The Risks We Take Duet Box Set

78. Carys

CARYS

O ne of the things I’ve learned over the past year is to listen to my body. So when I wake up at the end of the game, after having slept through more than half of the action, and still don’t feel rested, I know it’s time to go to bed. I lift my head from Cooper’s shoulder and look around.

“Did we win?”

Rook groans, and a smile stretches across Cooper’s face as his arm tightens around me. “Rook’s just salty because the Sentinels won. Brady threw a perfect spiral in the fourth quarter that clinched it. There was no coming back after that.”

“Whatever,” Rook sulks. “The refs sucked. They lost San Diego the game.”

I stretch my arms above my head and look around. “I thought Emerson was down here.”

“She went upstairs to feed Elodie a while ago.” Coop stands, then pulls me up with him. “You hungry?”

Rook grabs the last handful of pretzels from the bowl. “I could eat.”

“I wasn’t talking to you.” Coop walks us into the kitchen, directing me to sit down while he opens the refrigerator. “We had some groceries delivered earlier.”

“You gonna cook for me, Coop?” With my elbow on the counter, I rest my chin in my hand and watch him move around the kitchen. “I didn’t know you knew how.”

Grabbing a plate, Cooper pulls a few steaks from the fridge and some potatoes from a wire bowl on the counter. “I can grill a mean steak. Not exactly cook a four-course dinner. But you need to eat something.”

He rounds the corner and drops a kiss on my lips. “There’s stuff for a salad in there too. Emerson ordered everything. She said she can’t go another day without eating something green.”

My eyes stay glued to his ass as he walks out onto the back deck and fires up the grill. Rook brings his empty glass and the pretzel bowl into the kitchen, adding them to the dishwasher, and then turns toward me. I see a question practically on the tip of his tongue, but he’s not saying anything.

“What kinds of deep thoughts are you working through over there, soldier?” I move to the other side of the island and lay a few ingredients for a salad on the counter.

“Has he talked to you?” Rook looks toward the door, then back at me.

“About what?” I dump the lettuce in the wooden bowl and start cutting up the tomatoes.

Rook grabs one out of my pile, popping it into his mouth. “Anything? His memory loss? Losing Linc? How fucked up everything is with Axel? He’s not talking about it.”

“Are you?” I fire back, defensive of Cooper. “Are you guys even allowed to talk about any of that?”

“I’m worried about him, Carys. I talked to my older brother when I first got back to the states. He’s always been the one we go to, not that any of us would ever admit it. And if you repeat it, I’ll deny every word. But I think Coop needs to talk about it. This shit... This life... It messes with you. It fucks you up in ways that have nothing to do with the physical. I think, in some ways, Sinclair’s using the need to protect you and Em as a reason not to deal with the rest of it.” He hands me a cucumber, once I’ve added the tomatoes to the salad. “I’m worried about the fucker.”

I dice the rest of the salad quietly, thinking about everything Rook just laid out before turning around. “I’ll work on it. I don’t know if he’ll listen to me, but I can try.”

Emerson walks into the room with Elodie tucked in her arms. “What do I smell?”

“Coop’s grilling steaks.” I push the salad away and grab four plates from the cabinet.

“Good. My evil plan worked.” Her smile stretches a mile wide. “I figured if I ordered enough meat, one of the two men who’ve decided to live in my house wouldn’t be able to help themselves, and you and I would have a dinner we didn’t have to make ourselves.”

“You’re a genius.” I kiss the baby’s head before I set the table.

“What’s that look for, Rook?”

Em points at his face as the man mutters something sounding an awful lot like, “Evil genius .”

After I set the table, I pull my phone out and shoot off a text.

Carys

Soooo . . . Something big happened.

Chloe

Well, after today’s game, we know Cooper didn’t break Murphy.

Daphne

Do we though?

Maddie

Umm, excuse me. Why are we assuming it had to be Cooper who hurt Murphy? Why couldn’t Carys have done it herself?

Carys

Thank you, Maddie. Little sisters unite!

And why are we assuming anyone was maimed here, people? Is it that hard to believe it was a civilized dinner?

Chloe

Civilized and your brother are not two words we put together, Carys.

Carys

Point taken. BUT. But, but, but... you’re missing MY point.

