She was wet and I finger fucked her as she squirmed over my hand. My dick was hard and throbbing to be inside of her. I turned Hailey around and leaned her over the table.
I found her clit and flicked it until she began to moan with pleasure. I reached around her with my other hand and massaged her breasts and stiff nipples.
She moaned loudly and I felt her come on my fingers. I groaned, horny as hell at hearing and feeling her pleasure. When she finished, I moved my head down to taste her juices. I used my tongue to find her clit once again and I flicked at it, getting her all worked up again.
I stood up and carefully bent her down over the table. I moved my swollen shaft to her pussy and pushed it inside. I grabbed onto her long, luscious hair as I fucked her in long, steady strokes.
“Cooper,” she cried out my name and I fucked her harder. Ramming my cock into her mound as hard as she could stand, my legs started to shake. She screamed out in pleasure.
Soon, I felt an intensity grow in my groin. I was ready to explode. I slowed down and moved so that Hailey would come again with me. When I felt her pussy tremble on my dick, I let go and came with her.
We came together and I covered Hailey and hugged her naked body as we rocked together in orgasm. When we finished, I pulled out and turned Hailey around. I kissed her lips and her cheeks.
I took her to the couch, and we snuggled into each other’s arms. I was so happy that she wanted me to stay here with her. There was no place else on earth I’d rather be.
Hailey
Several weeks had gone by and Oakley still hadn’t wakened up yet. Cooper and I were still staying at the cabin at the resort. He had felt bad about staying there with me for free, so he had paid for our time though the Hunters had tried to refuse. They were truly a wonderful family.
We went to the hospital every day to visit Oakley. I brushed her hair and did her nails. She was looking better and better, as weird as that seemed. Her head wound had healed, and the doctors had removed the bandages. Her bruises disappeared and I just had a feeling that she was going to recover.
Dax, on the other hand, looked like shit. He never left her side. At one point, we were worried that he was going to waste away into nothing. Brad, Cole, Harley, and their mom, Mary Beth, were able to talk some sense into him, thank goodness, and at least get him to shower and eat.
Oakley was going to need him when she woke up.
“I think she’s going to wake up any day now,” Cooper was saying, trying to reassure me. He was sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by paperwork. The table had become his unofficial office.
It amazed me watching him work. He was so smart. I glanced at his papers sometimes and there was just pages and pages of words that made no sense to me. He bought a printer and fax machine combo and papers were coming and going all day and night long.
At one point, Cooper had told me that we had to go to the library. He needed to take out some law books. Now, these huge, intimidating looking volumes were tacked up all around the table as well.
I looked at him as he looked over his work, pencil in mouth, he had on a pair of reading glasses that hadn’t materialized until he had started working at the table. His glasses were sexy as hell and it took everything that I had to not jump his bones every time he put them on.
Cooper had to leave twice so far to go to meetings. Once he was gone for two days, the second time for three days. I was glad that Alice, Oakley’s sister, was staying at the resort as well.
I hung out with Alice while Cooper was off at his meetings or was buried in his work. I felt awful for not having a job to do. I kind of felt like a bum. I expressed my concern to Cooper who told me that he never wanted to hear me say that again. I didn’t need to work.
That was easy for him to say. He was the one who was able to keep his job.
“Hailey, I only work because I’m addicted to it. There’s something wrong with me. I’ve never taken any time off, really. But that’s also because I didn’t have anyone in my life. No one like you. You just wait,” he was telling me, “when I get these clients squared away, I and you are going to travel and have a good time.”
“I wonder if Oakley will keep her business when she recovers,” I said. “It’s been my job for so many years now. I just feel lost, Cooper.” I told him.
“We’ll find you something for you to do. There’s hobbies, charities,” he had all kinds of ideas for me. “Just give this time, Hailey. Everything will work out.”
I knew he was right. I just had trouble adjusting to change.
Finally, one day I got the call from Dax. Oakley had woken up! We rushed to the hospital to see her.
It was so good to see her awake and well. She didn’t have any lasting brain damage and was expected to make a full recovery. She chose to stay with Dax at his place while she recovered, and I was happy to have her close by.
Cooper and I decided to spend a couple of more days there and then take off for home. He felt as if he had overstayed his welcome. I didn’t think that it’s true, but I knew what he meant.
“I need to go and check on my house. And I told Oakley that I’d check on her house, too,” I told Cooper.
“We can do that,” he said. “I mean if you want me to come with you,” he added.
“Of course, I want you to come with me. I know it’s only been a month, but I can’t imagine my life without you,” I admitted to him.
And it was true. I was too attached to Cooper Stone. But now I was worried about the future. What was going to happen once we left the resort? Without the fairy tale wedding, or the crisis we’d been living through, would we be strong enough to make it when life returned to its boring norm?
“What about your house?” I asked Cooper. “You never really have talked about it. Who do you live with?”
“I live alone. Not in a house. I live in a big apartment on the twenty-first floor overlooking the city,” he informed me.
