Only One Regret (Only One 5)

I look up and see him with his head back and his eyes closed. "I need a minute," he says, and I want to laugh.

I sit up, and look around the room at our clothes scattered everywhere. "This is not what I was expecting." I look at him, seeing his heaving chest still trying to control his breathing. I scoot next to him on the bed, and he wraps his arm around my shoulder, and I look up at him. This man, who knows me better than I know myself, smiles at me. I lean back, and he bends to kiss me.

"Talk," he insists, knowing I have to talk.

"Well, the first thing we should discuss is, um," I start to say, but I can’t think when he touches me. "I need a robe." Getting off the bed, I walk over and pick up his shirt, putting it on.

"I don’t know how much talking you want to do," he says, not even attempting to cover himself. "But you look fucking good in my shirt."

I have to sit down, and I do it at the foot of the bed. "We need to really talk, Cooper." I grab a pillow and place it over his cock that is starting to rise again. I sit in the middle of the bed, and he looks at me. "We really have to stop doing this.”

"Think again," he says, not even waiting a second for me to finish. And I roll my eyes. "Erika, do you really want to stop doing this?" he asks, and my stomach sinks. "Honest to god, you look me in the eyes and tell me that you don’t want to do this, and we won’t do it." His voice comes out soft. "But you can’t deny this thing between us."

"I’m not trying to deny this thing between us," I finally say, and I get off the bed because I have to walk it out while we talk. "That"—I point at the bed—"was the best thing I’ve ever had."

"You think?" he says and chuckles. "Well, I don’t have to think. The last three days have been the best I’ve ever had. Ever."

"Ugh," I say, throwing up my hands. "Okay, fine, it’s the best I’ve ever had. Are you happy?" I ask him, and he just shrugs. "I’m just …" I start. "We aren’t even using protection," I point out, and he looks at me.

"You have an IUD," he points out. "I know because I had to take you to get it installed, or whatever it’s called. You made me wait outside, remember?"

I roll my eyes. "Oh my god." I put my hand to my head. "See? This. You know everything about me."

"Yeah, and?" he says. "That just makes it better."

"But like we aren’t using protection," I say, and he tilts his head.

"I’m clean," he says, and I don’t doubt that he wouldn’t be clean. "I haven’t had sex in three years," he admits, and it’s my turn to be shocked.

"You were married," I point out. "Mia is two."

"And the last time we had sex was when she was conceived and not that I’m comfortable with talking about other people while we’re naked, but it was six months before that."

"The last time for me was four years ago," I say. "So I’m clean also."

"Can you come here?" He holds out his hand to me, knowing I’m the one who will have to take the leap of faith. I get on the bed and move over to him.

I crawl over his lap, and he sits up and takes me in his arms. "The best thing about all of this is that we can be honest with each other," he says, and I look up at him. "You ignored me today."

"I didn’t ignore you," I lie, and he just raises his eyebrows. "Okay, fine, I ignored you. But I just didn’t know how to talk to you."

He laughs. "You talk to me like I’m Cooper. Like you’ve always talked to me."

I laugh. "Yeah, right," I say, shaking my head. "What did you expect? For me to be like hey, I had the best sex of my life, but I’m afraid that it’s going to fuck shit up."

"Well, yeah," he says. "There is nothing wrong with that." I hate when he is the sensible one. "Now I have to leave tomorrow for five days," he says, leaning down and kissing me. "So we have five days of sex to put in the bank." I shake my head, laughing, but I’m not laughing when he pushes me back, and his mouth devours me.

The alarm goes off, and my hand sneaks out of the covers. "What time is it?" I hear him grumble from beside me.

"Five," I respond, shutting the alarm off. "What time is the flight?" I ask him.