Chapter 31

31

“No, no, nope. Absolutely not.”

The bartender looks around the pub, helpless. I follow his gaze, astonished that it seems to have filled up with people while me and Cooper were drinking in the corner. “I didn’t expect it to get so busy,” he says. “An oddly large amount of people got caught in the rain and nearly all of them wanted rooms. Are you two not a couple?”

“No,” Cooper declares.

“Absolutely not,” I say at the same time. “Hence why we asked for two rooms.”

The barman shrugs. “You’ll just have to share. The others have already paid now.”

“Damn it.”

Cooper suddenly chuckles.

“You think this is funny?” I cross my arms.

“This reminds me of…” He catches my fury and doesn’t finish. “Nothing. Don’t worry. It’s a double bed. We’ll top and tail.”

This situation could not get any worse.

“It’s a small double, yes,” the barman says with an apologetic cringe.

I stare hard at Cooper. “I’m not about to be that cowbag who makes you sleep on the floor, but you better not touch me, pal.”

Cooper takes a step forward so that his chest is almost touching mine. His gaze travels across my hair, then my eyes and nose, resting on my lips for a moment, before he meets my eyes again, a slight smile briefly crossing his face. “Not even if you begged me to, Delphie.”

The barman is grinning, looking between us, but stops when I give him my iciest glare. I hold my hand out for the key, which he plonks into my palm.

Inside the room I immediately see that “small double” was a generous description. This bed is barely bigger than a single. The decor is nice at least—fresh white cotton sheets and pretty silvery damask wallpaper. If I were alone, I’d be quite pleased at the thought of spending an evening in here. But I’m not alone.

“Shall I shower first, or you?” I ask, grimacing at my dirty feet and the still-wet dress which, while perfect for a fancy party, is going to be hellish to try to sleep in. I open the wardrobe, pleased to see a few extra sheets in there. I’ll just wrap myself up in one of those as a makeshift nightie, and then I won’t be in danger of scratching my eye out with an errant feather.

“Actually you go first,” I say. “I need to take my braids out.”

Without a word, Cooper disappears into the bathroom. I hear the hiss of the shower, clouds of fragrant steam billowing out from beneath the door. I get an unsolicited image of him in there. Ugh. The steam is making the room even warmer. I open the window. It takes three yanks to get the stiff handle to loosen.

I organise the pillows so that there’s one at each end of the bed, and then perch gingerly on the edge and wait impatiently for him to finish so I can wash this whole day off. When Cooper eventually emerges in a haze of steam, a towel slung around his hips, I gulp like a nervous cartoon character. His arms are huge and strong looking, and his torso is as muscled as I suspected, still glistening with water droplets from the shower. I’ve never seen a naked man up close and, oh holy heck, it’s disorienting. How can someone with the face of a surly English professor casually have the body of a Dothraki? I wonder what it must be like to wander through life knowing you had all that beneath your clothes. I bet that’s why he has so many women buzzing around his place—he wants someone to show off to, probably. I tut.

Cooper stands completely still and watches me watching him, a surprised grin on his face. He raises an eyebrow.

“It’s purely a scientific interest,” I blurt out. “I’ve never seen a naked man up close and so naturally I am a little curious.”

“What about Jonah? He remained clothed while you hooked up all over town?”

Shit. My brain is malfunctioning. “Hot water is for me!” I inexplicably say, disappearing into the bathroom and leaning back against the doorframe to catch my breath.

The extra sheet has worked well as a nightie—I’ve managed to wrap it around myself twice, tucking it in at the top so it’s as secure as if I had been sewn into it.

“Here you go,” I say, pressing the jewels into his hands. “Thank you for letting me use them.” I massage my earlobes, which I believe the earrings have now lengthened by at least a couple of millimetres.

Cooper slips the earrings into the inside pocket of his jacket hanging off the bedpost beside him.

“I’m sorry about Jonah,” he says, resting his hands behind his head. His makeshift shapewear bandage has gone, replaced with a Band-Aid he must have gotten from the first aid kit in the bathroom cabinet.

I head over to the window to close the blind, only to find that it’s somehow jammed at the top. I pull hard and a bunch of dust flies into the air. I decide to just leave it alone; while the rainfall has cooled the air a little, it’s still boiling hot, and the room isn’t overlooked by anything other than the tall trees of the countryside.

“His costume was a bit obscure.”

“I liked it,” I say in a small voice.

I liked everything about Jonah. Or at least I thought I did. But then at the gala, the sparkling, magical connection I felt with him in Evermore had changed.

I switch off the bedside lamp, and the full moon shines brightly into the room, casting a silvery glow over everything, including Cooper, who looks like he’s been sculpted from platinum.

I avert my eyes and climb into the bed, scooching myself as close to the edge as I can without falling out.

A breeze rustles outside the window, bringing the scent of wet leaves and fresh, clean, post-rain air. I’m struck by how beautiful it smells—like open space and honeysuckle. I’ve never smelt anything like that before in London. They might have a Diptyque store at Evermore, but surely only Earth could smell like this. I take in a lungful of air and try to commit the exact scent to memory.

“Are you crying?” Cooper asks, grazing the silence.

“No. Not at all.”

Cooper shuffles and then, from the opposite end of the bed, his hand grabs mine. I gasp with the shock of it. But I don’t pull away. I can’t seem to.

My tears stop.

