For the Game (6 page)

London

It was easy to spot him in the crowd.

I’d recognize his easy swagger anywhere, the way he moved effortlessly through the sea of people. There was no way he could blend in, not even in a stuffy airport. Also, it helped that he was wearing one of his A’s baseball caps. The dark green and bright yellow colors were like an arrow pointing me in Cooper’s direction. Reaching up, I pulled down on the bill of my own cap. Cooper had asked me to wear my A’s hat too. He said it would help us locate each other. I did it to humor him, but I knew it was unnecessary. We’d find each other no matter what. When his gaze met mine, the smile that swept across his face caused my heart to skip a beat. His familiar dimple appeared on his cheek, and I could no longer contain myself. I raced toward him with abandon. Using my elbows, I fought my way through the crowd to reach him. He was wearing faded jeans and a grey t-shirt that melded to the taut muscles in his chest, and I noted that his arms were more defined than when he left. I was surprised that his skin was even more tanned than over the summer. It was almost impossible to get color on my pale skin, but Cooper browned so easily. His blue eyes pierced mine as I neared him, and my stomach flipped.

“Cooper.” His name came out in a sigh, relief at finally seeing him face to face cascading over me.

Without a word his hand curved around my neck, and he drew me to him. We tilted our heads so our caps wouldn’t get in the way before Cooper’s lips claimed mine, clamping down firmly. I melted into him, savoring the softness of his lips, the heat of his mouth. My hands slid up his chest, and I gripped his shirt, fisting it in my palms tightly as if I’d never let go. His tongue teased my lips open and explored my mouth while his fingers caressed my neck. The pads of fingers were smooth against my flesh, causing chills to skitter down my spine. God, I’d missed his touch. His other hand found my waist, his fingers catching on the belt loop of my jeans and tugging me forward. Our tongues melded together, tasting each other as if we couldn’t get enough. And I guess we couldn’t. I knew I never wanted the kiss to end. My fingers played with the collar of his shirt and then moved upward, skimming the light stubble on his chin. As his lips continued to move over mine, I lost myself in him. I tuned out everything around us, focusing in on the way his lips felt against mine, the way his tongue tasted, the way his fingers felt on my skin. And I realized that this was the first time I’d felt one hundred percent content and whole in months.

“God, I’ve missed you,” he breathed against my mouth.

“Me too.”

He drew back, his gaze lowering, taking in my whole body. Suddenly I wished I’d worn something more exciting than a pair of jeans and a navy blue shirt. “You are so beautiful.” The sincerity in his voice caused my misgivings to disappear. Hell, I probably could’ve worn a tablecloth and he would have thought I looked good. The intensity in his gaze betrayed how much he wanted me, and it caused heat to rise to my cheeks.

“The computer doesn’t do you justice, baby.” He reached up, fingering the hair that was tucked behind my ear. “Your hair is getting longer.”

I nodded, his thumb grazing my ear.

“And those eyes.” He groaned. “Man, I’ve missed those gorgeous eyes of yours.”

Biting my lip, I grinned.

“Now that I’ve seen you again, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go back. It was hard enough to say goodbye the first time.” His face lowered, his lips connecting to mine. This time we kissed softly, not nearly as desperate as the first time. We took our time, a gentle push and pull.

“Luckily, this is hello, not goodbye.” I reminded him when we separated. It was the first time I’d seen him in months. There was no way I was ruining it by talking about when he left again.

“You’re right, and we have an entire week together.” He smiled. There was that damn dimple. Man, I’d missed seeing it in person. Without thinking, I lifted my hand and touched it. When an amused expression cloaked his face, embarrassment filled me. I drew my hand back, but Cooper captured it in his. “It’s okay. You can touch me. I’ll let you.”

“Yeah, I bet.” I giggled, casting my gaze downward. “It’s just so much better in person, you know?”

“Yeah, I do. I’ve been dying to touch you for months, London. It’s been hell to only see you through a screen.” His lips brushed my ear as he whispered, “You’re actually lucky we’re in public. You don’t even want to know the things running through my mind right now.”

