Someone to Watch Over Me (6 page)

Moaning into his mouth, I
molded myself to him. The towel slid free, falling to my waist.
Tate’s hand ambled up my side, cupped my breast, thumb circling the
peak until it pebbled. It was embarrassing, really. That I was
already primed for him. He’d barely touched me for God sake
and I was dripping with sexual
enthusiasm
.

Pulling me forward with his
other hand, I fell into his lap, straddling him. My hips began to
undulate, riding against the bulge in his jeans. The wine was
definitely starting to work its magic, because all inhibitions were
forgotten.

Breaking the kiss, Tate scored
my jaw with his teeth. "Hard and fast this time, babe. We’ll take
our time later."

"Huh," was all I could
manage.

Message received, he reached
into his pocket and extracted a strip of black plastic squares. He
tore one from the chain and threw the rest to the floor. "Jesus.”
He shook his head, his thought lost in translation. “This
is...Jesus. I think I might embarrass myself tonight."

Resting
me on the sofa, he dropped his pants only
enough to free himself. I watched as he tore
t
he packet open, pinched the tip and rolled the
condom down the length of his cock. He glanced at me then, smiling.
“Are you ready?"  The question was rhetorical. He rose to his
knees, tugged me forward until my hips rested on the edge of the
sofa, then thrust into me hard and fast, just like he
’d warned
.

"
Oh
God
!" I gasped. Closing my eyes, I steeped in the sensation.
The fullness. The thrill. The delicious tingling of his harsh
entry. My arms and hands trembled beneath me.

He stilled, his hand sliding
between my thighs. I raised my head, watching as he circled his
thumb just over my core, fingers splayed over my belly.
His thumb was callused from the strings of his guitar, but
not so much that it was abrasive. Just the opposite, it was
arousing.

G
lanc
ing
up,
Tate
caught my eye. "You like?"

"Ungh," was my response. I
liked
,
d
efinitely
liked.

"Good. Come for me, babe. I’m
almost there already." He withdrew until I was almost empty then
thrust in again
, hard
and fast. I cried
out, my knees tightening around his hips, almost in tears from the
shock and pleasure of it.
“That’s it, babe,
scream for me.”

His hips moved faster.
Harder.
Heat coiled in a building wave
and I climaxed, exhilarated over the effect I had on him. I could
get high on the oaths escaping his lips
,
t
he guttural sounds rumbling from the back of his throat. It
wasn't just me. He was lost too.

"Fuck. Oh fuck. Yeah.
Jesus."

His force increased,
his
hips slapping my thighs with bruising
vigor. His muscles tightened, face contorting, fingers digging deep
into my
waist
. A deep growl escaped him,
loud and unrestrained. He froze, buried deep inside of me, seizing,
trembling from the force of his climax.
Every
muscle strained beneath the surface of his golden skin.

I could’ve watched him for hours.

Recovered enough to move again,
he grasped my waist and pulled me down with him as he collapsed to
the floor. "Fffffuuuuuuccckkk."

I
snickered
, shifting my weight so that I lay half
atop, half against his side.

“Laugh,” Tate chastised,
slipping the condom off and tying it in a knot. “Go ahead. Laugh.
As if I haven’t just emasculated myself with the faste
st
sex in the history of the world. I think I may
have set new records. I never even got my clothes off.”

“Well, you may have emasculated
yourself—your words not mine,” I assured when he lifted his head
and stared
indignantly
. “We both
accomplished what we intended. Do I look dissatisfied?”

“No,” he replied, dropping his
head to the floor. “You look deliciously disheveled. Ripe and sweet
and edible. My strawberry girl.”

“Deliciously disheveled. Say
that ten times fast.” He did, causing another round of laughter.
When we fell silent again, I explained. “I was going to say you
empowered me. I liked thinking I had that affect over you.”

“Babe, you have that affect on
every
man. I mean…
look
at you.” Rolling, he pinned me
beneath him. Lifted his weight. His eyes travelled over the length
of me, devouring every inch. I felt myself blush from head to
toe.

