Cooper trembled, his eyes slipping closed, and felt Park nudge his dick again. “Tell me what you want,” Park said, gently but firmly.
“Mouth, please,” Cooper said roughly.
“Mmm. Put you in a bowtie and you’re all manners,” Park said, kneeling back down behind him, spreading Cooper’s legs until Park could slot his dick between his cheeks, gliding back and forth.
“Waist up you look entirely respectable.” He tapped the head insistently against Cooper’s hole, jerking himself off against him. His voice was getting grittier. “Waist down you’re presenting to me like a good little cock slut.”
Cooper moaned, pushing back, and felt heat splash across his ass, and then again, followed by the slow slide of it down his crack, his balls. Park made a small, wounded sound and seemed to gather what he could and push it insistently into Cooper’s hole, until it was all just too much and Cooper whined, pleading.
Park started to roll Cooper onto his back, but one brush of floor against the forgotten bump on the back his head had Cooper crying out and jerking back to his hands and knees.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Park said, kissing his temple apologetically. “Here.”
He lay on his own back and urged Cooper’s leg over so that he was straddling Park’s head. “Fuck my face.” He guided Cooper’s dick to his lips and licked the tip greedily. “Use my mouth. Use me. Use—”
Cooper reached down to carefully grip a handful of Park’s hair and, with his good hand against the door to support himself, finally, finally pushed his cock in.
His whole body convulsed with the relief and his vision went momentarily fuzzy, unfocused. Cooper just froze there for a second, letting Park suckle him, before he felt one hand come up to grip his ass.
Park tugged, urging him to thrust, so Cooper did. Holding Park’s head in place, he humped his face carefully, feeling the tight, wet grip and give of his mouth. He didn’t stand a chance of lasting. He’d been strung along the edge too long and Park felt too good.
“I’m—” He tried to pull back, but Park dragged him back down, urging him farther, deeper, tilting his head to open his throat.
Cooper’s orgasm didn’t hit him so much as he hit it at a running tackle. He felt it sweep through his body like a wildfire of paradoxes. He was the most powerful creature on earth; he was utterly defenseless in the grasp of his own pleasure. He was flayed open and terrifyingly vulnerable; nothing could ever hurt him again.
Soon, the flood of hormones receded like the tide, and Cooper pulled out, fascinated by the stretch of spit and come that tied him to Park’s lower lip like a thread of fate, until it collapsed. Park coughed beneath him, and slight tears escaped the corners of his eyes. Despite this, he seemed reluctant for Cooper to dismount, clutching at his legs.
“Just for a minute,” Park whispered, voice a gravel of glass. “Just—hold me down for a minute. Please.”
Cooper thumbed a tear away, slid down and positioned himself lying on top of Park, so that the full weight of Cooper’s body covered his. He held Park’s wrists, one in each hand, pressing them firmly to the floor by Park’s head, then tucked his face into Park’s neck. Cooper dragged his mouth and teeth across the skin there in the rough draft of a kiss and felt Park’s body go utterly lax beneath his.
“You are my favorite part of living,” Cooper whispered. “I’d do anything for you.” It was a confession more than anything else. Not necessarily something he thought was right or took pride in, but dug from the deepest and most private part of his mind, unsightly and true.
“I’m yours,” Park murmured simply. And for the first time, Cooper didn’t see it as having a power and dominance over him that he’d never wanted, but as a rare and fragile responsibility that Park had gifted Cooper in love.
Chapter Nine
Apparently, one did not arrive fashionably late to a conservation gala. When Cooper and Park showed up—still very much on time despite second showers, some spot cleaning and quite a lot of emergency ironing—the Smithsonian Natural History rotunda was already teeming with people.
It had been a long time since Cooper had last been here, but he remembered this room directly at the museum’s entrance. An enormous, four-story, round space all white stone and marble, with two levels of overlooking balconies, and columns out the wazoo. The room was lit dramatically by blue and purple lights and vague hints of nature were projected all over the stone balconies and ceiling. Everyone appeared to be in tuxedos or long dresses, and though some people had incorporated little hints of animal print into their attire, no one was wearing anything remotely Halloween-y. Close call, there.
