Mistletoe Bay (31 page)

Coop could have easily reversed their positions, but why spoil all her fun? He was rock-hard and ready for anything Jenni might want to do. “Good, because I don't think I can wait four more days.” He'd be lucky to last four more minutes. His fingers clutched a foil packet.

Jenni's nipped at his chin and then trailed her moist lips down his throat. “How long can you last?”

Plump breasts skimmed his chest and stomach as Jenni moved lower. His thighs started to tremble when he realized she wasn't stopping. “I ummmm . . .”

Jenni smiled against his stomach. “That's what I thought.” She moved lower.

With a flick of her tongue, his hips arched off the mattress and he nearly embarrassed himself. He closed his eyes and swallowed when he felt the heat of her mouth engulf him. The woman was trying to kill him.

With a loud growl, he grabbed Jenni's shoulders, pulling her up and over onto her back. “Enough!”

Jenni wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled. “Not yet, it isn't.”

He could feel the satiny smoothness of her thighs as they clutched his hips. “Now where exactly do you want me, Jen?” He positioned himself between her thighs but kept his arousal away from her. “Here?”

“No.” Jenni arched her hips, trying to bring him closer.

He barely teased her opening with the head of his penis. “What about here?”

Jenni wrapped her legs around his hips and locked her ankles. “Deeper,” came out in a hoarse plea as her head moved side to side.

“Like this?” He felt his arms tremble as he slowly started to enter her. He was using every ounce of self-control not to sink into her heat.

“More.” Jenni's breath was fast and shallow. “Please.”

He could no more refuse her than breathe. With a groan of pure pleasure he slowly pulled out of her and then plunged.

Jenni cried her release as he thrust deeper, and then deeper still.

The sweet convulsions that tightened around him sent him over the edge. He arched his back and climaxed.

Chapter Sixteen

Jenni snuggled closer to Coop under the comforter. Lying with Coop was fantastic. Okay, the sex had been fantastic; the afterglow was warm and wondrous. She trailed her fingers over his chest and smiled. “I didn't get all the wrapping done.”

“There's still time left before the big day.” Coop's fingers were toying with the ends of her hair.

“Time for you to get the bikes together?” She glanced at the bedside clock. She had an hour yet before she turned into a pumpkin.

“Right after I get my mechanical degree.” Coop chuckled softly. “How they can make something so simple so complicated is beyond me.”

“You'll figure it out.”

“You have that much faith in me?” Coop seemed curious.

She lifted her head and looked at him. “Yes, one hundred percent.” Plain, simple, and the truth.

Coop's expression fell and his body stiffened. “Don't keep looking at me as if I'm some type of hero, Jenni. I'm not perfect.”

“I never said you were.” She sat up, bringing the sheet with her. Something was bothering Coop; she had seen a flash of pain pass across his face. “What's up?”

Coop wouldn't meet her gaze. “There's something we need to talk about.”

“Like?” She had a horrible sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Let's get dressed and then we'll talk.”

“No, let's talk now.” Coop looked like he was ready to run. Naked men usually didn't run, and besides, Coop was on the side of the bed with all the presents. He would either have to look like a fool crawling to the bottom of the bed, get past her, or stay put.

Coop sighed but stayed where he was. “I got a feeling Sam never told you. I was a chicken by hoping that he would so I didn't have to.”

“Told me what?” What did Sam have to do with anything? Felicity and Sam were seeing each other again, and both seemed happy. Dorothy put on a great front, but she was miserable as all get out. Eli had been out of the picture for over a week now.

“Remember I went in to the high school the one evening and talked to the football team after practice?” Coop pulled himself up into a sitting position and used the headboard as a backrest. His portion of the sheet was covering his lap, but his chest was bare.

“Vaguely.” How did Coop expect her to remember her own name when he was sitting naked less than two feet from her and looking so scrumptious?

“I go into high schools a lot to talk to the athletes.”

“That's nice.” She frowned when she spotted a red scratch on Coop's chest. She must have just done that while they were . . .

“Would you stop looking at my chest when I'm talking?” Coop grabbed a pillow and held it in front of him like he was protecting his virtue.

She grinned. “It's a nice chest.”

“Thank you, but pay attention. You might not think it's so nice when I'm done.”

Now that put an end to her wicked thoughts. “Continue.” What she wanted to say was to hurry the hell up and get to the point. Why wouldn't she like him? Hell, she was in love with him.

