Torrid Little Affair (Forbidden Desires #3)

Corinne

This was it. I was about to begin my first evening with Cooper-the man who offered me a no-strings-attached sexual relationship centered around my pleasure. The man who made me want to crush my lips to his one second, and run in the other direction the next. The man who also happened to be my boss.

Come on, Corinne, pull yourself together.

When I reached Cooper’s front door, I paused to take a deep breath and center myself before knocking.

Why was I so nervous? This date was a sure thing. No unbearable small talk, no cringe-worthy oversharing, no awkward fumbling through whether he’d kiss me good night or not. The whole point of our arrangement was to make things between us as simple as possible. We took emotions right out of the equation. We were doing this for me, so I would finally know what kind of pleasure I’d been missing out on, and have the confidence to take charge of my sex life.

So, why did I feel so uncertain about what I was about to walk into?

I took another deep breath and adjusted the waistline of my skintight jeans. They weren’t the most comfortable item of clothing I owned, but they sure made my ass look great-and I could use all the confidence in the world tonight. I’d paired them with a pale pink top that showed what I thought was a good amount of cleavage, though Mauve had commented to me once that if the neckline on it was any higher, I’d look like a nun. Still, I felt pretty, maybe even something close to sexy, and I was as ready as I’d ever be to get the festivities started.

I knocked and within moments, Cooper appeared. As he stood there, his tall frame taking up the entire doorway, I had to take a moment to regain my composure. In the office, Cooper always looked good. More relaxed than Gavin or Quinn, maybe, but his sleek button-downs made him look put together, even when he had his sleeves rolled up.

But tonight? He looked positively edible. If Cooper in the office was nice to look at, Cooper outside of work was freaking irresistible. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a gray Henley shirt with the top button undone, the soft fabric outlining the muscles on his arms and chest just enough to leave little to the imagination.

“You look exquisite.” Cooper smiled, snapping me out of my trance. “Please, come in.” He stepped to the side out of the doorway, giving me space to walk around him.

I smiled weakly and ducked through the door, my heart pounding in my chest. “You look nice too.”

Standing in the entryway, I took a quick look around, silently marveling at how polished the whole place looked. While I wasn’t a professional at home decoration, I could tell that Cooper had good taste. Leather, wood, granite . . . all his surfaces looked natural and expensive. I loved my little apartment, but I couldn’t imagine living somewhere this nice and put together.

“Your home is beautiful,” I said as Cooper closed the door and turned to face me.

“Thank you.” He placed a hand lightly on the small of my back. “Dinner’s almost ready. Can I get you a glass of wine?”

I felt my cheeks redden and struggled to keep myself from jumping at his touch.

You’re safe here. He’s only trying to make you feel comfortable.

“Wine would be great, thanks,” I said and followed Cooper into the kitchen.

He poured us each a glass of red, and I was grateful for something to settle my nerves. From the kitchen, I could see that Cooper had set his dining room table for two, complete with a white tablecloth and a single candle waiting to be lit on a delicate candlestick. The gesture was sweet, but my stomach churned at the romantic implications.

Cooper peeked into the oven, smiled to himself, and pulled a dish out, placing it triumphantly on a hot pad on the counter.

“What are we having?” I took a sip of my wine, trying my best to be casual.

“Lasagna.” He shot me a cheeky grin. “It’s a recipe I learned a few years back on vacation in Italy.”

I choked a little on my wine, doing my best to play it off as an innocent cough. “You cook?”

He smiled. “Not really. If I’m being honest, this is the only thing I can make. In fact, when I told Gavin I’d be cooking for you, he sent his wife, Emma, over to make sure I didn’t burn the place down.”

“You told Gavin I was coming over?”

My head started swimming with nervous thoughts about other people knowing. Who else had he told? Did everyone in the office know? Did they all think I was easy? Cooper was my boss, which meant this wasn’t exactly appropriate.

“I mentioned it in passing, yeah,” Cooper said casually, but I could tell from the weird look on his face that there was more to it.

I didn’t want to pry, though, so I shrugged it off. We weren’t here to bare our deep dark secrets. We were here to do the other thing that scared the living daylights out of me.

Opening myself up. Literally.

I took another long swallow of wine.

“Hungry?” he asked.

“Starving, actually.”

Cooper served us each a generous portion of the lasagna, complete with a side salad and a thick slice of Italian bread. When we sat down to eat, he lit the single candle on the table. It was a little corny, but I could tell he was trying to be sweet, so I decided not to say anything about it.

As we began eating, our conversation moved easily over light and casual topics. We talked about living in the city, our favorite places to eat, our go-to coffee orders, things like that. Cooper was easy to talk to and seemed interested in what I had to say. I still couldn’t tell if it was genuine or if he was just putting on a show so I’d feel more comfortable, but I tried not to think about it too much. Despite the butterflies still fluttering in my stomach, I was having a good time, and I wasn’t about to let my personal anxieties get in the way of that.

“So, uh, I want to explain a little bit about the whole telling-Gavin thing,” Cooper said, looking across the table at me.

“Okay,” I said, my voice wavering a little. Part of me was dying to know what he’d told his brother, but another part of me wanted to pretend that what we were doing was a giant secret.