Clarity of Lines (6 page)

“Doesn’t it?”

“Does it change how you feel about me?” he asked calmly.

“No, of course not,” I said quietly.

“Then it doesn’t change anything.”

There wasn’t anything but absolute certainty in his hazel eyes. I smiled and asked him, “How did you get so wise?”

“I’m just smart like that.”

I kissed him with smiling lips. “You’re just smug like that.”

“It’s a Gen Y thing?”

“It’s a Cooper Jones thing,” I said. “Did you still want me to meet your parents?”

“Yes,” he said adamantly. “They know I’m seeing someone. They know it’s serious, and they know his name is Tom. But that’s all I’ve told them.”

“You told them about me?” I couldn’t help but smile.

“Of course I did,” he said simply. “Just not exactly who
Tom
was. But if we’re
that
serious, they should meet you.”

“Then I will meet them,” I told him. “Again,” I clarified, “because I met them years ago, but I was only Ryan’s dad back then, not their son’s boyfriend.”

Cooper chuckled. “They’re gonna freak.”

I rolled my eyes. “And this is funny because…?”

He sighed and rolled onto his back. “Well, it’s not really,” he said. “But what else can I do? I’ve fallen in love with you, and if gender doesn’t matter, then neither should age.”

I leaned up on my arm and stared at this remarkable man. “You’re incredible, you know that?”

He grinned at me. “Actually, yeah. I do know that.” Then he added, “But you can keep telling me.”

“I might have to write little notes, so I remember,” I told him seriously. “You know, my Alzheimer’s is getting bad.”

Cooper laughed. “Oh my God! Thomas Elkin just made a joke! And it was even funny!”

“Shut up, you little shit.”

He leaned up and kissed me. “See? I can go from ‘incredible’ to ‘little shit’ in two seconds. It’s a talent.”

I chuckled at him and pushed him to the side of the bed. “Well then, you incredible little shit, go and look up flights to Chicago, a rental car and a hotel.”

“I will,” he said, getting off the bed and pulling on his pants. “If you organise dinner. I’m starving.”

I watched him walk out of the bedroom and shook my head, still in disbelief that he was mine. Smiling, I pulled on my jeans and followed him out to the living room. He was clicking away at some flight website, so while I scrolled through restaurant phone numbers on my phone, I asked. “Steak, seafood, pasta? Your choice.”

“Steak,” came his quick reply, so I hit the number on my cell and made reservations for dinner. Cooper smiled at me and waited for me click off the call. “Are we going out?”

“Yes. You wanted steak.”

He smiled warmly at me, then looked back at the laptop. “So which dates are better for you?”

Between us, we determined we had something on for the next five weeks. We had that blasted concert, work, a trip to see his parents, then a trip to see mine, more work and then Cooper had an energy convention in Philly that Louisa had been priming him for.

I pulled my credit card from my wallet and put it beside him.

“What’s that for?”

“To pay for the trip to Chicago,” I told him with a kiss to the top of his head. He started to object to my offer, but I leant down and gently put my lips to his. “Please, Cooper. Let me do this for you.”

His lips formed a twisted frown. “Are you sure? I hate that you can pay for things I can’t. I feel like a kept boy.”

“Of course I’m sure,” I told him. “And you’re not a
kept
anything. The only thing you
keep
is me on my toes.”

He huffed and gave me a small smile. I poured us both a juice while he paid for the trip to Chicago, and when he walked over to me to give me back my card, he slid his arms around me and nestled his face into my neck. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“You’re very welcome,” I replied with a kiss to the side of his head. “If it would make you feel any better, you can pay for dinner.”

I felt him smile against my skin. “I don’t feel
that
kept.”

I chuckled and dug my fingers into his sides, tickling him. “Too bad, Mr Jones. You’re paying.”

“Let me guess, you made reservations at some ridiculously over-priced restaurant.”

“No, Perry’s bar and grill. Next block over,” I said with a smile. “Huge steaks, low prices. All the fries you can eat.”

Cooper groaned. “Mr Elkin, you know me so well.”

“Yeah, well,” I said, “I’ll be having the steak and salad because my forty-four-year-old arteries aren’t as forgiving as yours.”

He cupped my balls in his hand and gave a gentle squeeze. “Your circulation works just fine.”

I turned him around and slapped his ass. “Go, get dressed, or we’ll be late.”

