by L. M. Reid
“Jesus, Mia. No underwear? When were you planning on telling me?”
“When we were at dinner,” I say wickedly.
My hands reach for the hem of my skirt and pull it up giving him everything he needs to help with his task. His head drops between my thighs and the moment I feel his breath against me my hands reach for his head and thread through his hair. With a gentle tug, I pull him closer. The moment his tongue touches me, my head drops to the mattress. “Oh God… Oh Cooper… Don’t. Stop.”
23
Cooper
Standing at the entrance of the restaurant, I adjust myself discreetly. Making sure that Mia was nice and relaxed left me a little uncomfortable to say the least. Now I was going to have to suffer through a dinner with her miserable parents with an erection.
“You okay?” Mia asks glancing back at me.
“Yeah, I’m great. Just uh, have a hard situation that could use some… handling.”
She takes a step back, her ass rubbing against my already hard cock.
“That is not helping,” I tell her.
“Never said I was trying to help.”
“You better behave, Mia. Or I might be tempted to drag you off to the nearest supply closet and have my way with you,” I whisper into her ear. She shivers against me, excited by my little suggestion. That’s my girl a little wild, a lot naughty, and all mine.
“Right this way,” the hostess interrupts us. We follow behind her, my hands trying to keep some sort of contact with Mia the entire way as she tries to nonchalantly resist it.
“Cooper, behave,” she warns. Words I’ve never heard her speak before.
Though when we arrive at the table to the clearly displeased looks of her parents, I understand why. Personally, I don’t give a damn what they think, and Mia shouldn’t either. They lost any right to act as her parents when they shipped her off to live with her grandmother. Still, I know this is important to Mia, showing them that she’s successful and happy – a good daughter. It’s sad that she just can’t see how true that is without having to prove it to these undeserving people.
Before Vivian can scold Mia, I step in. “I’m sorry, we’re late,” I apologize. “I was unexpectedly detained in a very important meeting.”
Mia smiles up at me silently mouthing “thank you” as I pull out her chair for her to sit.
“No problem at all, son,” her father says as he shakes my hand.
Trying to maintain distance from her mother, I quickly toss her a smile, then take my seat next to Mia. My hand drops to her leg and gives it a squeeze of encouragement. Her hand brushes against my thigh, but rather than giving me a squeeze back, she runs her nails along the hardness that is fighting to get out. When I look at her, she’s biting her lip between her teeth. Damn woman. She knows exactly what she does to me and she’s getting pleasure out of torturing me.
Go right ahead baby, I’ll make you pay for it later.
Skipping over any pleasantries, her mother dives right into the criticism portion of the night. The appetizers haven’t even arrived yet and she is already giving Mia some bullshit about what she’s wearing. Mia shifts in her seat. The self-confident woman that is beyond comfortable in her own skin now looks unsure of herself.
“You bought me the dress,” Mia says. Her cheeks are flushed, and I can see the anger in her rising. The sadness always wins out though. She so desperately wants to earn their approval that she doesn’t argue or stick up for herself like she would with anyone else. She just tows the line, lets them tear her down, and then when they’re gone, she has to rebuild herself all over again.
“The Onyx is beautiful, isn’t it?” I interject. It’s a fact that they can’t deny. “Mia handpicked every single detail.”
“It’s a little drab if you ask me,” Vivian replies. “The restaurant seemed nice though. The Scarlet Room, is it?”
“It is. Inspired by none other than Mia herself,” I reply pressing a kiss to Mia’s temple. “She was instrumental in me pulling it together.”
I continue on telling Hudson and Vivian what an asset Mia is to Contemporary Lodging. I explain how she brought the entire project together in under six weeks while still making time to help me. They look thoughtfully at me as I speak.
Then Vivian opens her mouth and when the words come out, I see red. “Really, they should have picked someone with more experience to run such a chic hotel. Mia doesn’t have the poise or ability to…”
“Enough.” My voice is stern and loud enough that several people in the restaurant turn toward us. Vivian stops her rant mid-sentence, her mouth hanging open in shock at my interruption. Hudson is quick to remind me of my manners and that I’m causing a scene. Fuck both of them.
I’ve sat through my fair share of dinners with these people, each one worse than the last and poor Mia stuck at the center of it. Well, not anymore. We aren’t kids and they sure as hell aren’t parents.
“It’s okay, Coop,” Mia says softly.
“It’s not okay. None of this is okay.” Mia places her hand on my forearm to calm me, but I am far past the point of no return.
“Quiet down,” Hudson orders.
“No. I am not going to sit here and have you speak to her like that,” I say. “Mia is an amazing woman who deserves your respect, not your criticism. If you can’t give that to her, then you don’t deserve to have her in your life. She will not be your punching bag anymore.”
Mia places her hand in mine as I help her to her feet. “Unless you can start to act like real parents, I suggest you stay away from her.”
With our hands joined, I lead us out of the restaurant.
“I can’t believe you did that,” she says. She’s smiling and happy and whatever the hell kind of scene I just caused in the restaurant becomes even more worth it.
“I can’t believe you did that,” she says.
“I can’t believe I let you go through that,” I tell her.
