Reluctant Partners

by Kara Lennox

  “You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met.”

  “But not the smartest! Because secretly I was hoping you would make it impossible for me to say no.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Cooper was looking at Allie like he wanted to devour her in one bite.

  “Could you just leave me with whatever shreds of dignity I have left, please?” She didn’t like begging, but she was in desperate trouble here. He was within touching distance. In fact, he was touching her, smoothing her hair off her face, tucking a strand behind her ear.

  Did he have to be so tender? Life would be so much easier if he was a complete jerk.

  “You’re killing me here, Allie. I want you, you know that. But I won’t have you blaming me for pushing or taking advantage. I know I’ve brought a lot of trouble into your life, and for that I apologize. But I won’t apologize or feel bad about making love to you.

  “So I’m going to stand up and walk into my room. I hope you’ll follow. But that’s entirely up to you. Are we clear on that?”

  “You lawyers talk too damn much.” She cupped his jaw in her hand and kissed him hard enough to make him go cross-eyed. She was beyond caring who had manipulated whom. Her mind was too filled with the smell and taste of him, the feel of his hands all over her, the sound of his low moans of pleasure as she rediscovered territory she’d charted the previous night.

  She nearly ripped his shirt getting it off him, and she mentally thanked him for buying the halter dress because it was so easy to take off. Cooper gave the bow at the back of her neck one tug, and the dress floated to the floor.

  They never even made it to the bedroom. Cooper somehow had a condom handy, and they made love right there on the sofa. It happened in a blinding flash, yet at the same time Allie felt suspended in time as he filled her head with soft yet urgent endearments, and filled her body with himself.

  Allie couldn’t have stopped any more than she could halt her breathing.

  She felt her body tingle in a way she recognized, and she held her breath trying to prolong the exquisite feelings. Then her climax washed over her. She felt it in every cell of her body, down to her fingernails and the tips of her hair.

  Cooper cried out in triumph as he found his own release, and they held each other for several long minutes. Allie was afraid to move, knowing she would break the spell holding them still on this plateau of pure sensation.

  When the air conditioning kicked on, Allie shivered and Cooper stirred, shifting to a slightly more comfortable position on the sofa and pulling her against him. He sighed contentedly.

  “Cooper-”

  “Allie-”

  They both stopped. Allie laughed nervously and Cooper barreled ahead. “Allie, please, please don’t start in with how big a mistake this is. There’s just no point.”

  “I was only going to suggest we move to your bed,” she said in a slightly injured tone. She wouldn’t regret this. She couldn’t. Already she knew it would be painful when they resumed their antagonistic roles, but pain wasn’t exactly something new to her.

  He smiled and kissed her on the forehead. She couldn’t remember ever seeing his face so boyish and unguarded. “Good idea.”

  They fell asleep wrapped in each other’s embrace, but later Allie awoke to the delicious sensation of Cooper kissing her neck. He didn’t stop there, however. He kissed her all over, everywhere, places she’d never imagined being kissed. He worshiped her body in a way that made her believe he enjoyed it as much as she did, and they made love again, this time in slow motion, pausing to appreciate every nuance of feeling, every touch, every breath, every whisper of the silky sheets.

  Allie knew it was the last time. Tomorrow, after the trade show, they would pack up and drive back to Port Clara, back to the real world where a court battle awaited them.

  When she was sure he was asleep, she turned her face into the feather pillow and cried for something that could never be.

  WHEN COOPER EASED INTO wakefulness, it was still dark out. He wondered what had awakened him, then remembered the beautiful woman in his bed and realized he’d awakened many times that night, each time reaching out to make sure she was still there.

  He briefly considered tying her to the bed to prevent a repeat of yesterday morning when she’d fled him in a panic, then smiled into the darkness at the mental picture of how furious she would be if he tried anything like that, even as a joke.

