Page 81 of The Love of My Afterlife
“McDonald’s?” he whispers, a smile playing around his eyes.
I nod. “Yes, please.”
36
We get out of the cab at Paddington and walk past a pub where a group sitting at the tables outside are singing “Happy Birthday” to one pink-cheeked man in the middle. His face glows over a little Victoria sponge stuffed with candles.
The man looks embarrassed to be the centre of attention, but also kind of overjoyed. All of those people there celebrating him. All of them looking at him with love or, at least, like. That must be a really nice feeling.
Once Cooper and I have our burgers, we wander down Craven Road past the rows of white houses towards our building.
“I know how to show a woman a good time, right?” He waggles his eyebrows at me while biting into his Quarter Pounder, almost demolishing the whole thing with one bite.
“I have zero comparisons!” I sip from my milkshake. “That was my first date.”
Cooper stops walking. “Seriously?”
I nod and pull a face. “First date, only date.”
Last date.
“Well, let me assure you this is romance at its finest!” He laughs and reaches into his paper bag, pulling out a couple of fries and handing one to me.
“I literally have no choice but to believe you.”
He stops outside our building, his eyes growing serious. “I feel honoured to have been your first, Delphie. And I…”
He doesn’t get to finish his sentence because there’s a woman sitting on the front step of the house, watching us. I recognise instantly that it’s one of the women I’ve seen exiting his flat before—an impossibly beautiful leggy brunette with the little hat that looks like a spider. A “Wednesday Addams walking for Chanel,” as Cooper’s sister would term her.
“Lara!” Cooper says. “What are you doing here?”
Lara stands up and brushes off her long burgundy skirt. She bites her lip and gives Cooper a knowing smile. “I was just in the neighbourhood and you popped into my head. Thought I’d see if you wanted to come out to play.”
The woman’s eyes wash vaguely over me and I’m annoyed at myself for being offended that she hasn’t even considered that Cooper and I are on a date. Of course, why would she?
I take another sip of my milkshake, the loud burpy sound of it alerting everyone in the vicinity that it’s finished.
“I’m actually on a date right now, Lara,” Cooper says smoothly. I look at him in surprise. Lara does the same.
“You? A date? Ha!”
“It’s true,” Cooper laughs. “But it was nice to bump into you.”
I think of the last time I saw them together a few months ago, kissing in the lobby; Cooper, wet haired and sleepy, looking like a dirty dog—the kind of man who wouldn’t dream of saying no to a woman like that asking if he wants to play.
Cooper grabs my hand and leads me past an astonished-looking Lara.
As soon as we get into his flat, he drops the McDonald’s bag on the table and pushes me up against the wall. He grabs my face and gives me the slowest, deepest kiss, his body pressed so close to mine there’s barely room to exhale.
He pauses, running his teeth over his bottom lip. “I’ve been wanting to do that since the moment I saw you harassing those teenagers outside Concept and Caramel.”
I kiss him back, using my tongue to explore his tongue and feeling my body melt with the sensation, like I’m a chocolate pudding in human form. I pull back. “I’ve been wanting to do that since you told me you’d googled ‘restaurants with an arty vibe.’ ”
He runs his hands over my shoulder, gasping as the silk strap of my dress falls down, exposing the top of my breast. He leans down and kisses it, then trails the kisses up the side of my neck before dragging his teeth across my jaw. Hungrily, I unbuckle his jeans and reach inside to feel the hotness of him in my hand.
“Christ, Delphie,” he breathes, running his hand up my thigh, lifting my dress and using his thumb to lightly stroke over my underwear in exactly the place I need him to. We touch each other, fully clothed, just standing there, eyes fixed on each other. Somehow, it’s more unfiltered, sexier than anything else we could be doing in the moment.
“How does that feel?” he murmurs as he deftly slides my knickers to the side and slips a finger inside me. I respond by increasing the speed at which I’m stroking him. He matches my pace, both of us breathing hard. I lean my head back against the wall. His eyes don’t leave mine except for a millisecondwhen they’re on my mouth as I lick my lips. When we come within seconds of each other, my knees buckle. Cooper swings his arm around my waist so that I don’t fall.
