The Risks We Take Duet Box Set

26. Cooper

COOPER

H ow do you willingly break someone’s heart?

When Command asked me yesterday if I could fill in for a brother who’d been injured on Bravo Team, I was hesitant. It means being in Virginia Beach for the next six to eight months. I thought about saying no. I didn’t want to leave my team or Carys after just getting back.

I talked to Ford about it.

Not just as my team leader, but as my friend, who’s been doing this for a long time. And according to him, it’s a great opportunity for me. Especially if I ever want to get back to the East Coast and be closer to home.

I hadn’t thought about that before. Right now, Charlie Team is my home.

I don’t want to leave them. Although, I might want to be closer to my family one day.

But the bottom line is if the Navy asks, you go. And I’m not ready to push back, possibly fucking with my career by telling them no.

But now, as I haul Carys’s suitcase upstairs to her room, I’m not sure how I’m going to tell her or why I even said yes, when it’s going to put me on the opposite side of the country from this woman for months.

She drops her carry-on and purse down on her bed and kicks off her mint-green Chuck Taylors, then slides an elastic band off her wrist and ties her hair up on top of her head. She looks like she’s preparing for war, but her face softens, and she wraps her arms around my waist.

“Wanna take a bath with me? I can’t shake how tired I am lately, and I just want to relax with you. But I need to wash the recycled plane air off my body, and I think I could use some help reaching my back.” She tilts her head back, and a slow, soft smile spreads across her pretty face. “Think you can help me with that?”

I lift her in my arms and carry her into the bathroom. “I think I can manage, baby.” I sit her down on the bathroom counter and turn on the water in the clawfoot tub. “How do you like the water temperature?”

She hops off the counter and pushes me to sit down on the closed toilet lid, then messes with the old-fashioned black faucet until steam is wafting from the filling tub. “Hope you like grapefruit.” Carys grabs a glass canister from the counter and scoops some salts into the water, and a crisp scent fills the air. When she turns toward me, I grab her waist.

“You’re far too dressed for that water. Arms up, soldier.” Her laughter fills the room as her smile spreads.

I lift my arms into the air and correct her, “It’s sailor, not soldier, babe.”

“Tsk-tsk.” She folds my tee and places it on top of the wicker hamper, then unbuckles my belt. “Shorts off too. You need to get in the tub first.”

I do as I’m told and strip down, then watch her eyes dilate as I stand naked in front of her. “Like what you see?”

“Get in the tub before your head gets too big to fit.” She presses her palm flat on my chest, and I grab it and bring it to my lips.

“Which head are we talking about?”

She shakes her head, but her smile lights up those green eyes. “Get in the tub.”

I step into the tub with a hiss. This water is going to boil my balls. “Damn, baby. It’s a little hot.”

Carys ignores me and bends over to peel off her black-capri leggings and panties, giving me an unobstructed view of her magnificent ass that’s high in the air, before she stands back up and removes her t-shirt and bra.

She stands like a goddess, with the light coming through the leaded-glass window, framing her.

My eyes travel over the exquisite curves of her body. The dip of her hips flaring slightly out and curving into strong, toned thighs. Her high, perfect breasts bring me to my knees, and my mouth waters with want.

Words leave me when she reaches over and takes my hand for balance. She slowly lowers one foot, then the other, into the scalding water until she’s sitting between my legs, her back resting against my chest. A perfect fit. I grab the pink puffy thing from the shelf behind the tub and add some of the bodywash sitting next to it, running it slowly down her arms.

Carys hums a sound of approval in the back of her throat, and my cock jumps to attention. “So how was it being back in Kroydon Hills?”

“It was fine. It would have been better if I hadn’t gotten sick. Chloe and I got a ton accomplished for Le Désir, but I’ve got some work to do before classes start, if we’re going to stay on track.”

After a deep breath, I drag the puffy thing over her chest and down her flat stomach until I reach the apex of her thighs, then run it over her legs and down her calf before repeating it on the other side. Trying to control myself. I haven’t seen her in nearly a month, and I really do want to hear all about her trip, even if it’s hard to think of anything beyond how badly I want to take her right now.

“And what does staying on track look like?”

She tilts her head to the side and closes her eyes, bringing both knees up to her chest and circling her arms around them. “For this year, staying on track means locking in a manufacturing company who’s willing to work with us on a small scale, so we can provide more for the smaller boutiques we’re working with. If all goes well, by this time next year, we’d love to be looking into opening up our own shop.”

“How will you do that with Chloe and you on two opposite sides of the country? You won’t even be done with school yet.” Her drive and ambition are sexy as hell.

She shrugs. “Nothing worth it is ever easy.”

Then she carefully turns in my arms, with only a tiny bit of water sloshing over the sides of the clawfoot tub. Her fingers curl into my hair, and she rests her knees on either side of my legs. Her pussy teases my cock with every small motion of her body.

“We’re never going to be easy, you know that, right?”

I push the damp pieces of hair that have fallen down away from her face. “You’re wrong, baby. You and I... We’re going to be the easiest thing we’ve ever done. Loving you has come so naturally, I’m not even sure when it happened. I love you, and everyone else can fuck right off if they want to get in the way or have their say about it.”

“I’ve waited years to hear those words from you, Coop. I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember, and nothing is ever going to change that. But our family isn’t going to make it easy on us.”

“Yeah. They won’t. But as long as you and I are on the same page, they’ll come around because they won’t have a choice. We won’t give them a choice.” I slide both hands up her arms and across her smooth shoulders to cup her face. “But Carys, we’re going to have to tell them.”

“Not yet.” She shakes her head. “I just want you to myself. I just want us to enjoy being us before we deal with them. I want a few months to know what it’s like to know you and be loved by you without the added stress of our family.” She lifts up and places my cock at her center. “Now show me what that feels like, Coop.”