  But his smile faded as he realized that nothing he could do would hold Allie. No matter what she’d said last night, she would regret this. Because Allie Bateman wasn’t a no-strings-sex kind of woman.

  She might not know it, but Allie was a long-term, ring-on-her-finger, forever kind of woman. And he was the last person with whom she could possibly have forever.

  As he lay there in the growing dawn light, perhaps still half-asleep and unguarded, a strange thought took hold of him. At first he dismissed it as ridiculous, but the thought kept coming back.

  Maybe he needed to take a novel approach to the problem of Allie and her claim on Johnny’s boat. Yes, he was used to approaching problems from a win-lose perspective. The law had always been his comfort, something in black and white that, when skillfully interpreted, solved all dilemmas. He pursued legal avenues until he came out on top, or didn’t, though usually he did because he’d never been one to squander resources on iffy legal battles.

  Allie, however, required some thinking outside the box. How could they both win? How could they each get what they wanted and remain friends-or lovers?

  Allie had already rejected a cash settlement. But what if he made her a different kind of offer?

  Though it was tempting to wake her up and tell her what he was thinking right away, he decided to let her sleep while he chewed on this new, better solution. He thought about it while he showered and shaved, and while he dressed in a wild Hawaiian shirt he’d borrowed from Max knowing it would make Allie smile. If she wanted him to be a “Margaritaville” kind of guy, he’d give it to her in spades.

  Breakfast had just arrived when she woke up. He saw her standing in the doorway to his bedroom, wrapped in his terry cloth robe, looking adorably rumpled and sleepy.

  “Why didn’t you wake me?” she asked as soon as the waiter had gone.

  “You looked so peaceful, so I thought I’d let you get an extra hour of sleep.”

  “Well, you did keep me up late,” she said with a saucy toss of her head.

  As if he needed reminding of last night. “Come sit down. We don’t have to rush today, since everything is already set up.” He poured her coffee and orange juice and uncovered all the dishes.

  “Do you eat like this every day?” she asked as she scooped up a small portion of scrambled eggs and added one strip of bacon and one toast triangle.

  “Most days.”

  “If I ate like this all the time, pretty soon I wouldn’t fit through the Dragonfly’s hatch.”

  “I just burn it off, I guess.” But maybe he should start considering his health. He’d never thought much about the future before, figuring it would take care of itself. But he wanted to live a long time. Now that he had a future really worth living, he wanted to make it last.

  He added a healthy portion of fresh fruit to his plate. “So, speaking of the Dragonfly, I’ve been thinking.”

  Her fork stopped midway to her mouth, and she looked up warily. “Cooper, haven’t we done enough thinking? I mean, we’ve already launched several of your ideas-different kinds of cruises, new ways of marketing. Shouldn’t we see if all this newfangled stuff works before we start even more? Maybe you can afford to lose money on high-risk ideas, but I can’t.”

  “I couldn’t agree more, and I don’t intend for you to bear more risk than you can withstand. This is something a little different.”

  “Okay. Shoot.”

  “You and I work pretty well together, don’t you agree?”

  She had to think about it for a few moments. “When we’re not fighting, yeah. Y
ou’re pretty easy to work for, and you’ve certainly shouldered your fair share of responsibilities.”

  “If we didn’t have this legal problem hanging over our heads, we would be compatible partners. Right?”

  She took a long sip of her coffee, watching him carefully over the rim of her cup. “What are you getting at?”

  “Say the judge awards you the boat. You’ll have to hire someone to help you handle all the cruises we’re booking. The same is true of me-because frankly, though my cousins are enthusiastic about the boat, Reece gets seasick and Max is going to be too busy with his new ad agency to help me much.

  “But if you and I continue our partnership indefinitely, we can share the work and the profits.”

  “So what you’re thinking,” she said slowly, “is that once the fishing business is legally yours, I’ll be your employee. Not interested.” She took a bite of toast and chewed it furiously, staring out the window.

  “That’s not what I meant. I said partnership.”

