by Lucia Jordan
“Jen?” he whispered on her hair, his lips pressing to the top of her head. “I'm glad you called me.”
Jenny pursed her lips and fought the tears threatening to form a torrential fall down her cheeks. God, why am I so emotional? She felt broken. She felt safe. “Are you?”
She knew how to spoil a perfectly good moment. “Shut up, Jenny.”
She chuckled and tilted her head up. Her face ended up closer to his than she had projected, but he didn’t even glance anywhere but into her eyes.
At least one of us isn’t a pervert. “Thank you, Coop.”
“If you say that one more time…” he threatened ominously and she bit back a smile.
“You’ll throw me out?”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’ll make you do the dishes for a month.”
She laughed. “A month! Let’s hope I get out of your hair before that.”
She lay her head on his shoulder again and he stroked her arm. “Even if you land a job tomorrow, you’re not going anywhere for a while. I’ve missed you.” He inhaled her scent deeply and his eyes opened in shock. His body responded in a way that he didn’t want it to respond. His cock tightened, and his navel was alive with need. He felt her nearness differently. It was no longer familial warmth. It was more…
He pursed his lips and fought to think of something else, but the throb in his cock kept growing. No, stop. He almost groaned in utter helplessness when she stroked his stomach from over his shirt. His abs flexed. Jeez, Jenny! Don’t touch me! Her fingers were so close to his dick. Just five inches lower and she would find it rock hard in his jeans.
He wanted to distance himself from her lest he did something utterly, mindlessly stupid, but he couldn’t find the strength. Luckily, Jenny pulled away. “What time do you go to work?”
He gaped at her, his face strained as he combated the ache in his dick. “Around eight or nine in the morning. Why?”
“When I got here, it was nearly five o’clock and you were in your PJs. What time did you get back?”
“I usually come back around seven, but when I got your call in the morning I came home.”
“Why?”
He sighed. Because I was worried sick about you. Because the sound of you crying was trapped in my brain and repeating itself until I couldn’t stay in my office anymore. Because I was pissed off at the people surrounding you and aching for you to make your way to my place, so you never had to think that you had nowhere to go. “I had to meet someone.”
A light bulb went off in Jenny’s brain. She considered Cooper almost accusingly and looked away. He was an incredibly hot, apparently very successful man. She had invaded his bachelor pad and hadn’t even thought twice about it. What if he has a girlfriend? What if he has women over and I’m here?
“A girlfriend?”
He laughed. “No, Jenny.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?” She wanted to know in case a woman dropped by and misunderstood the situation between her and Cooper.
“Umm…” He thought for a while.
“You have to think if you have a girlfriend?”
“No, not really.”
“No you don’t have a girlfriend or no you don’t have to think?”
“Both!” he said forcefully and she nodded.
“I feel so bad imposing on you.”
“Will you shut up already? You're not imposing. I don’t feel like you’ve crowded the space and I sure as hell won’t have you staying anywhere but here. I don’t have a girlfriend, and I don’t usually have…people up here.”
A giggle burst past her lips. “People?”
He knew she had deliberately misunderstood. “No. A person, one at a time. I never had a woman up here,” he finally explained laughingly and she joined in. The sweet sound of her mirth sounded through his apartment and seeped through his flesh to warm him. “But I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“I just wanted to know beforehand if there was going to be a girlfriend coming over… and we were going to have a bad situation on our hands.”
He shook his head vehemently no. “No one’s coming here.”
She nodded. It felt like she was with the old Cooper now, the one she could share anything with. She was transported to another time, when there were no work troubles, no relationships falling apart with deceit, and no heartbreak. It was just her and Coop, playing on their own and having a blast.
She casually placed her hand on his knee. Cooper instantly looked away as if he was thinking and she took another sip of her beer.
Cooper was not only thinking, he was planning on bolting out of his own apartment and never coming back. Never in his life had he had to hold back while he had the urge to kiss a girl. Hell, he had never felt so desperate. This girl with the long, wavy brown hair and brown eyes was making him nervous and jittery and he didn’t enjoy feeling like a teenager again at all.
“What about you?” he blurted out, unable to quench his curiosity.
“What about me?”
“Do you have a boyfriend?” His eyes roved wistfully over her face. It had gotten leaner, her cheekbones more pronounced. He was glad she wasn’t looking at him, and he used the opportunity to study her pink soft mouth to his fill. She had had round lips as a child, which made her look like she was always pouting. As a twenty-seven year old woman, the lips had flattened out and become fuller, and he had to swallow to suppress the need to taste them.
Darkness clouded her face and she glanced away. “Not anymore.”
Good! “Okay. So fresh start!” he said stupidly, insensitively, and a horrified smile spread across her face.
“Yeah! Woohoo! Broke up with my boyfriend! Let’s celebrate!” she mocked and he laughed out loud, doubling over.
“I didn’t mean it like that!”
“I know.” She fell against his shoulder again as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and his arm automatically claimed her slim shoulders. They fit together perfectly, and he was wholly content with just holding her. Have I ever done this before? No. He had never just sat there talking and clutching a woman like he was scared she was going to disappear. Especially while they were alone in a place, which had a bed nearby.
