Touch Me - Complete Collection Read Online Free Page A

something; work out some other living arrangements while she found a job. Living with Cooper was not a good idea, especially when being near him made her jittery and nervous.
    “ Why are you doing this?” she cried out suddenly.
    H is eyes narrowed to slits, he slid his hands into his pants pockets as he neared her. “What am I doing exactly?”
    “Everything! Asking me to stay…helping me!”
    “ We’re friends, Jen.”
    “ But I’m a terrible friend! I never called you back, I never came to see you, and now when I’m a needy jobless loser I come banging on your door for help!”
    A gasp esc aped her as he reached for her face. His palms caressed her cheeks warily, while his eyes bore holes into hers. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. You matter to me, Jenny. You always have.”
    Silence followed hi s admission and he wondered if he had said too much. But words were tumbling over themselves in his brain, fighting to be let out. “When you called me, I was happy that you had called me. But then you started crying. I can’t…I can’t see you cry. No! Not happening! I wont allow you to cry over any fucking job or any worthless-piece-of-shit guy who doesn’t deserve to be within a hundred feet of you. You’re too...precious.”
    The words were fierce, and she knew he meant them. He didn’t seem like the kind of man to say these kinds of things, but he was saying them to her. Her heart twisted in her chest and her breasts tingled in excitement. What is he saying? What’s going on?
    “ I don’t feel precious, Cooper. I feel like a moron. I feel like I’m using you- ”
    “ Shut up.”
    “ No! I mean it! I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking advantage of you, because I feel like I am and I hate the feeling.”
    He dragg ed her face up and stepped closer. Jenny’s heart skipped a beat as he gazed at her lips. “You’re not taking advantage of me. I don’t think that at all. But I think I’m going to take advantage of you being so close to me.”
    He bent his head and kissed her softly on the lips. Her eyes refused to close and she stared at his face, his cheek, his brows, as his lips forayed gently over hers, exploring the contours.
    Cooper had wanted to assuage her insecurities, but the moment his lips met hers, he knew that it was a lame excuse. There was a storm brewing in Cooper’s body ever since he had laid eyes on her, and he had just given in to it. Stop, Cooper! Stop! The voice in his head was screaming and ranting. But she tastes so good . Her lips parted slightly as she gasped, and he seized the moment to slip his tongue past them, tenderly, timidly, waiting for her to push him back.
    F or years, he had questioned his feelings. The feeling that he was in love with Jenny, the same Jenny he hadn’t seen since he was thirteen years old. It was a stupid idea, and Cooper wasn’t stupid. It had complicated his relationships with every woman he dated. His feelings always seemed feigned, like he was ushering them to the surface when they cowered and diminished. The only time he truly felt connected to someone was when he thought of Jenny.
    He was taking a monumental risk. The longer his lips stayed on Jenny’s mouth, the longer he caressed her face, the more he was on the verge of pushing her onto the couch and taking what he fiercely felt was his to begin with. He could lose her completely. He couldn’t afford to risk anything with Jenny.
    He lifted his head abruptly, too soon. Jenny shivered, her eyes closing as the air hit her wet lips. “I’m sorry, Jen,” he stammered, swiftly pulling away.
    She grabbed the front of his jacket, scrunching up the lapels in her palms to yank him back. “Sorry for…stopping?”
    Cooper’s last ounce of control, and his sense, snapped. He felt such fondness, such adoration for her face – for her – that the shattered words coming from her lips made him shake with need. She doesn’t want me to stop. With a groan of surrender, he slid his