Authors: Beverly Havlir
He raised an eyebrow. “Fair trade-off.”
She didn’t answer immediately, seemingly weighing the
importance of answering. “I haven’t had much success in dating lately,” she
finally replied.
Now that was unbelievable. Taylor was too hot not to have
men swarming around her. Hard on the heels of that thought was satisfaction
that she’d been unattached for a while. “So not having much success in dating
made you decide to just find a ‘friend with benefits’?”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” She sounded
defensive. “It’s hard to constantly date and find them—”
“Lacking?”
“For one reason or another, I just haven’t meshed with
anyone,” she corrected. “You’re a serial dater.”
“Serial dater?” he repeated. His gaze was riveted by the top
of her dress, which showed a shadow of her cleavage. His imagination went into
overdrive. His mouth watered. He’d love to lick her over and over, give special
attention to her nipples…
“You haven’t been in a serious relationship with anyone.”
Cooper stared at her lips long enough for her to nervously
run her tongue over them. “I’ve been rather preoccupied.”
She nodded. “With business.”
With an abruptness that earned a squeak from Taylor, Cooper
pulled her chair close, caging her between his legs. “With you.”
Her green eyes widened with shock. “M-Me?”
“You.”
Taylor froze, unable to look away. Cooper stared at her,
unblinking, as if he hadn’t just dropped a bombshell. Preoccupied with her?
Desire she thought she had successfully banked spread like wildfire to her
breasts, tightening her nipples to painful hardness before dampening the folds
of her pussy. It wasn’t fair how he could reduce her to a quivering mass of
pure need in a split second.
“Impossible,” she retorted, wincing at the breathlessness in
her voice. She pushed her chair back and stood up, desperately trying to quiet
the inner voice in her head screaming, “Yes! Yes! Take me now!” Trying to get
herself under control, she sought to put distance between them. She was torn
between wanting him and dreading the consequences of being involved with Cooper
Hathaway, Mr. Most Eligible Bachelor and media favorite.
His chair scraped the floor as he rose. Taylor braced herself,
tensing as he drew near. She held a hand out. “Listen. I-I know there is this
thing between us.”
“Thing?” he repeated softly, stopping a couple of feet away
from her, still not far enough for her peace of mind.
She swallowed. “Okay. We’re attracted to each other, but I
have to—”
He reached out and drew her hair away from her cheek. She
couldn’t think while he was touching her. “Will you please just listen to me?”
she asked desperately.
“I’m listening,” he murmured, taking another step, driving
her closer to the edge of insanity.
She made a grab at whatever rational sense she had left.
“You need to know something about me, why things would never work between us.”
No more than a few inches separated them. His gray eyes were
unwavering, his square jaw tight with determination. “When I was ten years old,
my parents were involved in a very nasty, very public divorce. They’re both
surgeons, you see, active in several charities, well known in the city where we
lived. They used me as a pawn to hurt each other, hurling accusations openly.
The media had a field day. Photographers followed us everywhere. Desperate to
win the custody battle, my mother took me across state lines and the FBI got
involved.”
Cooper rubbed his thumb on her cheek gently. Taylor could
remember everything vividly. She told him of the FBI ramming the door down with
guns drawn. The terror she had felt as a young girl came rushing back. “That
only made the whole scandal juicier. My mother tearfully confessed to the judge
that she did it only to hurt my father. I don’t know what exactly happened, but
they let her go. For weeks afterward, the press followed the story faithfully.
I stopped going to school and locked myself in my room. I hated, hated the
whole thing. It was a mess.” She pulled in a shaky breath. “Things only settled
down when the divorce became final and charges were dropped against my mom. So
you see, I detest media attention of any sort.”
“I can understand that,” he said quietly.
She raised her face to him. “So do you understand why
nothing can ever come of this attraction between us? You lead a very public
life. Newspapers and magazines love to write about you, whether it’s about your
business or personal life. Any woman involved with you would be fair game to
the media. I can’t do that. It would kill me.”
“Yet your profession is what it is.”
