“Life’s been crazy.”
“You off this week?” It wasn’t an unusual question. It hadn’t been long ago that I’d almost called him to fuck Cooper out of my mind.
“I’m on a little sabbatical,” I admitted before placing my hand on Cooper’s thigh and ripping off the proverbial bandage with one firm yank. “This is my… boyfriend, Cooper.”
Cooper’s brows rose as Christian’s pulled together in confusion before he offered a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Yeah… you too.” Christian’s focus bounced between my face and my hand on Cooper’s thigh. “I guess getting together anytime soon is a bad idea,” he said on a chuckle.
“Yeah, sorry, man.” An awkward silence stretched. “Um… you’re welcome to join us.”
“Nah, I’m actually meeting someone. But take care.” After one last perusal, he sauntered away without a backward glance.
“So that’s Christian,” Cooper said, staring at him as he walked down the beach. “I don’t see you together.”
“Why not?” I asked, amused.
He seemed unfazed while leveling me with a sarcastic smirk. “I don’t know. He’s not as hot as me, I guess.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. This guy. “You are hot.” Twisting closer to him, I wrapped both arms around his body. “Watching all these women ogling you, and the men as well, is making me hard,” I admitted before thrusting myself against his hip to prove my point. But when I began to suck on a spot on his neck, he craned away from my touch to stare into my eyes. This was it. This was when the freak-out would come.
Except he shocked the shit out of me and crushed his mouth to mine, onlookers be damned.
It seemed the player got played, yet again.
Chapter Twenty-One
Cooper
This little test of his meant shit.
It was easy to be relaxed when you didn’t know anyone around you. Who cared if a man watched as Ricky kissed me, ran a hand down my leg, nibbled my neck? Who cared if a woman stared at us with that regretful frown because we weren’t straight? If anything, each glance our way during each openly affectionate touch made me want him even more.
Regardless, I played along, knowing my parents’ arrival would be the true test… the first of many, and I couldn’t imagine my way through it yet. How did one come out at the age of twenty-eight? Ricky could help me with that, having done so as a teen, but asking him to would hint that I wasn’t ready.
I was ready. That didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous.
I knew my family would be supportive. I was a bit worried about Sam. He always took things personally, and I had a feeling my not confiding in him these past few months would bother him more than why I’d kept it to myself.
One step at a time. Meanwhile, I had a man hell-bent on trying to get me to crack one way or another, and making it hard on him to do so was kind of fun. I eagerly met every kiss, touch, and salacious smirk, throwing in a few of my own. I had to admit that the physicality between us, something we’d never engaged in, made me antsy for more. It felt as though I’d discovered a new food, loved it, and couldn’t get enough. And based on the constant bulge behind his zipper, it was clear Ricky was in the same boat.
With each hour that passed, the beach club became more and more crowded. There were people everywhere, most escaping the heat in the ocean and pools. From where we still sat, observing it all, the music coming from the bar area could no longer compete with the chatter around us. It was one large party with the theme being—anything goes.
“How long are we hanging here?” I asked him after a waitress dropped off a dinner menu. Until then, we’d had a few of the club’s special cocktails and shared a slider appetizer, and I had no interest in staying any longer than necessary.
His head turned toward mine, bringing our faces a breath apart. “You’re ready to go?”
“I’m ready to be alone with you,” I countered. “If I had to be honest, seeing scantily clad men with patches of nylon revealing every detail of their bulges doesn’t do it for me.” I rested a hand on his thigh and added, “And I think I proved being here out in the open doesn’t freak me out.”
The corner of his lip twitched, but otherwise his expression remained determined. “This was nothing compared to being out in front of people you know and love,” he challenged. “But it was necessary to see if you could handle this first.”
“Is this your preferred scene?” I swept my gaze around the beach, unable to imagine Ricky being there on a normal basis.
“No. It’s not. You’ll get to see where I prefer to hang out, but it is tame compared to this.” He took a moment to stare into my eyes, and I thought he was about to say more when he went in for a hard kiss. Instinctively, I opened my mouth, and he had no problem taking the opportunity to tangle his tongue with mine. Every part of me reacted, from my mind screaming it wanted more to my dick screaming the same in its own way.
He was first to break apart, his nostrils flaring with each breath. “What are you doing to me?” he asked so softly I almost didn’t hear him. But I had, and I felt the same.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Bolting off the lounger, he slipped his feet into his shoes and gripped his hips when I hadn’t yet followed. “What are you waiting for? Move your ass, Stanton.”
On the ride home, I texted Rebecca to see how she was doing. After discovering she would be discharged the next day, and she and baby were both fine, I informed her I wouldn’t be around for a few hours. Her response to that came as a string of emojis complete with a dozen hearts, which I ignored.
Meanwhile, Ricky sat beside me, ordering a pizza to ensure it would be there when we got to his place. When I raised a questioning brow, he admitted not wanting to waste any time.
Suffice it to say, that urgency set the tone as we gobbled up our dinner and gulped down a beer. The butterflies flapping in my stomach had nothing to do with inhaling my dinner. Nor did it have to do with what was obviously about to happen between us. It was the anticipation. The semi-hard-on I’d suffered with for hours had become impatient, and so had my libido.
Having said that, I was still nervous as fuck.
Ricky carried our plates toward the kitchen and placed them not so gently in the sink. He then took my hand and, while dragging me toward his bedroom, grumbled, “No more playing games.”
“I wasn’t the one playing,” I reminded him. “As far as I was concerned, we could’ve been doing this hours ago.” Boy, I talked a good game.
If I didn’t know better, my statement angered him. But when he forcibly shoved me until I fell ass first onto his mattress, it quickly became obvious it was himself he was angry at.
“That smart mouth of yours needs something to shut it up,” he deadpanned before gripping the back of his T-shirt and dragging it over his head.
I had yet to see Ricky naked, and the mere sight of his ripped abs, of the thin line of sandy-brown hair that disappeared beneath his waistband, had my heart pounding. When he slowly began unbuttoning and then unzipping his shorts, my heart wasn’t the only thing pounding. A vein began pulsating in my cock, a sensation I’d never paid attention to before.