Cooper (The Family Simon 6)

Fear clutched at her, and she might have whimpered. She felt the zipper give way. Felt cool air on her skin. Felt his fingers in her hair, loosening her ponytail until he managed to get it undone.

He moved closer still—she felt the heat from his body—and she bit her tongue when his hands slid to her face and then to her neck. Her stomach was a ball of knots, and she felt queasy. And light-headed. And so damn scared.

No one had touched her there in years. Not since the hospital. Not since the endless skin grafts. Not since Nathan.

She couldn’t feel a thing, not surprising considering the nerve damage, and her knees wobbled a bit when he leaned close. “Am I hurting you?”

She shook her head because she couldn’t answer, and when his hands cupped her face, she held her breath. Uncertain. Afraid. Weirdly excited. Cooper Simon had just got up close and personal with the ugliness that was a part of her. He’d touched it. And yet he still held her.

Warm breath fanned her cheeks, and her lashes fluttered. She wanted to open them. To look and see for herself what was reflected inside him. But she couldn’t because she was too afraid.

When his mouth slid over hers, her chest tightened and her knees knocked together. Her hands fisted his shirt, and she leaned into him, welcoming his strong arms as Cooper slid them around her, caging Morgan against his chest.

At first his kiss was tentative. It was a light tongue. A nip to the corner of her mouth. A nuzzle against her cheek. But then he shifted, and she felt his hardness, even as something hot and wet bloomed between her legs.

Cooper Simon continued his assault on her mouth, and good Lord, but the man could kiss. He was aggressive and yet restrained. He was hard and soft. He was everything in that moment. Her savior. Her anchor. He awakened a need inside Morgan that was painful, a need that had her drowning in a kiss that wouldn’t stop.

It became too much, and she tore her mouth from his, wriggling until he had to let her go.

Cooper was breathing hard, his face intense. She moved back a few steps and clutched at the ends of her sweater.

“I…” She had to take a few extra seconds because she needed to calm the hell down. “I should go.”

Morgan didn’t give Cooper a chance to say anything. She turned and headed for the foyer, grabbing her coat from the rack as she slid her feet into her boots.

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?”

She nodded and didn’t bother turning around. She opened the door and hurried out into the night. Only when she was in the car did she look up at the house. Cooper’s silhouette filled the doorway as she cranked the engine.

Without giving her vehicle a chance to warm up, Morgan reversed and sped away from the McLaren estate. She was still shaking. Still hot and bothered and way more confused than she had the time and energy for. She’d let Cooper Simon, a man she barely knew, touch her. He was a world-class playboy. Everybody knew it. Hell, it was all she read online when she’d googled him.

She squirmed in her seat because she could still feel his lips on hers. As she approached town, Morgan slowed her speed, though her mind raced ahead like a junkie on crack. How could it not? How could the gray matter between her ears not be filled with things she had no business thinking about? Seriously. Cooper Simon had kissed her damn near senseless. What. The. Hell.

She pulled into the driveway and cut the engine. Light flickered from the front room, and she knew her dad was either passed out in his chair, or he’d gone to bed and forgotten to turn the TV off.

Next door, Mrs. Samuels poked her head out for a look and then retreated into her home, closing the door against the cold. Morgan sank back into her seat and put trembling fingers against her mouth. It was swollen and sensitive. Because Cooper Simon kissed me.

He’d pulled her in and kissed her hard. But this was Cooper Simon, and she was…well, she was just a screwed-up girl from a small town with no business kissing someone like Cooper Simon.

To make matters worse? She’d liked it. Heck, she’d liked it a whole lot. Her. The girl who didn’t like anyone touching her. That was reason enough for Morgan to be concerned. You know. On account of this being Cooper-the-man-whore-Simon.

“Shit,” she muttered, touching her mouth again. Passion still thrummed through her, and she squeezed her eyes shut. There was also something else. Something that clutched at her stomach and made her feel sick. She knew what it was.

Fear. Cooper Simon scared the ever-lovin’ crap out of her. And yet he’d awakened a part of her she thought was dead.

How inconvenient was that?

13

“You were quiet today.”

Cooper yanked his head from the window and glanced at his brother. It was late Sunday evening, and after a full day that included church service, Easter dinner, and more desserts than he cared to think about, Cooper was ready to head back to his place and call it a night. He wasn’t in the mood to talk, and he sure as hell wasn’t in the mood to discuss the reason he’d been quiet all day.

“Tired, I guess,” he replied, rolling his shoulders. What a load of crap. He wasn’t tired. Hell, he was so far from tired, it was laughable. He was tense and fired up and about as calm as a kitten in a dog pen. All because of one kiss.

One hell of a kiss.

Maverick raised an eyebrow. “Bullshit.” His brother’s bullshit meter was on point, but Cooper wasn’t giving in. Not because he didn’t feel comfortable confiding in his brother—hell, Rick was the only one on the planet privy to a lot of shit no one else knew. No, it was more or less because he still didn’t know what to make of Morgan and this sudden attraction between them.