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“No one said anything. I didn’t think…”
“She hasn’t said anything.” I don’t say that we only spoke via text. If, or more likely when, Sienna quizzes me on my last-minute trip to Denver, I have no doubt it’ll be in person so she can get a better read on my expression. “I told her I had a college buddy here who invited me last minute. It’ll be fine.”
But despite my words, Cooper doesn’t relax.
“Even if she did figure it out, my sister knows how to keep a secret. Maybe it wouldn’t be all that bad if they did know.”
“No. Garrett. I can’t, I—”
Before I know what’s happening, Cooper is out of bed, leaving me slumped against the mattress instead of his hot body.
“If she weren’t with Calvin, maybe. But he’s…he’s a part of the team, and—”
I scramble to sit up. “It’s okay. I’m not telling anyone.” My eyes drop down his body; they stop at his ribs, widening in horror. “Holy shit, why were you letting me lie on you?”
He follows my line of sight, taking in the bright purple and blue bruise covering his skin.
“It was worth it,” he confesses, and when I get back up to his face, I find his signature smirk back in place.
“Come here,” I say, holding my hand out to him.
“I need to piss first,” he says, turning around and giving me a shot of his bubble butt as he walks to the bathroom.
“Then you’d better get that hot body back in bed,” I call.
Thankfully, he does, and only a few minutes later, he’s lying before me, our bodies facing each other.
“I’m sorry I get so scared about people knowing,” he says quietly.
The pain in his voice and the worry I see darkening his eyes cuts through me like a knife.
“It’s okay,” I say, reaching out and twisting our fingers together. “It’s a huge thing, and I promise, I will never push you to do anything you’re not ready for.”
His lips twitch into a smile.
“I feel like I’m holding you back.”
“From what? Fucking a hot-as-hell hockey player every night of the week? I think we’re good on that front.”
“Well, when you put it like that…” he teases before sobering again. “I mean a real relationship. All the fun stuff that should come with dating.”
“Before you, I had no interest in any of that. I’d never met a man I wanted to spend this much time with. And even if I had, that man or that relationship isn’t comparable to you and what we have here. This,” I say, shuffling closer, “is about us. We make the rules up as we go. There’s nothing we have or don’t have to do.”
“I know, but—”
“There is no but,” I tell him, pressing my fingers to his lips. “Maybe we’ll tell the world, or maybe we won’t. Maybe we’ll stay together, or maybe we won’t. Maybe we’ll have some huge, grand wedding one day, or maybe we won’t.
“Stop worrying about the one day and focus on the now. It’s the only thing we have the power to control.”
He groans as he rolls me onto my back and settles between my thighs. “I do like being in control,” he confirms, making fire flood through my veins.
His huge body looms over me, and despite my heart racing and need pulling at my muscles, I manage to pause and say the right thing. “You shouldn’t be doing this. Don’t you hurt?”
“I’m used to it,” he rasps, his face tucking into the crook of my neck. “Stop worrying. Just feel.”
His lips latch onto my skin, sucking on the exact spot that makes me sing.
“Fuck,” I gasp as his hand trails down my side, causing goose bumps to erupt in its wake.
