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I knew there’d be work to take home.
    Cooper was in the same predicament. His schedule was as busy as mine, though he’d bring work to my place instead of his and we’d work at my dining table. Most nights that week, we spent hours in a peaceful silence as we worked, though we’d stop for ‘intermission’ as Cooper called it. Which was dinner and sex.
    Not always intercourse, but a blow job or mutual hand jobs on the sofa, sometimes too worked up to even get undressed. He was insatiable, completely voracious.
    Not that I minded. Hell, I was starting to want it as much as he did.
    We were getting cosy on the sofa when I told him of my busy schedule, how I’d be working most of the weekend to get a big contract finalised, and he said he didn’t mind. “I’ve got some work I can bring over,” he said. “I’ll be really quiet and won’t interrupt you, I promise.”
    I threw my head back and laughed. “Oh, please,” I said. “You can’t help yourself. As soon as you get bored, I become a source of entertainment.”
    He grinned, pushed me back on the sofa and proceeded to unzip my pants and lick and suck me, which proved my case exactly.
    But on Saturday, when we’d been working for a few hours, he had his head down going over plans he’d bought with him and hadn’t interrupted me once. It was driving me insane. I wanted him to interrupt me.
    And it was so typically Cooper to not interrupt me because I’d made a point of saying he would.
    Always challenging.
    By lunch time, I couldn’t stand it. I’d spent the last hour staring at him, trying to get his attention, and of course he knew. He was trying not to smile. When I got up from the table and pulled out his chair, swinging my leg over and straddling him, he burst out laughing.
    “You’re such a tease,” I told him before pushing his head back and kissing him hard.
    When I pulled my mouth from his, he licked his lips. “I wondered how long it would take,” he said smugly. “You’ve got some pretty good self-control.” He gripped my hips and rocked me on his lap. “It’s been killing me.”
    I ground down on him. “Your self-control is apparently better than mine,” I told him, kissing him again. “Just take me to bed.”
    I’d never imagined I’d bottom. I’d never imagined I’d want to. But giving myself to him that way was something special. The way he worshipped my body before sinking inside me, the way my body gave him pleasure was empowering.
    Since declaring our love, sex was even more intense between us. Everything was more intense—conversations, laughter, touches and even the way we looked at each other.
    I told Cooper that I’d spoken to my parents during the week. I’d promised I’d phone them and had arranged to drive up and see them next month. “I’m thinking I should tell them I’ve met someone,” I explained. It was early afternoon. We were in bed, naked, wrapped up in each other.
    Cooper leaned up on his elbows to look at me. “You’re going to come out to them?”
    I sighed. “I think so,” I said. “I want to tell them. I want to tell them I found someone who makes me happy, that I’ve never been happier.”
    “But you’re worried about how they’ll react?” he asked.
    “Yeah, of course,” I admitted.
    “I’ll go with you,” he said with a kind smile.
    “Would you?” I asked. “I mean, I’d love to have you by my side. I want them to meet you. But you certainly don’t have to.”
    “I don’t have to. I want to.”
    “Anyway, it’s a few weeks away,” I told him. “We’re both busy here, and we have that bloody concert next weekend,” I said, rolling my eyes. But then I rolled us over so we faced each other and ran my hands through his hair. “Is it crazy that I’m considering coming out to my parents?” I asked. “I mean, I’m forty-four years old!”
    Cooper smiled. “Not at all, Tom. It’s not crazy. You still want their approval.”
    “Well, I’m fairly certain I won’t