Page 131 of This Time Around
“Shit.”I rested my forehead to her chest.Just the thought of being with her, bare, her needing that as much as I wanted it almost made me come.
Her hand slid up my back.“Was that okay?”
I laughed against her skin.Lips kissed every area of her I could reach and I shook my head.Crazy woman.
“Yeah, Rebecca,” I murmured, my tongue finally seeking what it so desperately desired.I slid it over her nipple and she gasped.“It was okay.”
I took my time with her.I moved down her body with my mouth and my hands until I reached her ankles, kissing, touching, caressing every inch of her.Memorizing the feel of the curves of her calves, the sweet, soft skin of her inner thigh, and then I moved back up to her stomach, the flare of her hips, the swell of her breasts.
I tasted and teased her entire body before my balls grew too tight with the need to be inside of her.And then I took her, slowly.My elbows by her shoulders, I gave her all my weight as I slid inside of her, moved like we had all the time in the world.Our gazes locked, our bodies molded together, we rode the wave of ecstasy together, stealing each other’s groans, swallowing my grunts and her cries, until we reached our peaks.I followed her over the edge shortly after I ensured she fell first.
“I love you.”Her fingers were at my scalp, brushing through my hair, my head was on her shoulder.We were sated, breathless, a fine sheet of sweat coated our bodies.“I never want to be without you.”
“You won’t be.”It wasn’t a promise.It was a vow.One I’d ensure I never broke for as long as I lived.“I love you, too.”
“I wantyou to come back to Los Angeles with me.”
The raspberry Rebecca was about to pop into her mouth froze at her lips.We’d showered again and were dressed in robes.While she worked on drying her hair, I ordered room service, a full menu of breakfast and lunch because I’d lost complete track of time.The food arrived quicker than humanly possible which meant Jordan had rushed it.I gave the staff who brought it up to us all the money in my wallet as a tip.Hundreds, probably.I didn’t care.
I needed to eat and I need them gone, so I brought the food in myself and set it up at the small dining table.
Her brow furrowed and she set down her berry.“I can’t leave the ranch now, Cooper.There’s no way.”
I’d been prepared for her rebuttal.While she showered, me insisting she went first and that we took them separately so I had time to order the food and not become distracted by her, I’d come up with a plan.
“I can push back the start of filming for a week or two, but no longer.They can even start without me, filming scenes I’m not in if they need to.But it’s too late to walk away from this movie.”
“I know you can’t walk away.I’m not asking you to, but—”
“We just promised we’d never be apart, Rebecca.Hear me out, please?”
She popped the berry into her mouth and chewed.“Okay.What’s your idea?”
I set down my silverware I’d been using to cut my steak.A delicious, Kansas-grown filet that was succulent and already half-gone.“First, you have to know, this will be the last movie I act in.”
“What?”Her eyes went wide.“You can’t.”
“I can and I will.Last night before I headed out here, I made plans.From now on, I won’t be acting, but I’ve talked to the head of the studio producing this current film.They’ve agreed to hire me on as a producer.Mostly, I’ll be in charge of securing financing for future projects.Maybe I’ll help with casting.It’ll require traveling, but the trips will be short, and I can figure out logistics of all that later.”
“Cooper—”
I reached across the table and took her hand, squeezing it.“I want this, Rebecca.I want you and our life on the ranch, but I love the industry and I can’t give it up completely.I want all of it, and maybe that’s selfish, asking you to understand that.”
“I would always want to support you in whatever you want.”
“Then why do you look so damn terrified at the idea?”
She laughed and shook her head.“I have it all as long as you’re with me, Cooper.That’s all I need.If you want to act, do it.You’re amazing at it.”
She’d finally watched my movies.In the month we were apart, she confessed to watching all of them, further confessing she watched the ones where I spent half my time shirtless repeatedly.Needless to say, Rebecca had become my biggest fan.
My favorite one, too.
“I want to do something different, stretch myself.And I don’t want to spend the months apart from you.”
“I don’t want that either,” she admitted, smiling softly.“I just want you to have everything you want.However that comes and as long as I’m a part of it.”
Good God, this woman undid me.I pushed away from my chair and pulled her to her feet.Then I yanked her into my lap and kissed her, brushing her hair off her face and behind her shoulder.
