Chapter 12

chapter

twelve

Harmony

How dare he?

How dare Cooper MacKenzie do this to me?

How dare he say all this to me, telling me about all of these shenanigans while shirtless and sweaty and dirty and acting like all of this is completely normal and…oh god, his lips.

I kiss him because I didn't have any words left.

I kiss him because I couldn't stand the thought of him thinking that our friendship could never be more than that.

I kiss him because life is too short.

And mostly, I kiss him because I wanted to feel those lips.

Cooper tastes like salt and clean sweat and smells like fresh-cut grass, turning me on beyond comprehension.

The world around me crystallizes into this one thing. The birds chirping in the trees. Flash barking somewhere two streets over. Kids splashing in a pool next door. The flutter of his lashes on my cheek. The grip of his arm braces my waist, holding me tight against his torso. The damp slide of Cooper's mouth against mine. His tongue teasing my lips.

Someone's going to see us.

Maybe that's fine. Maybe a school parent.

Maybe I don't really care.

I open to his prodding tongue and Cooper licks into my mouth.

It's too good. Too delicious.

A hand goes to the back of my neck, and my body surrenders, my shoulders slack and my knees weak.

I would wonder how I'm still standing except that arm bracketed around me is everything.

"C-Cooper," I say, breathless when we finally pull apart.

His chocolate-brown eyes are intense, his gaze hot as he looks over my face.

He drags me behind the hedge and presses me against the siding. I'm between the wood and the massive wall of man, his body and the overgrown hedge shading me from the afternoon sun.

I don't ask what he thinks he's doing, dragging me behind the hedge. Instead, I splay my fingers over the planes of his hot, sweaty, dirty chest, my heart kicking against my ribcage.

Acting on only need and instinct, I reach down and unzip his fly, the noise amplified in my mind, telling me there's no going back to being just friends after this.

His jaw tics as he swats my hand away. My eyes widen in shock as he steps forward, crushing his mouth to mine.

He hitches up my skirt and finds the front of my panties, as if he's done this a dozen times before. How did his hand get between my legs so quickly?

Do I care?

No, because it feels too good to care. There he is, rubbing his fingers over the material, working my pussy until I'm soaked through.

It's only when I can't take any more of that and my body jerks, involuntarily riding his hand, that he pulls back and tugs the gusset aside.

The new sensation of skin on skin has me gasping.

"Oh!"

He shushes me with his mouth on mine, his tongue spearing down my throat, stifling the noise.

At the same time, his rough fingers explore my damp pussy, roughly slipping between my folds. I'm so wet. The noises we make are shocking — scandalous — as he probes, finally finding my clit and sliding a finger along either side of it.

The fabric stretches as he works me over.

I fist the front of his shirt, my fingertips digging into his chest.

Neither of us says a word, not a single word as we do these things to each other.

Yet our bodies are in sync somehow. Our needs have reached a breaking point.

Cooper then slips the tip of his middle finger into my pussy like he owns it. His thumb works over my clit, strumming it back and forth in a pleasing, teasing rhythm. That finger sinks in deeper, roughly stroking my inner walls.

My mouth gapes but no sound comes out. I'm in shock at how good this feels.

When I come, it's like lightning. I close my eyes and let my body do what it wants to do, coming all over his wicked fingers.

When I open my eyes, Cooper's dark gaze is on me. Daring me to look away.

The fabric stretches some more, and finally, there's nothing left to give. It tears, biting into my skin.

It hurts a little but I don't care. The next thing I know, Cooper is nudging his thick, hard cock against my center.

A million thoughts run through my head. This is happening. I'm having sex outside. In broad daylight. Okay, we're hidden by some arborvitae but we are doing it. Standing up. Anybody could walk up and see us. The mail carrier, the UPS driver. Anybody.

Would I care?

I get lost in his dark gaze as he moves, lubing up his cock in my wetness. He reaches down between our bodies, claiming it all. Using my arousal to coat himself.

I don't have to look down to know what he's doing. And neither does he break eye contact. Under my shocked gaze, the muscles of his shoulder bunch and ripple as he readies us both.

