Clarity of Lines Read online

  Cooper laughed. “Oh my God! Thomas Elkin just made a joke! And it was even funny!”

  “Shut up, you little shit.”

  He leaned up and kissed me. “See? I can go from ‘incredible’ to ‘little shit’ in two seconds. It’s a talent.”

  I chuckled at him and pushed him to the side of the bed. “Well then, you incredible little shit, go and look up flights to Chicago, a rental car and a hotel.”

  “I will,” he said, getting off the bed and pulling on his pants. “If you organise dinner. I’m starving.”

  I watched him walk out of the bedroom and shook my head, still in disbelief that he was mine. Smiling, I pulled on my jeans and followed him out to the living room. He was clicking away at some flight website, so while I scrolled through restaurant phone numbers on my phone, I asked. “Steak, seafood, pasta? Your choice.”

  “Steak,” came his quick reply, so I hit the number on my cell and made reservations for dinner. Cooper smiled at me and waited for me click off the call. “Are we going out?”

  “Yes. You wanted steak.”

  He smiled warmly at me, then looked back at the laptop. “So which dates are better for you?”

  Between us, we determined we had something on for the next five weeks. We had that blasted concert, work, a trip to see his parents, then a trip to see mine, more work and then Cooper had an energy convention in Philly that Louisa had been priming him for.

  I pulled my credit card from my wallet and put it beside him.

  “What’s that for?”

  “To pay for the trip to Chicago,” I told him with a kiss to the top of his head. He started to object to my offer, but I leant down and gently put my lips to his. “Please, Cooper. Let me do this for you.”

  His lips formed a twisted frown. “Are you sure? I hate that you can pay for things I can’t. I feel like a kept boy.”

  “Of course I’m sure,” I told him. “And you’re not a kept anything. The only thing you keep is me on my toes.”

  He huffed and gave me a small smile. I poured us both a juice while he paid for the trip to Chicago, and when he walked over to me to give me back my card, he slid his arms around me and nestled his face into my neck. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

  “You’re very welcome,” I replied with a kiss to the side of his head. “If it would make you feel any better, you can pay for dinner.”

  I felt him smile against my skin. “I don’t feel that kept.”

  I chuckled and dug my fingers into his sides, tickling him. “Too bad, Mr Jones. You’re paying.”

  “Let me guess, you made reservations at some ridiculously over-priced restaurant.”

  “No, Perry’s bar and grill. Next block over,” I said with a smile. “Huge steaks, low prices. All the fries you can eat.”

  Cooper groaned. “Mr Elkin, you know me so well.”

  “Yeah, well,” I said, “I’ll be having the steak and salad because my forty-four-year-old arteries aren’t as forgiving as yours.”

  He cupped my balls in his hand and gave a gentle squeeze. “Your circulation works just fine.”

  I turned him around and slapped his ass. “Go, get dressed, or we’ll be late.”

  He walked to the hall, rubbing his ass. “I can’t believe you slapped me.” Then he stood there and undid his pants, letting them slide down to his thighs and he rubbed his naked ass. “I think you might need to kiss it better.”

  “After dinner,” I said. “I’ll do more than that.”

  He laughed when I had to adjust the front of my jeans.

  The little shit.

  * * * *

  Work was hectic the next week. Hectic, but good. Cooper was just as busy, and I only saw him on Wednesday night when I went to his apartment, and Friday night when he came to mine. We spent the night finalising some work then crashed in front of the TV.

  The next morning, I asked him if he missed going out with the boys, because he didn’t do it very often. “I don’t mind going out every once and a while,” he reassured me. “But I’d prefer to be here. I like quiet nights in, too.”

  “I just don’t want you to miss out on being twenty-two, that’s all.”

  “I’m not missing out on anything,” he replied. “I spent four years at college not missing out on much, I can assure you.”

  “I’d rather not hear the details of that, thanks.”

  He chuckled and kissed me. “Anyway, we’re going out tonight, are we not?”

  I rolled my eyes. “We are.”

