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“Uh, thanks?” I mumble.
“Gotta keep an eye out for you. Warm up, T.” Cooper shoots me a cocksure wink that hits me right in the chest.
God, he’s so smooth. He’s got his charmer skills down pat. I make sure he’s no longer looking before slipping my arms into the sleeves that are like sweater paws on me.
Surrounded by Cooper’s scent, I coach myself until work is over, going over what I’ll say on the ride home.
Once the restaurant closes, I follow him to his blue Jeep. He twirls his keyring on his finger and has a natural swagger in his step.
The inside of his ride smells the same as his hoodie and the beeswax of his surfboard wax. It’s familiar, yet new. I’ve never focused so much on this stuff, despite catching plenty of rides with him.
Before I can get a word in, a text distracts him. He checks his phone, then frowns, his shoulders tensing.
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
“Yeah.” He glances at me and dumps his phone in the cup holder, jaw working. “It’s nothing.”
As he pulls out of the lot, another text lights up his screen. I don’t mean to look, but it catches my eye. It’s from his girlfriend.Ex-girlfriend, I thought. Doubt swirls through my stomach, twisting it in a knot. They broke up. For like the third or fourth time. I’ve lost track. But they’re over, right?
He catches sight of the texts at a red light. Three more have come in. He grumbles under his breath and flips the phone around dismissively. It reassures me I’m not in danger of coming on to someone who isn’t available.
Cooper pulls down our block before I’ve said what I need to. Damn the short distance from the beach.
My heart thumps against my ribs as if it’s ready to cliff dive into the ocean. I curl my fingers in the material of his zip up hoodie, throwing a surreptitious glance at him. He’s totally unaware of my dilemma, one elbow leaning on the door and his hand resting over the wheel, fingers drumming along to the song playing low on the radio.
The words I’ve been practicing leave me in the dust.
We reach his driveway. My time is running out.
Screw it. I’ve just gotta do it. The words spill from me in a rush.
“I need to lose my virginity before college starts and I want it to be you.”
The Jeep jolts, tires screeching to a halt when Cooper slams down on the brakes. I grab hold of the oh shit bar on instinct, bracing against the rough stop. He grips the wheel with both hands in a white knuckled grip, staring ahead.
There’s a long moment of silence before he finally responds.
“What?”
Slowly, Cooper angles his head to gape at me. My stomach erupts in a riot of nerves. In my head it sounded way more logical, but he’s looking at me like I’m insane.
“I want to learn what to do in bed before I get to college. Like, at a proficient level,” I say. “Ergo, I need to have sex. With you.”
My calm, clinical tone doesn’t help. Cooper chokes the wheel hard enough that it creaks. He rips his gaze away from me, only to swing back a beat later. It’s dim in the car, but I can just make out the intent way his brown eyes roam over me.
My cheeks prickle with heat. He’s never looked at me like that before—not outside of my own imagination. Like I’m desirable. Someone he wants to unwrap and discover in every wicked way. I shift in my seat, rubbing my thighs together.
“What the fuck?” Cooper’s tone is strained, no longer easygoing.
The way his voice becomes kind of gravelly makes me swallow as a warm ache builds between my legs.
“I feel like I was pretty clear. Is there a problem? Are you not into me?”
The way he sneaks glances at me, only to avert his eyes a second later says otherwise.
“You’ve lost your damn mind.” Cooper forces out a breath and scrubs a hand over his face. A laugh punches out of him. “It’s a joke, right? You and Jackson have a weird sense of humor. I’ll get you both—”
My brow wrinkles. “I’m not kidding around with you. It’s pretty straightforward. You like to fool around with girls, and I want to figure out what I’m doing with someone I can trust.”