  “So, what, you’ll offer me a small percentage of the profits?”

  “Damn it, Allie, are you going to keep trying to read my mind-and doing it badly, I might add-or do you want to hear the proposal?”

  “Sorry.” But she didn’t look sorry. “I’m listening.”

  “We’re good together. We each have skills the other lacks.”

  “You mean, I can navigate, find fish and cook, and you can drink expensive beer and talk about the stock market with the good ol’ boys?”

  “You’re not doing a very good job listening.”

  She clamped her mouth shut.

  He started again. “What I propose is a full, fifty-fifty partnership. My cousins and I won’t contest Johnny’s handwritten will if you’ll agree-”

  “You want me to just hand over half my business?”

  “Look at the big picture, Allie. With my input, and that of Reece and Max, Remington Charters will earn twice as much as it did before.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I’ve worked in business for a lot of years, Allie. Reece and Max and I-we know what we’re doing. We’ve turned several businesses around. Of course we don’t have guarantees, but we can make an educated guess.

  “But there’s another reason a partnership makes a lot of sense.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s this thing between us. We’re good together in more than a business sense, and you know it. I want to see where it goes.”

  “Oh my God.” She stared at him with a dawning look of horror on her face.

  “What?”

  “So that’s what all this is about. I should have known.”

  “All what?”

  “This!” She stood and made a sweeping gesture with her hand, encompassing their breakfast and the entire suite. “You planned it from the beginning-the fancy clothes, the fancy hotel suite. You set out to make me feel like Cinderella at the ball. Then, when you got me all softened up, you spring this partnership thing on me.”

  Her attack was so blatantly unfair, Cooper was for once in his life utterly speechless. He was known for his ability to cleverly negotiate no matter what kind of nasty surprises the opposition lobbed at him, but this one feisty redhead had rendered him mute.

  “With you lawyer types, it’s all about the bottom line. Win at any cost. You know you’re going to lose your bid to crack Johnny’s handwritten will, so it’s on to Plan B. Fifty percent is better than nothing, plus you get a built-in galley slave and free sex. And when you get tired of me? You’ll find some legal maneuver to get rid of me.”

  She walked right up to him and poked his chest with her finger. “I have been down this route before. I fell for it once when I was a teenager, but I won’t be a sucker again. So you can just keep your generous offer. I will take my chances with the courts.”

  By the time Cooper came up with a defense, she’d already flounced out of the room and into her own bedroom. He stood in front of the door she’d slammed in his face, devastated.

  “It was a generous offer!” he yelled. “Because I’m going to win. I was trying to save you some heartache, but it appears you don’t have a heart!” He paused and listened, but all was quiet on the other side of the door. “Allie?”

  He heard the shower go on.

  With a sigh he returned to their half-eaten breakfast, but he certainly had no appetite for it now.

  After what they’d shared, how could she believe the whole thing was a calculated scheme? He would have to be the coldest, most soulless bastard in the world to cook up a plan like that.

  In his experience, innocent people assumed others were as honest as they were. It was only the crooks and cheats who believed everyone was out to get them.

  What did that say about Allie?

  ALLIE SOMEHOW GOT THROUGH the rest of the day. She did all her crying during a very long shower, so that when she emerged from her bedroom an hour later she was dry eyed, showing as little emotion as possible.

  Cooper was obviously angry, too. His every movement was filled with tension, his mouth nothing but a thin, tight line and his eyes sparkling dangerously if she so much as looked at him.

  At the trade show they spoke to each other only when absolutely necessary, each of them alternating between the booth and the floor so they didn’t have to be together.

  It was the longest day of Allie’s life.

  Unfortunately, they didn’t repeat their success from the previous day. Maybe it was the fact that outside the gorgeous spring weather called, or maybe it was the tension in the air, but they signed up fewer than half the number of people they’d attracted on Saturday.

  Max showed up to help them pack up at the end of the day. “So, how’d it go?” he asked.