Oh god, I can hear…everything.

For half a second, he teases me with it. The nerves explode in my overstimulated clit at the contact.

With a half smile, he rips my panties off the rest of the way, then hoists both my thighs skyward, wrapping my legs around his middle.

He doesn't have to tell me to hold on tight. He just gives my outer thighs a squeeze with those large, rough hands.

I circle my arms around his neck and get ready for the ride.

Cooper slides in quickly, deeply, pausing for half a second, his eyes on mine. He sees the urgency in my face, my flared nostrils, the wild look no doubt painting my face. I haven't had it in a while and now that he's presented me with an opportunity, there's no going back. He's reawakened my needs and he'd better follow through.

Cooper sinks to the hilt, and he's so big I feel like I may split in two.

I let out a little surprised shriek, which he stifles with a hungry kiss, dipping his head down between his two bracketing arms.

Being stretched by him is the most glorious, dirty feeling.

He's definitely going to leave a mark.

Cooper wastes no time finding his rhythm. He moves in me, and out of me, like the devil is chasing him.

It's all heat, sweat, spit, and dirt as we hump in the hedge like two rabbits in heat.

Like two people who just need to feel something.

That's all this is.

And that's perfectly fine.

He didn't ask me on a date.

He didn't ask me to marry him.

He never asked me to trust him, but he's earned my trust as a friend.

The realization hits me. We have the perfect scenario, really.

Cooper can be my friend and be—whatever this is. It's been too long, and I am a woman with needs.

Why shouldn't we fuck? We're grown adults and no one can judge us.

Cooper's pace quickens. Deepens.

And then for half a second, he goes perfectly still, as if I'm looking at a man about to have a seizure. His eyes roll back in his head. Every cord on his beautiful neck stands out in relief, and his face is tight and drawn.

Then he surges forward with a preternatural sound from deep in his chest. His teeth are bared.

It's almost frightening, but then the next second his face is buried against my collarbone, forcing me to hold him closer.

I get no warning when he explodes inside me, filling me with his seed in hot, pulsing streams.

Cooper heaves a long, low, languorous groan against me.

I pull him closer, reveling in that damp, bare chest pressed against my breasts.

His rough palms slide backward, squeezing my hips possessively.

The notion that he achieved those delicious callouses by playing frisbee golf for hours and hours in college somehow wakes me up.

This is not your future boyfriend or husband. This is not the carpenter in your dreams who earned his delicious callouses from hammers and drills and hauling wood.

Cooper is not that guy. He's a lot of wonderful things, including a bro who hangs out in the woods and throws frisbees around. Or, he was, in college. There's nothing wrong with that but …that's not the guy I was picturing for myself.

My ex was an office character. The next guy was supposed to be rough and tumble and sweep me off my feet.

What the hell is wrong with me? I'm a schoolteacher!

What if one of my students' parents walks up? What if someone comes to my house to look for me and wanders across the street to ask if a neighbor has seen me?

True, no one would be looking for me on a Saturday, and nobody would come over unannounced.

Then again, I don't have my phone.

Wait…I don't have my phone! What if the school's on fire and everyone has been trying to reach me? While I'm here, having sex against a house in front of everybody!

And we didn't even use a condom!

I push him away.

"I'm not ready for this," I say.

He will be so disappointed that I've led him on and now I'm hitting the brakes, but that's what I have to do.

"Okay," he says evenly.

Okay?

I wasn't expecting okay.

A part of me is disappointed that he's super cool with me not being ready to take things to the next level after screwing him in front of God and the neighborhood dogs and everyone in Fate.

As if reading my mind, he brushes a lock of hair that the wind has pushed into my eyes and tucks it behind my ear.

"It's really okay. Whatever you want is completely fine with me, dream girl."

I swallow the emotions that come up when he says that nickname to me.

Nodding, I turn and will myself across the street, going into a full sprint when I hit my driveway.

"I'm not ready. I'm not ready," I repeat, panting as I run home, hoping that if I say it enough, I'll believe it.