“Seriously?” I asked.
He laughed. “Where did you think that I lived?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe in a house with a big fence around it and a pool,” I answered. In fact, that is where I had pictured him to live.
“You have just described my parent's house to a tee,” he said, chuckling.
That brought back the misplaced conversation of his parents. We both looked at each other when he brought them up. One night, I had heard him arguing with his mother on the phone.
When Cooper had first stayed, she had called nonstop to try and get him to leave. Finally, he had told her that he was staying and that was it.
I hadn’t heard about her since.
“So, what about your parents?” I asked him.
“I don’t know. I am in no hurry to get back to the city though. There, they will be able to bombard me,” he told me.
“So, what do you want to do?” I asked him.
“I want to go home with you,” he informed me.
“To stay there?” I asked him, surprised.
“Yes, for now. Why not?” he asked.
“My house is small and simple,” I returned.
He just shook his head at me. “Hailey, how many times do I have to tell you?” he asked me.
“Okay, we can go to my house, for now.”
“Good,” he agreed.
Cooper
The reason I wanted to go to Hailey’s house was that my mom had been calling me a lot again. Giving me a lot of shit. And not only calling but sending emails and texts. She was driving me nuts.
And she was back to her threatening ways again. She told me that I had had enough fun and that it was time to come home.
The game was over.
I told her that I was not with Hailey for fun. And it certainly was not a game. That I really liked Hailey. My mother wasn’t having it.
I was afraid, that if we went back to the city, my mom would find a way to break us up. I didn’t want to worry Hailey over it, so I didn’t tell her. Eventually, I would have
to go home though, and figure out a way to deal with my mother permanently.
We went back to Hailey’s small house and everything went well for several weeks. She had two bedrooms and I used one as my office. Now, too, I was a little closer to my clients.
One morning, I opened up my email and noticed that one was from an unrecognized email address. I just assumed it was one of my clients or even an old client who was trying to reach out. No big deal until I clicked on the email.
I was shocked at what I saw.
What popped up on my screen was a picture of Hailey that I could tell was taken a few years ago. When she was apparently a stripper.
She was dancing and all kinds of men were gawking at her.
What the fuck?
I read the message that came with the picture. Apparently, my mother had hired a private investigator to dig up dirt on Hailey. She was making good on her threat.
And this is what he had found. Hailey, half-naked and dancing in front of a group of men. One guy in the picture was actually playing with himself.
I sat still at the computer and looked at the picture. Why had she hidden this from me? I mean, I understood that it was in the past and something she might not be proud of, but we had talked a lot about ourselves, getting to know one another more deeply. How could she have kept this from me?
Hailey was clearly not as innocent as she had played herself to be. She had a past, a dirty past, that was going to blow up in my face if I didn’t do some major damage control. No one would trust their empires to a guy shacked up with a stripper.
Not to mention, she had told me that she didn’t open up to guys. That I was the first one who she had let her guard down with. Why had I been so fast to believe her?
The picture made me jealous and angry. I was mad at my mom for hiring a private investigator. I was mad at Hailey for lying to me about who she was. What else didn’t I know about her?
I left the screen on and decided to take a drive. I left the house without saying goodbye to Hailey. I needed to clear my head.
Hailey
I had gotten up and went to find Cooper. He must have been in his office working.
“Cooper,” I called out.
No answer. I guessed he didn’t hear me.
I went to the office door and it was ajar. I pushed it opened but he wasn’t inside. Odd, I thought. He hadn’t mentioned leaving, or even said goodbye.
Where would he go without telling me, I wondered?
It had looked like he had just been here. His coffee cup was full, and his computer screen was on. He always turned off his screen before he left the office. And he would never leave a full cup of coffee just sitting there like that.
I walked over to the screen and took a look. Was that a picture? Curiosity got the best of me and I bent down to get a closer view.
Oh. My. God.
That was me! I was wearing a teddy and dancing in front of a bunch of guys. Oh, shit.
“Cooper!” I yelled out, panicking.
There was no answer. I ran to the living room and looked out the window. His truck was gone. Oh, no. I could imagine what he was thinking.
That was so long ago! He didn’t even let me explain!
Where had that picture come from? I had thought that I had gotten rid of all of that old stuff. I had put that era out of my life. Someone must have taken a picture of me and held on to it!
I grabbed my cell phone and called Cooper’s number. It went straight to voicemail.
“Cooper, please call me back,” I begged him. “I can explain. That was so long ago. Please come home so we can talk.”
But Cooper never called me back. And he didn’t come home. I sat in the living room and looked out the window all day, crying.
Should I have told him about my past? It wasn’t really that bad. Not as bad as that picture made me look.
I was desperate at the time. My parents were broke and basically kicked me out when I graduated from high school. I had no money and nowhere to go. I was not bound for college and I had to support myself. So, I took a job as a dancer for a while until I could afford my own place and a car. Another friend of mine had worked there too and told me she made good money and all she had to do was dance. No touching, not anything like that.
