The Risks We Take Duet Box Set

30. Carys

CARYS

S tanding off to the side while I watch Cooper’s teammates say goodbye is excruciating. My head has throbbed all day already. But between that and the emotions running rampant now, I’ve got nothing left. My heart feels like it’s going to break in two, and I don’t know how I’m going to survive.

Okay... I realize I’m being overdramatic, but I don’t care. This is awful.

Ford’s wife, Jessica, walks over to me and laces her fingers through mine before she squeezes. We’ve only met a few times, but the look on her face tells me everything I need to know before she says a single word.

“You’ll get through this. And if you need help, I’m here.”

I hold back the first tear that’s fighting to fall, knowing if I let it break free, there won’t be any stopping the rest for hours.

I refuse to cry until after he leaves.

No matter how much I want to.

Axel throws his arms around me in a big bear hug. “You call me if you need anything, baby momma.”

“Fuck off, Axe.” Rook shoves him off me, then blocks me from Axel’s view. “You need anything, you call any one of us. Even Axe. But know if you call Axe, he’s never gonna shut the fuck up about it.” It’s the most words I’ve heard him speak since I met him months ago. And his piercing eyes hold me hostage as he leans in and whispers, “Don’t let Sinclair see you cry. This is killing him already.” He straightens to his full height and puts his hand out. “Give me your phone.”

“What?” I look past him and see Cooper smiling at us, then hesitantly pull my phone from my shorts and place it in Rook’s palm.

He takes it, holds it in front of my face until it unlocks, then his fingers fly across the screen. After a moment, he does something on his own phone and hands mine back to me. “All our numbers are saved in there, including Jessie’s.” He smiles warmly at Ford’s wife, something I didn’t know this scary man was capable of. “I’ve got your number saved and added you to our tracking app.”

“You what?” I must have heard him wrong because who would do that without permission and then tell you it’s done? “Tracking app?”

“Don’t worry. We won’t use it unless we need to, and if we need to, trust me when I say you’ll want us to have it.” Rook pockets his phone and walks away as if he didn’t just add a goddamned tracker to my phone.

“He really won’t use it.”

I whip my head back to Jessica, not really comforted by her words.

Because if he won’t use it unless he needs to, what exactly would make him need to?

“Stop it,” the pretty blonde tells me. “Don’t go there.”

Guess she read my mind.

“Let’s grab coffee one day this week. I usually work three twelve-hour shifts at the hospital. So, most of my week is free. You can ask me all the questions I bet you’re dying to have answered.”

I forgot she was a nurse.

Ford joins us, wrapping one big, beefy arm around his wife, and presses his lips to the top of her head. “Ready to go, Jessie?” His warm brown eyes soften when she tucks herself against him.

“Text me. You’ve got my number now, Carys. I want you to use it.”

“Thank you.” I force a smile. “Coffee sounds perfect.”

And this is how it goes... Cooper says goodbye to his team, and this incredible group of men all offer me their support, their help, and tell me not to hesitate to call for anything. Somehow, I’ve gained a whole new family, and this one accepts Cooper and me without explanation or interference.

Once everyone is gone, Coop and I stand in the kitchen with Linc, Em, and Trick.

Everyone is quiet.

Hesitant.

Cooper has an arm banded around me as he holds my back to his chest and leans against the counter. “It’s just a few months. Then I’ll be back.” He gets a little choked up. “Don’t go getting into any trouble while I’m gone.”

Trick gives him the guy nod. “Be safe, brother.” He slaps Coop on the back and walks out of the room.

“And then there were four... that I actually think should be two.” Emerson reaches out for my hand and tugs me away from Cooper. “Let’s give the boys a minute, CC.”

Cooper and Linc have been together since boot camp, all through BUD/S, and now the team. I can’t imagine this is easy on either of them.

Em and I walk into the living room, giving the guys a little space. “You’re going to be fine. You know that, right?”

I take a deep, stuttering breath. “I think I do. It’s just hard. I couldn’t wait to get home to him, and he’s already leaving.”

“You could go with him, you know.” Emerson says the words I’ve been quietly thinking all day. “Take a few months off and work on your designs in Virginia.”

“Drop out of school to follow him across the country? Even if I could come up with a way to explain that to my mother, I don’t think it would work. As much as part of me wants to, I’ve got things to do here. And this isn’t permanent.” At least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself all day.

“Just remember that, CC. Remember that it’s not permanent, and you’ll be fine.”