When he reached down and traced
the scar from
my
cesarean, I all but
stopped breathing. I hadn’t given it much thought. Much thought? I
hadn’t given it
any
thought. A mistake on my part. God I was
such a moron. His eyes drew up, meeting mine. My mouth pulled into
a frown.

“How old is he? It’s Levy,
isn’t it?”

“Almost two.”

“Where is he—with his dad?”

“No. He’s next door. My
neighbor watches him while I wait tables.” I supposed the cat was
out of the bag. No reason to delay the inevitable. “His father
doesn’t know he exists.”

Sliding
out
from beneath him, I stood, grabbed the throw from the
back of the sofa and wrapped it around myself. This wasn’t what I
had planned
; explaining
my past. I hoped
we could part ways on even ground. I was just Cooper, not poor,
abused, broken Cooper.

Needing a little reinforcement,
I finished off my glass of wine.

Tate followed, tucking himself
back into his pants. He left the button undone. “You don’t have to
talk about
him
if you don’t want to. I
didn’t mean to push. I was just curious.”

Curiosity killed the cat. In
our case, a night of great sex. “It’s ok. I don’t mind talking
about
him
. At least I usually don’t mind.
You, I didn’t tell because, well, I just assumed that you’d have
second thoughts about me. I wanted to be with you
, e
ven if it was just one night.”

“I knew you had a kid,” he
confessed, surprising me. “I asked the girl in the ice cream shop
after you left.”

“You still came.”

Tate crossed the space between
us. Pressed a kiss to my lips. “I like you, Coop.
I want to get to know you.
”

“You don’t have to say that. I
won’t delude myself to this being more than it is.”

“And what is that?”

“Sex.”

“Is that all it was for
you?”

“It’s not that I don’t like
you, Tate. I do
, really, but
it can’t be
more than that
, even
if you wanted
something more. I can’t.”

“Why?”

“For a million reasons. The
least of them being that you’re going back on the road in a few
weeks.” I sat on the edge of the sofa, pushed my hair from my eyes.
Tate sat across from me on the
coffee
table
. “
I can’t let my ex
find out
about Levy. All it’ll take is
one
photograph
, and he’ll know he’s his.
I can’t let that happen. He’s abusive, mentally and
physically.”

“Is that why you ran off
yesterday, because
you were worried there might
be cameras following me
?”

I nodded, annoyed that my eyes
rimmed with moisture. “I might have overreacted a little. But Grant
is seriously screwed up.”

“
Your eye
injury wasn’t really an accident, was it?
”

“No.”

“
He hit you
so hard that you needed surgery?”

I
nodded.
“I nearly lost
my sight
.
The police arrested him, but he came after me as soon as they
released him. The restraining order I placed against him is just a
piece of paper. It does nothing. He shows up every so
often
, harasses
me
. By the time the cops come, he’s always gone. I
moved out, hoping he would
leave me alone,
but
somehow he
found out where I
lived
. Maybe he hire
d a
detective.
I don’t know. So far, he hasn’t mentioned Levy,
so
I don’t think he knows about him. If he did, I
really don’t think he’d leave me alone. I’m afraid he might try and
take him.”

“Jesus. You deal with all this
alone?”

“I have my parents.”

“You said you didn’t see them
often.”

“I talk to them on the phone or
on Skype so they can see Levy. But, no, I won’t
let
them visit. Each time I move, I hope he won’t
find me, but then I’ll get a phone call or a text and he’ll allude
to the fact
that
he knows where I am. I
won’t even let them send me mail anymore because I’m afraid he’s
reading it
, and
it’s possible he has.
I’ve lived here the longest, almost a year. But I’m afraid to let
my guard down. I don’t want
to
move
again.”

Resting his elbows on his
knees, Tate propped his head in his hand, staring at me as if I
were some crippled puppy that someone threw out their car window
along the interstate.