Soon after that, I started to work with Oakley at her business and I never looked back to dancing.
If only I could tell this to Cooper.
I concluded that there was only one way he would have ended up with that picture. His mother had finally gotten her way.
Cooper
I couldn’t go back and face Hailey. I felt betrayed and lied to. Instead, I drove to my own apartment.
I hadn't been there for months now and the place was empty and lonely. I had left all of my work at Hailey’s, so I had nothing to do. I decided to go down to the gym in the building to blow off some steam.
My phone kept buzzing. First, it was my mom; the last person who I wanted to talk to. Second, it was Hailey, next to the last person who I wanted to talk to.
I put my phone back into my pocket and continued to work out.
Back at my place, I tried to watch TV. I couldn’t pay attention to anything. I knew that Hailey had left messages. I didn’t want to listen to them. But I did want an explanation if that made any sense.
I couldn’t stop thinking of her, but I told myself that my mother was right all along. Hailey was not right for me.
* * *
Two more days went by and I ignored everyone. Even my brother, Jackson, tried to call me. Then, my intercom went off. There was someone at the main building door for me.
I went to the intercom and asked who it was. It was my mom.
Shit.
“Let me up, dear,” she said in an overly nice voice.
I knew that she wasn’t going to go away, so I buzzed her inside. Two minutes later she was at my door.
I let her inside.
“What do you want, Mom?” I asked her, not bothering to hide my anger.
“I’m so glad that you’re home. It’s nice to have you close again,” she answered. Then she added, “So, I guess you saw the picture?”
I scowled at her. “Is that why you came over here? To gloat?” I asked.
“No, I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” she answered in her soothing, motherly tone; the one she practiced for the cameras.
“No, I’m not okay. You turned my world upside down. I was happy. Now, I’m fucking miserable,” I yelled at her.
“Cooper! Watch your tone. And your language,” she scolded me.
“Where did you get that picture anyway?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. The private investigator dug up her past. Every little bit of it. There are lots of things that you don’t know about your little ‘down to Earth’ girl,” Mom informed me.
“Like what?” I asked. Nothing could be as bad as that picture? Could it?
“Her parents were drug addicts. They had lost their house when she was a teenager and moved into a one-bedroom apartment. Hailey barely graduated from high school. Barely passing. That’s probably why she didn’t go to college. No money. Druggie parents. I even got a report that she was homeless for a while,” my mom was happy to tell me all of this awful stuff.
I just scowled at her.
“You see, my dear, I did know what I was talking about. Hailey is not from the same mold of people as we are. She is not one of us. People like her will always be our peoples’ ‘help,’” she said proudly.
I had enough of this crap.
“Mom, I have a meeting in an hour. I have to get ready,” I lied to her.
“Oh, okay. How about you stop over the house for dinner tonight? Maria’s making your favorite. We’re having several other guests over, as well. It will be a nice change of pace for you?” she asked.
I was disgusted with her. A nice change of pace for me? What? Coming to her house so that Elsie could hit on me? For the hundredth time. Or, if Elsie didn’t work out, o
ne of the other snobby girls that my mom would choose for me?
NO. WAY.
I had a nice change of pace with Hailey, I found myself remembering.
But if I told my mom that I wouldn't come, she would never leave.
So, I lied and said, “Maybe. If I get home from work in time. I have a big new client,” I lied.
“Oh, that’s great news, dear. I’m so happy you are settling back in so well!” she gave me a big smile. “Let me know later. See you soon,” she waved and headed out the door.
I wanted to slam it behind her, but I stopped myself.
I went back inside and sat down to think. Hailey had never spoken too much about her past or childhood. If it was true, what my mom had said about her parents, then she must have had it rough.
And could I blame her for not telling me all of that stuff? Not really. People don’t like to talk about bad things from their past.
But what about that picture? It still worried me. That she could have been a prostitute. Maybe having sex for money?
I couldn’t accept that.
Hailey
Three days had gone by and no word from Cooper. I tried to leave messages, but he would not turn on his phone or return my calls. One time his phone rang and my heart lept out of my chest. But he didn’t answer.
I was about to give up. What could I do? I couldn’t go to his family and plead my case. I didn’t know any of his friends. Once, he did mention where his apartment in the city was. I could probably go there and ring his bell. But what if he turned me away?
Maybe I should just accept that his mother was right. That I was out of Cooper’s league. I wasn’t good enough for him.
And it really sucked that my past was coming back to haunt me. Especially when I had worked so hard to get out of the rut that I had been born into.
I even had lost my job with Oakley, as she’d decided to stay in Colorado with Dax. Good thing that I had computer web design skills that I had taught myself over the years. It was always a good way to make some easy cash. I guessed I was going to have to start looking for several clients again to pay my upcoming rent and bills.
Take a Mountain Man Home for Christmas: A Mountain Man Romance Christmas Collection Page 56