Let Me Love You (Love #4) Read online

  “Dickhead,” Mason grumbles.

  I throw my arm over his shoulder, “Don’t go getting all pissy. We all know I’m the better looking twin.”

  Mason elbows me hard in the stomach as Hailey giggles.

  “I swear they don’t ever grow up.” MacKenzie says while walking past Mason and me.

  “I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid.” Mason and I sing.

  MacKenzie throws a bottle of water, just missing my head but hitting Mason on the side of the face. I start laughing but not for long. MacKenzie throws a glass jar of pickles hitting me in the balls.

  Hailey screams, “No, not the pickles,” as the jar drops to floor but thankfully doesn’t break.

  I’m on my hands and knees gasping for air when Jackson claps me on the back, “Don’t mess with a pregnant girl’s pickles bro.”

  “Thanks, asshole.” I manage to say but my voice cracks.

  On my hands and knees, I crawl into the living room and onto the couch next to Jaylinn, hoping she’ll hold me in my moment of pain.

  “Aww honey, you need me to kiss your boo boo?” Jaylinn coos, kissing my face.

  Then she does something I’m not expecting at all because normally we don’t do PDA. She looks around to make sure no one is looking and then kisses my lips, my chest, my stomach, going lower, and then as she leans forward she looks up at me with those big blue eyes and kisses my dick over my shorts. I’m instantly hard even through the pain, and to make matters, worse she does it a few times before looking back up at me and biting on her bottom lip. I nearly lost it because right now I want her mouth there. I want it bad.

  I reach for her and place her back on the couch next to me. “Stay there.” She starts to move and I glare. “I mean it or I’m taking your ass upstairs…” I trail off not wanting to finish my sentence.

  “Take me upstairs and what?” Jaylinn jabs at me, knowing exactly what she’s doing.

  I shake my head and lean over to whisper in her ear, “Take you over my knee until your ass is red with my hand print and you’re begging me to…” I trail off again, letting her use her imagination. Two can play at this game and it’s a line drive I’m not letting her get away with.

  When I sit back her mouth is hanging open and I feel good about that.

  “Close your mouth Jay.” Hunter takes a seat on the other side of her, “You’re gonna catch a fly.”

  “But…” Jaylinn starts to say but then stops and looks down at my dick, which just twitched, and then back to my eyes.

  I wink at her before adjusting myself so that things don’t get awkward.

  When the pizza comes we’re all sitting around Mason’s dining room table. Everyone is eating and talking among themselves but all I can seem to concentrate on is watching Jaylinn eat French fries. It’s killing me. It’s the most sexual thing I’ve ever seen. She knows I’m watching and she’s doing it on purpose. She drags the fry through the ketchup and then brings it to her mouth. Her tongue comes out and she licks the fry before taking it between her teeth. She closes her eyes and groans as if it’s the best tasting thing in the world. I’ll be taking another cold shower as soon as we get home but if she keeps this up I’ll be taking a shower upstairs in a few minutes.

  Hunter throws a fry at me, “Stop looking at my sister like that.”

  I divert my eyes from Jaylinn’s mouth and try to concentrate on anything else to keep myself from dragging her ass upstairs.

  “So what are we doing for New Year’s?” MacKenzie asks.

  Hailey huffs, clearly annoyed she can’t do much. “Nothing fun since I can’t drink and neither can you.”

  Chloe laughs. “Don’t make us suffer because you two are knocked up.” Chloe looks over to Jackson, “I say we go dancing at that new club that just opened up.”

  Hailey and MacKenzie both mumble and grumble that there is no way their pregnant asses are going anywhere near a club.

  “I’m down for that.” I pipe up for the first time since sitting down; probably because my brain has been elsewhere.

  Jaylinn, the little vixen herself, has managed to place her hand on my thigh under the table.

  “Yeah, the four of us could go out for a little while and then we’ll all come back here or wherever you guys will be and bring in the New Year with you all.” Jaylinn suggests, her hand going just a little higher now.

  Hunter reaches over and cups the side of MacKenzie’s face, “I’m sorry, CC. We’ll go out as soon as you have the baby.”

