood floor grows louder as she makes her way toward the kitchen.

I turn from the stove and find her standing there wearing a black trench coat and those stilettos with the red bottoms. Her eyes fall to the black silky pajama pants she dropped off earlier.

“I guess you like my present,” she says with a smirk.

“My dick likes your present.” I palm myself through the silky fabric and stifle a moan. “A lot.”

I made the mistake of putting these pants on without any underwear. The silky fabric brushing against my dick keeps me hard, but I can’t bring myself to change because it feels like the inside of Emerson’s pussy. I’ve already jerked off twice and I’m still hard.

“What’s for dinner?” she purrs as she reaches for the knotted belt of her trench coat. It’s cliché, but fuck, I hope she’s naked under that thing. She opens the coat, letting it slide down her arms to puddle at her feet. Her big beautiful tits are barely covered by a strappy red lace bra with triangle cutouts and hearts covering her nipples. The red lace barely there panties have two little hearts on each hip.

“Damn, Emerson,” I growl, charging toward her. I bend, scooping her over my shoulder and carrying her to the couch.

She giggles, straddling my lap. “What about dinner?”

“Appetizers first.” I lean forward and suck the exposed skin of her breast peeking through the triangle. She moans softly.

“Lift up.” She rises on her knees, and I shove my pants down just enough to pull my cock out. Pushing her panties to the side, I slide the head of my cock through her wetness before guiding her down until her ass meets my thighs.

Emerson moans and my head falls back against the couch cushions. “Fuck, Em.”

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