“I don’t want your pity,” I
sighed. “I’m not broken or mentally scarred. I don’t blame myself
for what he did. I don’t think I deserved it. I don’t blame the
entire male race either. I’m not afraid every man I date is going
to be just like him. That’s not why I’m telling you this. I told
you earlier—I tell everyone about my past. It’s for your safety,
Levy’s safety. I’ve seen what Grant can do. I don’t want anyone to
get hurt.”

“What about you?” Tate replied,
nonplus
sed
. “You haven’t said anything
about yourself.”

“That’s a given. Of course I
worry. I’m not completely selfless. But in the same breath, what
can I do? I’ve done everything legally possible.”

“Do you think working at that
bar is wise?”

I exhaled loudly, gritting my
teeth. “I have bills to pay. And I don’t think where I work is any
of your business.”

“I’m not judging you, Cooper.
It’s the hours. From what you’ve said, this guy is dangerous. Do
you really think it’s safe for you to be out at that time of night?
Not to mention the unifo—”

“Again. None of your
business.”

“Damn you’re
testy
.”

We sat quietly, locked in a
stalemate. I polished off another glass of wine. He was right. I
could taste the blackberry, and the uniform did suck balls. It
wasn’t like I hadn’t said the same exact thing to Billy a few weeks
ago. All the waitresses had voiced their opinion at one time or
another. “You don’t have to wear it,” was always his response.
“There’s always the door.” And that was that. I kept my mouth shut
because I needed the job. End of story.

“I never said I liked the
job.”

“Good, me neither. That’s not
to say you don’t look good in the uniform, but I find it degrading.
I’m insulted for you, Coop. Those men, they put their hands all
over you, and all you’re doing is trying to make an honest dollar.
It’s wrong. Especially when you could do the same job in a
t-
shirt and a comfortable pair of shoes,
but that prick that owns the place would rather make a buck off
your pain and humiliation.”

“Nonetheless, it pays the
bills.” I rose, heading for the bathroom where I could collect
myself
, h
ide the moisture rimming my
eyes. Tate might
want to spend time with me now,
but
he would still go on tour in a few weeks, and I would
still be waiting tables at The Loft when he was gone. I didn’t hold
his prosperity against him, but I hated that he was making me
question everything about my life. I prided myself on my strength
and ability to overcome adversity. So why was I feeling like such a
failure?

“Coop?” Tate said, standing
with me.

“Give me few minutes and I’ll
drive you home
, y
our hotel
,
wh
atever
.” I rifled
absently through my dresser drawers for a t-shirt and a pair of
sweats
, settled
for a pair of pink velour
pants with
Juicy
stitched across the rear. They weren’t the
real thing. I couldn’t afford them.

“Coop.”

Dropping my head, I hid the
tears running down my cheeks. It was silly. Embarrassing, really. I
know he knew I was crying. I had Tate Watkins in my apartment. We
just had rabbit sex, and I was crying because he made a general
observation about my place of employment.

“Cooper.” Gripping my
shoulders, he spun me around.

“I think you got me drunk,
Tate.” I’ve told my story a million times and I’ve never cried. My
life was what it was. No amount of tears would change what
happened. I wasn’t hard or reclusive. I was careful. I was strong.
It was the wine. The alcohol was making me weepy.

“It certainly looks that way.”
He reached up, dragged the pad of his thumb across my cheek. “If I
took advantage of you right now, would you regret it come
morning?”

Surprised, I looked
up
, b
linked the tears from my eyes. “I’m
not that far gone; besides I think I’d be disappointed if you
didn’t. I had vast expectations for tonight.”

“I bet I let every one of them
down earlier. Shame on me.” Pressing his lips to mine, he parted
them with his own. His tongue slid against mine in a slow stroke.
His hands followed my waist to the curve of my buttocks and down to
my thighs
. He lifted
my
knee
, hitched
over his
hip. “Tell me what you want, strawberry girl. I’ll make it up to
you.”

“On the bed,” I murmured
against his lips as I looped my arms around his neck. He lifted the
second leg, hitch
ed
it over his
hip
. H
is hands slid around my hips,
carrying me across
the small space to the
bed. “Clothes off this time. No
, l
et me
do it. I want to.”