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“We’ll break up.”
Cooper goes rigid, pulling away to gape at me. “What?”
I lick my lips, rolling with the idea as it forms. “Yeah. That’s how we’ll deal. We can stage a break up to fix this.”
A crease forms between his brows. “It does make it easier to play off what we’ve got going on.”
“I think it’s run its course. We should just call the whole thing off.” It kills me to say it, but it’s the responsible thing to do. Cooper clearly disagrees, pulling away from me completely with a hard expression. “I’ll still help you study, but it makes sense to end this with a bang. Well—not that kind of bang.”
Cooper huffs, but unlike his usual easy amusement, this is infused with annoyance. “Yeah, okay. Except you didn’t want to stop it, so you decided to say we were dating. Why go through that if you just wanted to end the deal?”
I flap a hand, no answers coming to mind. “I told you, I panicked.” I back up toward the door, setting my jaw. “Think about it—it’s win-win for you. I’ll keep helping you study, but you free yourself from your sex student. You could’ve been making out with one of the girls from the Shack right now if you didn’t have to worry about teaching me.”
This is for the best. It’s the only way I know how to distance myself from the feelings screaming at me to shut the fuck up. I won’t fall further the more I remind myself Cooper Vale isn’t mine and this had a time limit from the start.
“Are you serious?” He shakes his head. “No, T, those girls were nothing—I don’t want—”
“But I do,” I blurt. Oh shit. Damage control, stat. “I…I want to be able to experience college to the fullest.” My eyes widen and he freezes. “It’s why I cooked up this plan, remember? So it works out like that. We’ve achieved our goals.”
“Tate…” Cooper trails off, cutting his gaze from me. He blows out a breath. “If that’s what you really want.”
“Okay.” Awkwardness sets in as we stare at each other. I can’t take the stand off anymore. I gesture at the door with my thumb. “So I’ll just… Yeah, I’ll just get out of here.”
My chest is tight as I dart for the door, regret clanging through me.
A strong hand grasps my elbow and spins me around to face him. His gaze bounces between mine like he’s committing me to memory.
“Don’t go yet.”
“I should,” I whisper.
“Just—not yet.” His head dips. “Hang out for a little longer. We can put on one of those documentaries you like on Netflix.”
My heart clenches. Damn it. Why does he have to know me so well?
When I shrug, he nods in relief, releasing my arm. “I saved one on the Barrier Reef restoration for you. It popped up in my recommendations when you weren’t here.”
It takes me a moment to swallow the lump forming in my throat while he searches the room for his laptop, ruffling his hair absently.
“Coop?” He stops what he’s doing. I square my shoulders, gathering my courage. “Tell me one thing.”
“Anything.” He pins me with those brown eyes that see right into my soul.
“We’ll still be friends, right?” I bite my lip, hoping he doesn’t hear the uncertain waver in my voice. “I hope we didn’t mess that up between us.”
Cooper’s eyes flash and he swipes his fingers over his mouth. “We can’t be friends, T.”
The rough, rumbled words stir heat in my core. I secretly-not-so-secretly love it when Cooper brings out the growly voice. But then his words register. My throat pricks with a sharp sting.
Smothering a gasp, I meet his intense gaze. “We can’t?”
He closes the distance between us, crowding me until my back hits his bedroom door. Moving with the prowling grace of a man who knows what he wants, he plants a hand against it, towering over me.
“No. No way in hell, baby.” Cooper shakes his head, his gaze roaming my face. “There’s nothing friendly about the ways I think of you when I do this.”
Swooping down, he captures my lips. I gasp and his tongue slips into my mouth. He cradles my face as he kisses me. It’s possessive, all-consuming. He rules my senses with the irresistibly seductive kiss and his touch as he strokes the side of my throat, continuing down until he takes my hands and pins them overhead against the door.
Arousal floods my system with each glide of our tongues, our mingled breathing growing thicker and heavier. With a low rumble, he drags his hands down my arms and slips them beneath my shirt, peeling it over my head in a smooth move. He tears away from my mouth, his lips moving down my jaw, attacking my throat until the ache between my legs becomes too much to bear.
