Against All Odds (27 page)

“Holy shit, Cooper. Please, put your fingers inside me,” she begs.

Her voice is low, all sex, and my balls tighten. I like her like this: needy, panting, and wanting. “Is that all you want? Just my fingers?”

I breathe against her nipple to watch it pucker, then graze it with my teeth. She groans and moves her hips, almost pleading for me to touch her.

“How many fingers do you want, Kylie? Tell me.”

“God, please. As many as you—”

I don’t let her get out the last words. I thrust two fingers into her warm, wet channel and plunge them in and out.

She pants and moans, her hips grinding against my hand. I need to see her eyes.

“Open your eyes,” I command.

She does, and the fire behind her irises sets my entire being ablaze, an inferno of longing lit within me. I want to be inside her so fucking badly that I quicken the pace of my fingers and glide my thumb over her clit. I rotate it, putting just enough pressure to get her to climax.

“Do you need more?” I ask.

“Yes.”

I love the desperation in her tone. “How much more? Tell me!”

“I need you,” she pleads. “More than your fingers. I need your cock.”

God, I love her dirty mouth. She’s on the brink; I can feel it in the heat that beads from her pussy. I press my thumb into her nub just like I used to and continue my relentless finger fucking. She trembles. Then I hear her mewling and see her eyes close as her climax hits her hard and fast.

Satisfaction courses through my blood at the look of sheer pleasure that skitters across her face. It causes my body to pulse. I can’t contain myself when I see the hazy glint burning in her eyes. I flip her on her back on the sofa, chuckling as she squeals.

“You are the sexiest fucking thing when you orgasm,” I whisper, running my palms up her legs as I stare at her pussy. It’s swollen and wet. My cock aches, and the torture nearly drive me insane. I have to slam into her right now. “Was that enough?”

“Uh huh…”

“I need to take you now. If I get too rough, tell me.” I don’t want to hurt her, but I can’t deny my instinct to slam into her anymore.

She smiles a devilish smile as I remove my clothes. Her eyes drop to my cock that’s begging to be inside her, to be loved and wanted by her. I need her so badly that the edges of my sanity are splintering apart.

No words are spoken as I move on top of her, aligning the head of my dick with her opening. She spreads her legs wide, coaxing me to her. When I feel the lips of her pussy, I almost lose my shit. A growl rips from me. I bury my face in her neck, taking in her scent and the smell of us together. I ram myself inside her. She gasps and I still, sheathing myself to the hilt. I pull back to look at her, and my lungs seize at how beautiful she is. Her black hair is spread out behind her, her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are filled with ecstasy.

“Tell me you’re okay,” I whisper.

“I’m the most perfect I’ve ever been,” she answers softly, her breath fanning my lips.

I stare into her incandescent eyes and slam into her. I take her mouth, stroking her tongue while I love her. My pace is crushing, bruising as my need for her unleashes. She gasps and moans and her nails dig into my back. Sweat beads on our skin as our bodies meet. I put everything I have into her, tipping my hips up so my cock rubs her sweet spot. I try to consume her senses as she crawls underneath my skin. She takes over, intoxicating me one cell, one organ at a time. She invades my blood, addicting me to her sweetness.

My mind and body become hers without my permission.

The fear of loving her encircles me and hits me in the gut. But there’s no choice. I was made to love her. She’s mine, and I am hers. As we come together, fucking each other back into our blood, I know the future will be rocky. But I’m finally finding my footing again. I’m eager to claim her soul and stake my rightful place in her life. After this, I won’t let her go.

I feel her pussy grip me like a vise as her orgasm takes her. Her breathless moans fill the air, coating everything in a sheen of sex and desire. Seconds later, my balls tighten, and my release follows. I empty deep into her.

As I come down from the high of having her, my chest tightens. Things are about to get real because Layla and Grayson are going to be knocking on our doors very soon.

Three days later…

As I arrive at the office and put the car in park, I glance at Kylie. She looks stressed as she gazes out the window. I notice her eyes land on a red BMW. I know what she’s thinking, because I’m thinking the same thing.

What the fuck are we doing here?

This morning I told her I had some things to work on at the office. I’ve taken three days off, but I can’t take any more. Of course she wanted to come with me. She’s missed a lot of time the last several weeks, and Cali’s had to pick up the slack. Things have changed really quickly between us, and we’re about to walk into an uncomfortable situation.

I’m nervous. We haven’t talked about Gray or Layla. We’ve spent the last couple of days getting to know each other again. We didn’t broach any sticky topics. I guess we were afraid, so we lived in a cocoon of “lovers getting reacquainted.”

I watch her carefully lean back against the cool leather seat, and I soak in her beauty. She’s got on a pink blouse that dips low and a tan skirt that gives me a peek at her long, luscious legs. She looks edible, her olive skin shining in the sun. Her forehead and cute little button nose are scrunched up as her head works through whatever’s going on in it.

My stomach knots when I think of walking into that office and seeing Layla. We should have discussed this, but I didn’t know how to bring it up. We’ve been together a long time, but the time we’ve spent apart has changed us so much that I need to get to know her again. I need to rediscover how her head works, how she processes things. Maybe keeping her out of all this and away from the office is the way to go.

