“Fairly positive you’re being dramatic,” Maya says, reaching over the counter to grab a coffee from the to-go tray.
“Was that your interesting morning?” I ask, grabbing my own coffee.
I already had one cup, but another might not be a bad idea with how much still needs to get done…and with how tired I am after Cooper kept me up way too late last night.
“Actually, no.” River’s lips curl into a mischievous grin. “My interesting morning started in the elevator when Mailbox Betty hopped on two floors below me. She had some remarkably noteworthy things to tell me.”
“Mailbox Betty? Isn’t that the busybody who won the pot about you and Dean dating and is always up in everyone’s business?”
“Unfortunately,” River pouts, remembering the building-wide pool Cooper and I may have taken part in. “But she actually had some good gossip this morning.”
“Ooooh!” Maya claps her hands together excitedly. “I love good gossip. Lay it on us.”
“There I was, minding my own business, when she starts telling me about the two horny neighbors she caught making out in the elevator car.”
Oh no.
I sit up straighter, my heart beginning to hammer in my chest when I realize what she’s getting at.
Crap, crap, crap.
Me and Cooper.
We’re the horny neighbors.
Two nights ago, we walked down the street to grab dinner from The Gravy Train. On the ride down, I mentioned that I’d always wanted to be kissed romantically in an elevator like in the movies and my romance books.
He poked fun at me like he always does, and I didn’t think about it again.
The moment we stepped on the elevator when we were headed back home, Cooper’s lips were on mine. He pushed my skirt up around my waist, ripped a hole in my tights, and fingered me to completion right there in the car.
The thought of being caught made me come fast…and hard.
A blessing because when we reached our floor, Mailbox Betty was there waiting to catch a ride down. We were still kissing when the doors opened.
I blush at the memory, clenching my thighs together…realizing how badly I want to do it again.
I wonder if we’ll always be like this, ready and eager to rip one another’s clothes off no matter where we are.
I hope so.
“So, Caroline,” River says, still grinning like a fool, “anything you’d like to share with me and Maya?”
Ugh.
Maya takes a sip of her coffee, then sputters when she realizes what River is getting at, coffee dribbling down her chin.
She wipes at the liquid, eyes wide as she stares at me in disbelief. “You and Cooper?” She smirks. “You dirty, dirty little secret keeper. How long?”
“Yeah, Caroline, how long?” River echoes.
I can’t help it; a smile pulls across my lips just thinking about him. “A little over a month.”
Maya gasps loudly. “You…you…you hussy! You’ve been sleeping with him that long and didn’t say anything?”
I shrug, picking at the sleeve on my cup. “We didn’t want to jinx it.”
“And now?”
Another grin. “I think we’re past that point.”
“Awww.” Maya clutches her chest. “That’s actually kind of sweet. How’d it happen? Who jumped who first? Is he good in the sack?”
I laugh at her questions as she peppers me with them rapidly.
“You really are sex-deprived,” I tell her.
“Trust me, I do not need the reminder.” She frowns momentarily, probably thinking of the awful divorce she went through last year. Then she smiles again, waving her hand. “Anyway, give us the details. I want to know everything.”
“Well, it happened not too long after you guys asked about our kiss.”
“Ah,” River says, nodding. “So that’s why you canceled your date with the dude from the bookstore.”
“That’s why, and because I really don’t think that would have worked out anyway. He was too shy for me. Which I know is ridiculous coming from me of all people, but I just realized I needed someone more…confident, and Cooper is definitely confident.”
“I’m not going to pry into the intimate details of your sex life, but that truly sounds like he’s deliciously confident in all the right ways in the bedroom.”
She waggles her brows, and I giggle.
Gosh, I feel like I’m doing that so much lately. Giggling. Like a teenager who just fell in love for the first time.
Oh crap.
“I’m in love with Cooper.”
The words hit my own ears, and everything clicks into place.
I am madly in love with Cooper Bennett.
My best friend since I was fifteen. The same guy who has been there through everything. The aftermath of my parents’ divorce. All the embarrassing tribulations of high school. My first crush and my first boyfriend. He was there to hold me when my grandparents passed. When I lost my virginity to that asshole Bobby John. Hell, he moved halfway across the country just to go to college with me.
He’s been there for all of it.
He’s my rock. He’s my person.
My everything.
River and Maya exchange a glance—then burst out laughing at the same time.
“We know,” my boss says once they calm down.
“You do?”
Maya nods. “Yeah, it’s kind of obvious. It’s been obvious.”
“It has?”
“For as long as we’ve known you, and you can believe me on that. I know something about repressed feelings,” River tells me with a wink. “I’ve never seen two people so attuned to one another before. Whenever you’re in a room together, it’s like nobody else matters. You drift toward one another. You look at each other with this whole other level of understanding. Like he’s your other half and you’re his.”
He is.
“I second all of that,” Maya agrees. “I actually thought you two were dating for several months before River informed me you were just friends. I didn’t believe her at first, because I just couldn’t imagine how you weren’t dating.”
Now that I’m with Cooper, I can’t imagine how it’s possible either.
“Have you told him yet?” River asks.
I shake my head. “No. I mean, we’ve said it before, but that was…you know…”
“Before.” She nods. “And that’s completely different.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about what his moms said, about how we need to be careful because there’s a lot at stake between us now.
Our history and our hearts.
Before, losing Cooper would have been awful.
Now? Losing him would be completely devastating.
And I don’t think I’d ever come back from that.
All I can do is hope he feels the same about me.
“That makes sense. I know I’d be scared as hell to fall for my best friend like that. Can you imagine if things didn’t work out? You’d lose your boyfriend and your best friend all in one fell swoop. I mean, yikes. I—”
“Maya!” River hisses, nodding toward me in a clear OMG shut up gesture. “You are so not helpful.”
Maya winces. “Oops.” She shoots me a weak smile. “Just ignore me. I’m—”