My face flamed, my toes curling in my tennis shoes. Clearing my throat, I fought my heart to slow down. “I’m sure I don’t,” I teased.

His fingers threaded mine, linking us together. “Let’s go grab my bag so I can get you alone.” He winked, and my lips curled at the edges. Hand in hand we walked toward the baggage claim. A lady whisked past, her high heels clacking on the sleek floor. Behind her a family chattered loudly as they walked beside us. Sighing, I nestled closer to Cooper, clutching tightly to his hand. It seemed unreal that he was here. I’d been fantasizing about it for months, and a part of me felt like I was still dreaming. He squeezed my hand as if to confirm his existence, and I gazed up at him with a cheesy grin on my face.

“You’re gonna have to stop looking at me like that,” Cooper said, eyebrows raised.

“Looking at you like what?”

“Like you want to eat me,” he said.

Stunned, I reeled back. “I was
not
looking at you like that.”

“Relax.” He stopped walking and faced me. “I like it. I like knowing that you missed me as much as I missed you. God, London, I was in agony on the flight wondering if things would be the same between us. Wondering if we’d have that same spark. When you came running to me, I can’t even describe how happy it made me; how relieved I felt. And I realized that we aren’t the same as we were before. We’re even better. Being away from each other didn’t tear us apart. It’s made us closer.” He stepped toward me until our chests bumped. His face was so close our breath mingled together, a mixture of mint toothpaste and cherry lip gloss. “I can honestly say I’ve never loved you more than I do in this moment.”

“That’s how I feel too,” I told him honestly.

“So don’t be embarrassed at the way you were staring at me.” He smiled. “Because, trust me, I liked it. And for the record, I was looking at you the same way.” Bending toward me, he stole a kiss on my lips. Just a quick one, a barely there kiss, but it still made my heart stutter in my chest. Everything Cooper did had that effect on me. “I was only warning you that I may not be able to control myself if you keep giving me that look.”

I chuckled, glad that he’d put me at ease. For a moment I worried that I was coming on too strong. That I was acting too immature or something. But I couldn’t temper the giddiness I felt about having Cooper home. I was grateful that he felt the same level of giddiness about being here. It made everything feel right. The truth was that I had been worried too. I had no idea what to expect when I saw Cooper again. It had been months since I’d seen him, and I wasn’t sure if he’d changed at all or if his feelings for me would be the same. But I should have known better. Cooper and I were connected.

Cooper folded his hand over mine and yanked me forward. There was a large crowd at the baggage claim, so we had to clamor to find an empty spot to stand. Pushing up on my tiptoes, I peered at the suitcases, varying shades of grey, black, and blue as they were carried along the conveyer belt.

“Do you see yours?” I asked, anxious to get out of the airport. If we only had a week to spend together, I didn’t want to waste a minute.

“Not yet.” Cooper furrowed his brows, his gaze trained on the luggage in front of us. The way his nose wrinkled slightly and his forehead became a mess of squiggly lines was cute. It made me want to kiss him again. At the thought my gaze fell to his full lips. I licked mine just as Cooper turned in my direction. Wearing a mischievous grin, he wrapped his arms around my waist and hoisted me up. I gasped in surprise as my feet left the ground.

“What are you doing?” I asked, breathless and heady. A part of me was appalled, the other part was honestly a little turned on.

“I decided I don’t need my luggage after all. I have everything I need right here.”

My heart melted at his words. As he lifted me up further, I circled my legs around his waist so I wouldn’t fall. My arms rested on his shoulders. A few bystanders glanced over curiously. Usually I didn’t like making a scene. I didn’t like attention. But today I couldn’t care less about any of that. All that mattered was that I was here with Cooper. All I wanted was to enjoy every second we had together. When his arms tightened around me, I couldn’t help but notice how strong he was. His muscles bulged from under his t-shirt.

“You’ve been working out,” I mused.

“You like?” He raised his brow.

I nodded.

