Touch Me - Complete Collection (4 page)

She
squeezed her eyes shut and clasped her face tightly in both hands.
The bastard!

Anger
and boiling rage made her stomp toward the bedroom and push the door open. It crashed against the back wall and rebounded to slam shut in its frame. The windows rattled and Cooper turned, standing in the middle of the room.

“You son of a bit
ch!” she cried. “Is this why you called me here? Was this your master plan all along?”

His eyes widened
.
Fuck! She’s going to cry.
“Jen- ”

“
You knew, you knew everything. You with your hotshot business and your fancy apartment. I’m not a bloody pauper! You can’t call me here and play me!”

“
Jeez, Jen.” He reached for her but she was furious.

“Don’t touch me!
I’ll die before I ever let you touch- Unh!”

He
captured the rest of her words in his mouth. His hands were frantic, frenzied as they dragged off her jacket while he backed her up toward the bed. She stumbled and gasped, grabbing him, grabbing onto the very thing that was making her lose all semblance of sanity.

He caught her halfway
and gaped at her for a split second, his breath harsh. Jenny clasped his neck and pulled him down for a kiss but he threw her brutally on the bed. Shock made her curl but he was on top of her instantly. His thigh pushed insistently between hers, making her skirt ride up while he rubbed her panty-covered pussy. His blood was pounding in his ears, obliterating any sound but her fevered moans.

“Coop
!” He bit her neck roughly, his hands almost violent as he attempted to undo the buttons on her shirt. A soft ripping sound marked the end of her shirt, and his warm hands splayed over her tits, pushing her bra up rudely. And then his head bent to her breasts. “Oh!”

Her fingers curled in his
sandy-colored hair as his lips opened wetly on her nipple. He sucked, crushing her breast in one hand while his free hand delved down to the waistband of her skirt. She tugged at his shirt. “Take it off!” Her breasts were aching with the need to be crushed by his chest, the same chest she had seen naked and bronzed. “Take it- ”

“Cooper?” A
feminine voice sounded from the living room.

She stilled and
Cooper lifted off her body as if he had been jolted with a million watts of electricity. He gaped at Jenny, his hair disheveled. “She still has the key,” he muttered to himself while she lifted onto her elbows, her breasts squeezed together beneath the strap of her bra.

“Wha- ”

The voice interrupted her again. “Cooper. Baby?”

It was just outside the bedroom door now and
Cooper’s face was as white as a sheet. He yanked her arm to pull her up and threw his suit jacket around her shoulders. She complied woodenly, and just as the door opened, he clasped her face tightly in both hands. Jenny tilted in the confining hold to see a tall blonde, who she was pretty sure she had seen on a magazine cover. Celia something…Jenny remembered in a daze.

“
I'm sorry, Jen,” he whispered, before turning to the blonde who was as shocked as Jenny.

Touch Me Book 2

“What’s going on here?” Celia’s eyes were glued unmoving to Jenny, who was covered by Cooper’s jacket.

Cooper gritted his teeth and strode toward her, grabbing her arm in a death grip before hauling her out of the bedroom. The door slammed shut behind them and Jenny scrunched up her face, pain and confusion swarming her.

What have I done?
She sat at the edge of the bed, clutching Cooper’s jacket closer around herself. She couldn’t wrap her mind around what Cooper had been thinking. She had been angry and frustrated and he had just…attacked her.

Her pussy squeezed in itself and she cursed.
The man is outside right now, with a woman who is very obviously his girlfriend.
She had a key to his apartment, and he had said he didn’t have a
girlfriend
.

Anger boiled inside her again. This is exactly what she had been talking about when she stormed into his room angrily. That he was not dependable. He was not what he seemed to be. Then why in God’s name had he asked her to come over and stay with him?

It made no sense whatsoever. Unless he had just thought having a sex buddy around would be fun. She pursed her lips tightly. Now, because of her naïveté and stupidity, she had no place to live. If only she had kept her insane cravings for the man under control.

Sounds surfaced from the living room, and automatically, Jenny stood up to eavesdrop. They were arguing, and Cooper was doing most of the talking. Gingerly, she tiptoed to the bedroom door and pressed her ear to it.

“I told you Celia! I made it pretty damn clear that you can’t do this.”

“Why? Because you had
her
over?” she said
her
with such distaste that Jenny cringed.

“This has nothing to do with her. First, hand over my fucking key. You’re misusing it. There’s no reason for you to have it.”

“Cooper, I’m willing to let this go. I am! I just…I can ignore this little tryst of yours if you promise- ”

“Have you lost your mind, Celia?” Cooper raged. “Stop it. And please do not ignore this little tryst. Keep it in mind when you decide to barge into my property next time.”