I feel my heart beat increase as I wonder if she’s thinking of Gray. It’s only been a week since they’ve talked. Does she miss him? Everything in me rages to keep them apart. I don’t know how she’ll react to what I have planned. How she’ll react to the rapid changes in our lives. I place my palm on her knee, trying to gently get her attention. She startles and whips her head around so fast, I flinch.

“Whoa, are you okay?” I ask, looking into her eyes.

She takes a quick breath and gives me a weak smile. “Yeah, sorry. Are we here? That was quick.”

I arch a brow at her scattered reaction. “Where were you?”

She sighs loudly. “I was just thinking. It was nothing much, really.”

“It didn’t look like nothing to me. In fact, I’m pretty sure I know where your thoughts were,” I say, my voice gentle, looking toward Layla’s car.

She grimaces and angles her body toward mine. Anxiety plays across her features. “I forgot how well you read me.”

“Mmm… I’m trying to read you,” I say. “We don’t have to do this, you know?”

“We’d have to do it eventually. Why wait?”

“That’s true, but maybe this is too much, too soon.”

“I don’t know, Cooper.” She sounds defeated, almost resigned to dealing with this now.

“Things have changed, Ky. They definitely have for me.”

“They changed for me a while ago, Cooper.”

I still, taking in what she just said. “When did they change for you?”

She looks up as if contemplating her answer. “I think they changed the morning after Nate. When I saw you the next day.”

I feel a surge of heat at Nate’s name. I hate that he’s had her, that she went there with him. “So you haven’t had sex with anyone since then?” I could kick myself for needing to know.

“No. No one,” she sighs.

That makes me feel a little better, but I still have a nagging feeling she’s leaving Gray out of that equation. “Are you really ready for this?”

She looks at me seriously. “Can I ask you something?”

I nod.

“How are you going to handle Layla when we get in there?”

I lay my head back against the seat and gaze out the window, thinking about her question. Layla was just a hook up. I do care about the girl, but only in the sense that I don’t want to hurt her feelings. I don’t want to make her feel used and thrown away. I don’t know how she’s going to take the news that Kylie and I are trying to work things out again. She definitely knew the score going in, so this shouldn’t come as a shock to her.

“I’m just going to talk to her. Tell her it’s over. I don’t think it’ll be that dramatic,” I say, looking at her.

“She seems to really like you.” Her eyes hold hurt like this is eating at her.

“Layla knew what she was getting with me.”

“And what was that?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“I’m not sure,” she whispers. “But I think I need to know.”

I blow out a breath and cringe internally at what I’m about to say. “It was just sex, Kylie. Nothing more than that. She was a shoulder for me to lean on and someone to keep me company. But that’s it.”

She rolls her head and pushes a hand through her hair. She looks tortured, and I know what she’s going to ask next. The question is plastered across her face. “Do you have feelings for her?”

I swallow, not wanting to answer. Some things you just don’t need to know. “Why are you asking?”

“Because I need to know what we’re walking into,” she says, frustrated. “I need to know what was going on before things between us changed.”

I think about Layla and all that we’ve done together. Our talks. The times I’ve confided in her. The moments when I felt okay with her. Do I have feelings for her? Yeah, I do, but nothing that comes close to what I have for my wife. How do I say that to her? Do I lie and tell her no?

“There are things you don’t know,” I say delicately. “Things I still need to tell you. I don’t think this is the place or time to go into it. Yeah, I have feelings for her, but they’re nothing. I care about her because I’ve used her to escape. I don’t want to hurt her.”

I see the anguish in her eyes. I know this is hard. We have months of pain ahead of us. We’ve both created a lot of damage.

“I hate this,” she says. “I hate her.”

“I don’t think you should hate her, baby. She hasn’t done anything that we both haven’t done.”

She flinches as if I’ve slapped her. That was a low blow. I think of all of the men she’s shared a bed with that I don’t know about. All the times she came home smelling like someone else. Kylie has no idea what I’ve been doing for the last two years. If she did, I think she’d feel even more overwhelmed than she does now.

“Look,” I whisper, “this is fucking awkward. How we’ve managed to become so messed up, I don’t know, but I want to handle Layla and Gray myself. I don’t think you should be involved.” I know Grayson won’t be in the office today, which was why I was okay with her coming. This thing with Layla needs to be handled quickly. We don’t need her hanging over our heads.

She blanches. “Handle Gray?”

“Yeah.”

“Nothing happened with him. I don’t know why you don’t believe me. It was a kiss, and you saw it. I just wanted you to see me.”

“I’ve always seen you. I haven’t shown you that, but I’ve been paying attention, Kylie.”

She looks as if she’s almost in physical pain now. The moment my words grip her, she splays a hand across her stomach as though she’s going to be sick. “I think we should go in. We can talk about this later.”

“Later?” I ask, confused by her reaction.

“I need some time to think. I’m okay with you handling Layla alone.”

I look at her and try to determine what’s going on inside her head. I feel my blood pressure surge. She won’t meet my eyes, and that’s makes me really uneasy. She’s acting as though she can’t process this right now. Fuck, I don’t trust her. She’s shown that when she can’t handle something, she acts out.

A weird thought floats through my head: What’s bonding us together at this point?

I hate that thought, and I’ve never asked myself that before. I lay my head back and think over the first time I saw her, the first time we made love, and when I asked her to marry me. I think of the good times. Without a doubt, she’s worth it. There’s more to us than just a messed-up marriage. Our bond goes much deeper than that.