Play Mine (Brooklyn Dawn #3) - Cari Quinn Page 0,40
my brain, currently located between my damp thighs. “My breasts? Same as the rest of me. Pasty white and freckled.”
The sound he made verged between a laugh and a growl. “Your nipples.”
“Oh. Well. Um, kind of cinnamon? Ish. I guess. Like other parts of me.” Some of my sexy game had slipped away with this new demanding side of Cooper. Not because I didn’t like it, but because it seemed to be frying my synapses.
Amazing kisser, big dick, and commanding in just the right way? Holy bonanza. And I wasn’t exactly batting a thousand on the luck scale lately.
I darted a glance at his groin. But apparently, my tent had just come in. Ship. Whatever.
“Keep looking at me like that, and I’ll make your wish come true.”
“I have a lot of wishes, and so far, you’re fulfilling them all.”
His Adam’s apple moved up and down in the faint light from the streetlights. Thank God it was late enough for traffic not to be much of a factor, and we weren’t that far from his place. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to hear that from you.”
“No. I really don’t. Maybe you should tell me?” Back to playing with my thread. “In the interest of science.”
His hand covered mine on my thigh. “A damn long time. You never guessed?”
“Are you kidding me? If I’d thought it was a thing, you think I would’ve just ignored it?”
“I don’t know.”
His desolate tone made me ache in a new way as I cupped his hand between both of mine. “I wouldn’t have. A couple times I wondered… Well, I wasn’t even sure what I thought. But some of those times, I had thoughts of my own I kept pushing down.”
“You were jealous tonight.”
“Not the first time. But I don’t—” Only because it was Cooper could I say this. “I’m not good with relationships. You were the first guy I built something real with, and I didn’t want to mess it up. I don’t,” I added, gazing at my hands wrapped around his instead of at him. Hoping like hell he couldn’t hear the tremor in my voice. “You’re nothing like him, but I’m still me. I made mistakes too. I could do it again. I probably will.”
Before he had a chance to respond, I tacked on a wholly insincere laugh. “Not that I’m saying this is some big epic thing. Friends can have sex.”
“Have you had sex with any of your friends?”
I snorted. “Like who? Jamie is pretty hot, gotta say.”
“Teagan.”
“No. Of course not. But I don’t want to make it weird. This is not Friends and you’re not going to come home tomorrow and find me sitting in my wedding dress drinking beer.”
“You have a wedding dress?”
“No. I always wanted to get married in a bikini. Water lapping at my feet. Easy access for the honeymoon, which would take place twenty feet from the marital location.” I shrugged. “See? Sex addict.”
“You act like that’s a problem.”
“I’m just overwhelming. I know I am. I’ve scared off guys before. Ricki and I used to joke we would be single at forty, and we’d each have half a dozen cats. Which isn’t a bad thing,” I added hastily. “Cats are clearly the superior pet. They don’t need to be walked.”
Apparently, he had no desire to weigh in on the merits of dogs. “Ricki is not single. She’s so married we all take bets on when her husband will literally fuck her to death.”
I sighed. “I know. What a way to go.”
“So, half your theory was wrong.” He laced his fingers with mine. “If you want the part about you to be wrong, I’m entirely sure you can make it so.”
“Look, kidnapping worked for Jamie, but I’m not that ballsy.”
Something about Cooper’s laughter was so wonderful, especially when we were holding hands. We’d done it before, here and there. Stolen moments when our fingers had tangled or we’d been hurrying somewhere. Once, the band had gotten into a snowball fight after a show, and he’d held my hands to warm them up. But this was different.
Incredible.
“I don’t know how, but somehow, you don’t see your appeal. At all. I have a feeling some of that has to do with that asshole.”
I said nothing.
“If I ever meet the guy, I’m not responsible for my actions. How fucking dare he lay a hand on you?”
More silence on my part. I was too busy swallowing over the boulder in my throat.
“A woman like you deserves to be protected. Adored.