Shit.
“When he stole the cupcakes I snuck to school to give you on your birthday. He got them out of my locker.”
That punk. I’d never been so furious. I’d worked hard to get those to school without Coop seeing them. I’d brought three. One for me, one for Coop, and one for Jake.
Coop grinned, then nuzzled the corner of my mouth. “I remember,” he soothed. “Then you used your lunch money and got me an ice cream sandwich rather than food.”
“And you and Jake split your food with me so I’d eat, and then you broke up the ice cream sandwich into three pieces.”
“Hey, what’s a birthday if I can’t share?” He didn’t wait for me to answer before he kissed me again. Every kiss with Coop started at a simmer and ramped up to four-alarm blaze. Every. Single. One.
We were both panting when he lifted his head. “I’m not asking to spend the night,” he said quietly. “No pr—”
I touched his lips with my finger. “You don’t pressure me, Coop. You drive me crazy. You wind me up. You turn me inside out sometimes. But you don’t pressure me. Even when you corner me in the laundry room so I’ll talk to you because you’re worried about me.”
His eyes gentled, and he kissed my finger. “I do worry about you. You’ve been my best friend forever, Frankie.”
“Ditto.” That was why all of this scared me. “Ian couldn’t…”
“I’m not Bubba,” he told me before I could form the whole thought. “I’m me. I know you’re with Archie and with Jake. If you couldn’t tell today, it didn’t bother me at all…maybe a little envy that I didn’t get to slide into that bed with you all naked and warm and wet…”
My stomach went taut at the description.
“But I fucking love how hot it is when you kiss them.” Heat swarmed my face at his description. “Even hotter when I think about getting you all revved up for them.”
Oh my god.
I tilted my head back, and he nipped kisses along my throat. “You totally did that…that Friday before I went out with Archie, when you kissed me.”
The soft huffs of his breath as he laughed against my skin sent tingles radiating everywhere. “Then my evil plan worked.”
I giggled. “You are so not an evil genius.”
Head up, he waggled his eyebrows. “But would an evil genius really look like an evil genius?”
“I didn’t say you didn’t look like one,” I retorted, then pinched him, and he gave a little jump before lifting me up with his arms around my waist. My feet dangled as he walked, but kept my arms around him.
“Then what did you mean?”
“I said you’re not one. You’re too nice.”
“Ha,” he snorted the sound and kept walking right through the living room. The cats were darting out of the way. “Too nice. I get you all hot and bothered thinking about me before you make out with them, and I’m too nice?” The dare in his eyes made me grin.
“Well…” I tipped my head to the side. “You have a point.”
“Thank you. Evil genius should be rewarded,” he murmured before he closed his mouth on mine. In my room, he twisted and fell back on the bed. We were so lucky we didn’t knock our heads together, but it still managed to set me off giggling. His answering laughter made it hard to keep kissing, but when he didn’t abandon the attempt, neither did I.
Sitting up, I straddled him, and he slid his hands under my shirt, just resting his palms against my skin.
“Nothing has to happen tonight,” he told me. The fact that he had a very thick erection and I was sitting right on it kind of suggested his interest was otherwise. “I just wanted to spend my birthday with you. This isn’t a ploy to get you into bed.”
“What if I want something to happen?”
His eyes softened as did his smile, and he began to trace his thumbs in little circles against my skin. “Depends on what it is you want to happen.” The glint in his eyes was an invitation to play.
“Truth or dare?”
Surprise followed by glee danced across his shifting expression. A chance to make me answer questions? Coop loved to pry things out of me. He was a bigger gossip in some ways than the girls at school. Only Coop didn’t pass on what he learned, he just collected it. We all talked to him because he was just that good at listening.