He's My Associate by Cay Harrington

Author:Cay Harrington [Harrington, Cay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-08-02T23:00:00+00:00

7

Ryan was silent as they made their way back down in the elevator.

Cooper wasn’t sure what he should do. He just knew Gloria’s eyes lit up and she looked happy when she realized she’d been invited along. Maybe Ryan wasn’t the only one feeling lonely in their small, emotionally constipated family. The moments ticked by so slowly, Cooper begun to fidget wanting to bring it up.

“Ryan, I’m—”

“If you’re about to apologize for going ahead and inviting my mother, of all people, to Alaska with us, and your family might I remind you, in some pathetic attempt to reinforce this little imaginary relationship we’re building—”

“Ryan—”

Ryan spoke over him. “Then don’t. It’s quite genius, actually.”

“Listen, please…Wait, what?” Cooper whipped around to meet Ryan’s amused eyes. He couldn’t be serious. “You think it’s a good idea?”

Ryan shrugged, looking away from him. He blinked down at the floor. The stack of numbers on the door flickered, the counter slowly approaching their floor, tick after tick. It was coming up too fast and going by too slowly all at once. Cooper was ready to crawl out of his skin, be done with this whole thing, get to the bottom of how Ryan really felt. He couldn’t tell anymore what was real and what was fake between them.

“Yes and no. I’m furious. But I can’t argue it’s not a good plan,” Ryan said, sighing. “We’ll really have to sell it.”

Cooper bit the inside of his cheek, feeling odd about the tone of Ryan’s voice, but calmed somewhat besides. “Nothing much to sell if it’s real.”

Ryan’s eyebrows slowly drew up. “Oh, are you really proposing to me, then? Right now? I can’t say the scenery has improved much. First the front stoop of your parent’s door, now an elevator?”

Ryan huffed and Cooper realized he was teasing him.

“Classy.”

Cooper reached across to press stop, and they drew to a swaying halt. Ryan didn’t look at him, but his nostrils were wide, lips slightly parted. Cooper could hear the quickness of his breathing. He was waiting. Waiting for Cooper to do something. Maybe that’d been their problem all along. Ryan had been the one to take the lead so far, and in the grand scheme of things maybe that looked as bad as Cooper suddenly felt about it. He should have done more. Should have done a lot more.

“Come here,” Cooper told him, quiet. Ryan’s breath hitched, escaped altogether when a hand found the back of his neck. Cooper boxed him in, bodily pushing him against the wall in a loose but secure hold, not letting him think twice about it. Cooper pressed their mouths together, not waiting for a yes or a no, just that it felt right when Ryan’s wide eyes finally dragged back to his and he started breathing again when he was the one to pull back. He licked his lips, a small sound leaving him.

“What,” Ryan said, “Don’t tell me we’re ready to adopt, already? Those puppy-dog eyes staring back at me right now, God.

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