God, he looked so good with his hair all messy and his face still a little red from surfing and I just wanted to—
“I’m here because of this morning,” he said, his expression tense. He’d showed up to my door at 4am, grabbing me to him without saying a single word, and had picked me up, taking me to the back of my tiny rental. He’d used his mouth on me for ten agonizing minutes, pulling away each time I came close to release.
“Please,” I’d finally panted, struggling up on my elbows to meet his hot gaze. He’d nipped the inside of my thigh, shaking his head, and I’d groaned.
“Please?” I’d said once more, just for him to shake his head again. Then I raveled my hands into his blonde hair, jerking up on it. “Cooper—”
A moment later, he’d climbed up drawing my tongue into his mouth and using his fingers to finish getting me off. When I’d tried to pull down the swim trunks he’d been wearing, he stopped me, catching my hands around his waistband.
“I want an IOU,” he’d said right before he kissed me one last time, dizzying me up so that I couldn’t return to sleep.
Reluctantly, I shook my head to bring my thoughts back to the present, to where he had me lodged between the mini fridge and the kitchenette table. “You broke into my trailer for an IOU?” I squeaked, and he guided my hand between us, wrapping my fingers around him through his cargo shorts. I squeezed hard, causing him to shudder.
He groaned against the column of my throat. “I broke into your trailer because I wanted to be with you.”
I took a couple steps back, until the backs of my thighs rested against the top of the table, and gazed up into his blue eyes. “We’ve got a surf lesson tonight,” I whispered. He crooked a smile, and snarled his fingertips underneath my Quicksilver shirt, starting to pull it up.
My head swam, but I was conscious enough to grab both of his hands, stilling them by my side. “I can’t,” I said. I wasn’t ready to let him see me completely naked in the light just yet, if I ever would.
“Wills—”
The door to my trailer shook and he drew away from me, groaning dramatically. I straightened my clothes and slid past him, my ass brushing up against his crotch, to open it just enough to see who was there. One of the assistants stood on the bottom step, grinning up at me.
“We’re ready for you again, Miss Avery,” he said.
The fact that Miller was a foot away looking like a beast with his arms folded over his muscular chest didn’t seem to affect this guy in the least.
“Give me a few,” I said, closing the door as he opened his mouth to say something else. I turned back to Cooper who was suppressing a grin. “What?” I asked, through clenched teeth.
“Miss Avery.”
“I’ve got to get to work.”
He stared at me for a long time before dipping his gaze to the carpeted floor for a moment. “Seeing you like this just—” I covered his lips before he could say something that would get me any more worked up than I already was. He dragged his teeth gently across my bottom lip before forcing himself to break away from me. Breathing heavily, he shook his head. “You beautiful girl, you f**k with my head like no other.”
I didn’t tell him that I was glad.
That I wanted to be the only girl on his mind.
Chapter Sixteen
The next two weeks passed by in a blur of work, surfing, more work, and Cooper.
Copiously delicious amounts of Cooper.
I didn’t even realize it was my birthday until my mother called me first thing in the morning on the fifteenth to sing her rendition of Happy Birthday in a horribly off-key voice. When she was finished performing, she said, “I know you asked me not to come there, but your dad and I are so proud of you!”
Mom and I had been talking every few nights, and when she’d called me on the fourth of July, she had brought up coming to Honolulu to spend my birthday with me. I’d told her I already had plans even though I only had my probation meeting.
“Thanks, but Mom, its 6 a.m. here and I’m not filming today.” I didn’t add that I’d been out late with Paige the night before, at a Hibachi grill that she’d sworn was the best on the Island. My mother would ask me a million questions about who Paige was and then warn me about the dangers of being around an open flame.
I stifled a sleepy laugh as I imagined Mom saying, “You’ll burn your damn face off and then where would you be?”
Mom didn’t take my hint about the time because she continued to talk. “I wanted to call with a birthday present,” she said.
I pulled a pillow over my face and groaned. “Please don’t sing again,” I begged.
“Clay called early this morning,” she said. My breath caught as soon as I heard my lawyer’s name, and I threw the pillow away from my face. It hit the wall and then fell somewhere beside of the bed.
“And?” I asked.
“And he’s got a court date for your case against that agency scheduled for the middle of next month.” I could tell by the shrillness in her voice that she didn’t actually believe this was good news—in fact, it probably scared the hell out of her—but she must have known how much it would mean to me, especially on my twentieth birthday.
My heart hammered in my chest, and I pressed the palm of my hand flat against it, reminding myself that I needed to calm down and take a deep breath.
“Does he think I have a chance?” I asked, my voice sounding fuzzy in my ears.
“Absolutely.”
One word. That one word somehow managed to send a flood of emotions rushing through me. Fear and pain and hope all sliced through me at once, and as I sat there shaking, tears trickled down my face. “That’s a start, huh?” I asked, keeping my voice calm, level.