“If you like that, there’s a lot more I could show you.” One corner of his mouth twitched as he started walking away from baggage claim with me in his arms.

“Wait,” I stopped him. “We didn’t get your stuff.”

“Yes, we did. It’s right here in my arms.”

“But what will you wear?” I teased.

“I’ll wear you.” He winked, nipping my bottom lip with his teeth.

“I don’t think that’s going to go over so well with my dad or your grandparents,” I reminded him.

He shook his head. “Wow, you sure know how to ruin the moment.”

Chuckling, I tilted my face until our noses bumped. My hat got in the way a little bit, so I spun it around until the bill was in the back. Then I leaned in again. As my mouth skimmed Cooper’s, I darted out my tongue and licked his top lip. “Then I better redeem it.” His lips parted, and I swept my tongue inside, my hands clutching the back of his neck.

“Oh, yeah, I think you did just that,” Cooper growled. “It’s time to get the hell outta here.” Depositing me on the ground, he swung around and frantically searched the conveyer belt for his luggage.

“You seem pretty intent on finding your suitcase now,” I teased, my fingers curling around his arm. It flexed beneath my flesh, causing a fresh wave of desire to shoot through me. What the hell was going on? I was acting like a guy. I guess I had missed Cooper even more than I realized. His proximity had awakened feelings in me that I hadn’t experienced in months.

“Ah, there it is.” Leaning forward, he snatched up the suitcase and set it on the floor next to us. “Now we can go.”

“Where to?” I asked, assuming he’d want to head straight to his grandparents’. I knew he had missed them as well.

“Anywhere we can be alone. I’m not ready to share you yet.”

My insides quivered, anticipation filling me from my head to my toes.

The next few days flew by. Cooper and I hardly spent a moment apart. It was like we truly were attached at the hip. We separated only at night when we had to sleep. Even then I’d toss and turn, dreaming of when I’d see Cooper in the morning. When Thursday morning greeted me, I woke up with a sense of satisfaction knowing that I would spend Thanksgiving with Cooper and his family. I was supposed to spend the holiday with him last year, but ended up hospitalized. My stomach clenched at the memory of the dreary day spent eating hospital food and staring at stark white walls. For seventeen years I took my health for granted. I went about my life never thinking about how fortunate I was to be healthy and strong. But that was no longer the case. Now a day didn’t go by when I didn’t rejoice in the fact that I was still here, that I wasn’t sick, that I was healthy enough to enjoy my life. And whenever the thought went through my mind, I thought of Cooper. I thought of the sacrifice he made so I could be here. How he gave me a part of himself.

He wasn’t just the love of my life.

He was my godsend. My savior.

“London?” Dad knocked on my bedroom door while I brushed through my short hair.  The edges curled slightly around my ears.

“Yes,” I called out.

“You ready?”

Glancing back at the mirror above my dresser, I assessed my appearance. I took in my short blond hair, my pale face, glossy heart-shaped lips, and wide eyes framed with lightly mascaraed lashes. My gaze moved down to the flowing shirt I wore over a pair of leggings and black boots. It was the dressiest outfit I owned. Skyler made me buy it when we went to the mall last week. Imagining what Cooper would think when he saw me today made me glad that I had listened to Skyler.

“Yeah. I’m coming.” With the palms of my hands, I smoothed down my shirt. Then I plucked the phone and purse off my dresser and headed toward the hallway. Dad was standing by the front door when I reached the family room. He wore a neatly pressed collared shirt that was tucked into a pair of khaki pants held up by a black belt. On his feet he wore a pair of dress shoes, and his hair was slick with gel. “Wow. You clean up nice,” I said, surprised by his appearance. My dad was a mechanic, so he usually wore jeans and t-shirts, his hands covered in black grease. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen him dressed up. It must have been when Mom was still alive. The familiar ache of missing her spread through my chest, but I shook it off. This was not the day to dwell on sad memories.

“So do you.” Dad smiled. “You look lovely.”

“Thanks.” I bit my lip, and then followed Dad outside.