Holding my chin steady, he traced his other hand from my wrist up to my elbow, and from there to my shoulder. He bent forward, dipping his head a little, so that I could feel his breath hot against my throat.
“I’m my own boss, Willow.” One of his fingertips brushed over my lips, and—I couldn’t help it—I flicked my tongue out over the rough skin. His grip on my shoulder tightened and he cursed against the delicate skin at my collarbone.
“I can call Miller.”
“I’m taking you.” His voice was more determined than before.
“What the hell makes you think I want you to take me anywhere?”
He drew away from me and my chest deflated. I struggled to keep the uninterested look on my face as he linked his hands behind his head. I was anything but bored and by the way he was grinning, he knew that too. “Because of the way you’re looking at me right now.”
“And how is that?”
“Like if Eric and Paige hadn’t come back just before I walked out here, I’d have your legs wrapped around my waist in five minutes.”
“Your confidence makes me want to blow chunks all over you.”
He dropped his hands from behind his head. “Get dressed before—”
“Before what?” I challenged.
He pulled me down onto the deck floor with him, like he didn’t care whether or not anyone could see us or that we were out in the open or that he’d known me for all of a week. And while his lips and tongue probed mine, my brain screamed at me, begging me to remember that it had only been a week.
Shoving his chest hard with the palm of my hands, I stumbled backwards and to my feet. Turning my back to him, I grabbed my clothes from the bench and angrily began yanking them back on. My breath came out in ragged little gasps and I was trembling. I was mad at him for making me want more and with myself for being stupid enough to let him affect me.
When I was calm enough to face him, he was still on the floor of the deck and his eyes were gleaming.
“Why are you laughing?” I snapped, plopping down in a patio chair to shove my feet into my sandals.
He stood, staring down at me like he wanted nothing more than to tear my clothes off. “Because you didn’t puke on me and because you’re going to break your neck cleaning gum from park benches in those shoes.”
I rose to my feet and smoothed down my sundress. His breath hitched as I shook my long, dark hair out before knotting it at the top of my head. “Ready?”
“You’re not going to argue with me?” he asked and I glared at him, evoking a grin that made me want to run my lips across the dimple in his left cheek. “God, I love when you come undone, Wills.”
Chapter Eight
Cooper was wrong about me having to clean gum off park benches—the card that Stewart had given me took us to a homeless shelter for women and children—but he sure as hell was right about the shoes. While I found out that I wasn’t scheduled to do any community service today, Dave, my boss, took me on a two hour orientation of the shelter. By the time we went through our third rotation of the grounds, I was caught between wanting desperately to kick off my shoes and wondering if Cooper had given up on me and gone home.
I hoped not because I’d stupidly left my bag and phone sitting on the front seat of his Jeep.
“So do you think you’ve got a grasp on what you’ll be doing?” Dave asked.
I nodded. “Kitchen duties.” Cleaning, serving, and helping unload deliveries, to be exact. I glanced around the massive dining room one final time as we shuffled through it. To be honest, it reminded me of the one at my court-ordered rehab—bleach-scented, with three rows of plain, scuffed wooden tables and chairs, and a kitchen with a serving window at the front of the room.
Thinking of rehab brought a swell of hysteria into my throat, but I gulped it back because of the group of kids huddled at the end of the table at the other side of the room. They were staring at Dave and me, whispering loudly, and I gave a tiny wave in their direction.
“It seems you have fans,” Dave said, as we left the large room. The sound of excited giggling followed us. “We’ve got quite a few of your older movies on DVD.”
Back before you turned into just another party girl, I added for him.
“It’s the first time I’ve been recognized since coming here,” I admitted.
He belly laughed, and walked me outside to the front of the building. Cooper’s Jeep was still parked across the street, thank God. “With your movie about to start, I’m sure you’ll be recognized everywhere you turn,” Dave said.
I knew he didn’t mean anything by it, but my muscles went rigid anyway. “I can’t wait,” I said in a voice that was detached. Robotic.
“Do you have any idea when you’ll be able to begin working at Harmony House?” Dave asked.
“Monday,” I answered quickly. I wanted to knock out my community service as quickly as possible. And I wanted something to focus my attention on other than surfing and work and being alone. “I’ll have my bodyguard drop me off after work.”
He looked pleased with my response. Pumping my hand in his, he said, “We’ll see you then.” As I walked to the edge of the sidewalk, he cleared his throat. I turned, shifting one of my eyebrows up. “You should probably wear . . . work clothes.”
I nodded my understanding. “I will.” When I got into Cooper’s Jeep he cast me a questioning look. “How do your feet feel, Wills?”
“Like I could paddleboard all day, Billabong.”