The Bad Boy

by Leah Vale

  To comfort her in the only way he knew how, he gathered her into his arms and held her tight. The swell of rightness he felt holding her staggered him. And scared the hell out of him.

  He rubbed his chin against her soft hair. "How did you manage to become so damn important to me?" he asked himself as much as her.

  She made a noise, muffled by his T-shirt, then pulled back to look up at him. "I’m important to you?"

  The war between hope and doubt on her face seared him. Despite his determination to keep himself apart from anything and everyone, she’d wriggled her way inside him. He had no choice but to admit it to them both. "Yes. You are."

  To chase away the last traces of doubt in her eyes, he lowered his head and caught her full lips with his. Sara rose into the kiss to deepen it, arching her body tight against him. Every long-repressed emotion roared for release and every inch of him responded like a man starved for contact. In the back of his mind, he recognized it was the connection he’d been starved for. The haven with no secrets, no motivations left untold.

  She jerked back, breaking the kiss. "I’m only going to ask this one more time, Cooper. Make love to me. Now. Tonight."

  Without hesitation Cooper bent and scooped into his arms and headed for his bedroom.

  Because deep down he wasn’t a noble man, no matter what sweet Sara Barnes thought. He’d give her this moment because they both needed it, but that was all. He firmly believed he still had the strength to hold his heart safe from her sweeter trust.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Her pulse racing, Sara wrapped her arms around Cooper’s neck, even though he clearly had the strength to carry her through the other door to his bedroom. She wanted to chensh him. To wipe away the harm Marcus had done to him. She wanted it so much that she had

  no choice but to admit she more than simply cared for Cooper.

  She’d fallen in love with him.

  Her heart surged and her spirit soared in a way that made what she’d felt for Rob Ward seem embarrassingly trite.

  Nuzzling the smooth skin beneath his ear, she breathed in deep the spice-laden masculine smell of him. She still needed to heal Cooper, but not for McCoy Enterprises, or Alexander or even Joseph anymore. She had to heal the emotional wounds Cooper had suffered in the past for him, for her, so they could have a future together.

  He elbowed the bedroom door open, then shut it behind them with his boot. He didn’t turn on the lamp, but the exterior lights glowed through the sheers in here, too, and after a moment was enough to see by.

  Cooper carried her forward and bent to lay her down, the suppleness of his bed an extreme contrast to his hard body. She reluctantly released her grip on him when he eased back, but thankfully, he only went as far as necessary to climb onto the bed next to her.

  He braced himself on an elbow and settled a hand on her hip. "I don’t deserve this."

  She reached up and furrowed a hand into his thick black hair, her soul hurting for his lack of faith in himself. "Yes. you do. We both do."

  "And you’re okay with...you know, doing it here, at The Big House’?"

  Though telling him was a risk, she wanted him to be aware of the depths of her feelings so he’d see he wasn’t so alone after all. "Since I’m not just doing it, I don’t care where I am. Are you okay with that?"

  He stared down at her, his grip on her hip tightening. "Man, I really don’t deserve you." Then he dropped his head and kissed her.

  As much as she needed him to care about her, she couldn’t possibly be imagining the emotion behind his kiss. There wasn’t the practiced ease of earlier, when he’d kissed her more to unsettle her and prove his point that he was a bad boy to be wary of. Though even that kiss in the hotel hall had slipped from his control. Elation twined with passion and spiraled her upward.

  Cooper’s tongue stroked hers, and her brain finally caught on that now was not the time for deep thought. He slipped his hand beneath her white T-shirt and pushed her bra aside to cup her breast, his calluses exquisitely rough on her sensitive skin. She moaned into his mouth. That was what it was time for. Sensation unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

  A tremor swept through her. She wanted more. So much more.

  Dropping her hands from his hair to his back, she started to tug his T-shirt off. She got the soft cotton as far up as she could, but when he didn’t move to help her, she said against his mouth. "Shirt. Off."

  Cooper stopped kissing her and moved back. "Used to being in charge, eh?"

  With a sheepish smile, she added, "Pretty please?"

