She laced her hands together behind his neck, feeling the silky bristle of his hair as it tapered down. “I’m sure anything would be an improvement over the last few months. But you deserve something really luxurious.”
There was no disappointment in those sea-green eyes, though. Right here and now, Coop looked like he was completely at peace.
“If I get to sleep in the same bed with you tonight, that would be as much luxury as any man could handle.”
Warmth suffused through her. “I want you in bed with me.”
That night and every night afterwards. But she didn’t want to think about the future right now. As long as they were still stuck in their little snow globe, as long as the storm was still roaring outside, then they existed in a different world from all of their problems.
Cooper bent down and kissed her. He tasted like the sweet, light coffee he’d been drinking, and Gretchen felt that funny combination of grand romance and comfort again: his kiss made her think both of her own morning routine and of Sleeping Beauty waking up to the sight of her prince.
“I’ll go see if Ford can let me use the shower in another room,” Coop said. “And then I can meet you back here and we can—go to bed.” There was such gorgeous hunger in his eyes, but he still added, “If that’s still what you want after you see how I clean up.” His voice was light, but he really was trying to give her an out.
Well, she didn’t need one. She knew without a doubt that she wanted him, that she needed him.
Maybe she wasn’t his mate. Maybe the way they’d fallen in love with each other right away was just some kind of cosmic mistake. She didn’t care. She couldn’t imagine being in this moment with anyone else.
She said, “I bet you clean up just fine,” and kissed him so thoroughly that he would know she meant it.
He went back to the bed and picked up the top half of his prison jumpsuit, starting to put it back on, but then he stopped.
“I don’t want to put this back on,” Coop said hoarsely. “Not with you here. It doesn’t feel right. I don’t want to get you mixed up with all of that.”
“Throw it away.” She wrapped her arms around herself, and even surrounded by the steam pouring out of the shower, she knew she was shivering. She hated the sight of those clothes too. “I wish you could burn it. Ford can loan you something. We can make you a toga out of sheets. Anything but those.”
He settled for just wrapping a towel around his waist for right now. He looked both sexy and vulnerable like that—and so much happier than he’d looked in his prison uniform.
“I’ll be back before you know it,” he said.
Gretchen watched him go—admiring the shape of his ass even through the towel, because she was only human—and then slid off her bra and underwear. It felt insanely good to step into the shower. Without having to try to have sex under its aggressive spray, she could really appreciate the way it bludgeoned her into cleanness. It was gratifyingly hot, too, making her feel sleepy and relaxed a
s she slowly shampooed her hair and soaped up. There was something so dreamlike about watching the gauzy film of soapsuds on her skin break and scatter as the water thundered down.
But she had a guy to get to, and that made her buckle down and hurry.
Besides, she was showering in a hotel just a couple of hours after she’d made a Psycho joke. That was bad luck.
She stepped out of the shower, toweling her hair dry, and walked out to the bedroom.
Cooper was waiting for her, sitting on the bed with the now-damp towel wrapped around his waist once again. His bandages looked fresh and more carefully placed.
“I guess if you’re the master of the quick change, I’m the master of the quick shower,” he said when he heard her footsteps. Then he looked at her, and his expression turned almost reverent. “God, Gretchen, you’re beautiful.”
She smiled. “You’ve already seen me.”
“If you think I’m going to get tired of looking at you, you’re wrong.”
“I want to look at you too.” She stepped closer to him, nudging at the towel that was still covering his knee.
“Oh,” Cooper said, with the slightest of blushes on his face. “Right.”
“I’m always losing strip poker around you,” Gretchen said musingly.
Cooper stood and unwound his own towel, letting Gretchen admire him. However beautiful he thought she was, she couldn’t believe that she had anything at all on him. He was tall and lean and perfectly made, with perfect hipbones that tipped into an Adonis belt, and she couldn’t stand looking at him a single second longer without touching him.
She straddled his lap and kissed him, her body held over his beautiful flushed cock, and then it became a blur.
He stroked her breasts, kissing and nibbling at the sensitive skin there until she was gasping and grabbing at him. It felt like her body had become a live wire and each time he touched her was a fresh and revelatory shock. She ground down against him, curling her fingers against his back, and felt his cock move teasingly over the folds of her sex.