Daphne

Do you actually have a point?

Carys

We made up.

Maddie

Made what up?

Daphne

OMG, Mads. WTF. You are not that blonde.

Maddie

Oh . . . OH. YAY! That’s awesome.

Daphne

I’m so happy you guys worked through your shit.

Chloe

Thank the freaking gods. Now how about you listen to all of us next time when we tell you you’re making a mistake?

Carys

No next time. I promise. I’m never letting go again.

Maddie

That’s so romantic. I want to fall in love.

Daphne

You wanna get laid, Mads. Love can come after you pop your cherry.

Carys

You guys are crazy.

Chloe

But you love us.

Carys

Damn straight.

I barely finish putting away the dinner dishes when the doorbell rings, and Ford walks thru by himself. “Hey, Ford. No Jessie tonight?” I’m selfishly relieved. I’m exhausted.

“Hey, Carys.” He hooks an arm around me and squeezes. “Nope. She picked up a shift at the hospital for a friend.”

“Okay. Well, I’m going to bed.” I lift up on my toes and kiss Cooper’s cheek.

“It’s eight o’clock.” Emerson looks outside as if to make sure she’s right. “And you just woke up a little while ago. Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine,” I promise. “Just tired and listening to my body. Give me a few hours, and if you need me, I can get up with Elodie after that.”

“No. We’ll be fine. Go to bed. I’m going to see how she does tonight. Tomorrow is a big day. We get to leave the house, don’t we, baby girl?” She smiles down at Elodie in her arms. “We’ve got the doctor’s appointment in the morning, and then I want to stop by the other house. I think I want to move back there before Jack and Theo get home and figure out a way to stop me.”

“They mean well, Em.” I defend the boys. Knowing how protective they are of her.

“I know. But I’m going to need to do this on my own at some point, and I don’t want my brother or anyone else putting their dreams on hold for me.” I read between the lines and know I’m the anyone else in this scenario.

“Okay. But wake me if you need me.” I get a stern look from Em and Coop and decide to make my exit before I press my luck.

I strip out of everything but my shirt, climb into bed, bury my face in a pillow that smells like Cooper, and immediately feel sleep pulling me under.

S trong arms wrap around me during the night, and I hum as my lips press against a very bare chest. “What time is it?”

“Late. Ford just left.”

I wrap my body around Cooper’s. “Is everything okay?”

“Nothing to worry about tonight.” He tucks me under his chin, and I tangle my legs with his. Wrapping his hand around my throat and resting his thumb over my thrumming pulse possessively, Cooper shifts between my legs, and a thrill dances down my body.

He runs his other hand under my shirt, and he shoves it up over my head. “I love your body, baby.”

His thumb brushes over my pebbled nipple, and a tingle pulls deep inside me.

“Coop,” I keen, begging for something . . . For anything . . . For everything.

His lips are everywhere as he works his way down my body, worshipping me, until finally his mouth finds my pussy. “I want to taste you, baby.”

I look down my body at his blue eyes and crooked grin.

So fucking sexy.

“What are you waiting for?” I spread my legs and drop my knees to the bed.

He spreads my lips, and a chill dances over my skin. My back arches off the bed and my thighs clench around his head when he sucks my clit into his mouth.

I slide my hands through his hair and tug his face closer, and Cooper places a warm, wet kiss against my pussy, then groans and devours me. There’s no slow and soft tonight.

Every swipe of his tongue and stroke of those blunt fingers—pushing inside me, stretching me, fucking me—has me clawing at the sheets as butterflies take flight in my stomach.

Strong hands hold my ass and pull me flush against his mouth.

He growls against my sex, and the intensity of the vibrations sends me reeling.

My hips lift, and my body tightens around him. The pressure builds higher and higher, until it’s too much and not enough at the same time, entwining around me like a curling ribbon. A knot waiting to be tugged free.

My hands move without thought, tangling in Cooper’s hair, tugging him harder, while I shamelessly grind against his face.

I can’t hold back the moans slipping past my lips. The begging. The pleading.

My skin burns as the frenzied pleasure builds inside me.

Until it’s too much.

Needing to break free, and with one scrape of his finger inside me, hitting a spot only Cooper will ever know, I detonate in a violent orgasm that shakes me to my core as I shatter around him.