“You have an interview at noon tomorrow,” he announced to subdue his erratic thoughts.
“What?” She gaped at his face in confusion.
The nearness did not help his purpose at all. Maybe I should’ve waited until we were slightly further apart. “I called an old friend and asked if he had a vacancy at his bank. Luckily, they do, and it’s just your thing. Finance, money, accounts.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“What?”
“How did you find me an interview so soon?”
“I told you, I called a friend and he had a friend and so it happened.”
“At noon, is it?”
“Mhmm.”
“I’ll need a map of the city. Do you have one?”
“Not really, but I could get you one in the morning…or I could drive you there myself.”
Her lips parted. “But you have work in the morning.”
“No, I’m not going in tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Because you just got here, and I want to spend some time with you.”
Her heart melted. The gorgeous, incredibly sensitive man before her had taken a leave from his job to devote time to her. She was flattered. “You don’t have to do that.”
He took her hand and sandwiched it between both of his. “I don’t have to but I want to.”
Their eyes met again, but his time, neither of them could look away. Warm electricity traveled through his orbs to her limbs and she saw Cooper’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.
Not a good idea, Cooper. You always mess things up. You can’t risk it with Jenny. “So, am I taking you?” He broke the awkward silence. Am I taking you? What is wrong with me?
She sighed, feeling unnervingly giddy in her toes. She vowed to never look directly into his eyes a
gain. They were magically addictive. Dangerously so.
“If you’re sure it won’t bother you.”
“It won’t.” He casually slid away from her to maintain a safer distance from her very appealing body. She’s heartbroken and very sensitive. I’m not going to give her something else to worry about. I’m all she has. I have to behave.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” It was better if they were out in a public place. The novelty of having her around was clouding his judgment.
Her face brightened up instantly. “Yes!”
Ten minutes later Jenny was outside, inhaling the aroma of New York. She loved New York, always had. But every time she visited, she hadn’t called Cooper. She had been too busy, too involved in her own life, immersed in her relationship, in her work. Cooper had called her every Christmas, on every birthday, and although she had been ecstatic every time to hear from him, she had never attempted anything for him. And when she finally needed him, he hadn’t wasted a moment to give her his hand.
She turned to smile at him adoringly and he grinned back at the very obvious expression. Linking her hand through his arm, she held him close while they walked. He had been busy too, but he had never forgotten her. With a sinking heart and guilty conscience, she faced the fact that she had let him go completely. But he hadn’t.
She grasped him tighter and for a while, Jenny forgot all her troubles. She had an interview the next day, and she had a bed to sleep in, which she wasn’t expected to share with her moronic ex-boyfriend.
**
“Do you think I overdid the makeup?” Jenny asked for the second time, and he put the car in parking, switching off the engine.
“What makeup?” he answered just like he had earlier, and she scowled.
“I'm nervous. Interviews always make me nervous. It’s like people will watch everything…nitpick petty details. It’s scary.”
“You look great. Don’t worry.” He meant it. In her beige suit and starched white shirt, she looked like a different person. He had been taken aback when she came out of her bedroom that morning. The tousled brown hair was swept down her back neatly, pinned on top of her head to keep it off her face. Her subtle pink lipstick and barely-there mascara and blush was impeccable. If she had sauntered into his office, he would’ve hired her on the spot. But then again, he was dreadfully biased where she was concerned.
She stepped out of the car, outside the small but impressive building of O’Malley Trust. “Aren’t you coming?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to take your sidekick along on a job interview.”
She chuckled. “No, I mean inside the bank at least.”
“I’ll stay in the car. Take your time.”
“Okay.” She breathed harshly, smiling, her full lips making his heart flip over.
“And Jen…you look like a million bucks. Flaunt it.”
She blushed with giddy happiness. Coming from his lips, she suddenly felt like a million bucks. “If all goes well…my treat. McDonalds. Cause that’s all I can afford until I actually get the job.”
He laughed. “Done! Go now!”
Two hours later, they were sitting inside McDonalds. Jenny took a sip of her cappuccino. “I feel good about this job, I really do. I can’t believe how quickly you arranged one but thank you. It’s really awesome of you.”
“I did nothing.”
She rolled her eyes and glanced at his midnight blue suit for the hundredth time, unable to keep her eyes off it. It fit him flawlessly, accentuating his broad chest and wide shoulders. With the button on his jacket undone, his shirt showed underneath, hugging his taught stomach. She could almost see through all the layers of fabric covering him. She had seen him half naked, and the trousers hanging from his hips when she arrived hadn’t really hidden much of the nether region either.
He caught her staring at his chest and she blushed. “Why did you wear a suit when it was my interview?” she improvised quickly and he chuckled.
For a moment, he had thought she was checking him out just like he was checking her out. “Because I have to stop at my office for a few minutes. There’s a Japanese investor waiting for me.”
“Like…right now?”
“Yup.” He sipped his coffee.
“So why are you sitting here wasting time with me? You should go. I’ll take a cab back to your place.”
