Eden

I can’t help it. My eyes slide past Missy’s shoulder and lock with Coop’s across the room. He’s sitting at the bar staring at me hard, while Clay sits beside him, talking but clearly not being heard.

“Oh good God.” Missy sighs dramatically. “It’s like you’re in high school again, crushing on Coop.”

My eyes snap back to her. “I’m not crushing on Coop.”

She purses her lips and gives me that you’re full of shit look.

God, I’m so crushing on Coop, but I’ll never admit that. I have to remember, this is just rebound sex. It has a start date and an end date, although the latter has yet to be determined.

“I can’t believe he showed up here,” Missy says in a dreamy voice.

I snicker and pick up my wine, taking a sip and committing myself to focusing on Missy for the rest of the evening. This is our girls’ night out.

Apparently Coop didn’t like it when I told him I was having dinner with Missy at seven. We didn’t get back from the beach until almost six, and I was rushing to get showered and to Tilley’s to meet her in time. No matter how much Coop tried to talk himself into the shower with me, I wouldn’t give in, although I did promise him I’d make it up to him tonight.

Just as our entrées arrived—rib eye for me, salmon for Missy—Coop sauntered in the door with Clay on his heels. I watched wide-eyed as he scanned the interior, located me, and headed my way with purpose.

People watched because everybody had heard the gossip by now that Missy told me this morning.

Coop had broken up with Ashley.

He was cozy with me at the Pit Stop.

He defended me to the town and cleared my name.

Tomorrow the gossip mill would be all aflutter because Coop stalked right up to me, slid a hand behind my head, and kissed me hard.

Right there.

In front of everyone.

He pulled back, smiled at Missy, and said, “You ladies enjoy your dinner.”

Coop then joined Clay at the bar, where they ate burgers, drank beer, and he and I stared at each other.

“What’s really going on with you two?” Missy asks. It’s a personal and intimate question, one I’m not even sure I know the answer to, and yet I’m not offended. It’s been so long since I’ve had a girlfriend to talk to I’m almost bursting at the seams to have someone to share all this with.

Putting my wineglass to the side, I push my plate away, as I’m finished, and lean my arms on the table. “It’s just rebound sex.”

One of Missy’s eyebrows goes down, the other arches up high. It’s like her bullshit detector.

“Well, that’s what we both agreed on,” I say adamantly. “That it was rebound sex.”

“Um…yeah,” Missy says dryly. “No man stalks into a place where half the town is eating dinner and publicly claims a woman just for rebound sex. Particularly when to my knowledge that man has never been seen to give a public display of affection to any woman he was banging before.”

My eyes cut to Coop. He’s staring at me and winks. I grin and look back at Missy.

She leans closer to me and lowers her voice. “Let me ask you something. Were you in love with Brad Wright?”

It’s an honest and fair question, and I answer it as honestly as I can. “I don’t think so. I think I was in love with the idea of a relationship.”

“Are you broken up about it?” she presses.

“I’m angry I was played…jilted,” I tell her. “But I’m actually kind of relieved it’s over. Now that it is, I can look back and admit to myself that it just wasn’t exactly right for me, you know?”

“Honey, you’ve yet to meet my ex-husband,” she quips. “Trust me…I know. But here’s my point. Coop was not in a relationship with Ashley. Pardon me for being crude, but he was just getting his rocks off. And you weren’t really in love with the man that betrayed you.”

“Not getting your point.”

“My point is that neither you nor Coop are rebounding from anything,” she says, and the force of those words practically punches me in the stomach. “Y’all are doing something else, but it ain’t rebound sex.”

My jaw drops open, my eyes slide to Coop, and he tilts his head, wondering at the look on my face right now. In fact, he starts to stand up from his stool, but I shake my head at him and he sits back down.

I look back to Missy, completely on the verge of an anxiety attack. “If it’s not rebound sex, then what is it?”

Missy shrugs. “I am not the best person for this type of advice. I picked an asshole to father my kids.”

My eyes light up. “Wait a minute. Maybe we’re rebounding from the first time we broke up. That could be the rebound sex.”

Laughing, Missy reaches across the table and playfully pats my arm. “If that’s what you want to believe, then you do it. No judgment here.”

I let out a sigh. At least she’s not overtly pointing out anything else that could screw with my carefully constructed world I’ve built around this thing with Coop and me. I can’t afford to let my heart get tied up with him, and so I need to make sure that there’s always that dividing line that will eventually send us back to our respective lives.