“Didn't you ever wonder why I dropped out of college, gave up football, and moved to California?”

“Sure, I just figured you'd tell me about when you were ready.” Coop couldn't have done something really bad. His parents still loved him. Sam's football coach had been thrilled to see him at their game. “Why did the hero worship die from Sam's eyes? What did you tell them?” Come to think of it, when the entire football team had been at her place, the day Corey had gone missing, they all had been friendly and polite toward Coop. But they hadn't been hanging on Coop's every word, like they had been at that Friday-night game.

“The truth.”

“What truth?”

“I used drugs.” Coop watched her closely.

She blinked. “Excuse me?” She couldn't have heard right. Coop wasn't a druggie. He was her UPS man. He was Misty Harbor's football hero with the most receiving yards, or something like that.

“I used steroids, Jen.”

“Isn't that illegal?”

“Yes.” Coop sat there and watched her.

A thousand thoughts flashed through her mind. She was sitting naked in bed with an illegal-drug user. Impossible! She looked at Coop and the resolve upon his face. Was he expecting her to leave just like that? Coop had another thing coming. She was made of stronger stuff than that. She wanted the story, the whole story, and then she would make up her mind if she would leave or not.

“Want to start at the beginning?”

“You're not leaving?” Coop relaxed just a bit.

“I'm Tucker's mom. You're going to have to do better than that if you're trying to frighten me away.”

Coop grinned and relaxed further. “You know most of it already. Local high school football star gets offered a full scholarship at a semi-decent college.”

“Semi-decent?”

“It wasn't Ohio or Penn State, but said football star figured he would shine enough that one of the major football colleges would pick him up in his last two years.” Coop shook his head. “Said football star was a fool.”

“To be seen.” She clutched the sheet to her breasts with one hand and waved the other. “Continue.”

“Going from high school to college ball was a whole different ball game”—Coop gave her a lopsided smile—“pun not intended.”

She rolled her eyes and waited.

“Coach Rawlins took me under his wing, you could say. He was going to show me how to shine. How to improve my game. How to get to the NFL.” Coop gave a self-deprecating laugh. “How to use steroids to reach those goals, and make himself look good in the process.”

Her stomach turned. “Your coach encouraged you to take steroids?”

“Encouraged, no. To Coach Rawlins's thinking, it was mandatory. Who do you think got us the stuff?”

“Us?” Now she knew she was going to be sick.

“Four of us. The four shining stars.” Coop closed his eyes but not before she saw the pain again.

“How long were you taking the stuff?”

“A little bit over a year. We were at the end of our regular season. Last game and we were undefeated. The team we were going up against was also undefeated and, if push came to shove, probably better than us. Push was going to come to shove. Brian Dole was our quarterback and a shining star. He was from some hick town in Tennessee and desperately needed to prove himself. Three days before the big game he got ahold of the coach's supply and figured if one syringe was good, three would be better.”

She closed her eyes and wanted to close her ears.

“They found him dead in the weight room later that night. Everything broke loose. I stuck around long enough to testify and then took off for California.”

“Why not come home to Misty Harbor?”

“Sullivan, my parents live in Sullivan.” Coop shook his head. “I couldn't face the town, or my parents. I had known it was wrong, yet I took the drug anyway.”

“But you were just a kid. You were—what?—eighteen?”

“Nineteen. Old enough to be away at college and making my own decisions.”

“But it was your coach who gave it to you.”

“I could have said no.” Coop's lips were twitching.

“He could have kicked you off the team. You would have lost your scholarship.” She glared at him. “Why are you laughing at me?”

“I'm not laughing, Jenni.” Coop reached out and cupped the back of her head. “I did something that was illegal, and you're defending me.” Coop forced her mouth closer to his. “I love you, Jennifer Wright” was whispered across her lips right before he kissed her.

Jenni felt herself sink into the kiss. The sheet slid down her chest as Coop hauled her up onto his lap—his very hard lap. She broke the kiss and slapped her hand onto his chest. “Don't you ever do anything so stupid again. Do you have any idea what that stuff can do to your body?”

Coop grinned and held up his fingers in the Boy Scout–promise position. “Promise.”

She nodded, then blinked as a new thought came to her. “Is that why you're so good at . . .” She swept her hand toward the rumpled sheets and wiggled her butt on the hard evidence of his arousal.

Coop grinned, then threw back his head and laughed himself silly.

