WHEN I WAKE UP, all I know is Penny.
Her lavender perfume, still lingering on her skin. Her bright hair, spread out on the pillow. Her freckles. Her starburst birthmark. Her eyelashes, so long they nearly brush her cheeks. The lithe curve of her body, and her smooth, fair leg thrown over mine. Her pixie nose and stubborn lips. The bites I left on the insides of her thighs, her breasts. A picture of perfection, naked and beautiful and all mine.
Her snoring, too. But I’ll never tell her that one.
I can’t believe that I considered, even for a second, about giving her up. She’s right. No matter how it started, we’re it for each other. I might’ve been wrong about Uncle Blake, but I’m not wrong about her.
I’m half-hard already, thanks to sleeping naked and tangled with her, and I feel no qualms about waking her with a kiss. When we eventually made our way to the Plaza—after ice skating at Wollman Rink and a late-night bite at a hole-in-the-wall falafel place—we snuck upstairs without even thinking about going back to the gala. We warmed up once and for all with a shower in the enormous, luxurious stall. Fucked in it, too. And then again on the floor. And then finally in the bed. Despite all that, I’m nearly ready to go again.
She stirs when she feels my kiss and my hand stroking through her hair. “Babe,” she mumbles.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
She opens one gorgeous blue eye. “Is it morning already?”
“Something like that.”
She stifles a yawn with the pillow. “Need coffee.”
“All out of coffee, unfortunately. Can I interest you in some morning wood?”
That gets her to sit up. “Cooper!”
“Ah, there she is. My personal sleeping beauty.”
“I’m going to smack you with this pillow.”
I just grin at her. “And I’ll say thank you.”
“I’m going to pee.” She slides out of bed, stretching, giving me a view of her pretty body. Those love bites look fucking fantastic on her. “And use mouthwash. If I can walk straight.”
“If I have my way, you’ll never walk straight again.”
She rolls her eyes, but she’s blushing. I love her for so many reasons that have nothing to do with the fun we have together, but I can’t deny that finding my sexual soulmate means the world to me.
I lean against the pillows, giving my cock a firm stroke. It’s fucking satisfying, knowing she still feels me that deeply. When she comes back a couple minutes later with minty fresh breath, she slips right into my lap. She fits against me so well. She kisses me, tangling our tongues together as she grinds down on my cock. I kiss back, running my hand down her back, squeezing her ass. She moans into my mouth softly. My balls ache, drawn up tight; like always, her mere presence has me pressed right against the edge.
“Need to be inside you, baby girl,” I whisper. “Can I have you?”
She nibbles on my lip. “Always.”
I flip us over, so she’s underneath me, her head settled on the pillows. She curves her hand around my jaw as she pulls me into another kiss, and meanwhile, I stroke my hand down her body, cupping her pussy. She’s slick already.
I smile against her mouth. “Such a good girl.”
“No teasing,” she murmurs. “Give it to me. I want to ache because of you.”
I’m all the way hard now, thanks to the friction of our bodies, so I just spread her legs and rub my cock against her entrance. She glares at me—I guess that qualifies as teasing—so I smack her pussy with my palm instead. Her mouth drops open in surprise, but then she moans, tilting her head back. I smack her again, a little harder, and she lifts her hips, seeking more of the pain that mixes so beautifully with her pleasure. I roll us onto our sides, so I’m spooning her, and press her leg against her chest so I have access to her sweet cunt. I smack her a few more times, listening to her little gasps, watching as she shudders in my arms, and then finally, I shove in all at once. It’s fucking exquisite, the way she feels; so goddamn tight I can barely move, feeling her pussy flutter around me as she tries to get used to my length. She cries out my name. Warmth rushes from my head to the tips of my toes. I nuzzle the place where her shoulder meets her neck and bite down as I rock into her. And because she’s my good girl—my best girl, my fucking everything—that makes her reach back to pull more of my weight onto her.
Her voice shakes as says my name again. Not Callahan. Cooper.
“You take me so goddamn beautifully,” I whisper against her ear. Now that she has the IUD and we’re monogamous, we’ve forgone the condoms most of the time, and the drag of my bare cock against her tight as fuck core leaves me dizzy. The fact she trusts me—loves me—enough to give me this gift astonishes me. If I have my way, I’ll spend the rest of my life worshipping at the altar of her body.
I reach around to rub her clit, but she drags my hand away. “I can come from this,” she says, her voice shaking. “Fuck me harder.”
I pull her closer instead, using the leverage to work myself even deeper inside her. She cries out so loudly, I’m glad we’re in a hotel room, not at the house. I must hit the perfect angle, because she tenses, her whole body a live wire about to explode, right before she sobs my name. Warm, slippery wetness coats my groin as she comes. The way she screams, the evidence of her pleasure marking both of us, sends me over the edge as well, and I come deep inside her, groaning as I breathe in her scent. Stars spark at the edges of my vision. She’s gripped around me so tightly I couldn’t move even if I wanted.
“Wow,” she murmurs, sounding dazed. “A vaginal orgasm. I’ve never felt it that intensely.”
“My ego doesn’t need stroking, but I like when you do it anyway.”
She giggles. I press my hand against her breastbone; her heart is racing like she just ran a sprint. My own is pounding as well. A vaginal orgasm. I wasn’t even sure if those existed before now. Now that I do, though? It’s going to be fun dragging them out of her.
We stay like that for a while, but eventually, she reaches for her phone.
“Oh, shit. We need to go.”
“We can just take a later train.”
“No,” she says, looking over her shoulder at me. “You’re getting breakfast with your dad.”
I raise my eyebrows. “No.”
“I set it up with him last night. You need to talk to him, love.”
My breath catches in my throat. That’s fucking unfair, hitting me with a pet name like that at a time like this. “I doubt he wants to talk to me.”
“He does.” She untangles us both and slips off the bed. “He just—”
I look at her slicked-up thighs. My mouth is watering. “I wasn’t done, you know.”
She crosses her arms over her chest, which just makes me look at her tits. As much fun as it is to come inside her, I love when I can suck my seed off those pale pink nipples. “Well, too bad,” she says. “Your dad punched your uncle last night, you know.”
I’m startled into laughter. “No way. Richard Callahan doesn’t punch people.”
“He does when he’s defending his son.” Penny runs her fingers through her hair, untangling the knots. “I know he’s been shitty to you, but I told him that. I told him he needs to be honest with you, and that honesty starts now. Get dressed.”
My eyes widen. “You did what?”
“It needed to be said, and I’m not sorry.”
“Holy shit, I wish I’d be there to see that.”
“I think I terrified James.” She winces. “I might’ve called your uncle an impotent worm, too. I was just so mad.”
“And you thought that insult was too over the top.”
“He deserved it,” she says, a fierce note in her voice. I can imagine the scene; Penny in her fancy dress, her arms crossed over her chest just like this, chin tilted as she stared down grown men. How could I have ever thought she wouldn’t choose me first? When I ran away, she was there to take the heat—and then she found me and gave me her heart. You don’t push away a girl like that, you keep her close and thank your lucky stars that she decided you’re the one she wants. “He might not deserve another chance, but your dad does. Don’t let things between you wither, Cooper. It takes a long time for them to grow green again.”