“Ironic, isn’t it? But I write feature articles. I don’t go
digging into somebody’s personal life and sensationalizing it to sell. My point
is, that this is why I can’t give in to attraction and…” She pulled in a
breath. “I’m admitting I’m attracted to you. But it can’t happen. I don’t want
the media attention.”
Cooper plunged his fingers in her hair, curving around her
nape, tipping her face up. “Are you done?”
“Y-yes.”
“Now it’s my turn and I want you to listen to me carefully.
I am a very private person. I too abhor people wanting to know every detail of
my life. At the moment, there is nothing I can do because I seem to be the
flavor of the month. I don’t like it either. But I don’t intend to let it stop
me from doing what I want. I won’t let it dictate how I live or who I can be
with.” He paused. “I want to be with you.” That was it. Those simple words
uttered in his deep voice washed over her and ignited nerve endings she didn’t
even know she possessed. Heat zinged straight to her pussy. She jumped when he
took her hand and placed it on his crotch—oh god—and curved her fingers around
his erection. He was long and oh so thick.
“I want you. I have for a long time. That’s as honest as it
gets.”
She tried to pull away but he wouldn’t let her. Under her
palm, the hard shaft of his cock swelled even more. Her blood turned molten,
spreading heat under her skin, melting her bones, eating away her resistance.
“All the other things don’t matter. What matters is you and
me and what we both want. No bullshit. No games.”
“I don’t think I can do this,” she whispered despairingly.
“You have to understand—”
“Oh I understand.” He crowded her, still holding her hand
hostage against his enormous erection. “I heard you loud and clear. I’m sorry
that you had to go through that. No child should ever be used as a pawn in a
divorce. But I don’t see how that is supposed to make me want you less.”
“You’re not helping here,” she said breathlessly.
“I’m not going to feed into your ‘we can’t do this theory’.
Nothing else matters.” He stared at her, his gray eyes dark with hunger. “I’ve
been sitting here wanting to tear that dress off you. I want you naked under
me, over me, spread before me. I’m not a gentleman in the bedroom. I don’t use
polite words. I want to fuck you until you beg me to come, and then I’ll fuck
you some more.”
His words, honest and raw, washed over her like a firestorm.
A thousand-watt electricity sparked in her body, burning her resistance,
shredding her ability to think. She’d never had a man talk to her that way
before, never used terms that would make polite society blush. It triggered
something deep within her, called to her soul. He was a man speaking plainly to
a woman. There was no mistaking his meaning.
“If you’re looking for somebody who will sex you with the
lights off, I’m not that guy.” He touched her lower lip with the tip of a
finger. The fleeting touch electrified her. “I want to fuck your mouth. Again
and again. You can’t imagine the things I want to do to you. With you.” He took
a deep breath. “If that scares you, if that’s something you can’t or won’t do,
tell me now. Because once we start, there’s no turning back.”
They stared at each other for long seconds. He evoked such
erotic images in her mind that she was simply incapable of speech. Her body
vibrated with need. From her head to her toes, she thrummed with desire. Her
breasts were painfully tight and needy. Between her legs, her pussy flooded
with moisture, throbbing, wanting…
Cooper was honest, painfully so. He’d laid his cards out on
the table. No holds barred. If she agreed, she would go into this with her eyes
wide open. No misunderstandings.
He stepped back from her, severing all contact, leaving her
bereft and empty. His skin stretched tight over his cheeks, his nostrils
flared. He had the look of a man barely hanging on to control. But he wasn’t
going to force her.
He was leaving it up to her. It was time for her to decide.
Her heart was beating so fast, pounding in her ears. She
wanted him. That she couldn’t deny. It was basic and elemental. They wanted
each other. What else mattered?
She swallowed convulsively. Trust. Need. Hunger. Oh the
hunger. They all swarmed over Taylor. Her world narrowed down to Cooper and
Cooper alone. Her breath came in soft pants. She felt so out of her element,
stripped bare of any pretenses, any veneer of civility. All thoughts of
resistance, of denial, had vanished. His words rang in her ears, over and over.
Unpolished, unvarnished truth.
“This is going to be complicated,” she said softly, torn.
“It doesn’t have to be.”
