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Chapter Nineteen
Aziza
Just as my phone rang, Coop snatched it from the table and shoved it in his pocket. He dropped into the seat next to me. His body filled the large chair, while his presence overflowed along with warm masculinity and a smell of soap and shampoo.
“Sharky!”
I turned to see the hard set of his jaw, upon which his dark beard was already attempting a shadowed return. My heart thrilled. Both at the fact he’d wanted to impress me by cleaning up to come to the island and that the ruffian I’d fallen for couldn’t stay hidden for long.
“No more work tonight,” he decreed, as he often did whenever we’d get deep into one of our many late-night conferences. At first the finality of his tone and the insubordination had triggered my stubborn streak, but once I’d started giving in, I was always rewarded. Just as I was this night, when he proclaimed, “Now it’s time for us.”
Us.
For the first time, I didn’t have to wonder what he meant by that small, perfect word. His muscular arm stretched over the back of my chair. Whether he was protecting me or claiming me or just plain stretching, being under someone else’s wing felt warm and safe in a way I hadn’t known since I’d been small.
As hard as it was not to obsess on any and all of the unanswered questions, I was determined to stay fully present and enjoy our dinner. Not that it should be difficult, I’d become completely fascinated with Thea from all of the research I’d already done into her life. And through Coop I’d learned bits and pieces about Nik and Leo over the years, and had been eager to meet those closest to him.
But ever since Coop had dropped down into the chair next to me all I could focus on was the way his scent took me right back to the war room table. His knee bumped and brushed mine. The soft hair on his calf tickled my skin. I crossed my legs in a futile attempt to control the sensation between my legs that had awakened with a vengeance.
Coop, Leo, and Nik were discussing one of Leo’s recent MMA matchups. I was vaguely aware of Titan drooling on his paws. His big, brown eyes stayed glued on Thea as she slathered butter on a crostini. I tried to find a good place to interject, say something, ask a question. Anything to show interest in something other than the vibration of heat spooling inside of me.
Trills chased along my spine as Coop’s thumb stroked back and forth along the nape of my neck. His thigh brushed mine, and I dropped my hand to the hardened muscle, intending to simply balance and stabilize myself. But soon my hand started sliding back and forth, and not just on his quad.
Dear Lord!I slammed my eyelids together. This wasn’t my fantasy world where I could just grab his cock wherever and whenever I pleased. He was my employee! Had I not just had a whole mental breakdown over this very thing and determined that I had to remain professional? At least in public.
Yet there my fingers were, freaking stroking his cock under the dinner table as Cait brought out an amazing display of fresh oysters, conch fritters, and jumbo shrimp. Yep, still caressing, petting, fondling. Now squeezing.
I glanced around the table. The abundant seafood platter provided a welcome distraction for the others. I flattened my palm out as I slid my hand over the sharply defined ridge of his head, then curled my fingers as I stroked back down. His length seemed twice as long as any man I’d been with before. Surely that wasn’t possible? Maybe it’d just been forever since I even had my hand on a man. Still, who knew he was packing this much heat?
“Presh?” Coop growled against my ear. The low rumbled snarl demanded my full attention. “I’ve already come in my pants for you once today. The next time I will be inside of you and it will be my choice of which orifice. Keep this up and I’ll spread you out on this table, slurp you out like one of these oysters, then stuff you like a crab in front of all these people. Or you keep your hand to yourself. My vote is for option one.”
The vibration of his voice went straight to my kus. My blood thickened, warming my veins. I’d fought the desire to wrap myself around Coop all day, I’d fought my feelings for him for what had felt like an eternity. To be honest, I was tired of fighting and ready to start feeling.
That said, I returned my hand to my own, boring, cockless thigh.
My plan was to feign sudden illness as an excuse to slip off to my room, hoping Coop would take the hint and follow suit, but alarms in my brain had started going off. Something about the variety of appetizers was triggering my brain into action.
My attention zeroed in on Thea’s shut eyes and Nik holding a jumbo shrimp dipped in cocktail sauce to her lips.
“Y’all and your food kink,” Coop chastised.
Then it hit me. “Stop! She’s allergic!”
Thea’s eyes popped open as Nik jerked his hand back. The shrimp tail slipped out of his grip, and the fleshy pink comma winged high over his shoulder. Titan scrambled into action, leaping for the flying crustacean and catching it proudly in his snapping jaws.
“How would you know that?” Thea asked, her tone registering both alarm and annoyance.
Confused, I glanced between Coop and Thea. “Your allergy to shellfish was in the dossier I sent. Didn’t Coop give it to you?”
“Oh, I gave it to her.” Coop shook his head with dismay. “She refuses to look at it.”
Thea jutted her chin at him. “My memories will come back when it’s time for them to come back.”
“Not if you eat shellfish, they won’t,” Coop groused. “Do you even know if you can swim? I wouldn’t wait until you’ve jumped into the ocean to know for sure.”
“You can swim,” I assured her, but she didn’t look particularly grateful.
“I was making a point,” Coop insisted.
