Something So Right (14 page)

“Hey, Parker, how long was that?” He stands back proudly.

“Ummm, a minute and a half, my friend,” I say to him with a huge smile on my face.

He glares over at me. “Minute and a half my ass. You are looking at a good five minutes.”

He is smiling like he just won the Stanley Cup. “Okay, big guy, why don’t you grill us up some food? Those boys played their ass off and need some sustenance,” Cooper calls out over my head. The boys hear this, yelling out how hungry they are.

“Momma, Momma, come swimming with me.” Allison is now standing next to our chair, dripping all over the place.

“Okay, love, let’s go swimming.” I get off Cooper, making my way to the pool, and strip off my sundress. Once my dress is placed on a chair, Allison turns around to see Sam and Michael.

“Look at me and my mommy. We match.”

Sam stutters, “Umm, yes, you both look beautiful.”

“They are both beautiful indeed,” I hear from my left, and I’m shocked because there stands James. Without Tiffany.

“Daddy, you came to Matthew’s party. Matthew, Dad’s here.”

At this point everyone stops talking. It’s like the parting of the sea or something.

Three things happen all at once. Matthew looks over with a wave and continues talking to his friends.

Meghan comes outside, looking freshly fucked, I might add, almost spilling our drinks, and Cooper is standing right behind me now with one hand on my hip.

“James, good to see you. Babe, let’s go swim, yeah?”

I’m in a daze. Why is he here? He never ever comes to these things. Actually, him coming to one before was like pulling teeth. He usually came up with excuses to never come to anything.

“Parker,” Cooper says, snapping me back to reality. “It’s fine.”

“What is he doing here?” I whisper. “He was never here, now he’s here all the time.”

“It’s all good, he’s here for Matthew. Let him have this.”

I scoff at him, rolling my eyes.

Meghan finally sits down on the side of the pool, putting her feet in the water, holding out a drink for me. “I think you need a double, but I didn’t know before I came outside.”

“I think I need a triple, not just a double,” I say, swallowing down half of my martini in one gulp.

“Babe, we have plans later, yeah? So go easy.”

“Oh, plans, is that what we are calling it?” Meghan asks, sipping her own martini. “I just had plans upstairs. Five minutes long. Tom was proving a point because your woman called him a two-minute man.”

Cooper just shakes his head, not even trying to get her brand of crazy. He simply accepts it.

“I see your plans made a mess of your hair, by the way. Looks like it was pulled and yanked.” I throw at her.

“Oh, that’s because it was. My plan was very aggressive this time. There was even a smack.”

That is the line that makes Cooper choke on his sip of beer.

“I can’t do this.” He leans down, making sure to kiss me before stepping out of the pool.

“Oh wait, don’t leave yet, Cooper. I was just going to tell you about my plans later tonight. I plan on making lots of plans.”

I splash water at her face, but she doesn’t even notice because she is now belly rolling laughing, making me see that everything is going to be okay.

When I finally make my way out of the pool, way before Allison is ready, I spot James sitting next to my bag. “It’s nice of you to come for Matthew,” I say, trying to not make a big deal out of it. “It was a big day for him. I know he is going to enjoy you coming out for him.” I wrap myself up in the towel before sitting by his side on another wicker chair.

“We had it good, didn’t we?” James looks over at me, smiling.

“Yes, we did, but if I’m honest, I don’t think we would have survived the forever.” I don’t know why I’m saying this.

“What do you mean?” he asks, his eyebrows pulling together.

“I mean, we loved each other, but we were not in love with each other anymore. I think it was all just routine. Us staying together was the right thing to do, but it wasn’t because we needed to, it was because we just didn’t know how to walk away.”

“This is about Cooper, isn’t it?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know if it is or if it isn’t, but what I do know is that with him it’s different. I don’t have to be scared he is going to get pissed off about something, because he’s just accepting to things.”

“What if I said I made a mistake?” he asks, looking straight in my eyes.

“I’d say that if you had asked me four months ago, I would have said that I don’t know what I would have said, but we are here now. So did you make a mistake? Fuck yeah, you did. You broke my heart, you ruined my life at the time. You made me doubt myself. You made me doubt everything that we created,” I say, taking in a deep breath. “But it also made me see that if you really wanted me you would have fought for me. You would have told me shit was going bad. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

“You’re right. I wasn’t happy, but you, you were the best thing to happen to me. Those kids are the reason for me to wake up every morning. I just lost my way.” He leans forward to hold my hands.

“You did lose your way, but I found my way. I’m happy, so very happy. I have my life, I have the kids, and now I have Cooper. I have to say I wasn’t expecting it, I wasn’t waiting for it, but it showed up and knocked me on my ass.”

“I think I’m just going to tell Matthew goodbye and catch up another time.” He gets up. “I’m hoping we could talk more.” He kisses my forehead. “I miss you, I miss us.”

And just like that he is gone, saying goodbye to everyone before stopping to kiss Matthew and Allison.

“Babe,” Cooper calls, sitting where James had been a moment earlier.

“I’m happy.” I look at him, smiling, hoping he gets what I’m saying.

“Good to know. I’m happy, too.” He tugs my hands till I’m sitting in his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck, kissing him through my smile. “We are both happy.”

We pull up to the house way after everyone’s bedtime. Allison was asleep even before we pulled out of Meghan’s driveway. It’s been a long time I’ve felt this content.

I look over at Cooper, who looks far away in his thoughts.

He’s been like that all evening.

Once we get home, he quickly takes Allison out of her seat. Luckily, she changed into her pajamas before we left Meghan’s.

“I got her, babe, get the bags.”

Matthew is continuing his ‘celebrating’ by staying over at his friend’s house. Usually I would say no, but like Cooper said, it’s like he just won the cup.