 

 

Felicity glanced at the clock and tried not to allow her excitement to show. She had a very special Christmas present for her mother, one that couldn't wait till Christmas morning, nor would it fit under the tree.

“What do you think, Felicity? Should we have dessert now, or wait until we get back from the Festival of Lights?” Dorothy smiled at her daughter as she straightened up the kitchen.

She put the last glass in the dishwasher. “Since it's only four now, let the boys have some cookies if they're hungry. After the festival we can make up sandwiches with all the ham that was left and you can serve your cake then.” She was getting tired of her mother asking her opinion on every little matter.

The age-old saying was true: Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it. Well, she had been the one who wanted to have a bigger part in this family. She had been foolish enough to run off to Boston to prove it. Her mother was only granting her wish by seeing that everything met with her approval.

French toast and blueberry pancakes were now served every morning for breakfast. Her laundry was done to perfection and there was always an abundance of bath towels in their bathroom. Her mother had taken her clothes shopping twice for Christmas, and even Fred hadn't made an appearance in her room since Uncle Mitch had brought her home.

If she hadn't checked it herself, she would have sworn her mother had welded Fred's cage closed.

It was enough to make Felicity scream. She couldn't take one more day of being cuddled and coddled by her mother. At least Jenni treated her about the same. Her mother needed a hobby—one that didn't include her.

Sam walked into the room and gave her a wink. It was time. Only Sam knew of her surprise. She ducked her head as the doorbell rang.

“I'll get it,” shouted Tucker from the back room.

“I will,” yelled Corey.

Both boys raced for the door. Tucker had the speed, but Corey was finally starting to exert himself. Her littlest nephew grabbed onto the back of Tucker's sweatshirt and hung on for dear life.

She watched as her mother left the kitchen to go see who was at the door. Sam grabbed her hand and pulled her after her mother.

Tucker yanked open the front door. “Yeah?”

“Tucker James, that is not how we . . .” Dorothy's voice trailed off when she saw who was standing there.

“Eli!” shouted Tucker.

Corey picked himself up off the floor, where he had slipped, and grinned at Hope and Faith standing on the front porch. “Hi, we're going to go see the boats.”

Felicity rolled her eyes when she realized her mother wasn't going to invite Eli and the girls in. She stepped farther into the room. “Come on in Eli, girls.”

Eli was holding a tall crystal vase filled with red roses and baby's breath. He held it out toward Dorothy. “These are for you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, Mom, he said they're are for you.” Felicity could tell Eli was nervous and not quite sure what was going on. The roses were gorgeous, but she liked the bouquet of pure white tulips that had been gracing the buffet in the dining room when she got home from school the other day. Her mother never said where they had come from, but Felicity had known. She looked over at Jenni, Coop, and Chase, who had come to see what the commotion was all about. “Mom, I invited Eli and the girls over.”

“You did?”

“Yes.” Inviting Sam's father over had been one of the hardest things she had ever done. By all rights, the man should have been furious at her, but he wasn't.

“Eli, I want to give you your Christmas present now.” Felicity smiled at the man who wouldn't, or couldn't, take his gaze off her mother. “You don't even have to unwrap it.”

Eli's gaze cut to her. “I thought you said your mother knew about us stopping over.”

She shrugged. “I fibbed.”

Sam reached for her hand and pulled her to his side. “She lied, but it was for a good reason.”

“What reason?” Eli asked.

“To give you your present.” The man was turning stubborn on her.

Eli glanced around. “What present?”

“This one.” she grinned and squeezed Sam's hand harder. “Eli Fischer, I give you permission to date my mother.”

Eli's gaze flew back to Dorothy. “You do?”

“Two conditions.” She held up two fingers of her free hand. “One, you hurt her in any way, shape, or form, and we are sending Tucker to come live with you.” She ignored Coop's chuckle from the back of the room. “Two, no mushy stuff around me.”

“Deal.” Eli smiled.

She glanced over to Jenni, who was grinning and nodding her head in approval. She knew the situation was going to be awkward, but she also knew it was the right thing to do. Her mother truly did deserve some happiness in her life, and if Eli was the one to do that, who was she to stop it?

“Give me those. I'll put them in the kitchen for you, Mom.” Dorothy still hadn't reached for the vase.

“Hope, come see our tree,” said Tucker as he pulled on the girl's hand.

Corey reached for Faith's hand. “Coop set up a train under the tree. It's cool. Come see.”

The kids all hurried from the room. Jenni and Coop followed.