“What happened with you and Coop?” Missy asks as she picks up her wineglass and sits back into the padded booth seat. “I was up north going to school and didn’t really have anyone to stay in touch with. I’d just heard through the grapevine you’d moved to New York and y’all broke up.”

My heart squeezes as I think about how drastically my life changed so fast. One minute I’m young and in love. Safe, secure, and happy. The next minute I’m on a lonely adventure that eventually brought me more success than I ever could have dreamed of, but at the sacrifice of something important to me.

“I don’t think we were meant to be together,” I tell her sadly. “I dropped out of school after the first semester and did move to New York. I was given a huge contract to model. Coop supported my decision and we tried to make it work long distance. We had it all figured out. I could fly in to visit, and he could come see me sometimes. I figured the modeling thing was just a flash in the pan, and it would be temporary. I had no clue how big it could get…how big it did get.”

“That’s tough,” Missy observes. “Particularly on two people barely adults.”

I nod. “We couldn’t cope with it. Coop started resenting that I couldn’t break away. We went months without seeing each other. It took months for us both to admit it was over.”

That squeezing sensation gets even stronger as I remember that last phone call. We’d held on for so long and neither one of us knew how to give up.

“We can’t keep on like this,” Coop had told me on the phone. I had been a blubbering mess for hours during that conversation, full of doubts alternating with confidence that all would be well.

“Are you giving me an ultimatum?” I’d asked with a sob.

“I’m not sure,” he’d said quietly. “But maybe we both need to move on.”

“No,” I’d cried out. “No, that’s not what we need.”

“I can’t take it anymore Eden,” he’d told me with frustration, and I’ve never heard his voice sound so lost. “I miss you too fucking much to keep this up anymore. I’m asking you to get your ass back to Georgia or fucking cut me loose. One or the other.”

After another hour of conversation, the tears finally dried up and I chose “the other.”

I cut Coop loose and I went on.

He went on.

Now we were having rebound sex fourteen years later and I had no clue what any of it meant.

“I hate to be all philosophical and shit, and I don’t really believe in fate or destiny, but what if it just wasn’t your time then. What if you two were meant to be together now? Older and wiser and all that.”

“I don’t believe in fate either.” I brush off her comment with that thought and take another sip of wine.

“Come on, Eden,” she says with excitement, leaning forward. “Think about it. Your fiancé screws around on you and you choose to come back to your hometown that you haven’t really visited for fourteen years? And within a few days, you and Coop are back in bed together? If that’s not some wonky mojo shit working in the universe, I don’t know what is.”

I chuckle because I can see that, but I point out to her, “Doesn’t matter if we were brought back together. Our lives are way too different to sustain.”

“How?” she demands.

“Because Coop’s life is in Newberry and mine is not,” I state simply. “It’s the same exact problem we had fourteen years ago and we couldn’t make it work then. Long-distance relationships just aren’t meant to be.”

I know this better now than I ever knew it then.

Missy scoffs. “True love always finds a way.”

I smile at her sadly. “I believe in that. The problem is, we’re not in love. We’re in lust right now.”

“Potatoes, po-tah-toes,” she returns with a shrug.

“Excuse me, Miss Goodnight.” I look up and our waitress is standing there. She’s young, probably just barely twenty-one, and has been extremely nervous all night serving us.

I smile at her. “Yes?”

“Um…the gentleman at the bar…Mr. Mayfield…he’s paid for your dinners,” she says, and I lean over to look past her at Coop. For once he’s not even looking at me but is in deep discussion with Clay. Damn he’s sweet.

Pulling my gaze back up to the waitress, I tell her, “Thank Mr. Mayfield for us and relay to him that he’s going to get very, very lucky tonight.”

Missy snorts into her wineglass and the waitress turns beet red, staring at me in astonishment.

I quickly let her off the hook as I laugh. “I’m just kidding. But can you let me know the total so I can leave you a tip?”

“He handled that as well,” the waitress says.

“Rebound sex my ass,” Missy mutters, thankfully so low I don’t think the waitress heard her. Because she also still stands there, just staring at me.

I recognize the look of someone wanting to ask for an autograph or talk about one of my movies, but is too terrified to impose. I try to put her at ease.

Looking at her name tag, I give her a bright smile and say, “Lindsey, your service tonight was great. I really appreciate it.”

“Oh, thank you,” she says, and blushes. “Well…it was an honor to serve you tonight.”

I wonder if she knew the gossip about me before and after my arrival, but I don’t worry about it too much. I do my humble brush-off. “That’s very sweet of you to say, but tonight I’m just a hometown girl hanging out.”

