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Once they were gone he gripped the backs of s around him so his jeans-covered erection pushed between the folds ofmy clit in a way that ainst his erection,into the muscles of his back

Cooper groaned againsthis zipper down And then he pulled e of the sideboard I immediately put my hands at either side of my hips to brace myself

I recognized the harsh passion on Cooper’s face and I knew—

I cried out as he slammed inside me

“You’ve always been uttural with desire and emotion “Remember that”

Tears pricked the corners of ht Always his And I’d alant hi inme as he thrust inside me

His grip onas his thrusts came faster “Come for me, Jess Come hard on me, beautiful”

And just like that the tension he’d built in me cracked I tensed, frozen for a second, and then it all shattered apart My cries filled the rooainst hi around hi deep into ainst me, and I felt his release inside me

I was holding on to his forearave way to reality

We stared at each other for what seemed like forever, until finally Cooper pulled out of me and away from me

I watched, frozen, as he zipped his jeans up and bent to pick up his clothes Without looking at ed into his jacket

The tears that had pricked an to cloud my vision as he strode to the door and yanked it open But before he moved to leave he stopped, his back still to h For either of us”

And then he left me

Sometime around three o’clock I eventually cried myself to sleep

The next day I had no choice but to , since I was out of essentials like toilet paper and food I put a ball cap on to hideon the west end of Main Street Inside the grocery store I keptand praying with each step that I wasn’t going to bump into anyone I knew Like Cooper Lawson

The cashier, Annie, recognized me because I’d been in the store a lot with Cooper over the past feeeks, and anyone with Cooper seemed to become famous in Hartwell

“Thought you left” She had her eyebrows raised at me

“Soon,” Ito pay for my stuff

I was practically fleeing forintooutside the store and as I turned to head back to ht into Catriona Lawson

“Cat” I’ht of her

Those blue eyes, just like Cooper’s, narrowed onout at Tremaine’s place”

“I needed food,” I said du away

“Oh, aze back to her “You’ve lost weight, you look like shit, and you’re acting like a victi you’re the one that broke estured behind her

Panic hadin on Cooper He was parked a few spots up fro to Sadie Tho up into his face He wasn’t pushing her away like the last time

My heart twisted in h the bitch had shoved her fist in there and squeezed

Cooper stared down at Sadie, expressionless He was so handsouish he couldn’t hide behind his desire the previous night I should have pushed hi in to e both wanted I’d only hurt and confused him more

“What?” Cat brought aze back to her “You don’t want him but you don’t want anyone else to have him?”

“It’s not like that,” I o around her

Cat blockedto hurt him You know, I don’t even think Dana was the one who hurt hi Nah It was Jack who hurt my brother”

I had to agree I was also confused about where she was going with this

“But you” She laughed bitterly “Oh, you’ve shredded him”

Pull out my heart, why don’t you, and stomp on it

I didn’t need to hear this!

“It’s for his own good,” I said, et out of my face “Believe me”

She shook her head, looking so disappointed in s to self-flagellate about “How dare you decide that for him”

“Cat—”

“No” She shoved a hand up between us to shutyou’re obviously ashamed of But you knohat you should really be ashaht now And how little you’ve actually gotten to know my brotherbecause if you knew him, you’d have a lot ripped the backs of s around him so his jeans-covered erection pushed between the folds ofmy clit in a way that ainst his erection,into the muscles of his back