“But- ”

“Key, Celia! Now!” he ordered in a chilling voice that didn’t seem at all like the Cooper Jenny knew. But then, she didn’t know him at all. Not now. She had known him once upon a time, but now Cooper Farrell was just a mystery.

She jumped as the front door slammed in its frame, and lurched back guiltily as Cooper flung the bedroom door open. If she had been a fraction of a second late in pulling back, he would have cracked her skull into two.

He gaped at her, understanding perfectly well that she had been listening to his conversation with Celia. Jenny scowled at him in furious rage, but she had a tiny seed of doubt planted in her mind. She hated that. She was too soft, too trusting. First, she had trusted Jason with everything she had, and now she was gambling again with Cooper.

“Jenny, it’s not what it looks like.” He clasped her upper arms and she lurched back, glaring at him.

“Don’t touch me. Know it, and keep it in your thick head that you don’t touch me! You don’t hug me, you don’t hold my hand, and you don’t stand within fucking three feet of me.”

Cooper swallowed and stood back. With his shirt crumpled, his pants wrinkled past redemption, he looked sexier than ever before. Jenny forced her eyes to stay on his eyes.

“You told me…you didn't have a girlfriend.” She bit out through clenched teeth, hugging his jacket tighter to sheathe her naked breasts.

“I don’t. She’s not my girlfriend.”

“But she has a key to your apartment. That screams girlfriend to me.”

“Can we sit down and talk about this?” When she just gaped at him as if that was the most preposterous of ideas, he narrowed his eyes. “Please?”

“No, Cooper. I’m not sitting down. On second thought, why are we even having this conversation? I don’t care. I’m not your girlfriend, and I don’t want to be your booty call!”

She spun around and he grabbed her arm. “Don’t be stupid. You can never be my booty call!”

She scoffed. “Yes, I can, Cooper. Look at me! I’m standing here half naked with your jacket on me, and we met when? Yesterday! After fifteen fucking years!”

“Jen, seriously, you’re taking this the wrong way.”

“Am I
Cooper?” She glared at him and he ground his jaw together.

The truth was, he felt helpless. Everything had happened so fast. One second she had been standing in the living room feeling like an imposition, and the next she was beneath him, with her perfect pink nipple in his mouth.
God!
She had tasted good. If he had ever fantasized about her in that situation, half naked, crushed under his body, at the mercy of his mouth and hands, he would never have guessed it would be so damn good.

“This is a mistake…all of it,” she cried, looking at the carpet. “I never should’ve. We never, we can’t ever…”

“Jen, just hear me out all right? I hired an architect, and I met Celia when she tagged along with him one day. She’s my architect’s sister, and that’s why she has a key.”

“I don’t…don’t have to hear this,” Jenny muttered, reaching for the bedroom door.

“Jen please. Don’t spoil this.”

“Spoil what? This is...this is
nothing. This was all a stupid, crazy mistake. All I needed was a friend and …”

“Okay then…we take a step back. I agree,” he said through a throat which seemed to be stuffed full of dry clay. His mind was in overdrive, trying to find a way to cease the catastrophe that was waiting to strike. “This was not...right. It was impulsive. And we can move past it.”

Jenny stared at him with an expression that made his heart twist in his ribs. “I don’t know, Cooper. I don’t have the energy for this. I don’t have the fight in me...at least not yet. I should probably go, it’s for the best.”

“No way!” he said with a horrified chuckle. “No way, Jenny- ”

“This was wrong from the beginning. I felt wrong being here, and now after this...” She blushed and his gaze dipped stubbornly to the black bra visible at the opening of his jacket. She was clutching it in a death grip. “I’ll manage something. It’s probably best if we quit pretending like we’re the same…we were kids, nothing’s the same. We grew up, and now things can get…tricky.”

She was going to leave. She was going to leave, and after the disaster that had just ensued, there was no way he was ever going to hear from her again. He grabbed her arms and yanked her straighter, keeping a safe distance from her very desirable body. His mind was foggy, and his loins contracted in agonizing disappointment as he began speaking.

“I agree, Jenny. This was a mistake. It was wrong, and hell! I’m sure now we both know it’s not even like something we would want to do again. It was uncomfortable to say the least.”

Jenny flushed but kept a straight face.
Uncomfortable? Not for me! That’s why I want to run.

“So we can just…we can let this go. If you can let this go, we can just coexist like friends again. Okay?”

When she still seemed ready to argue, he hurried forward. “I have a weeklong conference in Sydney in three days,” he lied. “I’ll be gone, you’ll have the place to yourself, and I think it could take even longer than a week, because there’s been some…problems…there.” As long as she stayed, as long as she had a place to stay, he was willing to move out of his own damn apartment. “What do you say? And don’t even worry about this...” He motioned at her body and she glanced way. “It means noting, and we can deal with this. We’re adults. We can just ignore it ever happened.”