“I loved Radiant,” she blurts out suddenly. “It’s in my top-five movies of all time. I cried so hard at the end.”

I smile even brighter at her. Radiant is my favorite movie I’ve done too, and while I didn’t win any awards for it, it was my best work in my opinion.

“Well, I don’t meet many people who want to talk about Radiant,” I tell her as I scoot over in the booth and pat the seat beside me. “So if you have a minute, sit down and let’s chat about it.”

“Are you freaking kidding me?” she asks with wide eyes. “I’m due a break and can stay a few minutes.”

“Wouldn’t kid you about this,” I promise her.

Without another thought, she plops down beside me and chatters away, and it’s the final thing I needed to erase the feeling of failure I presented to this town, to know that there’s at least one true fan here who appreciates what I’ve done.

Dinner’s over and I had a wonderful time. Missy is going to be a friend for life, I can tell. Although I didn’t expect it, I was pleased when Coop got up from the bar and left as I was walking out with Missy. I waved goodbye to Clay and he gave me a smile and a head tilt in acknowledgment.

Coop grabbed my hand as soon as we hit the sidewalk and pulled me closer to him. He merely bent down and whispered into my ear, “I hope you’re ready for what I’ve got planned for you.”

Missy stood off to the side to give us privacy, but if she was watching my face, I probably just had a mini orgasm. I went to my tiptoes and whispered back in his ear, “After what you did for me in the ocean today, I’ve actually got something to give you when we get home.”

Coop’s eyes lit with a fire I hadn’t yet seen, burning with erotic curiosity. He murmured, “See you at home then.”

It was a quick drive home for both of us.

And now he gets out of his truck with casual grace. He’d followed me home and I thought that was sweet, especially since he’d managed to snag a spot right out in front of Tilley’s and easily could have taken off and beat me here.

I step out of the rental car and shut the door. Coop walks to me, and without hesitation, draws me in for a sizzling hot kiss.

“Tell me what you’ve got planned for me,” he growls.

My hand goes down and I wrap my fingers around an erection I knew would already be evident. I squeeze him and then start working at his belt buckle, keeping my head tilted back so I can maintain eye contact with him. “Going to give you an amazing blow job.”

Coop swallows hard and his voice is husky. “Not going to say no to that.”

Of all of the dirty things we’ve done since we’ve reunited, I’ve not sucked him off to orgasm. I’ve absolutely had my mouth on his dick, but he’s always pulled me off before he comes, preferring instead to sheath up with a condom and fuck me. But one thing that’s changed about me since I was eighteen is that I learned a thing or two about blow jobs. I wasn’t a fumbling teenager the way I was back then, all timid and not sure if I was doing it right. Don’t get me wrong, Coop never complained, and back then…he also always pulled out, maybe just being polite and not wanting to make me swallow.

But let me tell you, I’ve matured in my experiences over the years.

With efficient moves, I have his cock in my hand, stroking him to an even greater hardness. Coop groans in approval, especially when my thumb rubs over the tip. I start to drop to my knees but I’m halted with Coop’s hands under my armpits.

“What are you doing?” he asks as he pulls me back up.

“Going to give you a blow job, and I do my best work on my knees.”

Coop groans again I’m sure over the thought of me on my knees, but surprises me further by scooping me up in his arms and practically running me up the front porch. “You’re not getting on your knees on the driveway pavement.”

“You’re totally ruining the spontaneity aspect of this,” I grumble to him, and his laughter is rich and from deep within his belly. It makes me laugh in return.

Coop manages to unlock the door, sweep me inside, and lock it without a bobble. His strong body carries me up the stairs, then he gently sets me on my feet when we reach the master suite. He leaves me behind, walks to the mattress, and hops onto it, going immediately to his back with his hands behind his head.

Nodding down at his erection—which is still long, thick, and lying flat against his belly—he challenges me. “Let’s see what you got, sweet Eden.”

I smile at him, sauntering to the bed. His eyes drop to the sway of my hips and then back up to me. I start to unbutton my blouse, intending to get naked first, but I make sure he understands the rules.

“Coop, promise me one thing,” I whisper as my blouse lands on the floor and my hands go to my bra.

“Anything,” he mutters as he watches my bra come off with an easy flick of the front clasp. He even licks his lips.

“Don’t pull me off your cock,” I tell him…tease him…warn him.

His eyes rocket to mine and they are glittering in an almost feral way.

“Done,” he says in a low rumble, and it causes a corresponding tremble up my spine.