We stay there in the silence for around five minutes just holding each other’s hands. I’m starting to wonder if Cooper has fallen asleep, when he slowly begins to circle his thumb across the base of my thumb. It must take him a whole fifteen seconds to complete one circle. A bolt of desire kicks right in the pit of my stomach, which shocks me enough that I jolt, my foot making contact with some part of Cooper’s face.

“Fuck!” Cooper growls, sitting up in the bed, hand no longer holding mine. I bolt upright to see him covering his nose with both hands. “You did that on purpose.”

“I didn’t!”

He drops his hands, eyes locking onto mine. “You absolutely did.”

The look of shock on his face sends a bubble of laughter into my throat. “It was an accident,” I hoot. I lean forward for a closer look. “You’re not even bleeding!”

“Hmm. I suppose you did warn me not to touch you,” he murmurs, his voice suddenly light.

“Not even if I begged you to,” I reply. My voice has gone all croaky.

I notice then that his eyes look completely black. Like his pupils have swallowed his irises whole. My breath quickens.

“We have fun, don’t we?” he murmurs. “Me and you.”

I think of how annoying he is. How frustrated I get when he’s near. How, before I fall asleep, I’ve started thinking of comebacks to use on him, things that might make his lip twitch in amusement.

“Yes,” I whisper, my heartbeat quickening.

Cooper tilts his head to the side, reaches out a hand, and gently wraps the ends of my hair around his fist.

“Jonah is a fucking idiot,” he says, voice low.

I blow out the air from my cheeks, feeling suddenly hot at the slight soft pull of my hair in his hand. “I mean, I came on a little strong to Jonah. Sort of locked him in a room with me? Idiot. Very dumb of me. I should have taken it slowly. But alas, time has not been on my side.”

Why am I talking so quickly? Why am I using the word alas?

Cooper’s eyes mellow. He removes his hand from my hair and uses it to hold my chin between finger and thumb, lifting it so that my face is half in the moonlight. Then, just as I had started to hope he would, he leans forward and presses his lips cautiously against mine.

That felt…Oh no. That was not supposed to feel like that.

He pulls away and stares at me hard, his own breath hastening. Then he kneels up on the bed, hooks an arm around me, and roughly scoops me upwards so that I’m also on my knees, my torso pressed completely against his.

I gulp. “Are…Is this because you’re lonely?” I say, my cheeks reddening. “Because I…”

“No, Delphie. This is because today is the first day in five years that I haven’t felt lonely. Not one bit.”

He grabs my face with both hands then and kisses me again, his tongue dipping softly against mine. I melt, my entire body starting to pulse in time with my heart, the beat of which has accelerated to a hum. I kiss him back, swinging my arms around his neck, one hand running up into his dark curls, the other trailing down to his arm, which feels solid and sure beneath my fingers. I squeeze and make a noise I don’t think I’ve ever made before—a sort of half gasp, half squeak.

“I thought you hated me,” Cooper murmurs, trailing his mouth across my throat, his bottom lip like velvet against my neck.

“I do,” I breathe, tilting my head back, because whatever he is doing feels like magic on my skin. “But you hate me too, so…”

“I despise you, Delphie,” Cooper groans into my mouth.

My body takes over and I kiss him harder, my tongue exploring his. I feel how hard he is and go dizzy with the pull of it, the anticipation.

I pull back, breathing heavily. “I…I…”

“What is it?” Cooper asks, leaning in to kiss my shoulder and then my earlobe and then my mouth again.

“I’veneverdonethisbefore,” I blurt out.

Cooper leans back, his chest rising and falling quickly. “Never done what?”

“I’m a virgin,” I say. And then I start to laugh because it sounds so unlikely but also because I’m a little embarrassed. Which I know I shouldn’t be because past Delphie was certain that it was the right thing. But now everything has changed. And I’m going to die in three days. And if this is what it feels like to be wantonly kissing an objectively hot yet despicable man in the moonlight, I suspect I might have been a fucking idiot to have avoided it for so long. And yes, sleeping with your neighbour is probably a terrible idea, but what does it matter? In three days I won’t ever see him again. It’s not like he will care. He’s used to one-night stands. He’s probably an expert in them.

Cooper doesn’t question me. He doesn’t ask about Jonah and the hooking up all over town. Instead, he looks me right in the eyes. “Would you like me to stop? Just say the words.”

“Do…do you want to stop?” I ask, fiddling with the edge of the sheet I’m wrapped in. “Because I, well, I really don’t have very much idea what I’m doing. How to do it. I mean, technically I, you know, know. But there’s a lack of field research. So we can stop now. You know. If you want to.”

Cooper swallows, his gaze locked on mine. “I’d rather scoop out my own eyeballs than stop whatever this is,” he says, which elicits another laugh. “But it’s in your control. Whatever you want, Delphie. Seriously.”

I examine his face in the silver light. I think about the way he just wrapped my hair around his fist and how it was the sexiest thing that has ever happened to me.

I literally have nothing to lose—this is the only time in my life when there won’t ever be consequences for my behaviour.

Despite everything, my shoulders soften. I trust Cooper. I’m safe with him and, to my surprise, I don’t feel awkward or embarrassed. I feel excited.

“Yes. I want this,” I say firmly, my breath catching with anticipation. “I really…I really just want to know what it’s like.”

“Then let me show you,” Cooper whispers into my ear, drawing me back to him.