In fact, the creepiest thing about the room was the taxidermy elephant near the center, beneath which an empty stage had been set up. Across the space, under one of the balconies, musicians were performing big-band music and waitstaff flitted through the crowd with platters of hors d’oeuvres. There was a small number of tables and chairs scattered around the room as well, but the majority of people appeared to be standing or even dancing in the center.
Cooper eyed the elephant. “Odd choice of venue, isn’t it? Help us save animals, while enjoying a cocktail under this poached one.”
“Maybe it’s part of their point,” Park said. “Or maybe it was just cheaper to have it here. Either way, I don’t think tonight’s animal guests mind.”
Cooper raised an eyebrow. “Why Oliver, making digs at yonder gentry? The riffraff is rubbing off on you.”
“Yes, you are. Approximately once a day. But I was actually referring to nonhuman animals.” Park said, waving the pamphlet they’d been handed at the door. “Apparently you can get your picture with two different special guests.”
“Is that—are they okay, do you think?”
“The people must be entertained. And according to the schedule, the animals’ gig is only an hour,” Park said, still reading. “There’s the raffle draw soon, and then a short screening followed by some words from Genevieve. Also, a silent auction, so if you want to bid on one of these resort getaways or oil paintings of flamingos, now would be a good time to tell me.”
“You’re about to own a resort,” Cooper reminded him.
“We’re about to own a resort,” Park corrected, scanning the auction offerings. “And I was thinking more along the lines of a honeymoon. There must be a place somewhere in here you can’t manage to stumble upon a murder plot. Look, three nights in Paris? Mmm, perhaps not. Knowing you, the hotel will end up being in the Rue Morgue.” Park effortlessly snagged a couple of miniature squares of baklava from a passing waiter and handed one to Cooper.
“Hirano isn’t scheduled to speak?” Cooper asked, nibbling at his, tasting cinnamon and walnuts.
“Not that it says here. But she must be around. We should speak to her soon. As well as Arthur Crane.” A frown line appeared between Park’s eyes. Cooper had filled him in on what Neil had said about Cola. Like Cooper, Park found it perplexing more than anything else.
Cooper wanted to promise him they would speak to Arthur and get all the answers Park wanted, but of course he couldn’t. Instead, Cooper did a scan around them briefly, then reached up and thumbed away the tiniest flake of phyllo from Park’s lip. The frown line disappeared and Park’s gaze shot to him, surprised.
“You had a little something,” Cooper said, bringing his thumb to his own lips and sucking it clean. Park watched and his eyes got a bit more gold.
“Thank you,” he said. His voice was still slightly rough from earlier, and it sent an embarrassing wave of smugness through Cooper. Park cleared his throat. “We should—”
“Yes,” Cooper agreed quickly, in danger of getting distracted.
Together they stepped out of the shadows beneath the balcony by the entrance and began to thread through the crowd, looking for Hirano or either of the Cranes. What Cooper wasn’t expecting was someone else to find them first.
Cooper turned to find Sophie, resplendent in some kind of flowy, cobalt blue, fuchsia and yellow patterned dress, her hair now in long braids worn half up, half down.
“We’re working,” Cooper protested, allowing Sophie to buss his cheek. “You look gorgeous.”
“So do you.” She winked and pulled Park in for a quick kiss as well. “You’re not here to discover another body, are you? Because the keepers have their hands full keeping the critters calm as it is. These people came with an agenda: to get shitfaced and touch animals.”
“Why does everyone keep implying I go places to find bodies? We’re just here to ask a few questions.”
“Well, come this way and answer a few questions first,” Sophie said. “Your dad has been driving me up a wall trying to find out about this case of yours.”
Cooper stared at her. “He’s here? How? Why?”