**

Jenny hummed to herself as she opened the front door. It had been ten days since Cooper had left for Sydney, and she hadn’t enjoyed having the place to herself. At all. After the very embarrassing discussion, she hadn’t even seen him again. He had left the next morning without even waking her up, and left a note saying he was needed in Sydney earlier than he had thought.

He hadn’t even said when he would be back. She had been miserable. Even though she had spent just one day in his presence, it was a good presence. It was a thrilling, and wonderful presence.

The spacious apartment felt gloomy without him, and because she had been surrounded by stuff that he owned, she had felt awkward living there. She had accepted the fact that she just wasn’t the kind of person to feel at home at someone else’s home. It just won’t happen no matter what. The sooner she could get out of Cooper’s place the better.

She checked the answering machine but there were no messages from Cooper. She fell onto the couch and inhaled deeply. At least something was working out. Cooper had been an impenetrable, unyielding wall of support. First he had let her stay, and then he had found her a job that was fantastic to say the least. It was better than her old job, more central to the workings of the bank, and she felt more like her old self again.

Cooper had called two days ago, and had been genuinely happy for her when she told him she got the job. Every time she heard his voice over the phone, she couldn’t help but feel a tug of need. He was never going to be just Coop, her friend again. The crazy frenzy of passion they had shared ten days ago had marred everything.

The phone rang and she yanked it up on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Jenny.”

“Coop!”

He chuckled. “You’re happy to hear from me.”

She smiled. “I’m glad you called. I was worried about you.”

“Yeah, I got your email.”

“Why is your phone off?”

“I've been busy, Jenny. I- ” The doorbell rang on the other side of the phone and he paused.

“There’s someone at the door. Can you hold on?” Jenny asked. She ran to the door and he heard her footsteps clatter on his hardwood floor.

Jenny didn’t want to make him wait. He was calling from freaking Australia to talk to her. She wasn’t that special. She opened the door and paused, her heart jumping up and beating erratically in her throat.

“Jason?” she whispered and he smiled, walking inside. She surfaced from her shock instantly and pushed him right back outside the doorway. She grunted as her hands pushed at his chest.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“No. I don’t want to talk.”

“Just give me a minute and I’ll explain, all right? Can I sit down?” With that he scurried past her and made himself comfortable on the couch.

Jenny was reeling. He had some nerve to expect a conversation after doing what he had done. “How did you find me?”

“I called Annabel and she told me about your new job. I followed you from there to here.” He seemed very proud of his creepy stalking.

“You called Annabel on her honeymoon to enquire about me?”

“It’s not important. Here.” He handed her a brown envelope and she pursed her lips.

“I don’t care what’s in there, Jason. Really. You really need to leave.”

“Just open it!”

“Will you leave if I do?”

He swallowed. “If you want me to.”

She snatched a slip of paper out of the envelope, in a hurry to make him leave, and realized it was a check.

“It’s the money I withdrew from your account. I should have asked you before I withdrew it, but I needed it to settle some matters of my father’s estate. I was going to get it back and return it, but I forget to tell you. I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

Jenny stared at the check.
Wow.
She had run off out of her place, leaving her boyfriend behind…over nothing.

“The check clears in three weeks. I hope that’s alright,” he added unhelpfully.

Great. Now I feel like the scum of the earth.

She should’ve been rejoicing, but she felt…
Oh, my god! Cooper!
She slipped off the chair and yanked the phone receiver up to her ear.

“Hello?” she cried but it was dead. Cooper had hung up.
Had he heard? Had he heard Jason and I talking?

“What happened, Jenny?” Jason reached for her shoulders from behind and she lurched as if lightening struck her.

“Get out, Jason. I mean it.”

“What? I just explained. I had a reason- ”

“Just go, Jason. I need you to go. I need to think this through.” Her mind was constantly just glued to one detail and it wouldn’t budge. Cooper had overheard everything. He knew she had Jason at his apartment.
Would he care? I don’t care if he cares. He’s not my boyfriend, Jason is. Or was. Or still is.
She was confused. Was there any reason to break up with Jason other than the money she had thought he had stolen? Why didn’t she feel ecstatic that he was the man she had once thought he was – the one she had planned to marry some day?

He sighed. “I'm staying at the Crest Hotel. You can reach me there.”

She closed the door behind him and trotted back slowly to the sofa. She could leave in three weeks. As soon as Jason’s check cleared she could leave Cooper’s apartment and be independent again.