Cooper and Linc walk into the room, laughing at something, but as he reaches out for my hand and our skin touches, all laughing stops. “Ready for bed?”

I nod silently and let him lead me down the hall to his room, suddenly nervous. When I walk past him, he pulls me back against his chest, and his warm breath ghosts across my ear, leaving my body humming with anticipation. “You okay, baby?”

I drop my chin down, giving him better access, and let him take my weight. “It’s just a few months. We’ve got this.”

Cooper presses his hot mouth to my pulse point, and I melt against him. His lips skim up my neck as his hands gather the hem of my sundress, and he tugs it over my head. He sucks in a quick breath, and I smile triumphantly, knowing he likes what he sees.

Hidden under my plain green-and-white-striped, jersey-cotton tank dress, I’m wearing one of the designs Chloe and I worked on a few weeks ago. It’s a dark-green French-lace thong with tiny silk ties on either hip and a matching balconette bra with green silk covering the lower half of my breasts, plumping them up, while matching white lace barely covers the top.

Cooper’s callused fingers slide down my sides and under the waist of my panties before stopping abruptly.

I turn my head back to him just as his arm bands around my waist, and I’m lifted off my feet. “Cooper,” I squeal before I’m dropped on the bed.

“I want your ass in the air, baby.”

Why do those words make me so wet?

I peek over my shoulder in time to catch him throwing his shirt to the floor as he kicks off his jeans and boxers, and my mouth waters. “Did I tell you to turn around, Carys?”

I turn my head back as my pussy throbs from the rasp in his voice.

Bossy Cooper makes me so hot, my thong is drenched.

The mattress dips under his weight when he climbs on the bed behind me. Heat rolls off his skin, and his hand smooths down my spine before he smacks my ass, sending a power pulse straight to my aching core.

I squirm against him with a moan, desperate to have him filling me.

“You like that, don’t you?” His palm rubs over the undoubtedly already red handprint he left in his wake. Then he presses a warm, wet kiss to my skin and rips my panties from my body with a rough snap.

“Cooper...” I groan but stop when his skilled lips press against my aching core. I push back against him and drop my head down to the bed while he eats me until I scream. Within seconds, I’m writhing under his touch, shaking as my heart beats faster... until it stops.

Cool air hits my hot pussy, and I whine.

Wanting.

Needy.

A protest builds in my throat until Cooper’s warmth covers me. His body cradles mine. He grips my face tightly, his lips next to my mouth.

“I don’t want to be gentle tonight, Carys. I can’t be.”

“Don’t. I don’t want gentle. I won’t break.” I push back against him and feel his cock between my legs, teasing me... Until he enters me in one forceful stroke, seating himself deeper than I’ve ever felt. He doesn’t wait for me to adjust to his size. One hand wraps around my hip, and his fingers start working my clit as he builds a relentless rhythm with brutal thrusts that push me higher.

Every nerve in my body feels raw and exposed.

A guttural moan rips from my lips with every delicious snap of his hips.

The way his dick drags through my core, over and over, I just can’t... can’t even think... until he pulls me back, dragging me up to my knees. That same hand shoves the cup of my bra down and pinches my nipple. Rolling it. Tugging it. Rubbing the soft skin in his rough palm, and I whimper incoherently.

I curl my arm around his neck behind me and tilt my head so I can drag his mouth down to mine. Our tongues duel for control as he fucks me harder. Pounds into me faster. Builds me up to an impossible height, then warns, “Don’t come yet, baby. I’m not done with you.”

“Coop, I can’t... I’m there. Please,” I beg.

“Not yet.” His greedy hands are everywhere as pleasure and pain rain across my body. Fingers dig into my hips in a bruising grip, and I’m slammed back against his hard cock. One hand slips between my legs, running through my soaked sex as he smacks my ass again with the other.

“Jesus,” I moan as I drop back down onto the bed for support.

“Not Jesus, baby.” He drags his finger, covered in my juices, along the crack of my ass and then, without warning, he pushes it inside me. It burns as he continues to pound my pussy while he fucks my virgin ass. First with one finger, then two, until I explode in a violent orgasm, shaking uncontrollably.

I scream. I writhe. And I keep riding Cooper’s cock as he fills me completely.

Telling me I’m his while he fucks me through my orgasm, and I lose every last cord of control.

The stars fucking explode and burn in front of my eyes as I collapse on the bed.

Completely. Destroyed.

Irrevocably in love.