He walked to the hall, rubbing his ass. “I can’t believe you slapped me.” Then he stood there and undid his pants, letting them slide down to his thighs and he rubbed his naked ass. “I think you might need to kiss it better.”

“After dinner,” I said. “I’ll do more than that.”

He laughed when I had to adjust the front of my jeans.

The little shit.

* * * *

Work was hectic the next week. Hectic, but good. Cooper was just as busy, and I only saw him on Wednesday night when I went to his apartment, and Friday night when he came to mine. We spent the night finalising some work then crashed in front of the TV.

The next morning, I asked him if he missed going out with the boys, because he didn’t do it very often. “I don’t mind going out every once and a while,” he reassured me. “But I’d prefer to be here. I like quiet nights in, too.”

“I just don’t want you to miss out on being twenty-two, that’s all.”

“I’m not missing out on anything,” he replied. “I spent four years at college not missing out on much, I can assure you.”

“I’d rather not hear the details of that, thanks.”

He chuckled and kissed me. “Anyway, we’re going out tonight, are we not?”

I rolled my eyes. “We are.”

He laughed when I told him one of the other senior partners, Robert Chandler—an esteemed New York architect, who had mentored me ten years ago—had assumed Linkin Park was a period-drama play, because he wanted to know which theatre on Broadway it was showing. “He thought it sounded Presidential.”

Cooper laughed. “You work with dinosaurs.”

I corrected him. “We’re very talented, prestigious dinosaurs, thank you very much.” Then I teased him, “Aren’t you glad you weren’t
his
intern?”

Cooper nodded and bit his bottom lip. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have fantasised about being pushed against
his
draughting board, letting him have his wicked way with me…”

Forgetting what it was I was reading, I looked up and stared at him. “Fantasised?
My draughting board
?”

Cooper sat on the armrest of the sofa and smirked that smug, salacious smile at me. “You’d make me face the board and I’d hold onto the top of it with my pants around my ankles. You wouldn’t even bother to undo the button on your suit pants…just the zip…”

I got up from the dining chair and walked over to stand between his legs, pressing myself against him.

Cooper smiled and his voice was gruff and slow. “And you’d fuck me.”

“Jesus, Cooper,” I said, pushing my hips against his, and he ran his hands over my ass. He could feel how hard I was. “I just can’t get enough of you.”

“Good,” he whispered. “Because I want you all the time.”

I kissed him, filling his mouth with my tongue. He pulled my hips harder into his, but I wedged my hand between us. I undid the button and fly on his cargos first, then on mine until our hardened cocks were pressed together. I gripped us both in one hand, still tongue-fucking his mouth while I jerked us off together. His cock was hot and silky-hard against mine.

He groaned in my mouth and I needed air. I pulled my mouth from his and sucked back a breath, only to scrape my teeth down his jaw to his ear. “I’d fuck you so hard,” I whispered in his ear, his head fell back and his cock surged and swelled in my hand.

Watching him come, feeling his warmth erupt over his stomach and down my hand, down my cock, brought me undone, and I shot white stripes over his skin.

He wrapped his arms around me and we slid over the armrest of the sofa, landing in a sticky mess with me lying on top of him.

The room still hadn’t stopped spinning when Cooper chuckled underneath me.

“Fuck, Tom,” he murmured. “That was intense.”

“You shouldn’t talk about fantasies like that,” I mumbled into his neck.

He laughed again. “I think I really should talk about them more often.” He ran his hands over my back and through my hair. “We should get cleaned up for tonight.”

I noticed then that he still had one leg bent over the back of the sofa and his other foot on the ground while I was lying awkwardly over him. “I don’t want to move. Too comfortable.”

He chuckled. “Is this some old person yoga position? The dual pretzel?”

I laughed as I leaned up off him. “The sticky dual pretzel.”

We untangled ourselves, and Cooper suggested we shower together. “To save water,” he said. “We should be responsible, ecologically sound citizens,” he said.

I rolled my eyes. “You just want to see me wet and naked, don’t you?”

He laughed and put his wrist to his mouth, pretending to speak into some covert-operative mouthpiece. “My cover’s been blown, I repeat, my cover’s been blown.”

“You’re such a smart ass.”

“Yeah, well,” he said, pulling me into the bathroom. “You love me and my smart ass.”

“Yes, I do.”

Once we were out of the shower, dressed and almost ready to go, the intercom buzzed. Lionel’s familiar voice said, “Mr Elkin?”

