Authors: Diana Gardin
As my body twists and turns, a pair of
hands encircle my waist, creeping down toward my hips. I whirl around, opening
my mouth to tell someone exactly what they can do with their hands.
And I’m face to face with Cooper.
His eyes appraise my body, traveling from
my low-cut tank dress to the length of my legs. He whistles long and low, and
leans in close.
“How am I supposed to play tonight,
knowing you’re out here looking like this?”
A roguish smile tugs at the corner of my
lips. “Well, you’re just going to have to come check on me every chance you
get.”
“Or maybe I’ll just bring you up on stage
with me,” he murmurs, nuzzling my neck.
“Like a groupie,” I choke out, gasping
for breath.
“Huh?” he pulls back to study me.
“Nothing. Don’t even think about it,” I say.
“This is your stage. Mine looks different. Higher, with brighter lights.”
He laughs, close enough to my ear to make
me shiver. “Cam, you’d look stunning on any stage.”
He kisses my neck once more, and then he’s
gone, climbing back onstage with Fire and Glory.
Tonight is going to be so much fun.
***
About an hour later, I’m holding Sarah up
on one side and Dara is holding her other side. Some older guy has been
slipping her Lemon Drops, and she isn’t going to be able to stand on her own
any more tonight.
“You girls are so pretty,” she slurs,
looking from Dara to me with swimming eyes. “Did your boy toys tell you that
yet tonight? Hey, why don’t I have a boy toy?”
She grabs the arm of a guy as we passed
by him. “Cute. You wanna be my boy toy?”
“I’ll be your boy toy tonight and any other
night, baby,” he replies. I glare at him and he places both hands in the air,
surrendering.
“Sarah, you are four feet tall and weigh
about seventy pounds. Why did you think you could chug three lemon drops like
that?” I grumble.
She giggles. “Lemon drops is yummy.”
“Super yummy,” Dara gasps. “Good lord,
for such a tiny thing, you feel like a hunk of steel.”
We set her down on a bench in the corner,
and Brandon brings her a water bottle from the bar. He kneels down next to her.
“Drink this,” he orders.
“Is it a lemon drop?” she asks hopefully.
“Hell no,” he answers.
She pouts, but put the water bottle to
her lips and takes a long swig.
I look around the club, searching for
Cooper. The band just finished a set. The members were milling around the club
getting drinks or hanging out at tables with friends.
I finally spot Cooper standing by the
bar, talking animatedly to a woman in her early forties. Her hair is long and
dark, and her eyes are the same shade of green as Cooper’s. His mother? I smile
and start to walk over.
I stop when I notice how heated their
conversation is. Cooper is gesturing intensely, and his mother’s face appears angry
and strained. As I watch, he throws his hands up and turns away. She shakes her
head, spits another comment at his back, and strides to the door. She walks
with such force her black leather boots could have left imprints on the cement
floor.
Cooper looks up and notices me watching. He
heaves a sigh before he walks over to me, hands sunk deep in his pockets.
“I’m confused,” I say. “Was that your
mom? Did she come to see you play?”
“Come sit with me,” he says. He leads me
over to one of the plush leather couches in the corner. He sat down and pulls
me onto his lap. He strokes my bare leg with his fingers, and the pleasant
sensation threatens to distract me. I struggle to stay focused and listen to
him.
“It was my mom,” he says. “I told you she
arrived in town a few weeks ago, and she’s been trying to get me to go back to
Maryland with her. I’m trying to convince her to forget about our life in
Maryland, and just settle down here with me. I’ve been trying for weeks. But
she won’t listen. I’m in no hurry to make an introduction because…” he trails
off and averts his eyes.
“Because what?” I ask.
“Cam, my mom is such a long and
complicated story, I don’t even know where to start. So I’ll save it for
another day.”
I lay my head on his shoulder, loving how
his muscles jump underneath my touch. “Are you okay, though? I hate to see you
so upset. What can I do?”
He strokes my back, making me feel like
there is no one in the club but the two of us. “You’re here. You listen. You’re
already doing it, angel.” He leans back on the couch, closing his eyes. My
chest aches, because he’s clearly hurting. Seeing it makes me want to shake his
mother.
He blows out a breath, and then focuses
his gaze on me again.
“Hey,” he says. “Tell me something.
Anything. Bring me back to this moment, put me back in neutral.”
I study him, thinking. Biting my bottom
lip, I think of the gift from him occupying my nightstand at home.
I lean over and whisper in his ear,
letting my lips graze his skin. “Seashell.”
His face breaks into the biggest of
smiles. “Perfect. That’s what I want you to say to me when I’m feeling too
stressed to deal. Brings me right back home to you. Okay?”
“Only if you’ll return the favor.”
I furrow my brow. I’m ecstatic to know
that he wants me here, but I can tell there is something he’s holding back.
Something I don’t know about him that is too important to stay hidden.
“I’m glad I’m here, but let’s make sure
we have that conversation later, okay?”
“I promise,” he answers. He touches his
lips to mine gently. The kiss lengthens and I open my mouth, allowing him to
deepen it. Honestly, I forget he need to tell me anything at all.
I hear a drum roll, and Cooper
reluctantly pulls away, tugging my bottom lip with him.
“Gotta go,” he says. “We’ll definitely
continue
that
later.”
I head back over to where Dara and
Brandon are standing next to Sarah’s couch. They’ve added a member to the
group. Luka has arrived, and his eyes are on me as I walk over.
“You look…” he trails off, eyeing me
appreciatively.
“Ridiculously hot? Amazingly sexy?” Dara
pipes up.
I shoot her a Look.
“What?” she asks. “I’m helping!”
“All of the above,” answers Luka. He
leans over and whispers in my ear. “And more.” His dreadlocks tickle my nose.