She trembled, awash with sensations that battered her
senses, destroying her defenses, leaving her susceptible to the hunger clawing
at her. “Easy for you to say.”
“Don’t overthink it.”
She closed her eyes briefly, wishing she didn’t want him so
much. The feelings were too strong. Too intense. One of them needed to be the
voice of reason, but it was clear he felt the same powerful pull between them.
No more thinking. This was inevitable. Twelve months in the
making. No more denials. No more excuses. Sex. Primal. Basic. She wanted it
with him. However he wanted her, wherever he wanted her. She didn’t need poetry
or empty words. What she wanted was right in front of her. A man who was honest
enough to tell her the truth. One who wanted her to come willingly to him. Of
her own volition, with eyes wide open.
“Yes.” Her soft voice rang clear in the silent room.
Cooper exhaled and held out an arm. She placed her hand in
his.
He pulled her along and she followed. By the table, he took
a moment to extinguish the candles before heading up the stairs. Every step
Taylor took only reinforced the strength of the need coursing through her. Her
nipples ached where they rubbed against the material of the dress. She gulped,
trying desperately to control her runaway emotions. She felt feverish. Her ears
buzzed. And he hadn’t done anything more than take her hand in his.
Their steps clicked on the hardwood floor. She didn’t know
how she was able to walk calmly up the stairs, as if she wasn’t dying to rip
off his clothes. She stayed mute as he led her down a hallway and through a
door to the master suite. The huge king-sized bed snagged her attention. God
she was really doing this. She was in Cooper’s bedroom, shaking, unbearably
aroused. There was no turning back.
In the next moment, she lost her breath as he grabbed her
and slanted his mouth over hers. Her eyelids fluttered shut. He was ravenous,
angling her this way and that to better plunder the depths of her mouth. His
taste was intoxicating, like the finest aged whiskey. Taylor gripped his
shoulders, grateful that he was holding her upright. He sought the zipper at
her back and slid it down. Loosened, the dress slid, hanging on the stiff tips
of her unfettered breasts before he roughly pushed it out of the way. Taylor
moaned at the cool air that hit her overheated skin. She was busy trying to get
him out of his shirt, undoing the buttons, whimpering in frustration when she
couldn’t get to them quick enough. Finally, finally, she pushed the sides apart
and feasted on the hot skin underneath, his muscles bunching and twisting under
her touch.
The stillness of the air was broken by their moans and
gasps. Taylor wasn’t even aware of how she lost her lace panties, but they were
just gone and she was naked.
“Jesus. You’re so fucking beautiful,” he rasped. He cupped
her breast and pulled at the tip, earning a low whimper from her. Leaning down,
he captured a nipple in his mouth. No teasing. Just a hard, rhythmic sucking
that tore her control.
She tugged at his belt buckle and managed to work it free.
Next she attacked his jeans. She whimpered when she encountered all buttons. No
zipper. The huge erection he sported made it such a tight fit that it was
almost impossible to get the metal studs through the slits. “Help me,” she
implored.
Pushing her hands away, he made quick work of the fastening
and his cock sprang free. Her mouth watered. Cooper was long and thick,
standing proudly erect, nearly reaching his navel. She reached out to touch the
plum-shaped head.
“No,” he grunted harshly. He picked her up and strode to the
bed, laying her down.
Taylor reached for the strap of one shoe, fumbling to take
it off.
“Leave them on.”
A sharp current rolled through her pussy, the flesh spasming
with need. Naked save for her stilettos. She felt wild. Sexy.
Cooper chucked his jeans. Taylor stared, unable to take her
eyes from him. Her mouth watered. He was such a beautiful man, with broad
shoulders that tapered to a trim waist and muscled thighs sprinkled with hair.
She gazed at his cock, memorizing the thick shaft lined with life-giving veins
and topped with a round head. She licked her lips, desperate for a taste.
“I want to make this last,” he growled. “Stop looking at me
like that.”
“Like what?” she asked breathlessly as she pushed herself up
on her elbows.
“Like you want me in your mouth.”
She eyed him greedily. For twelve long months she’d
fantasized about him. Reality was way, way better. “I do.”