“Okay.”

By the time I get inside and sort through all the wet things, I sense him before I feel him wrap his hands around my waist.

“Babe, come outside with me.” Something in his voice makes my heart pound. My hands are getting clammy just walking outside with him.

We get to the hammock, and he sits down on it, making it like a swing. His feet are on the ground in front, and the back of the hammock against his back halfway. “Sit on me,” he demands.

“I can’t. I’m going to throw you over.” I stand here in front of him. He rubs his hands up and down the back of my legs, kissing my stomach. I’m still wearing my sundress from this afternoon.

“I won’t make you fall, I promise.”

I comb my fingers through his hair, looking down into his blue eyes. They’re like the key to his soul, always bright. Tonight they look clouded, like a storm is brewing.

“Okay,” I whisper and straddle his lap. I’m surprised we don’t topple over, but Cooper has his feet planted on the ground, so we aren’t going anywhere.

“Baby.” I look at him. “You’re scaring me.” I’m sure he can hear my heart beating in my chest.

“I’ve never felt like this.” he whispers, “I’ve had women, many women, but none were like you.” He kisses my chest right above my breast.

“Okay.” I twirl his hair through my fingers.

“When I looked over at you today and saw you sitting with James, my breath caught in my throat.”

“Honey.” I pull his hair so he looks up at me. “James and I, we are the past. Way, way in the past.”

“You made a life with him, you made a home with him, you have kids with him.” His voice trembles.

“I had all that, I made a home with him. I had kids with him. He threw that away. He tossed it aside.” I’m trying to calm my nerves. I’m scared that this is it. This will be the last time that I hold him. “Cooper.” He looks up at me, and I snap, my heart snaps. “No, you don’t get to decide this, you don’t get to toss me aside because you think you know what I want or need.” My heart is literally hurting. It’s aching. I blink away the tears that are forming in my eyes, continuing what I have to say. “If you don’t want me, just say it, but don’t you dare try to cop out of this giving yourself a clear conscience.” I drop my hands to my sides, looking into his eyes. I lean forward, kissing his eyes. “I’ve had many years with a man who not only looked through me, he passed by me, not stopping to look at me. But you, you see me.”
—
I kiss his cheeks
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“I’ve had many years not smiling. Now I smile so much my cheeks hurt. I smile for no reason at all. I smile at you and because of you”
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I kiss his lips
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“I’ve had many years of little kisses, but none of them made my heart flutter like yours, none of them left me breathless because of them, none of them I longed for.” I can’t stop the one tear that has rolled down my face. “I want you, I want this”
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I point from him to me with my hand
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“I want this more than I care to admit”
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I put my forehead on his, our eyes watching each other
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“I want you to want me,” I whisper the last part, my heart hoping that he does pick me, that he picks us.

“I want you,” he says softly. “I want all of you. I want your mornings. I want your afternoons. I want your nights. I want your tomorrows, baby. I want it all. I was so scared you would want what you had and not want what we have.”

I don’t say anything anymore. I just lean in, kissing his bottom lip, hoping he opens up for me, and he does. He opens so our tongues touch each other, and I know I’m home.

I want to get under his skin, and it still wouldn’t be close enough. I fumble with his shirt, trying to rip it off his body. When my hands touch his chest, I make little traces of imaginary infinity signs all down his chest, hoping he feels it. He pulls down the tube part of my dress, bringing my bikini top with it. My nipples peak with the cold air on them. Cooper’s thumbs circle around my nipples, then he places his finger in the middle of my chest, making an infinity sign, all while looking into my eyes.

My need for him is all-consuming. He squeezes my breast, rubbing down to my ass. When both his hands cup my ass, he just palms it, pushing me more to him.

“Honey.” I’m stopped by his tongue invading my mouth. I’m invaded by his scent. His hand makes its way under my dress, moving my bikini bottoms to the side.

He enters me easily with two fingers, making me gasp. “Always ready for me, always.” With my head tossed back, he kisses down my neck with his tongue all the way to my nipple.

He takes it into his mouth, sucking deeply, sending shock waves down to my core. “Honey, please.” I look down at him. “Be with me.”

He withdraws his fingers from me, then opens his shorts, freeing himself.

“Be with me, baby.” I lift myself till I’m positioned over him where I slowly slide all the way down, one inch at a time. I feel him stretching me open while he invades me.

I look into his eyes, hoping he sees what I feel. I move up and down again, all the while looking at him. He’s beautiful. He’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of, and he’s mine.

He picks me up by my hips, bringing me to the top of his dick before bringing me down again.

“Honey.”

He lifts his feet off the ground, making us swing back and forth, putting him deeper into me. It’s like we are on a swing, so I push back, making him go back, him pushing forward, both of us wanting to go deeper and deeper. I’m close, so close. I know he is too because I feel fuller.

“Honey, I want you with me.”

“Babe, I’m there.” He grabs both my shoulders, thrusting down on him when I come apart. I squeeze him, taking him with me. He is groaning out his release, all the while we look into each other’s eyes. His blue eyes are clearer than before, more at peace, more calm. He kisses me deeply while still in me, the aftershocks of my orgasm still squeezing him.

“Stay with me tonight?” I ask him.

“What about Allison?” he asks, knowing that I never want to cross that line.

“It’s okay. We can set an alarm, wake up together. Say yes, please.”

“As long as I’m with you, it’s yes, it’s always yes.”

“Let’s go shower. We can even talk about the fact we didn’t use a condom.”

“I’m clean. I had my last physical before coming out here. Are you on birth control?”

I look at him. “I’m on an IUD, even though I haven’t been with anyone since James. I’m clean also.”