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“I’d rather figure this stuff out with a tutor I can trust, but if you’re not down that isn’t stopping me, Coop.”
I’m proud of myself for getting it out without my voice wavering. He remains quiet. A breeze moves through my hair, tickling the back of my neck. I shiver, glad for his hoodie.
He messes with his baseball cap while studying me. “You’re cold. C’mon, let’s go inside.”
I wrangle the hope blooming in my chest and nod. Cooper grasps my arm and offers support I don’t need as he helps me climb through his window under his watchful gaze. He follows me in, a wall of heat at my back as he towers over me, his body just barely brushing against mine.
All at once it feels real.
He cups my shoulders and moves by me, going to turn off his music. A flutter moves through my stomach as I peer around. I’ve been in here before, a few years ago when he was sick and I was delivering school work he missed because Jackson had practice after school. It’s not much different, the walls covered in surfing and basketball fan paraphernalia.
The cluster of Instax photos stuck to the wall by his desk draws me closer. Cooper’s social life is way more thriving than mine—friends, parties, surfing, basketball games, girls. A photo from a pool party catches my eye. I’m in it. Jackson is on one side, I’m in the middle, and Cooper is on my other side, his arm around me. A rush of warmth fills my chest.
“I still don’t get it,” Cooper says behind me. I spin around and find him frowning at me. “Can’t you just put on some porn and figure it out? There’s no getting good at it, you just do it.”
“You think I haven’t thought of that?” I roll my eyes. It was the first thing I tried. “I’m a learn by doing kind of person. As in doing it with someone, but I don’t trust anyone else.”
His eyes narrow and he slides his lips together. “Have you ever been kissed?”
My heart skips a beat at the intent way he watches me. “I-I’ve been kissed before. Definitely.”
“That deer in headlights look you’re hitting me with says otherwise.”
“I’m not lying. It was…um…”
“Spit it out, Danvers.”
It’s so unfair how my body reacts when he calls me Danvers. The slight growling demand in his tone makes it really hard to concentrate and remain level-headed.
I squeeze my eyes shut, and the confession spills from my lips in one breath. “It was in the ninth grade, okay? On a group date.”
Not long after that pool party photo was taken. When he’s silent, I open my eyes.
Cooper stares at me for another beat. “A what?”
“A group date. You know, like a bunch of couples. Except my friend Tara was the one who had a boyfriend. She wasn’t allowed out with him alone, so she brought friends and so did he.”
“Okay, like a group of friends.” The arch of his eyebrow is skeptical.
It’s also unfairly sexy and makes my insides flutter.
I huff and flap a hand. “A group of friends on a date together. Everyone else was making out, so he kissed me.” I grimace at the memory. “There was…a lot of outside of the mouth tongue action.”
He snorts. “Probably like kissing a fish.”
It’s not far off base.
He eyes me up and down, absently tracing his lower lip with the tip of this tongue. The slow perusal makes my stomach tighten and dip in excitement.
“So no real experience doing anything?”
The truth pierces me, but I stand taller, rolling my shoulders back. “That’s why I need your help.”
Cooper’s head cocks to the side as his gaze roves over me again. This time it’s not angry, but a hot drag as he takes his time. Heat blooms in my face and my nipples tighten. The corner of his mouth kicks up in a devastating smirk at whatever he sees flit across my face.
This is the Cooper Vale I was expecting—the bad boy player, master of his craft.
“You really want this, T?” The seductive rasp of his deep voice sends a shudder through me.