“Just because you spat at my offer of free tickets doesn’t mean everyone hates an open bar, light refreshments and rubbing shoulders,” Sophie said, guiding them through the room to one of the other arches leading to a far emptier hall that seemed to contain dinosaur bones, of all things.
The music and crowd sounds were muted here, and Cooper could see his dad and Dean standing in a small group of guests listening intently to a woman in a black zoo polo holding a very large snake. There were another three zoo personnel standing around as well, on hand to help and limiting the number of people who could walk up to the snake at once. Among them, Cooper recognized Ryan, who waved cheerfully, causing a number of the guests to look as well, including Dean and finally Ed, whose expression became almost comically surprised.
Dean walked over, Ed shuffling after him after a moment’s pause. “Damn! Looking snazzy, you two!” Dean said, snapping his fingers.
“Coop,” Ed said. “You look...so...” He just sort of trailed off blinking, bewildered. Then looked at Park. “Oliver.” He held out his hand as if to shake, then his arms went up for a hug, then dropped and fiddled indecisively with the lapel of his old suit jacket—the same one he’d worn for Dean and Sophie’s wedding and, very possibly, Cooper’s high school graduation.
Park smiled as if he and he alone hadn’t noticed the awkwardness. “It’s good to see you all again.”
“Are you here working? Is this the third leg of the quest?” Dean asked, then lowered his voice. “No one’s dead, are they?”
“We’re just here to support a good cause,” Park said mildly, Cooper being too busy gearing up for the biggest eye roll of his life to respond himself.
“Might as well get your money’s worth then,” Sophie said, gesturing as some of the guests left to return to the main room. “Come meet the python. She’s very mellow. Are you comfortable with snakes, Oliver?”
They all started to walk over to replace the guests who’d left, but Ed held Cooper back. “Just a minute, I’d like to talk to you.”
“Dad, now’s not a good time—”
“It’ll just take a sec. Gosh, Coop, I—” Ed stopped, clearly catching sight of the hand brace. He grabbed Cooper’s forearm and held it up so he could cup the hand between them. “What happened? What is this?”
“It’s nothing. A little sprain. I’m fine.”
Ed opened his mouth, closed it, nodded. “Of course you’re fine. You always are.”
He still held Cooper’s injured hand in his, though, as tenderly as he would a newborn. “Do you remember when you broke your wrist in second grade and didn’t tell anyone? Just came downstairs the next day with a bunch of socks taped around it. Your mom asked what happened and you said, ‘I fixed myself.’”
Ed laughed. “We all thought it was another one of your games you played in your head, and it took until that night, when you wouldn’t take it off to shower, to realize your whole goddamn hand was swinging by a thread. Christ, she was angry at you. Complained all week about it. I said, well, at least we never have to worry about him being too dependent, and she got angry at me, too. ‘He shouldn’t be afraid to show us when he’s hurt,’ that’s what she said. ‘His own parents. If he doesn’t even trust us to help him now, what about when he’s grown and scarier things happen? Will we even know he’s okay? Will anyone?’”
Cooper felt an unexpected tightening in his throat at the reminder that there was a time when his mother had once speculated what he’d be like as an adult, what their continued relationship would look like, and that ultimately she never got to find out.
Ed also seemed to need to take a breath. “When I saw you walk up before, you looked so...grown up. I know you’ve been grown up for a long time. Longer than maybe you should have had to be, I don’t know, but you look more settled in your skin now. Confident. Relaxed.”
Ed smoothed his hand over Cooper’s brace gently, then picked a tiny bit of fuzz out of the exposed Velcro. “I just think your mom would be really, really happy that you found someone you trust enough to see beneath the socks, you know what I’m saying?”
“Yeah,” Cooper said, voice a little rough. “Okay.”
Ed patted his arm, giving them both a moment. “Anyway, all I wanted to say before was that Dean told me you’re freaking out about the wedding and what other people will think or want to happen.”
“Did he,” Cooper said, narrowing his eyes at an unsuspecting Dean petting the python’s back with two gentle fingers and laughing at something Park was saying. Judas.
