The Risks We Take Duet Box Set

35. Cooper

COOPER

“ C ooper...?” She reaches out like she’s going to touch me but pulls her hand back unexpectedly. Carys stands as the first fireworks explode over the ocean, signaling the start of the new year. “You want me to move to Virginia with you?”

“I want to at least know what you think about it. We haven’t talked about where you see your life. Is it here in California? Or is in it Kroydon Hills? Hell... Do you want to move somewhere else?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it. I guess I thought if we wanted to be together, we had to stay here.”

“No, babe. Your options are endless. But mine are San Diego or Virginia Beach. I don’t think that’s changing any time soon.” It would kill me if she doesn’t want to live in either place, but we’d figure something out.

I think.

Bright colors burst in the distance behind her, and her hands white-knuckle the railing. “You know, a year ago I was just barely hanging on. I had no idea who I was. Did I want to be a singer? An actress on a Broadway stage? I’d been groomed my entire life for that because it’s what I always thought I wanted. But that dream changed. Le Désir became my new dream. And one by one, things started falling into place.”

Carys spins around to face me but doesn’t let go of her hold on the railing.

“Baby...” she says slowly, like she’s scared of my reaction to whatever she’s about to say.

I think I’m about to have my heart ripped out.

“I love designing. I love creating. Chloe and I make one hell of a partnership, and I want to see where that goes. I’m stronger now than I was a year ago. I finally like the person I am. I like that I’ve figured out how to speak up for myself. I like me.”

She crosses back to me and sits down in my lap. “And I love the me I am when I’m with you. I don’t really care where I live. I think Chloe and I can work together wherever we are. And I want to be wherever you are, Cooper. If that’s on the East Coast, then that’s where we’ll go.”

“Are you ready to talk to the family? Because I don’t want to hide us anymore.” I run my hand over her soft hair and wrap it around my fist. “I’m tired of hiding, Carys.”

“Cooper, if you add up all the days we’ve actually spent together since we started this, it doesn’t even total two weeks. I refuse to bring our family into this until we’ve gotten to enjoy us. I love you. I’d do almost anything for you. But I’m not willing to do that yet.”

I tug her face down to mine, but she tugs away. “Carys, we’re making this harder on ourselves than it needs to be. How can we talk about living together... about moving across the country to be together and closer to our family, but not tell them?”

“I’m not ready yet. I’m yours, Coop. But I’m not willing to share us with the world yet. What happens if Mom and Coach freak out? Our families are big news back home. I don’t think we’ll be able to stay under the radar without anyone finding out that we’re together for very long. How’s that going to look? We’re stepsiblings. Not to mention, Aiden’s going to lose his mind. What happens if he hates you? If he won’t speak to either of us?”

I kiss her quickly to calm her down. “One step at a time, Carys.”

“I won’t be able to move anywhere until after this semester,” she sighs against my lips. “Just give me until then. Give me until May. Please, Coop. Can you do that?” Her eyes search mine for an answer, like I could ever deny her anything.

“We can’t hide it from them forever, Carys.”

“I know. We’ll tell them eventually. Maybe when we’re married—with a kid or two already.” She quickly looks away, like she just realized what she said.

I cup her jaw and turn her face back to me. “Babies. Plural, huh?”

“Don’t you want babies, Cooper Sinclair?” She asks with a cheeky smile. “You’d make beautiful babies.”

I tickle her sides. “Oh, I want babies with you, Carys. I want so many babies with you that we give Dec and Belles a run for their money. I want a life filled with love. But the key to all of that is you.”

Carys’s hands push my shirt over my head, and then she places a kiss on my chest, the warmth of her lips traveling down my body. “You have the most beautiful heart, Coop.” She tugs her sweater off and tosses it down with my shirt. Then she stands and shimmies out of her leggings and panties.

I drag her to me and bury my face in her pussy.

Kissing her. Licking her. Devouring her. Until she jerks away.

“Take your pants off, Cooper, and fuck me. I need you. Show me what it feels like to be loved by you.”

Once she’s in my arms, her legs straddling my hips, Carys drops her warm, wet pussy down onto my cock and starts rocking slowly. Without the bulky sweater, I can see how much weight she’s lost, and my girl didn’t have any extra to lose. Her collarbones stand out above her chest, and as my fingers graze her hips, I’m worried I’m going to break her.

I wrap my arms around her tiny frame and hold her to me.

Guiding her as she sets a slow, relaxed pace.

The fireworks continue their dance above us.

A thousand colors light the night’s sky while I worship this woman in my arms. She arches her back, and I take her breast in my mouth. First one, then the other as Carys moans loud and long.

“I’m not going to last long, Coop,” she pants.

“You feel so fucking good.” I grip her hips harder and rock into her. “I love watching you take my cock like a good girl.” I draw her hips down hard against me, impaling her as a surge of electricity courses through me in a spiral, sucking me in. “Come now, baby.”

She throws her head back, and a raw, beautiful moan pours from her lips as her pussy milks me for every last drop.

“God, I love you.” I take her lips in a bruising kiss.

“Until the end of time, Cooper.”

Until the end of time.