  He laughed when I told him one of the other senior partners, Robert Chandler—an esteemed New York architect, who had mentored me ten years ago—had assumed Linkin Park was a period-drama play, because he wanted to know which theatre on Broadway it was showing. “He thought it sounded Presidential.”

  Cooper laughed. “You work with dinosaurs.”

  I corrected him. “We’re very talented, prestigious dinosaurs, thank you very much.” Then I teased him, “Aren’t you glad you weren’t his intern?”

  Cooper nodded and bit his bottom lip. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have fantasised about being pushed against his draughting board, letting him have his wicked way with me…”

  Forgetting what it was I was reading, I looked up and stared at him. “Fantasised? My draughting board?”

  Cooper sat on the armrest of the sofa and smirked that smug, salacious smile at me. “You’d make me face the board and I’d hold onto the top of it with my pants around my ankles. You wouldn’t even bother to undo the button on your suit pants…just the zip…”

  I got up from the dining chair and walked over to stand between his legs, pressing myself against him.

  Cooper smiled and his voice was gruff and slow. “And you’d fuck me.”

  “Jesus, Cooper,” I said, pushing my hips against his, and he ran his hands over my ass. He could feel how hard I was. “I just can’t get enough of you.”

  “Good,” he whispered. “Because I want you all the time.”

  I kissed him, filling his mouth with my tongue. He pulled my hips harder into his, but I wedged my hand between us. I undid the button and fly on his cargos first, then on mine until our hardened cocks were pressed together. I gripped us both in one hand, still tongue-fucking his mouth while I jerked us off together. His cock was hot and silky-hard against mine.

  He groaned in my mouth and I needed air. I pulled my mouth from his and sucked back a breath, only to scrape my teeth down his jaw to his ear. “I’d fuck you so hard,” I whispered in his ear, his head fell back and his cock surged and swelled in my hand.

  Watching him come, feeling his warmth erupt over his stomach and down my hand, down my cock, brought me undone, and I shot white stripes over his skin.

  He wrapped his arms around me and we slid over the armrest of the sofa, landing in a sticky mess with me lying on top of him.

  The room still hadn’t stopped spinning when Cooper chuckled underneath me.

  “Fuck, Tom,” he murmured. “That was intense.”

  “You shouldn’t talk about fantasies like that,” I mumbled into his neck.

  He laughed again. “I think I really should talk about them more often.” He ran his hands over my back and through my hair. “We should get cleaned up for tonight.”

  I noticed then that he still had one leg bent over the back of the sofa and his other foot on the ground while I was lying awkwardly over him. “I don’t want to move. Too comfortable.”

  He chuckled. “Is this some old person yoga position? The dual pretzel?”

  I laughed as I leaned up off him. “The sticky dual pretzel.”

  We untangled ourselves, and Cooper suggested we shower together. “To save water,” he said. “We should be responsible, ecologically sound citizens,” he said.

  I rolled my eyes. “You just want to see me wet and naked, don’t you?”

  He laughed and put his wrist to his mouth, pretending to speak into some covert-operative mouthpiece. “My cover’s been blown, I repeat, my cover’s
been blown.”

  “You’re such a smart ass.”

  “Yeah, well,” he said, pulling me into the bathroom. “You love me and my smart ass.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  Once we were out of the shower, dressed and almost ready to go, the intercom buzzed. Lionel’s familiar voice said, “Mr Elkin?”

  I walked over and pressed the intercom button. “Yes, Lionel?”

  “Sir, sorry to interrupt, but Ryan’s on his way up.”

  That was odd. “Okay, that’s fine, Lionel.”

  “Um, Mr Elkin?”

  “Yes?”

  “Your ex-wife is with him.”

  “Sofia?”

  “Yes, sir,” he replied. “Just thought you’d like a little…notice.”

  Cooper walked up beside me and leaned in to the intercom. “Lionel?”

  “Mr Jones?”

  “You’re worth more money.”

  The doorman laughed. “Just doing my job, sir.”

  Right then, there was a knock at the door. Cooper looked at me and smiled. “I’ll do the honours.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Hey,” Cooper greeted Ryan as he opened the door.

  “Hey, man,” Ryan returned the sentiment.