I walked over and pressed the intercom button. “Yes, Lionel?”

“Sir, sorry to interrupt, but Ryan’s on his way up.”

That was odd. “Okay, that’s fine, Lionel.”

“Um, Mr Elkin?”

“Yes?”

“Your ex-wife is with him.”

“Sofia?”

“Yes, sir,” he replied. “Just thought you’d like a little…notice.”

Cooper walked up beside me and leaned in to the intercom. “Lionel?”

“Mr Jones?”

“You’re worth more money.”

The doorman laughed. “Just doing my job, sir.”

Right then, there was a knock at the door. Cooper looked at me and smiled. “I’ll do the honours.”

Chapter Eight

“Hey,” Cooper greeted Ryan as he opened the door.

“Hey, man,” Ryan returned the sentiment.

Cooper stood to the side, gesturing for them to come in. “Mrs Elkin,” he said politely.

“Hello, Cooper,” she said. Sofia walked in slowly, looking as uncomfortable as I’d ever seen her. She’d only been to my place once or twice before, and I think she found Cooper being here a little off-putting.

I gave her a light kiss on the cheek. “What do we owe the pleasure?”

Not missing my use of the word ‘we’, Sofia glanced quickly at Cooper. “I was in town with Ryan and thought I’d call in, if that’s okay. Last time we saw each other, we didn’t exactly leave on very happy terms,” she said, again looking quickly at Cooper.

“No, we didn’t,” I agreed. But she didn’t apologise, and I certainly wasn’t about to either. “And it’s fine for you to call in, Sofia.” I was going to add that a bit of notice would have been ideal, but figured I’d take her olive branch for what it was. The fact Cooper was here, and even felt at home enough to open the door for them should have been enough just desserts, but just in case it wasn’t, I added, “Though we were actually just heading out.”

“Where you guys going?” Ryan asked, looking up from the inside of the fridge.

“Madison Square Garden,” Cooper answered with a grin.

Ryan stood up and gaped at him. “No freakin’ way!” he cried. “Linkin Park?”

Then Sofia looked at me. “You’re going to see Linkin Park?”

“I am,” I told her. “Cooper puts up with my taste in music, so it’s only fair that I put up with his.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Cooper agreed. “But my taste in music is awesome. Tom’s is crap.”

Ryan laughed and I rolled my eyes. From the look on her face, it was obvious Sofia wasn’t sure what to make of it, or of me and Cooper. He sat on the sofa and pulled on his shoes, then disappeared down the hall and came back with my boots.

“Thanks,” I said quietly, taking my boots from him. As I pulled them on, I asked if Ryan and Sofia wanted to walk down with us, basically telling them we were leaving.

The elevator ride was quiet, but when we got to the lobby, Cooper quickly took my hand. It wasn’t until we walked past Lionel that Cooper gave him a bit of a wave. “Thanks again, Lionel.”

“My pleasure, Mr Jones,” he replied with a smile.

It was then Sofia turned around and saw that we were holding hands. She looked away quickly and pretended not to care, but she pursed her lips in that not-impressed way she always did.

I told Ryan to come over one night, Cooper told him to bring his new Xbox, we bid Sofia a good night and hailed a cab. Standing on the sidewalk with Sofia was awkward, and as soon as the cab pulled up, Cooper and I climbed in.

Cooper laughed. “She hates me.”

I gave the taxi driver directions and said, “Don’t let her get to you.”

“Hmm,” he hummed. “Did you see her face when I opened your front door?”

“I don’t think she expected you to open the door, that’s for sure.”

“You know,” he said, squeezing my hand. “I normally can’t stand it when someone doesn’t like me. It annoys me until I find out why, or until I break them down.”

“Like Lionel,” I added.

“Exactly. Now he loves me,” he said simply. “But with Sofia, I just don’t care. She can hate me all she likes.”

I smiled at him. “I don’t think she hates you. You were right—she’s jealous.”

“Which is irrational,” he said. “It’s not like I’m a young, blonde woman for her to compare herself to, or someone she could see herself twenty years ago as…”

“No,” I conceded, “but I don’t want her. I want you.”

He smiled. “I know you do.” He seemed placated a little. “And that’s what she doesn’t like.”

“Can we not talk about my ex-wife?” I asked. “I’m spending the night with you, going to some god-forsaken concert.”