The Risks We Take Duet Box Set

4. Cooper

COOPER

O nce I’m done getting my ass chewed out by my twin sister for not calling her as soon as I got home, she lets me go with a promise to talk more tomorrow, so we can figure out the next time we’ll see each other. The guys have moved to the back of the bar near the dartboard, but Carys isn’t with them. I try to convince myself I’m just looking because I know what every guy in this bar is thinking after the performance she just gave. But even I know I’m lying to myself when I can’t find her or her roommate anywhere.

“Hey, man.” I move next to Linc, who’s waiting for Jim, one of the guys from Echo Team, to miss a ball on the pool table so he can take his turn. “Where did Carys go?”

“Emerson’s brother came over and told the girls there was a party back at his frat house. Since he was their ride, they left too.”

Jim misses his shot, and Linc moves to line his up.

“The hot little brunettes?” He turns to a few of his own teammates. “We were sad to see them go, weren’t we, boys?” His team agrees, and I clench my teeth, knowing they were looking at Carys.

She didn’t even say goodbye because she’d rather be surrounded by a bunch of drunk and horny college assholes.

What the fuck?

I jerk my phone out to see if she messaged, but there’s nothing there.

Not sure why I expected anything else.

Trick sits down on the barstool next to Rook and Ford. “Don’t look so heartbroken, Sinclair. According to Linc, the lover boy over there, we’re having a party at the house tomorrow night.”

Linc sinks the eight ball, then turns around, his face as red as the three ball. “Whatever, asshole. I needed an excuse to see Emerson again.” If it’s possible, his blush deepens, and I’m strangely relieved to know I’ll be seeing Carys again.

Ford laughs at the utter embarrassment on Linc’s face. “Yeah well, your girl’s roommate sure jumped at the chance for the two of them to come.” Ford throws me a shit-eating grin. “I wonder why the little singer would do that?”

“You owe her one, Linc. Emerson wasn’t sure till Carys said yes.” Trick grins smugly.

Jim pipes up, “We’ll crash your party, kid. I’d be happy to take Emerson off your hands when you can’t figure out what to say.”

Ford shoves him back with one hand to his chest, closing ranks. “Who you calling kid?”

You can be as big of an ass as you want to one of your teammates, but not to one of ours.

Only we get to do that.

My older brother and I were complete assholes to each other growing up, but we never let anyone else get away with that shit. The team is the same way. A brotherhood.

Jim nods at Ford, then grabs his boys and heads to the dartboard, and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding now that I know I’ll get the chance to see Carys again tomorrow.

Her perky little ass is going to pay for leaving without saying goodbye.

“Don’t worry, Linc. Nobody’s gonna cock-block your girl. But you could have just asked her out. It’s called ‘a date.’ You don’t need to throw a damn party.” Trick’s not what you would call a people person. He gets along with Wanda much better than he does with most humans.

Linc hangs his stick back up on the wall. “Yeah. I got nothing. Party sounded like a good idea at the time. Less stress.” He looks around at the guys. “You’re all gonna come, right?”

Everyone laughs as we exchange knowing looks. The poor bastard gets so nervous around women.

Ford grins, then finishes his beer and grabs his keys from his pocket as Jessie hugs Linc. “Call me tomorrow if you need help. I love throwing parties.”

“Thanks, Jessie.” Ford’s wife often takes pity on us.

Not only is he our team leader, but he’s the only married guy in the unit. And he really out-kicked his coverage with her. She’s everybody’s big sister. She already tried shooing away the girls hanging on Trick and Axe. She doesn’t like it when we hook up with women she doesn’t deem worthy.

Ford nuzzles his nose in her hair, and she giggles. “We’re outta here, boys.”

“Lucky fucker,” Linc says what we’re all thinking as Axe orders us another round.

The truth is SEAL marriages don’t usually last. We’re gone more days a year than we’re home, and our partners are expected to hold everything together on their own. They give birth alone, more times than not. Birthdays, holidays, bad days... You handle them all alone, while we’re off kicking down doors. You’ve got to be a really strong person to marry someone on a team.

Hell, I had a girlfriend in high school break up with me because she saw what this life did to her brother. We hadn’t even graduated yet, and we ended. As much as I want the wife and the white picket fence, this is the life I chose. No turning back.

L inc, Trick, and I walked through the door sometime around one a.m., wide-awake and a little buzzed but far from drunk. Fortunately, one of the good things the Navy beats into you early on is to sleep when you can, where you can. We can fall asleep so fast it borders on narcolepsy, and I know the second my head hits the pillow, I’ll be out.

As I lie down on my own bed in a room I’m not sharing with Linc for the first time in months, I’m grateful I can stretch out without my feet hanging off the foot of the bed. At six foot four, I’m one of the taller guys on the team, and the ability to stretch out on a bed in a room that doesn’t smell like Linc’s dirty fucking socks makes me happy.

Just as my eyes close, the phone on my nightstand vibrates with an incoming text. I roll over to grab it, and my chest does a funny kind of squeeze when I see who it is.

Carys

You awake?

Cooper

I am now.

Carys

Sorry. I shouldn’t have texted this late.

Cooper

No. Don’t worry about it. You OK?

Carys

I never got to say goodbye earlier.

Cooper

I noticed.

Carys

Sorry I bailed.

Cooper

Why did you?

It bugs the hell out of me that I care and have never been able to control it. Once I saw her, I wanted to spend time with her. The dots stop and start a few times before she answers.

Carys

Your roommate invited us over tomorrow night.

Well . . . I guess technically it’s tonight now.

Cooper

Yeah. Pretty sure he’s interested in Emerson. You gonna come?

Carys

Why Cooper Sinclair... If you wanna know what makes me come, you’re gonna have to work harder than that.

My heart pounds against my chest as I reread Carys’s answer again, and I have to adjust my cock in my boxer briefs at the realization that I’d very much like to know what makes this woman come.

Cooper

You drunk, Carys?

Carys

Maybe a little.

Cooper

You shouldn’t say things like that to me.

Carys

Why not?

Cooper

Because I’m your brother.

Carys

Stepbrother.

Ask me what I’m thinking about, Coop.

I’m not ready to ask the question sitting on the tip of my tongue, let alone know the answer. Fuck me, I’m even less ready to figure out why I’m thinking about my stepsister this way.

Cooper

Maybe when you’re sober. Night, Carys.

Carys

Chicken

I toss and turn, trying to get to sleep, but thoughts of what Carys Murphy looks like when she comes haunt me.

I try thinking about someone else. Hell, anyone other than her. It’s not like I’ve been celibate out here for years, but after an hour of this shit, I get up to take a cold shower. Apparently, some things—more specifically, someone —can still keep me awake.

Standing under the cold spray of water, I give in and stroke my cock, thinking about the last girl I was with during our deployment. Her pale skin under my fingers. Her pink lips stretched around my dick. It doesn’t take long to come. And when I do, I drop my head against the cool tile. Water pelting my shoulders and my eyes closed.

“Fuck,” I groan.

Because when I come, the face I see isn’t the girl from deployment.

It’s Carys Murphy, my best friend’s little sister.

My fucking stepsister.

Nothing can happen with her.

Nothing is going to happen with her.

Nothing.

And maybe if I tell myself that enough times, I can shut down all thoughts of what she looks like when she comes.