  Mason and Hailey are having some kind of silent conversation. They both know there is no way they are going out any time soon. Hailey still has a few months until she is due and even after that they are going to have their hands full with twins.

  Jaylinn slides her hand up even further and I place my elbows on the table and shift back so she can’t go up any higher, but that’s not what happens. Nope, not at all. This only makes it easier for her. She places her hand right over my dick and applies a little pressure. My body tenses and I start to sweat. I don’t know what has gotten into her today but she’s going to kill me. She knows damn well what this does to me.

  Jackson kicks my chair. My head snaps up knowing we were caught. Jackson starts laughing and pretty soon so are Chloe and Jaylinn.

  Shaking my head, I take a sip of my beer. I need to get up and move away from Jaylinn but she’s made that pretty hard. Pun intended.

  “What’s the matter Coop?” Jaylinn purrs all seductive and sexy.

  It’s enough that I scowl and shift my chair in Hunter’s direction. He raises an eyebrow at me, waiting for me to talk or something but all I do is smile and take another sip of my beer.

  Jaylinn is going to be the death of me. The shitty part is she knows it.

  Jackson, Chloe, Cooper and I made plans to go to the new club not far from our house for New Year’s. Hunter and MacKenzie agreed to keep Alex for Jackson and Chloe until we got there later that night.

  All my Christmas shopping is done apart from one gift that I’m still trying to figure out. I need a gift for Cooper but what do you give someone who can buy anything he wants? I’ve been racking my brain for a while now.

  I pick up my phone from the coffee table and scroll until I find Mason’s number. He answers on the second ring, slightly out of breath. “Hello?”

  “I need your help.”

  More heavy breathing.

  I take the phone away from my ear to make sure I have the right number. “Hello?”

  Mason grunts.

  “Oh my god! Mason, why the hell would you even answer the phone?” I screech before quickly hanging up. I shudder at the thought that Mason was screwing my best friend.

  I tap my fingers on my leg, trying to decide who I should try next. I guess Jackson could probably help me.

  “Hello?” He says when he answers on the first ring.

  “Thank God you’re not having sex and answering the phone too.” I shudder again.

  Jackson laughs, “Let me guess, Mason?”

  I roll my eyes, “Of course, who else?”

  Jackson chuckles, “True, true. So what’s up?”

  “I don’t know what to get Coop for Christmas.” I whine, sounding like a child.

  “Hmm.” I hear Jackson’s car start up. “Get him something that has meaning to the both of you. It doesn’t need to be big and expensive, that’s not Cooper.”

  I sit and think about that for a minute. What in the world could I get him that would mean something?

  Groaning, I give up and whine some more. “Ugh I have no damn clue.”

  “What don’t you have a clue about?” Cooper asks from behind.

  I jump. I didn’t even hear him pull into the driveway like I do any other day. I hope he didn’t hear my conversation with Jackson.

  Jackson laughs, “I’ll talk to you later Jay.” Then he hangs up and I’m left to deal with Cooper.

  “Hey, I didn’t even hear you come in.” I look him up and down; his t-shirt is soaked wi
th sweat and clinging to his body like a second skin. Damn, he’s mouthwatering delicious.

  “Stop doing that.” Cooper grins at me knowing exactly where my thoughts just went.

  “Doing what?” I ask, rolling my eyes and walking into the kitchen.

  Cooper chuckles. It’s a sound that makes my legs go weak. “You were checking me out.”

  Trying to play it off so that his ego doesn’t get any bigger I say, “Please don’t flatter yourself, Cooper. There are plenty of other good looking guys out there that I could drool over.”

  Suddenly Cooper has me caged in against the kitchen counter. He leans down, his breath tickling my neck. “You better not be drooling over anyone other than me.” He bites me on that sensitive spot between my shoulder and neck and I want to die. “Admit it, you were checking me out.”

  My breaths are coming in slow and shallow and my concentration is lost. “So what, I was checking you out. It’s not like you’re going to do anything about it.”

  Cooper thrust his hips against my ass, “Keep being sassy and we’ll see about that.”