  “Fine,” Allie and Cooper said in unison, each of them sounding as if they’d just been through a root canal.

  “Gee, sorry I asked.”

  Allie was immediately contrite. She didn’t know if Max was in on the plan, but she shouldn’t automatically assume he was. “Sorry, Max. It’s been a long day. We did well yesterday but today was slow and I’m afraid Cooper and I got on each other’s nerves.”

  “Hey, it happens.”

  Allie busied herself taking down the fish cutouts. From the corner of her eye she saw Cooper and Max conferring about something, and she guessed it was her because Max glanced her way every now and then. She wondered what sort of spin Cooper was putting on the weekend’s events.

  It was dark as they climbed into Cooper’s car for the drive home. “Do you want to stop somewhere for dinner?” Cooper asked, his tone grim, telling her exactly what he thought about sharing a meal with her.

  She was hungry, but she wouldn’t be able to eat a bite sitting across the table from him. “No, thanks.” She put on her seat belt, reclined the cushy leather seat, and closed her eyes. If she was lucky, she would fall asleep and the drive would be over in no time.

  But Cooper had other ideas. “How are we going to run the cruises if we aren’t speaking to each other?”

  “I can do it alone,” she grumbled.

  “That’s not what we agreed to do.”

  “Cooper, surely by now you know I’m not going to make off with the boat.”

  “I don’t think I know you at all. And you clearly don’t know me if you think I would seduce you just to get my hands on your boat. If I wanted a boat that bad, I could buy one.”

  “Then why don’t you? Why does it have to be this boat?”

  “It’s a matter of principle.”

  Allie hooted at that one. “Principle? You’re a lawyer. You don’t actually expect me to believe that, do you?”

  “No, I don’t. Because you’re determined to believe the worst of me no matter what the evidence says. Some people think I’m jaded and overly suspicious of everyone, but lady, you take the cake.”

  “I have every right to be suspicious. My uncle stole my birthright from me. He took my father’s boat, left to me in his will, and he
sold it without my knowledge or consent. I won’t let that happen again.”

  “You’re not the only person in the world to be taken advantage of,” he said, his words soft, no longer angry.

  She wondered what had made him say that, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. However, she found she no longer had the energy to argue.

  “I will do my best not to rile you up when we have to work together,” she said. “Maybe Max or Reece could stand in for you.”

  He surprised her by laughing. “I’d pay money to see that.”

  They rode in silence for a while, but then Cooper’s phone rang. He didn’t answer.

  She opened her eyes. “Shouldn’t you get that? What if it’s a potential customer?” Allie’s phone had rung a couple of times today with people wanting more information about Remington Charters.

  “It isn’t.”

  A few minutes later it rang again, and again he didn’t answer. She wondered what that was about.

  SOMEONE TAPPED SOFTLY ON Allie’s bedroom door at the B and B. She’d been about to climb into bed, but she froze and her heart raced wildly as her traitorous imagination wondered if her visitor was Cooper.

  “Allie, it’s me, Sara,” came a hoarse whisper.

  Well, that answered that question. Allie felt like an idiot as she walked to the door and opened it, summoning a smile for her friend.

  “Where’ve you been?” Allie asked. She’d been surprised that Sara wasn’t home when she and Cooper had arrived back at the B and B about an hour ago.

  “Date, perfectly awful, not worth discussing.” Sara let herself in and promptly plopped on Allie’s bed. “So spill it. How did your big weekend with Cooper go?” Sara’s eyes sparkled with mischief, making Allie wonder if her friend was psychic. How else would she have known that it was anything but a business trip to work a trade show?

  Allie had already decided she wouldn’t rehash her stupidity with Sara. Some things were best forgotten as quickly as possible, though how Allie would ever forget the feel of Cooper’s touch, she didn’t know.

  “It went fine. We gave away a lot of brochures and signed up people for a drawing. The booth looked great.”