“Um, thank you Luka,” I answer. Actually,
in his tight graphic tee showing off his rippling muscles and faded jeans he
looks pretty amazing himself. But I don’t need to tell him that.
The band goes into their next set,
starting with a song called “Let Myself Cry” that I remember Cooper working on days
ago while we sat on one of the piers at the marina. He says the marina views give
him infinite inspiration.
Brandon and Dara head to the dance floor.
Sarah groans and rolls over. So I’m left alone with Luka.
Awkward
.
He leans close to be heard over the
music. “Are you having fun?”
I nod.
“Because I wouldn’t have pegged this as
your scene.”
I shrug. Really, I never would have set
foot in a club if Cooper hadn’t been playing. But that doesn’t mean I don’t
like it. I’m stepping out of my comfort zone, but it’s slowing me to step out
of a box I climbed into long ago. I climbed in hoping to sterilize myself
against a world where a father doesn’t love his little girl enough to stay with
her. And to protect myself against having to deal with rejection from any other
source. Inside the box, I’m good at everything I put my mind to. And if it’s
not comfortable, if I don’t already know I can excel, I don’t have to touch it.
I don’t have to experience the pain of not being good enough while I’m in the
box.
No that I’ve been brave enough to emerge,
I like the change I’ve found in myself.
“I like it here,” I answer.
He nods, looking up at the band
thoughtfully. “They’re good,” he admits.
I smile. “I know.”
“Should we go dance, like the rest of our
classmates seem to be doing?” He gestures toward the dance floor, where at
least half the senior class was indeed dancing. The half with fake I.D.’s.
As I follow Luka toward the small dance
floor, a tall brunette bumps me on her way to stand in front of the stage.
“Oh, excuse me,” I say.
She doesn’t hear me, and keeps walking.
The slow song ends, thankfully, by the
time we reach the floor. I know Cooper can see me from the stage, and I don’t
want to do anything that upset him. Like slow dancing with Luka Caliper. I’m
pretty sure that would upset him.
As I dance to the band’s jams, I am free
again, and it’s evident in the way I move. I switch partners frequently, first
Dara, then a baseball player we know well, then Brandon. I can’t just ignore
Luka, though. He comes up behind me as I move in sync with Dara, leaning close
to my ear.
“I won’t bite, you know,” he says. “We’re
friends, right? Friends dance.”
That’s true. I bite my lip, glancing up
on the stage, and then I nod.
Before I knew it, Luka and I are dancing,
and he’s pretty damn good at it. He moves naturally to the music, like dancing comes
easy for him. And he looks awfully good doing it.
I have to think of someone to hook him up with
.
Several more songs, and the band finishes
their gig for the night. As soon as he wraps up the last song, Cooper is upon
me. His lips are hot, and his hands move slowly down my back as he crushes his
mouth to mine. I wrap my arms around his neck and return the kiss eagerly. I
know we’ve been in the same place all night, but I miss him anyway. This
closeness is what I need.
He pulls back from the kiss just enough
to say, “Let’s get out of here.”
I nod, and bid a quick goodbye to my
friends.
“Did you drive?” he asks. “I rode with Hunter,
and he’s taking my guitar home for me.”
I toss him my keys. He grins and holds my
hand as we hurry to my car. The heat between us is inexplicable, and I can’t
wait to be alone with him.
Cooper droves us to his aunt’s house.
“She has a guest house in back,” he
explains, as he leads me down the stone path snaking toward the back of the
house.
Guesthouse indeed. It’s the size of my
apartment, bigger even. I guess my small gasp tells Cooper what I’m
thinking, because he pulls me closer and says
softly, “This isn’t the way I’m used to living, Cam. My aunt has money, but I
definitely didn’t grow up that way.”
I take a deep breath, and nod. That’s
something I can appreciate about Cooper. He understands my life the way no one
else can. He’s told me that his apartment in Maryland was smaller than mine,
and that it was just one of many places he and his mom had lived over the
years. At least my mom has kept me as stable as she can. Cooper’s mom had been
all over the place.
“Well let’s go see how the rich live,
shall we?” I push open the door that he’s unlocked.
We retrieve sodas and some snacks from
the kitchenette, and settled on the couch. Cooper pulled my legs across his
lap, and pulled of my heels.
“You know, when I first saw you, all
kinds of thoughts flew through my head. But one thing that stands out to me now
is how perfect I thought you were. I thought you came from a perfect life with
perfect parents in a perfect house. I think the fact that you don’t makes me
even more attracted to you. Despite how you grew up, you’re perfect anyway. It
blows me away.”
I raise a brow. “I’m so far from perfect.
But the fact that you think I am gives me all kinds of warm
fuzzies
.”
“God, you look so spectacular tonight.
The whole time I was singing I couldn’t keep my eyes off you. I don’t think any
guy in the place could.”
“I don’t know about that,” I reply. “But
I’m glad you liked what you saw. I didn’t notice what any other guy was looking
at.”
“Not even Luka?” he asks quietly. “I saw
you dancing with him.”
“You saw a
friendly
dance,” I correct. “Luka knows where we stand.”
“You might have told him, Cam, but he’s
not getting it. I could see it in his eyes tonight. He wanted you.” Cooper
looks down at his hands, which are busy tracing lines up my legs.
I pull his face into my hands and kiss
him gently. “Where am I right now? I want you. No one else. No one has been
able to break down my walls Cooper, not my whole life. You get me like no one
ever has. And I’m not giving you up.”
He stares at me, awe registering on his
face. “Are you for real?” he whispers softly.
I pull his face back to mine, showing him
how real I am.
“Cam,” he says, pulling free. “I expect
nothing from you tonight, or any other night. I brought you here so we could
spend time together alone, without the crowds. But we can take this slow.”