  I give it right back to him, if he wants to play, let’s play. I arch my back letting my ass grind against his erection while looking over my shoulder and batting my eye lashes. Works like a charm. His eyes are fixed and dilated. Most of the time this ends up with us making out but not today. Nope, not today.

  Cooper groans and lays his head against my back. “Fuck, Jay.”

  I turn in his arms and push him back a little so that I can look into his dark and hooded eyes. “Coop,” I lick my lips, drawing attention to them, making sure he’s nice and worked up, “go take a shower.”

  I’m tired of getting all worked up and having nothing happen. He really did need a shower and if he didn’t move his ass right now then I couldn’t be held responsible for the things I would do to him. I know if I push him enough he’d cave but I don’t want that. I want him to want me. I don’t want to force him to do something he doesn’t want to do. I couldn’t handle it if things got weird between us.

  Cooper surprises me by sweetly kissing me twice on the lips before leaving to go take a shower.

  Later that night, Cooper and I are in bed watching a movie. I know, it’s the weekend and here we are hanging at home when we should be out drinking and having fun. Honestly though, I love when it’s just the two of us tucked into our own little world. We may not be in a relationship but it feels like it to me and at this point I’ll take what I can get. Cooper isn’t the same man whore he used to be since my incident. I’m not exactly sure what happened to him after that night but it’s changed him. Hell, it’s forever changed me. Mason and Cooper were always going to out to parties, getting drunk, and at the end of the night there would always be a cleat chaser to go home with. On more than one occasion I was the DD because their drunken asses couldn’t make it home. I even had to endure taking whatever hooker was attached to them as well. When Mason and Hailey got their heads out of their asses and finally committed to each other, it left Cooper flying solo. I offered to go out with him a few times so that he wasn’t going by himself but he flat out refused. He said that I didn’t need to be going to those kinds of parties; I was too good for them. Little did I know how very true that statement would be.

  Cooper nudges me and grabs a handful of popcorn out of the bowl that’s sitting on my lap. Before putting it in his mouth he asks, “So is all your Christmas shopping done?”

  I blanch, nearly choking on my own breath. “Um, no. I’ve got one last gift to get and I have no idea what it’s going to be.”

  Cooper chews the popcorn then reaches for his water on the bedside table. “Who’s it for? Maybe I can give you some ideas.”

  I narrow my eyes at him, “You eavesdropped on my call didn’t you?”

  He laughs, “I didn’t mean to but at least I made myself known before you started listing ideas.”

  I bump into his shoulder with mine, “You’re a punk! I can’t believe you were listening.”

  Cooper shrugs, amused with himself.

  “I wish you would have walked in before I called Mason.” I make a gagging sound, trying and failing to put the image out of my head. “That asshole answered the phone while he was screwing Hailey.”

  Cooper throws his head back and laughs. “Sounds like something Mason would do,” he stops laughing and gives me a funny look, “but I really didn’t need the visual either.”

  I giggle, “Glad I could help.”

  “I wonder how,” Cooper cuts his eyes over to me, “he’s--“

  He doesn’t get to finish that sentence because I start pushing him off the bed. “I don’t need any more visuals running through my head Cooper!”

  Cooper sits back up still laughing. “Alright, alright, I promise not to ask how he’s managing to hit that these days.”

  I shove Cooper again, “Damn it Cooper!”

  He rights himself in bed again, laughing his ass off. “Okay I’m done now, promise.”

  I glare, wanting to smack him. “Just remember you have to go to sleep at some point.”

  Cooper holds his hands up in surrender, “Alright settle down, Twinkle Toes.”

  I reach for my iced coffee, “So how do you think the season is going to go this year?”

  Cooper pulls me to his side, “Everything looks pretty good. Coach knows Mason is going to be missing some time with the twins coming and all.”

  I rest my head on his shoulder, “I guess that gives someone a chance to bump Mason down on the list?”

  Cooper nods, “Pretty much.”

  “That sucks.”

  Cooper sighs loudly, “Yeah.”