  Cooper stood to the side, gesturing for them to come in. “Mrs Elkin,” he said politely.

  “Hello, Cooper,” she said. Sofia walked in slowly, looking as uncomfortable as I’d ever seen her. She’d only been to my place once or twice before, and I think she found Cooper being here a little off-putting.

  I gave her a light kiss on the cheek. “What do we owe the pleasure?”

  Not missing my use of the word ‘we’, Sofia glanced quickly at Cooper. “I was in town with Ryan and thought I’d call in, if that’s okay. Last time we saw each other, we didn’t exactly leave on very happy terms,” she said, again looking quickly at Cooper.

  “No, we didn’t,” I agreed. But she didn’t apologise, and I certainly wasn’t about to either. “And it’s fine for you to call in, Sofia.” I was going to add that a bit of notice would have been ideal, but figured I’d take her olive branch for what it was. The fact Cooper was here, and even felt at home enough to open the door for them should have been enough just desserts, but just in case it wasn’t, I added, “Though we were actually just heading out.”

  “Where you guys going?” Ryan asked, looking up from the inside of the fridge.

  “Madison Square Garden,” Cooper answered with a grin.

  Ryan stood up and gaped at him. “No freakin’ way!” he cried. “Linkin Park?”

  Then Sofia looked at me. “You’re going to see Linkin Park?”

  “I am,” I told her. “Cooper puts up with my taste in music, so it’s only fair that I put up with his.”

  “Yeah, that’s true,” Cooper agreed. “But my taste in music is awesome. Tom’s is crap.”

  Ryan laughed and I rolled my eyes. From the look on her face, it was obvious Sofia wasn’t sure what to make of it, or of me and Cooper. He sat on the sofa and pulled on his shoes, then disappeared down the hall and came back with my boots.

  “Thanks,” I said quietly, taking my boots from him. As I pulled them on, I asked if Ryan and Sofia wanted to walk down with us, basically telling them we were leaving.

  The elevator ride was quiet, but when we got to the lobby, Cooper quickly took my hand. It wasn’t until we walked past Lionel that Cooper gave him a bit of a wave. “Thanks again, Lionel.”

  “My pleasure, Mr Jones,” he replied with a smile.

  It was then Sofia turned around and saw that we were holding hands. She looked away quickly and pretended not to care, but she pursed her lips in that not-impressed way she always did.

  I told Ryan to come over one night, Cooper told him to bring his new Xbox, we bid Sofia a good night and hailed a cab. Standing on the sidewalk with Sofia was awkward, and as soon as the cab pulled up, Cooper and I climbed in.

  Cooper laughed. “She hates me.”

  I gave the taxi driver directions and said, “Don’t let her get to you.”

  “Hmm,” he hummed. “Did you see her face when I opened your front door?”

  “I don’t think she expected you to open the door, that’s for sure.”

  “You know,” he said, squeezing my hand. “I normally can’t stand it when someone doesn’t like me. It annoys me until I find out why, or until I break them down.”

  “Like Lionel,” I added.

  “Exactly. Now he loves me,” he said simply. “But with Sofia, I just don’t care. She can hate me all she likes.”

  I smiled at him. “I don’t think she hates you. You were right—she’s jealous.”

  “Which is irrational,” he said. “It’s not like I’m a young, blonde woman for her to compare herself to, or someone she could see herself twenty years ago as…”

  “No,” I conceded, “but I don’t want her. I want you.”

  He smiled. “I know you do.” He seemed placated a little. “And that’s what she doesn’t like.”

  “Can we not talk about my ex-wife?” I asked. “I’m spending the night with you, going to some god-forsaken concert.”

  Cooper smiled. “And it’s gonna be freakin’ awesome!”

  * * * *

  The concert itself wasn’t too bad. Though I didn’t want to admit that to Cooper. I was by far the oldest person there from what I could tell, but Cooper didn’t seem to notice. I watched him dance and sing almost every word, I watched him get pushed and shoved and he never stopped smiling.

  He loved it.

  And that was what I went for.