“Don’t go getting mad at your brother now. He just told me so I’d back off, and he’s right. I’m sorry I’ve been making you feel like this has anything to do with anyone but you and Oliver. You just do whatever feels right and ignore what anyone else wants, including me. People will think what they think regardless, and that doesn’t mean they have any kind of special insight into who you are or what your relationship is, all right?”
Cooper nodded, not really sure what to say.
Still, that seemed to satisfy Ed. “Right,” he said. “That’s it. You ready to go see this snake or what?”
“In a minute, you go ahead,” Cooper said, and Ed escaped, perhaps just as grateful as Cooper was for a moment alone to regain his composure. If he walked over there right now, he might do something horrifying like start sniffling, or worse, hug someone. Unfortunately, his solitude didn’t last long.
“Everything okay?” Ryan had snuck up behind him and was blinking at him with that wide-eyed puppy-dog look. “It looked like you guys were getting pretty intense over here.”
“Fine. Just having a personal conversation,” Cooper said with more edge than he’d intended, and immediately felt bad when Ryan’s face fell. “Sorry. Long day.”
“No apology necessary,” Ryan said genuinely, tucking his surfer hair back behind his ears, and Cooper might think it made him look oddly sweet and pretty if he wasn’t still a little irritated by his presence. “I can’t imagine all the stress you’re under right now. They really keep you working all hours.”
Cooper forced himself to smile. “You too. I didn’t think this would be your usual gig,” he said, gesturing toward the snake.
“It’s not,” Ryan agreed. “But Niko disappeared an hour ago and Genevieve is freaking out and we’re all operating short staffed after—”
Ryan seemed to realize what he was saying and stopped, a very pink blush appearing over his entire cheeks and, amusingly, the tip of his nose. “Not that this is more important than a man’s life and what you’re doing,” he said hastily. “I don’t think I’ve really quite processed what’s happened to James.”
“Were you close?” Cooper asked.
“Yeah, we hung out a couple of times.” Ryan looked a little sheepish. “I mean, I guess that’s not really close. But he was a pretty reserved guy. Felt more comfortable with animals than humans. He and I probably talked more than he did with anyone els
e at work, besides Niko, of course.”
Cooper frowned. “I didn’t realize James and Ms. Hirano knew each other well.” In fact he was sure she’d said they hadn’t. Which meant someone was lying to him.
Ryan shrugged. “I know they talked outside of work. He was friends with Niko’s girlfriend, too. I saw her and him together a couple times in town.”
“James and Niko’s girlfriend?” Cooper asked, trying to keep up.
“Yeah. Or, uh, partner, I guess?” Ryan said, scratching at the back of his neck and squinting. “They’ve been together for years. Met back when Niko was a documentarian, around the same time of her accident.”
Cooper hummed, thinking. “I heard her mention an accident, as well,” he said. “Can I ask what happened?”
Ryan looked surprised, then laughed. “I don’t know why I thought you knew. It’s pretty common knowledge around certain circles. She wrote about it in her book. Do you know she has a book?”
“My Year with Wolves, right?”
“Yeah, well, those wolves she spent that year with? Had enough. Turned on her one day. Messed her up pretty bad.”
“God,” Cooper said, reflexively smoothing his shirt over his own scars. “That’s horrible. Why?”
Ryan blinked a couple of times as if he didn’t understand the question. “Why? She got too close, and they reacted. That can be the trouble with working long term with wild animals,” he said, gestured toward the snake that was now draped over Sophie’s arm and seemed to be examining Park. “Even experts like us are in danger of forgetting these aren’t your pets or friends or family. Living with them like that for a year, with limited human contact? Big mistake.”
Ryan smiled brightly at Cooper very suddenly. “Although one good thing that came out of it was that’s how she met her partner.”
“Because of a wolf attack?” Cooper asked.
“Actually, yeah. She, like found her out in the woods, or something. Saved her life. Niko moved into her cabin ‘just until she was well enough to travel.’ Never moved out. Typical, right?”
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