“God, Zo.” She could hear the effort it took for him to form words as she moved her hips over him. “Missed this.... Missed you.”
At this very second, she didn’t know how she’d lived without this, but she bit down on the words. Lost herself in the building heat, in the slide of their sweat-covered bodies together, in the driving need for release.
Cooper knew her body well, knew how to play her, how to move, where to touch her to make her tingle and burn from her center right down to her toes. Judging by the earthy sounds he made and the words he breathed into her ear, she did the same for him.
Sensation took over all rational thought, and she gave herself over to him completely, until the pressure deep within burst in an explosion of exquisite pleasure. His grip on her tightened. He threw his head back, squeezed his eyes shut, and Zoe watched him come as her own body still contracted and hummed in blessed euphoria.
Cooper’s eyes opened, and he smiled, catching his breath. “Still wow, that.”
“Times one hundred,” Zoe said.
His lips found hers again, and the kiss was full of so much tenderness it filled Zoe with a different kind of ache. One she couldn’t think about right now. She willed herself to let go of the thoughts that threatened and to memorize every moment of his touch. The feel of his thumb resting gently beneath her chin. The roughness of his chin on her skin. His musky, masculine scent enveloping her like a familiar blanket.
He shifted so that he was lying on his back and Zoe was stretched on top of him, again protecting her from the sand, though her knees were starting to hurt as her blood returned to the rest of her body.
As reality gradually nudged at her, anxiety began to pulse through her. “We should get back. My mom is probably wondering why our walk is taking so long.”
“Your mom isn’t that naive,” Cooper said with a hint of a smug grin.
“Even more reason.” She was pretty open with her mom, open enough her mom was fully aware that Zoe should not be rolling around the sand with Cooper. It was disconcerting enough to admit it to herself.
Zoe stood and brushed sand off her body. Even though Cooper had shielded her from it as much as possible, it seemed to be everywhere, sticking to her moist skin in the humid night air.
“Where is my underwear?” she asked, glancing back at her shoes in the spot where they’d been when he’d disposed of it.
Cooper laughed, a low, gravelly, admittedly sexy, post-sex sound. “I think it’s pretty much out of commission. I’ll buy you more.”
Shaking her head, Zoe said, “I don’t need more. I just don’t want to leave it on the beach.”
“Taken care of.” He indicated his front pocket. “I’ll throw it away, unless you’d like it for a souvenir.”
“You’re twisted.” She grinned in spite of her growing need to put distance between herself and what she’d let happen.
“You always liked that about me,” Cooper said as he stood and put himself back together. “Among other things.” His smile faded as he studied her. “Come here, Zo Zo.”
He held out his hand for her to take. She looked down at it, doubts creeping in like a rogue spider taking over a shoe. Cooper stepped toward her, and she didn’t have a chance at resisting. She wrapped her arms around him, drinking in his reassurance, believing, for the moments their bodies were entwined again, that everything was okay.
“Don’t read too much into what just happened,” she said into his shoulder.
He was still for several seconds, and then he nodded. “It is what it is.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead and straightened. Sucked in a lungful of the thick air. “Ready?”
Shoving her misgivings away, Zoe nodded and took his hand, picked up her shoes, and they slowly made their way back to the real world.
9
By the time they could see the Silver Sands Hotel, Zoe had increased the gap between them to a full fifteen inches. It might as well have been a mile. Cooper was fast losing any semblance of optimism.
She’d let go of his hand a couple of properties back, using a particularly large seashell as an excuse. When she’d picked it up and they’d resumed walking, she hadn’t noticed his outstretched hand. Or so she’d pretended.
“So,” he said as they approached the beachside patio of the hotel.
There’d been a time when Zoe would’ve said “so” back, and they would’ve given each other a look, probably a goofy look if you asked anyone else, and they both would’ve laughed. Not tonight. Zoe didn’t say a word now.
“Penn’s party starts at seven tomorrow night.” Cooper scrutinized her for any sign that he was misreading her but found nothing in her face that gave him hope.
“At the Shell Shack,” she confirmed, glancing over her shoulder at another couple coming off the beach, looking much happier than Cooper and Zoe.
“We could go together,” he risked. “Your mom too, of course.”