  My ears rang when we got home, and even when I woke up the next day. Cooper swore the only thing to get rid of the ringing in my ears would be to give him a blow job. He tried to reason that the sucking and swallowing motion would help pop the inner ear. Either that, or make him breakfast. He was pretty sure either would work.

  Or both.

  The little shit.

  He left my apartment on Sunday afternoon and when I got to work on Monday, I got a text from him saying if I still had ringing in my ears, he could come past the office, I could suck him off then buy him lunch and that might help.

  I typed out my reply.

  It didn’t help for breakfast or lunch yesterday. Why would today be any different?

  Maybe we need to do it two days in a row. Just to be sure. For medicinal research purposes, of course.

  Of course.

  Is that a yes?

  No, I replied. Aren’t you supposed to be working?

  Very productive morning. Apparently two blow jobs yesterday was good for creativity.

  I laughed at my phone. Will I see you this week?

  Maybe Wednesday? he answered. And I’ll stay over on Friday before we leave for Chicago.

  Okay. I’ll just sleep in my big bed alone…

  Are you pouting?

  Yes. And looking at my draughting board, imagining you bent over it…

  Jesus, Tom… That’s not fair.

  See you Wednesday. LY.

  There was no immediate reply, but after lunch my phone beeped and I smiled when I saw his name.

  No more sexting at work. I’ve had a hard-on all day.

  That’s a shame, I replied, because I ordered a draughting board to be delivered to my place this evening.

  His response was almost immediate. I’ll be there after work.

  I chuckled to myself, threw my phone into my drawer and spent the next few hours getting some work done. I did actually order a new draughting board and asked for a six o’clock delivery to my apartment, so by five-thirty I was finishing off some financials when Jennifer buzzed me.

  “Sorry to interrupt you, Mr Elkin,” she said. “Sofia Elkin is on line one.”

  I groaned, and Jennifer simply asked, “Would you like me to take a message?”

  “No,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll take it.” I pressed the blinking button. “Sofia?”

  “Yes, Tom,” she answered.
“I didn’t want to call your personal line. I hope that’s okay?”

  I repressed another sigh. “That’s fine. What are you calling for? Is everything okay?”

  This time she sighed. “Yes, everything’s okay. I just wanted to speak to you. I’m sorry I called by on Saturday unannounced.” Then she said, “How was the concert?”

  “It was okay,” I told her. Then making a point of calling him by name, I said, “But I wouldn’t tell Cooper that. He’d make me go to another one.”

  “Right,” she said quietly.

  Sofia was quiet then, so I prompted her, “You said you wanted to speak to me?”

  “Well, I just wanted to speak to you…without him being there…”

  “Him?” I asked, failing to keep the bite from my tone. “You mean Cooper?”

  “Tom, please don’t be mad,” she said. “I’m trying here.”

  “Well, you can start by calling him by his name,” I told her.

  “Can I see you over the weekend sometime?” she asked. “Without Cooper being there? Is that okay?”

  She was unbelievable. “I can’t this weekend,” I said. “We’re going to Chicago.”

  “Oh.”

  “So Cooper can introduce me to his parents,” I told her. “And the weekend after that, I’m taking him to meet my mom and dad, Sofia.”

  There was a long silence, then she said, “You’re really doing this, aren’t you?”

  I wanted to tell her that I was with him, that I loved him, but I didn’t. There wasn’t any point. Instead, I told her, “Sofia, in the last five years I’ve spoken to you a handful of times, and now I’ve finally found someone, you’ve called me three times in two weeks. Sofia, you can call me about Ryan any time, day or night, but if you’re trying to cause problems then I think the calls should stop.”

  There was complete silence.

  So, to soften the blow, I said, “How about I give you a call in a few weeks and we can go out for coffee? I want you to get to know Cooper. I want you to see how wonderful he is, but you never will until you stop seeing him as some kind of threat.”

  “Okay,” she said quietly.

  “Sofia, I want you in my life,” I told her honestly. “I want us to be friends. I do. I know I hurt you, and I’m sorry for that. I truly really am. But if you fight me on this, on Cooper, I will choose him.”