The Risks We Take Duet Box Set

29. Cooper

COOPER

I roll over the next morning and reach out for Carys, wanting to feel her body against mine, but the other side of the bed is cold and empty. I look around the room, but it’s empty too. Her clothes are in the same messy pile on my floor where we left them last night.

So where is she and what the hell is she wearing?

I jump out of bed and throw on a pair of shorts, then make the bed, because... well, it’s an OCD habit that’s been beaten into me by the Navy. When I open the door, the smell of bacon and coffee lingers in the air, and my mouth waters. I make my way down the stairs, toward the kitchen, and stop when I see my girl sitting on a kitchen chair.

One of my gray Navy tees is hanging off her shoulder. She has one leg bent, with that foot planted flat on the seat in front of her and the other dangling down, and Wanda’s head is lying on her bare thigh as she scratches behind her ear.

“You’re gonna make my dog a pussy, Carys,” Trick warns.

Wanda whines when Carys pulls her hand away and whispers, “Sorry,” to her.

Then Wanda nudges Carys’s hand with her nose until she starts rubbing again.

Yeah, girl. I don’t blame you. I love her hands on me too.

I walk into the room and drop a kiss on her head. “Mornin, baby.”

She tilts her head up and puckers until my lips meet hers. “Good morning.”

“Mornin, baby,” Trick mocks me. He turns and places a plate of bacon and eggs in front of Carys, then scratches Wanda’s butt. “Don’t give her any more bacon,” He takes two fingers and points them toward his own eyes, then at Carys.

As soon as he turns back to the stove, she sneaks a piece of bacon to Wanda and places a finger against my lips to keep me from laughing. When I lick it instead, she’s the one who laughs. And goddammit, what I wouldn’t do to bottle that sound.

Trick turns back around and puts two more plates down on the table before he sits. “You heading to base today?”

“Nah.” I glance over at Carys, waiting for a reaction that never comes. “I’m free today. I’ve gotta be there at zero-six-hundred tomorrow for my flight out.”

She forces a fake-as-hell smile onto her lips. “What should we do today, then?”

“I can think of a few things.” I raise my brows, and she kicks me under the table.

“Cooper . . .” she warns me.

Trick doesn’t even bother to hide his laugh. “Guys are coming over tonight for a BBQ. Ford said you need a proper send-off.”

Carys forces a smile. “Okay.” Having a twin sister means I learned how to speak girl years ago, and that “okay” does not actually mean she’s good. “What can I bring?”

“Nothing, baby. Just spend the day with me.” I drag her from her seat onto my lap.

Trick gags. “Aren’t you two just so cute?” he asks with enough sarcasm to almost drown a SEAL.

“Fuck off, man.” I give him the finger behind Carys’s back.

Trick shovels in the rest of his food, then drops his plate in the sink before he leaves us to get dressed.

Carys turns in my arms and circles hers around my neck. “Are you sure you don’t need to go with him? I might not like it, but I’d understand.” Her soft eyes hold me hostage, and I wish I didn’t have to leave her tomorrow.

“Not today.” I capture her lips with mine and lick into her mouth.

She sighs the sweetest sigh, which has my cock twitching in my shorts.

Carys moves away and presses her fingers to her soft lips. “You’re mine today?”

My hand runs up her bare leg and under the tee until it’s splayed against the soft skin of her back. “I’m yours, period.”

“But you won’t be here.” Her pointer finger runs along my lower lip as she bites down on her own.

“It doesn’t matter where we are. I’m yours, Carys. You were made for me.”

She leans her forehead against mine. “Really good answer, Coop.”

“ C ome on, future baby momma. Just sing something.” Fucking Axel. I kick his leg off the firepit in the backyard as everyone but me laughs. Trick strums the guitar he grabbed from his room earlier, hoping to coax Carys into singing.

We’ve been out here for hours. Ford’s wife, Jess, brought more food than even a SEAL team could eat. Some of the guys have surfed. There’s been a cornhole tournament and a lot of ragging on each other, like only brothers can get away with. But now, we’re all chillin’ in the yard. Relaxed. Carys is sitting next to me with her legs thrown across mine. Her head is tucked under my chin, and my arm is wrapped around her protectively. I don’t want to let her go.

Trick strums a familiar chord, and Carys glares at Emerson. “You told him my favorite song?”

Emerson giggles. “Maybe.”

She kisses my chin before taking a sip of her water and nodding toward Trick. And when she opens her mouth without ever lifting her head from my shoulder, so many memories come crashing down on me.

How could I have forgotten this song?

This woman sang this song in the car so many times in high school. Whenever Murphy was driving and she was with us, she was singing this old eighties song about living forever young, and damn, if it doesn’t make me nostalgic for home and the years before life got so fucking complicated.

The years before I started hiding something this big from my closest friends.

The years before I knew I was sacrificing one relationship at the altar of another.

But it only takes one look at my girl to know there’s nothing in the world more important than this.