22. SKYE

22

SKYE

For far too long, my life had been filled with so much uncertainty.

Experiencing one devastating scenario after another, it was no surprise I'd reached a point where it felt safer to remain as unattached from others as possible.

But Cooper came crashing into my life, refusing to be ignored, and quickly wore me down.

Now, I was here in my bedroom with him, and I couldn't recall a time when I'd felt more confident about any decision I'd ever made in my life.

Maybe it was his persistence or protectiveness that brought me to this point. Perhaps it was his confidence and charm. It was possible it was a mix of all of that and then some. But no matter what it was that led me here, I didn't have any doubt that I was precisely where I was supposed to be. I was meant to have this with him.

And so far, there wasn't anything about it I didn't like.

Much like I'd grown accustomed to with him, Cooper had carried me from where we'd been seated by the fire, into my house, and through it to my bedroom like he was doing it with a purpose. Like he was a man on a mission that required the utmost care and attention.

In a way, I guess that wasn't wrong. If there was one thing I'd learned about Cooper, it was that he didn't do anything half-heartedly. If he was going to do something, he was going to do it right.

We had only just entered my bedroom, and he was already proving that to be true.

Cooper came to a stop beside my bed, but he didn't set me down. He held on to me—one arm around my waist, the other hand on my ass—and simply allowed his eyes to roam over every inch of my face. It was as though he was trying to memorize the look of each feature, like he wanted to commit this very moment to memory.

If that's what he was doing, I couldn't say I blamed him. This was one of those moments I never wanted to forget, either.

So, I gave Cooper the time to stare, to get whatever he needed from this quiet moment before we took the next step.

But after some time passed, I couldn't continue to stare at his handsome face with my body being held tight against his and not want to act on it.

My arms had been draped over his shoulders, so I pulled them back a bit and allowed one of my hands to drift up into the dark hair at the back of his head. The other hand went to the side of his neck, where my thumb just barely stroked the underside of his jaw.

I closed the distance between our faces and gently brushed my lips against his. Cooper's hold on me tightened, his fingertips pressing in firmly.

It was bordering on torture not to just go for it, but something about this moment made me think it was better to remain just a touch reserved. If nothing else, the tension was building slowly, and when the time came, I didn't doubt the result would be spectacular.

I pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth before running my tongue along the seam of his lips.

That did it.

Cooper lost the battle he seemed to have been waging with himself and took control of the kiss. The second our tongues touched, each fighting for just another taste, Cooper groaned.

It had been a matter of minutes since Cooper had made me come with his fingers, and simply kissing now while he held me in his arms was enough to build me up again. I didn't know how it was possible for Cooper to not be losing his control, considering I was barely holding on.

He kissed me a long time, exploring every inch of my mouth, until he finally broke our connection. For a moment, he rested his forehead against mine as we both fought to control our breathing.

When he pulled his face back, Cooper's eyes were roaming over me again in a way that indicated he was still struggling with something. For a man who I'd known to be nothing but confident, it worried me.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"What?"

I shook my head slightly and noted, "You seem unsure about this."

"I'm not unsure," he insisted.

The fingers I had in his hair scratched his head lightly, an instinct I had to offer him reassurance. Something was telling me he wasn't being entirely honest. "Tell me what's going on."

Cooper held my gaze, something dark and intense swirling in his stare. "I want you, Skye. But I'm torn."

My belly pitched, a knot twisting inside me. Despite it, I pushed forward. "Torn? About what?"

His hold on me grew firmer, which left me feeling only marginally relieved. "I've thought about this moment for so long, sweetheart. It wasn't long after I met you that I found myself thinking about having you. And right now, I'm struggling. Because there's a part of me that wants nothing more than to ravish your body, taking everything I can get while giving you the same in return."

A shiver ran down my spine just imagining how Cooper intended to do that and how badly I wanted for it to happen.

He pressed a soft kiss to my lips before he shared, "There's this other part of me that doesn't want that. That part wants to take the time to savor you."

The worry I'd been feeling vanished. In an instant, it evaporated, and a smile formed on my face. "Cooper, this is our first time. It's not our only time. Whatever we don't do now, we can do later."

"I just want it to be perfect for you."

I smiled at him, loving that even in this moment, when he had something he desperately wanted, he was still concerned with what was best for me. "Whatever you do will be perfect," I told him. "That we're even here is a testament to that. I'm already happier than I thought possible. No matter what happens, as long as I can feel your hands on my skin and touch your naked body as you move inside me, I'm going to love it. It's not about how this happens for me. It's that it's happening with you that's going to make it everything I want it to be."

Until I said those words, I hadn't realized it was precisely how I felt. I was going to love whatever Cooper and I had together tonight, regardless of how it happened, because I was falling for him. And I'd take him any way I could have him.

"You're incredible, Skye. Do you know that?" he asked, his voice thick with emotion.

Cooper didn't give me a chance to respond. He bent at his hips and lowered me to my back in the bed. The second my head hit the mattress, his mouth was on mine. Just like he always did, Cooper blew me away with his kiss.

His tongue dueled with mine in a slow, lazy battle. His exploration of my mouth was just as unhurried as the journey his hands were making across my body. What I loved most was feeling him close, having the weight of him heavy on top of me.

I wanted more. I wanted to feel his warm skin and solid muscle beneath my fingertips. And when I eventually tore my mouth from his, gasping for breath, I whispered, "Cooper, please."

His eyes roamed over my face briefly before he brought his lips to my neck, where he nipped at my skin. Shivers broke out all over my body, as a moan tore up my throat.