“What happened in there – that isn’t your fault.” She steps into my arms. “Thank you for defending me. No one has ever done that before.”
“They will never do that to you again, understood?”
She nods. A smile forms on her lips as she looks at me. “Kind of a turn on when you act all in charge.”
“Come home with me,” I tell her.
The invitation isn’t because I want her, or because she’s turned on. It’s so much more than that. It’s needing to have her with me and never wanting to let her go.
“I’d like that,” she smiles at me.
When we reach my apartment, it dawns on me that she’s never been here before.
“Nice place,” she says as she looks around.
There isn’t much to see, I’m not one for decorating. The walls are mostly bare except for the photos my mom hung and the furniture is all black leather with a big screen television in the center of it all.
“It’s not much, but it’s home,” I say as I head into the kitchen to grab us a couple beers. When I return to the living room, she’s standing at the mantle holding a photo of me and the guys in her hand. It’s a picture from college, graduation to be exact.
“The only thing that would make that picture better was if you were in it,” I say as I hand her a beer.
She quickly places the photo down pretending that seeing it didn’t affect her. “Is that a balcony?” she asks pointing to the French doors.
I gesture for her to check it out. Following her into the night sky, a soft glow casts around her from the city lights. Everything I have spent my entire life fighting disappears in that instant. This woman standing before me is all that matters. Life without her wasn’t a damn bit as amazing as it is with her. I don’t want to live like that again. I won’t be without her.
“Thank you for tonight. For defending me, for going along with that ridiculous charade,” she says taking the beer from my hand.
“Wasn’t much of a charade,” I tell her.
“Whatever you want to call it, I app
reciate it.”
“I want to be with you,” I blurt out. She begins to laugh until she sees that I’m not joining in. “I’m serious. I want us to be together, be a couple, whatever you want to call it. I’m tired of you walking out on me every chance you get. I hate that you keep me at arm’s length. I want more, Mia. I want… us.”
“You don’t mean that” she says softly. Her face is filled with hope, confusion, and just a bit of fear.
I step toward her, the back of my hand gently stroking her cheek. “But I do.”
“You’ve always been against relationships. Why… why now? What’s changed?”
“Me. I’d like to say I’m not that guy anymore, that the idea of being in a relationship doesn’t scare me, but it does. What scares me more – is not having you in my life.”
“As sweet as that is, that doesn’t mean you want to be with me. You’re just afraid to be without me.”
“I’ve been without you for six years, Mia. And I did just fine that whole time. Sure, I thought about you, even missed you, but I was good. Or at least I thought I was. The minute that you walked back into my life… I realized that my life is better with you in it. I’m better.”
Mia takes a deep breath as though she’s breathing in my words, her body processing what they mean or if they’re even true. I’ve never made things easy on her, so I’m willing to give her all the time she needs to think about it. As longs as she does just that – thinks about it.
“I just want a chance Mia. A chance to prove to you that we can work, that you matter to me.”
“You’re sure? Like really sure? Because I don’t think my heart can handle you changing your mind.”
“I won’t make any promises that I can’t keep. I don’t know how this is going to play out mostly because I’ve never done it before. But I can promise you that if I am going down this road, you are the only person in the world that I want to go down it with. I’m going to fuck this up at some point, we both know that, but I promise to always try.”
“You’re serious.” I nod. “I don’t… I don’t know what to say. I never thought…”
She’s rambling in incoherent sentences. I caught her off guard. I caught me off guard too.
The idea of being in a relationship had been ping-ponging in my head for a while now. After spending the night with her, it became a non-stop thought. Sex with Mia, it wasn’t enough. I wanted more. So, I contemplated giving this whole relationship thing a try. I just never expected to actually follow through with it.
Then her parents showed up, her mother more awful than I recall. The way they looked at her and spoke it made me sick. That’s not what parents do. Christ, if my parents, real parents, had been at dinner tonight, they would have been gushing over Mia and how amazing she is. That’s what she deserves. That’s what her parents should be giving her.
So, I threw my hat in the ring and told them we were dating. They had always liked me, or what they knew of me at least. So being her boyfriend seemed like a logical solution. Then as the night went on, it just felt right. Not that much about the dinner itself was right, but the Mia and I being together part sure as hell was.
Now, here I am standing before her taking a leap that I never thought I would take. Nothing compared to what I am sure is about to come.
“Breathe, baby,” I tell her.
“Tell me this is real?” she says begging me to confirm what I’ve already told her. She needs assurances. I get it. After her parents and even how I treated her, it makes sense. I am more than happy to give her whatever it is she needs to feel secure with me. Even if that means I have to cross boundaries I never thought I would.
“It’s real. One hundred percent real.”
Her arms wrap around my neck as she jumps into my arms. Her lips meet mine in a deep kiss. With her in my arms, I carry her to my bedroom. As much as I love wild sex with Mia, wherever and whenever, this moment calls for something more.
“Strip,” I command her.
She turns away from me as she undoes the zipper of her dress allowing the material to fall and pool at her feet. My hands are on her in an instant, grabbing her and flipping her onto her back. She giggles as she props herself up on elbows. A hand comes up to cup my face then reaches the top of my head and gives it a shove.