“Not a big deal. He can wait for a while. And I’ll be inside for just fifteen minutes max so you can wait for me in the lobby. If that’s not a problem.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go.”
She pried his coffee out of his hand and made him quicken his pace, chiding him about not taking his job seriously.
An hour later, she mutely marched behind him as they entered his apartment. The large metal letters outside his office building had almost made her head spin. Farrell Corp. Cooper actually owned the place he had stopped at. The high-rise building housing the headquarters of his corporation had been impressive to say the least, and she was even more daunted now than she had been before. She didn’t know how to deal with it. She didn’t even understand why she had to actually deal with it and not just brush it off as a minor detail. If she had known Cooper was as successful as he evidently was, she would never have mustered up the courage to call him for help.
“Do you mind if I smoke?”
His voice made her turn around. “What?”
“Smoke. I usually smoke inside but I wasn’t sure if you’d mind.”
“Why would I mind? It’s your apartment. Smoke away,” she said sullenly.
“What did I do now?”
She realized how sulky she was. “No nothing. I just…I’ll freshen up.”
“Jen?” She turned, pasting a cordial smile on her face. “Why do I feel like you don’t want to be here?”
“I…” I’m so ungrateful. “I do…I just feel bad being here, cramping your space.”
“It’s a big space, Jen. I don’t mind.”
She bit her lip. “Why didn’t you tell me you owned a whole damn corporation instead of just saying you…you let me think you had a job.”
“It didn’t come up. You’ve been here one night. It’s not something to hide.”
“I just…” It was time to be honest. She could manage something; work out some other living arrangements while she found a job. Living with Cooper was not a good idea, especially when being near him made her jittery and nervous.
“Why are you doing this?” she cried out suddenly.
His eyes narrowed to slits, he slid his hands into his pants pockets as he neared her. “What am I doing exactly?”
“Everything! Asking me to stay…helping me!”
“We’re friends, Jen.”
“But I’m a terrible friend! I never called you back, I never came to see you, and now when I’m a needy jobless loser I come banging on your door for help!”
A gasp escaped her as he reached for her face. His palms caressed her cheeks warily, while his eyes bore holes into hers. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. You matter to me, Jenny. You always have.”
Silence followed his admission and he wondered if he had said too much. But words were tumbling over themselves in his brain, fighting to be let out. “When you called me, I was happy that you had called me. But then you started crying. I can’t…I can’t see you cry. No! Not happening! I wont allow you to cry over any fucking job or any worthless-piece-of-shit guy who doesn’t deserve to be within a hundred feet of you. You’re too...precious.”
The words were fierce, and she knew he meant them. He didn’t seem like the kind of man to say these kinds of things, but he was saying them to her. Her heart twisted in her chest and her breasts tingled in excitement. What is he saying? What’s going on?
“I don’t feel precious, Cooper. I feel like a moron. I feel like I’m using you- ”
“Shut up.”
“No! I mean it! I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking advantage of you, because I feel like I am and I
hate the feeling.”
He dragged her face up and stepped closer. Jenny’s heart skipped a beat as he gazed at her lips. “You’re not taking advantage of me. I don’t think that at all. But I think I’m going to take advantage of you being so close to me.”
He bent his head and kissed her softly on the lips. Her eyes refused to close and she stared at his face, his cheek, his brows, as his lips forayed gently over hers, exploring the contours.
Cooper had wanted to assuage her insecurities, but the moment his lips met hers, he knew that it was a lame excuse. There was a storm brewing in Cooper’s body ever since he had laid eyes on her, and he had just given in to it. Stop, Cooper! Stop! The voice in his head was screaming and ranting. But she tastes so good. Her lips parted slightly as she gasped, and he seized the moment to slip his tongue past them, tenderly, timidly, waiting for her to push him back.
For years, he had questioned his feelings. The feeling that he was in love with Jenny, the same Jenny he hadn’t seen since he was thirteen years old. It was a stupid idea, and Cooper wasn’t stupid. It had complicated his relationships with every woman he dated. His feelings always seemed feigned, like he was ushering them to the surface when they cowered and diminished. The only time he truly felt connected to someone was when he thought of Jenny.
He was taking a monumental risk. The longer his lips stayed on Jenny’s mouth, the longer he caressed her face, the more he was on the verge of pushing her onto the couch and taking what he fiercely felt was his to begin with. He could lose her completely. He couldn’t afford to risk anything with Jenny.
He lifted his head abruptly, too soon. Jenny shivered, her eyes closing as the air hit her wet lips. “I’m sorry, Jen,” he stammered, swiftly pulling away.
She grabbed the front of his jacket, scrunching up the lapels in her palms to yank him back. “Sorry for…stopping?”
Cooper’s last ounce of control, and his sense, snapped. He felt such fondness, such adoration for her face – for her – that the shattered words coming from her lips made him shake with need. She doesn’t want me to stop. With a groan of surrender, he slid his hands tighter on her nape and held her face imprisoned while his mouth swooped down to claim hers. This time, she parted her lips hungrily, kissing him back. When his tongue entered her mouth, she met it with her own eagerly, and the kiss exploded. His mouth slanted fiercely over hers, swallowing her moan of pleasure.