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Throughout the evening, the underlying thrumming hum of attraction never abated. Finally, my rational brain kicked in and told me to get the hell out of there. I managed to stand and tell her I should go.
She stood with me, looking up. My eyes were drawn to her mouth like a bee to honey. Before I knew it, I was taking another step, lifting a hand and brushing my knuckles along her cheek. All the while, my heartbeat pounded along.
ChapterSeven
FARRAH
Cooper stared down at me, and I felt lost in his dark gaze. Everything about tonight had been unexpected. Here we were, a few hours later, and I didn’t want him to leave. Being with him was easy. I’d expected it to feel strained and bumbling. I’d never been great at dating.
Not that this is a date, the well-trained, cynical side of my mind pointed out.
I’d never even had a serious relationship. Life had taught me one thing—sure as sugar, you couldn’t trust a man.
I’d also learned thoroughly from my mother’s marriage to my stepfather. My father had passed away when I was too young to remember him. After my mother remarried Gerald, a wealthy attorney from a family with plenty of money, I learned that what someone showed you wasn’t usually the whole story. What Gerald seemed like and what he was were two different pictures.
I didn’t trust myself to be vulnerable with anyone. Vulnerability left you at risk of being manipulated, falling for the good side of someone when the bad side dictated their life and yours when all was said and done.
Against all odds, I felt safe with Cooper. There was an ease, a lightness to how I felt with him. He exuded an almost protective quality that I just wanted to sink into.
At this very moment, he was less than a foot away from me, and the brush of his knuckles on my cheek felt like the lick of a flame over the surface of my skin. The heat radiated outward and spun into the fire, simmering on a low burn inside me. Butterflies massed in my belly, sending tingles scattering through me. My pulse raced, and my breath was shallow. Oh. My. God. I wanted this man to kiss me like I’d never wanted anything in my life.
I could hear the echoing drumroll of my heartbeat and the rush of blood in my ears. I could feel the heat and liquid need sliding through my veins and sparks dancing over the surface of my skin. Cooper’s dark eyes skated over my face, and I tried to take a breath.
His knuckles trailed down my cheek and along my jawline. I felt as if I stood on the edge of a precipice, just about to topple over. It was a sense of rushing, of anticipation, a gathering force of energy. I made a little sound at the back of my throat.
I didn’t know who made the next move, but we leaned toward each other. Cooper’s heat encompassed the space around us. Unable to stop myself, I lifted my hand, trailing my fingertips along the stubbled edge of his jaw before I leaned forward and pressed a kiss just below his jaw.
When my lips landed against his skin, my entire system felt jolted by a hot shock. I abruptly realized what I’d done, but Cooper's hand slid into my hair before I could even think beyond that. His eyes met mine, the look there blazing hot just before he brought his lips to mine.
Maybe it was him, perhaps it was me, or maybe it was the rushing need inside me, but the simple act of kissing Cooper made me weak-kneed, nearly melting me like ice under the hot sun. The kiss started out gentle. His lips brushed over mine once and then again. He dropped a kiss at one corner of my mouth and then the other. All the while, I felt absolutely wild inside, an intensity of sensation kicking up like a storm.
He spoke against my lips. “I want you, Farrah.”
“I want you too,” I whispered in return.
In another moment, he angled his head to the side, his mouth slanting over mine as he claimed it. His tongue swept in boldly, stealing my very breath. Another moment later, he lifted his head, and we stood there, staring at each other.
I could feel the rapid beat of his heart against my palm where it had landed over his chest. My heartbeat raced wildly out of control as well. We both breathed rapidly, the sound filling the air around us.
Humpty’s meowing snapped through the moment. Cooper held my gaze for another few beats before taking a step back. “I should go,” he finally said.
It was all I could do not to fist my hand in his shirt and hold him right there in front of me. Wordlessly, I nodded.
I didn’t want him to go. Not at all.
ChapterEight
FARRAH
That kiss replayed on a loop in my mind a while later until I managed to fall into a restless sleep. I told myself it was just a fluke. A crazy moment that would nevereverhappen again. It couldn’t. It shouldn’t. Therefore, I wouldn’t let it happen.
I resolved to forget it. My attempts to kick Cooper out of my thoughts were running up against the reality of him living across the hallway from me. I didn’t even see him for the next two days, but it took an effort not to leap up and run to the door when I heard his footsteps in the hallway. I didn’t usually hang around at home, wondering what my neighbors were doing. That just wasn’t my thing. Now, it was totally my thing. What the hell was wrong with me?
I pondered how different his apartment looked from mine. I wondered how Humpty was doing, and I kind of missed the little guy. He was an older cat and sort of scrunchy looking, but he was sweet and funny.
I also told myself I didn’t need to mention that kiss to anyone. Kisses meant nothing in my book. At the ancient age of ten, I had sworn off men.
As if to remind me of all the reasons, I was having coffee with my mother again, something we had fallen into the habit of doing once a week. I loved my mother. She was all I had left when it came to family. Somewhere out there, I supposed I had some family connected to him, but I didn’t know much about my father’s family, and he was an only child. My mother’s parents had long ago lost contact with her. I assumed it was because of my stepfather. When I’d dared to ask, my mother had looked so devastated that I couldn’t press for more.