I settle myself between her thighs. I feel her hands rest on my head. “Hands on the bed,” I tell her. She starts to protest until my tongue slides across her slick folds, “Just until you need more than what I’m giving you. Though, I assure you, I’ve got this covered.”
She drops her hands to the bed and fists the sheets. The moment she does I cover my mouth over her, a loud moan escaping her. Her head falls back, her eyes flutter shut, and her body relaxes. Long, slow strokes of my tongue lick her entirely, stopping at her clit. I focus my tongue here applying a little pressure until she moans, then a flick of my tongue. My fingers find her opening and slide in slowly, then out the same way. There’s a protest on her lips, but I finger fuck her into silence by pressing two fingers inside her this time, before I pull out again. She groans in utter dissatisfaction. I can’t help the smile that crosses my lips, the one that already knows she’s on the edge and I can’t help but want to mess with her a little, torture her in the best ways. I want to make her feel, I want to make her happy, and when I’m satisfied that she’s there, I want to make her come on my face.
“More,” she begs. “Please, Cooper.”
I slide my tongue over her in a long single motion before I look up at her. “Are you not enjoying this?”
“I am I just… Oh fuck,” she says when I move my fingers a little faster inside her. She presses her hips against my hand.
“Baby, I assure you…”
“Stop assuring me and just fuck me already,” she cries out as she moves against my fingers again.
I pull my fingers out and shove them back in with force this time causing her to cry out. My tongue pressed firmly against her clit, my fingers stroking every inch of her insides. Her body moves, it jerks, it convulses under my touch. I can feel the inside of her pussy tighten around my fingers, quick pulses of her orgasm rolling through her until she falls back on the bed.
I taste her, clean her with my tongue before kissing my way back up her body, stopping at her perfect tits and covering them with my mouth. Her body is still electrified from her first orgasm, so much that I’m fairly certain that just my mouth on her nipple and my cock pressing against her has me well on my way to her second. She cries out again. Her breathing ragged, her pulse quick.
“Wow.”
My lips find hers. “Wow, huh?”
“Don’t get too full of yourself.”
“I’m not, but you will be.” I kiss her again before sitting back on my knees. I pull her body to mine, legs flanked against my hips, dripping wet pussy at my cock. “May I?”
“Yes, please, now,” she tells me.
I slide into her inch by inch, slow and steady. I hold her hips in place because I can already see her trying to move further onto me, take all of me before I want her to. This tug and war of control, it’s hot, but unnecessary. I falter between letting her take what she wants, how she wants it, and needing to make love to her, worship her like no one ever has before. Including me. She deserves to be worshiped and loved – over and over again.
“Cooper.” My name is a plea on her lips. “Please,” she whimpers, her fingers clawing at me, wanting to pull me to her, force me to drive into her.
I pull out, then give her exactly what she wants. I slam into her, a strangled cry falling from her lips. Buried deep in the warm folds of her pussy, I settle there, allowing her body to adjust to me for a moment before moving inside her. Her hands fly to her tits and massage them as I barely move inside her. I watch her, body on fire, heart on her sleeve, fucking perfection splayed out in my bed. I’m not going to be able to hold on much longer. The sensation of her around my bare cock is too much, the slow movements allowing me to feel every goddamn perfe
ct inch of her has me on the edge. I lean over her, my face just inches above hers.
“Mia, look at me,” I say. Her eyes flutter open and lock with mine.
I kiss her, our tongues dancing together, our bodies gently rocking against each other. The deeper our connection the more intense this feels. My balls tighten up, I’m going to come, and I can’t control it anymore. My cock throbs inside her, her pussy tightening around it and I’m done. I come deep inside her, my orgasm fucking hitting me like a freight train.
I pull out, fall onto my back, and shut my eyes. I feel a shift on the bed and assume that she’s going to shower or clean herself up. Instead, I feel her tongue on me, on my extremely exhausted cock. Even if I wanted to, there was no getting hard right now. But something about her tasting us was fucking sensual as hell and I was storing that shit for use later.
As we lie in bed, her fast asleep in my arms, I wonder what the fuck is wrong with me that I waited so long for this. Having her here it’s everything.
24
Cooper
The smile on my face is unstoppable. Who knew that happiness like this could exist? Maybe I have been wrong about the whole love and relationship thing. I’m still fucking terrified, but hey, I have Mia in every single way that I want her. Physically, emotionally, she’s mine.
Never in a million years would I have thought I would end up here.
“What is with that goofy grin on your face?” Edith asks as she walks into my office. “And don’t tell me it’s because you got laid. You’ve been doing that plenty lately. So, what gives?”
The woman sure as hell doesn’t stop to pull any punches. She goes right in for the kill.
I sit back in my chair and put my hands behind my back. “As a matter of fact, I did get laid last night, several times actually.”
“Oh, to be young again,” Edith says wistfully.
“But you’re right. There’s more.”
“There is?” the excitement in her voice is undeniable. The poor woman has been pining for this moment. So much so that she pulls up a chair right next to me and sits on the edge of her seat as she waits impatiently for me to continue.