The moment he heard that, Cooper growled and allowed his hands to drift down beneath the hem of my dress. With his mouth still working at the skin along the side of my throat and across my collarbone, his hands moved along my sides beneath my dress, pushing it higher and higher.

In the midst of all of the physical sensations I was experiencing, I couldn't miss the way Cooper was making this happen. It was as though he was taking his time and giving his hands the opportunity to learn every curve of my body.

Everything about it was slow and lazy. It was purposeful. And even though I was desperate to have more of him as quickly as I could, I didn't mind giving him the time he wanted to strip me out of my dress.

Eventually, it happened. Cooper pulled the soft cotton material over my head and tossed it aside. He took in the sight of me in just a bra and a pair of panties. His appreciation for what he saw was unmatched, unparalleled. And he made me feel sexy.

Lifting slightly, I reached for his shirt and bunched it up in my hands as I pushed it up his torso. Cooper decided to help and pulled it the rest of the way off, throwing it in the same direction as he'd gone with my dress.

I hadn't been able to pay attention to where the clothing wound up, because at the sight of Cooper's body, I lost my ability to do anything else but stare at him. I'd seen him half naked before on two separate occasions already, but for some reason, they didn't compare to this. Seeing him like that now was like seeing him for the first time.

Maybe it was because I knew what was ahead for me, for us. It was impossible not to view his body differently now.

And when he brought his hands to the fly of his pants, my heart started racing. Whether he was too distracted by the sight of me—his eyes hadn't stopped roaming—or he wanted to torture me just a bit, he took his time unbuttoning and unzipping. It felt like an eternity had passed before Cooper was standing in front of me in nothing but his underwear.

"Cooper, come here," I begged.

One corner of his mouth quirked as he put a knee to the bed and climbed back in with me. The moment our bodies were touching again, I was in my glory. It was even better than I had anticipated.

"Do you know how beautiful you are?" he asked, his lips pressed lightly against mine.

Evidently, Cooper didn't need an answer, because he captured my mouth with his and kissed me again.

We continued to take our time and began removing our undergarments one by one. And the appreciation for what we each got to see once we were both naked was on another level.

Cooper's eyes were ablaze with desire, and I could feel the fire burning in my own. "I can't wait any longer, Cooper."

Ever interested in pleasing me, Cooper made quick work of getting a condom on. Within seconds, his body was back over mine, and he had positioned himself. Cooper kept his eyes on mine as he pushed forward. My lips had parted, my body needing a moment to adjust to his size.

"You feel incredible, sweetheart."

"So do you. Can you move? I want more of you."

Keeping his eyes on mine, Cooper pulled his hips back and thrust forward again. He repeated those same movements several times, his pace unhurried. He was in no rush.

Or, well, he hadn't been in a rush.

But as my moans filled the air with every inch of his cock he gave me, Cooper eventually lost control.

Before I knew it, we'd gone from slow and soft movements mixed with breathy whispers and gentle touches to something else, to something undeniably primal. Cooper thrust forward with wild abandon.

One of my legs wrapped around his waist, the other around the back of his thigh. I moved my hips to match his thrusts.

What had been so sweet and tender had turned into something raw and animalistic. But I loved it.

I loved all of it.

Every single second with him was undeniably good. No, great.

It was sweat and fingernails and heavy breaths.

It was clawing and panting and groaning.

It was desperation and moaning and growling.

It was us—Cooper and Skye—and it was beautiful.

We built each other up, and the next thing I knew, we were both on the verge. "Fuck, Skye, you're going to make me come."

"Don't stop, Cooper. Please don't stop," I begged.

He didn't stop.

He didn't even slow down.

Cooper kept at me, one deep, brutal thrust after another. It was unbelievable.

And seconds later, it happened.

My nails dug into the skin on his shoulders as I cried out through the pleasure. One pulsing wave after another crashed into me and all I could do was hold on and relish the way it felt and the sounds he made.

He worked us both through to the end, and only then did his body still on top of mine. Just moments ago, I thought I was holding on to him like I was because I was in the throes of an orgasm. But now that he'd stopped moving and the last waves of pleasure had left, I still didn't want to let him go.

Cooper was the best man I'd ever met. He treated me better than I could have ever hoped for, better than I believed I'd ever experience.

And when it came to what we'd just had with each other, I was glad I hadn't expected anything less than something spectacular with Cooper, because that was precisely what I'd gotten.

When I finally regained some control over my breathing, I said, "That was unbelievable. You're magnificent"

"I could say the same about you. You made me come hard, sweetheart."

A smile broke out on my face. "Speaking of hard, it seems like you managed to do a bit of both. You gave us the tenderness at the start, but you followed it up brilliantly with the desperate, rougher sex."

He chuckled. "Yeah, I definitely agree on the rougher sex. I tried to contain myself, but you're just too fucking sexy."

I lifted my head off the pillow and touched my mouth to his. "You make me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world, Cooper."

"That's not exactly difficult when you look the way you do."

I could feel the flush creeping over my skin and hid my face in his neck. Cooper twisted his neck and kissed the side of my head. Since his mouth was right here, I pulled my face back and gave him my mouth.

When I moaned against his lips, he groaned and tore his mouth from mine. "Why don't we get ourselves cleaned up before we initiate another round?"

"That's probably a good idea."

Cooper held my gaze for a beat. Then he pulled out and rolled off of me, so we could both get ourselves cleaned up.

After the orgasms he'd just given me, my body would have been happy to roll over, curl up, and drift off. But my heart would have been devastated to not follow Cooper wherever he decided to go.