  Nothing more is said for a little while as we both get into the action of the movie. Cooper’s phone dings alerting him of a text.

  He reaches over and reads the message. He doesn’t reply when he is done, just puts the phone back down.

  I sit up, stretching my arms over my head, “Everything ok?” I know I’m being nosey but I’m curious.

  Cooper yawns, “Yeah. You remember Eli right, the one who played ball with me and Mase at BU?”

  I remember exactly who Eli is; he’s someone I won’t be forgetting soon. Cooper doesn’t know how attracted I really am to him so I try playing it off. I put a finger to my mouth and tap my lips, trying to act like I can’t remember the hunk.

  Cooper smirks, “Come on Jay, big guy, muscles, dark hair, tall. All the girls seem to flock to him.”

  A smile tugs at my lips. Every time Eli would talk to me, or even look in my direction, I would blush. I couldn’t help it. He’s just one of those guys that are perfect, flawless really. He’s in a class all by himself.

  “You remember don’t you?” Cooper tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “Look at you. You’re blushing and he isn’t even here.”

  I narrow my eyes, annoyed with him. “I’m not blushing, Cooper.”

  “Uh huh, whatever though, you’re in my bed. That’s all that matters.” Cooper kisses me on the lips to drive the point home. Cue the butterflies. “Anyway, he’s opening up a club here in Jersey down by the shore and he wants me to partner up with him.”

  My eyebrows rise inquiringly. “Are you going to do it?” I’m a little taken aback because I thought for sure Cooper would bide his time until he made it to the big leagues.

  Cooper stares off into space, not answering me right away. “Yeah, I’m thinking pretty hard about it.”

  I nod my head wondering if I should keep trying to press for more information. I choose to just let it go for now. I get lost in watching Channing Tatum fight his way through a gun battle at the White House, trying to save his daughter from the bad guys.

  “I’ve been thinking about quitting the team too.” Cooper finally says after some time.

  I act like what he just said isn’t a big deal although I’m floored he just uttered those words. “Is that what you really want to do?” I question. “Can you do both?”

  Cooper shrugs, “I could do bo
th but I don’t think I want to. I really only went with the BlueClaws because I didn’t know what else I wanted to do with my life. They offered me a good deal and I went with it because I didn’t have anything else, plus the bonus was that I would still be playing with Mason. But now with Eli opening this club I’d be able to put those four years of business management to work. If things go well we’d probably open another one in the next town over.”

  From the way he’s talking, he’d obviously given this a lot of thought. “But you love baseball, Cooper.” I say, wanting him to see all sides of this. He has played for as long as I can remember, it’s his life. Or at least I thought it would be. I can’t imagine him doing anything else beside that.

  “I know and I always will, but it’s time for a change.” Cooper licks his lips.

  I nod in agreement with him. It seems that he’s already made up his mind and it’s not my place to change it.

  We snuggle back in and watch the rest of the movie. I feel my eyes getting heavy and Cooper’s breathing is steady and slow, I know he’s fallen asleep. I reach across him and turn the TV down and then wrap myself around his waist and fall asleep.

  “No, no, stop.”

  Groaning, I turn my head away from the noise.

  “Please, stop.”

  I turn my head back the other way, restless.

  “Cooper!”

  My eyes snap open and it takes me a second to get my bearings but it didn’t take me long.

  “Don’t, no!”

  I sit up quickly and look over at Jaylinn’s trembling body. Pushing the blankets off me, I reach over to put a hand on her arm. “Jay, baby, you’re dreaming.”

  “Stop!”

  Fuck! My throat is so dry and my voice catches so I swallow and I try again, “Jay,” I give her shoulder a little shake, wanting to pull her out of the nightmare. “Wake up. You’re dreaming. It’s just a dream.”

  Jaylinn’s eyes fly open, tears running from her eyes. She’s looking all around, eyes wide and panicked trying to figure out where she is. “Cooper?” she gasps.

  “Yeah, it’s me. You were dreaming.” I hate this. I hate so much that there’s absolutely nothing I can do for her with these dreams. As I watch her, my heart is pounding hard as I’m sure hers is too.