Clarity of Lines by N.R. Walker Read Free Book Online Page A

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