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There was a message on the screen, but I couldn’t see it, so I tackled Coop. We’d played this game before, because the brat loved to do keep away. Was it very zen? No, but it could be fun…except for when I really didn’t want him looking at my messages. He grunted as I managed to land on his back, but he had my phone under him, so I had to squirm an arm between him and the bed.
“Give me my phone, Coop.”
“Aww… c’mon. You changed your password so I couldn’t see more than the ingredients…” His muffled response didn’t do anything to cool my temper.
“Give me…” I grunted. There, I could almost feel my phone. Before I could snag it, Coop gripped my wrist and rolled. Suddenly, I was on the bed, and he was on top, unrepentant grin in place as he pinned me down.
“Do you still have the touch ID enabled?”
Oh crap.He moved my hand so he could press my thumb to the phone’s button. Aggravation and the deep desire to keep Mathieu private collided as I wrenched my hand free and managed to get my knee right between his thighs. Only the fact it was a struggle kept me from truly slamming it into his nuts. But the pressure stilled him, and he stared at me…
“Give. Me. My. Phone.” My wet hair had been rubbed all over the duvet. There’d be frizz galore no matter what.
The teasing fled his expression, and he handed me the phone before putting a hand on either side of me on the bed. Still half-hovering over me, he said, “I’m just playing, Frankie.”
“Well, I wasn’t having fun.” I glared at him and, for once, he didn’t retort with a joke. Only after he glanced down between us, did I lower my knee so he could get off me, but then his gaze lingered for a moment on my top. Specifically, to where my top had rolled up.
“Nice bra,” he said. It came out almost weak, and he rolled off me finally, but not fast enough that he missed getting hit in the face with my pillow. “Ow.”
“Jerk,” I muttered, sitting up and pulling the top where it was supposed to be. I should probably change it. Then I ran my fingers through my wreck of a hair.
I looked at the phone. Mathieu’s message just suggested two different ingredients. It was a response to a question I’d sent him earlier in the day. He recommended real cream and butter over the alternatives. Panting, I shoved away from the bed. The duvet was half off and now both pillows were on the floor.
Coop caught my arm. “Frankie…”
“What?”
“Sorry.” He gave me a quick smile. “I really was playing. Your phone buzzed, and I thought it was the guys.”
“So you had to look?” I raised my eyebrows. Irritated didn’t begin to cover it.
“I didn’t think you’d care,” Coop said carefully. “You didn’t used to mind.”
“I didn’t?” Since we were on the topic… “When you would steal it and send messages to the guys or my other friends? Poking fun or telling jokes? Or when you would fill it with goofy photos and then post them to my Instagram?”
Uncertainty hovered in his gray-green eyes. “I’m going to go with all of the above. If you didn’t want me to do it…”
“What part ofgive me my phonedid you fail to understand?” I hadn’t evenhada date with Mathieu yet. Right now, we were just going to make a dessert. Well, I was, and he was going to supervise. But Ilikedhim, and I liked theideaof him.
Coop? Coop would spoil that if he outed me to the guys. Then Jake or Archie would do something stupid. If I had any doubts about their reactions, Archie’s intensity at dinner the night before made it clear.
He spread his hands. “I’m sorry, Frankie.” No caveats, no excuses, just an apology. “I guess we don’t play like that anymore.”
I glanced at my phone when it buzzed. Coop’s did at the same time, and he looked past me to the bed. When I glanced over my shoulder, Laura’s name was on the screen with three plus messages highlighted. The second message was from Archie.
Archie had sent me one, too. When I faced Coop once more, I raised my eyebrows, “Still tripping on Laura?”
He grimaced. “I thought if I didn’t answer…”
“’Cause ghosting is the way to go. Grow a pair, Coop. Date her. Don’t—” But I hesitated, there was something in his expression. “You didn’t just kiss her. You had sex with her.”
For some reason, that bugged the hell out of me. My stomach dropped and my chest hurt. Coop didn’t deny it. Instead, he shoved his hands into his pockets and backed up another step. “It wasn’t…”
“What? You tripped and fell on her naked? What wasn’t it?” All at once, I was furious and hurt, and the last thing I wanted to do was have this conversation. Heat raced over my skin and my throat hurt.
“I didn’t—have sex sex. I…thought about it, but I didn’t have a condom.” The last part was mumbled.
“So you almost had sex but you didn’t?” That didn’t make it better. If anything… “And that’s why she keeps texting you. You told her you’d make it up to her.” I knew Coop. I’d known him for a long, long time. He lived to make people happy. Part of that zen attitude came from not rocking the boat, avoiding upsetting others and just—go with the flow. If Laura’s flow was getting naked and doing the horizontal mambo, Coop would get on board. Course, apparently the lack of condom slowed that down.