  In the faint, filtered glow of the outside lights she could see him considering her, searching her face for something. He extracted his hand from beneath her shirt, robbing her of the wonderful sensations, and gathered her hands in his. He lifted them away from

  his shirt and up over his head.

  In a low-pitched voice he asked, "Can you trust me enough in this, Sara, to give me control?" He placed their hands on the pillow above her head. "Can you?"

  His inclusion of in this made her soul weep. She hated that she’d been unable to trust him at work. But tonight wasn’t about control or trust. It was about forming a healing link with him, showing him what she didn’t dare say yet, how deep her feelings ran.

  "Can you?" He leaned forward, putting the slightest pressure on her hands pinned beneath his.

  A potent thrill shot through her. Was this what took her attraction to him to a level she’d never encountered? Her inability to control him? A desire to be controlled by him?

  His size, his strength, his honor made her want to forfeit all power to him. Surprisingly, she found her willingness to allow him control difficult to admit.

  He waited.

  For the sake of any kind of future with him, to prove she could trust him, she took the plunge. "Yes."

  He leaned down and kissed her hard.

  Apparently, her answer meant a lot to him.

  He drew back and smiled his wicked smile that made air a foreign substance. "All right. then."

  He reached for his shirt, but rather than tugging it back down as she’d expected he would to tease her, he hauled it over his head. His lightly haired chest, with defined pecs and washboard stomach, belonged to a man at home in the gym, but he had a leanness to him that suggested a lot of physical labor, too. Cooper was nothing short of spectacular.

  Every feminine inch of her let her know without a doubt that he was a very good choice.

  Noticing her slack-jawed expression, he shrugged his beautifully muscled shoulders and tossed the T-shirt aside. "I’m getting hot." He clearly pretended to misinterpret her appreciation for surprise over his seemingly contradictory behavior in taking his shirt off.

  Warming to his play, she purred, "Yes, you are."

  His grin widened and he rolled upright, swinging his legs off the bed. He yanked off one cowboy boot and sock, sending it clunking to the floor, then the other.

  The muscles in his back bunched and stretched as he moved, calling to her in a way she couldn’t resist. She glided her fingers along his smooth, tanned skin. Her own skin tightened and prickled in anticipation and yearning.

  He dropped the second boot and swiftly twisted to capture her hand. "Uh-huh. No touchy." He replaced her hand above her head, splaying his fingers to trap her other hand, also. Shifting so he could be next to her again, he lowered his face to hers. "You just get to lie there, Sara. Let me pay you the homage you deserve."

  She searched his eyes, which appeared dark gray in the dim light, looking for some clue to how much she should reveal to him. All she found was a hunger that made her heart pound harder and her body melt, so she took the final step.

  "But I want to make love to you, Cooper." It was all she could do to keep the emphasis off the word love. She seriously doubted he wanted to hear that declaration from her now. Plus, he might not believe her, thinking she was simply doing anything she could to get him to give up on his quest for retribution. If he would let her, sh
e’d rather show him how she felt.

  He dropped a light kiss on her lips. "And I need you to trust me."

  Her answer came easier this time. "I trust you." Definitely here, in the bedroom. To get back the care-free mood, she arched her back and said breathily, "I am yours to toy with."

  He chuckled. "Now, that I like." But he kept hold of her hands above her head.

  He descended on her neck and made her feel that she was being feasted on by pleasure. His warm, moist breath elicited heat and moisture elsewhere until she ached. She started to squirm, wanting his mouth on her everywhere. He responded by wedging a knee between her legs and rocking part of his weight onto her. She moaned and hooked a leg around his to pull him closer.

  He froze with his mouth beneath her earlobe. "Uh-uh-uh," he chided, sending shivers through her as the words played over the spot he’d just licked. "Lie still, Sara."

  Her short laugh sounded decidedly strangled. "Yeah, right. As if that’s possible with a guy like you."

  He lifted his head. "A guy like me?"

  "Incredible," she sighed.

  He nuzzled her again. "Well, in that case, maybe a little hip movement is okay. But if you do too much, this might be over a hell of a lot quicker than I intend." His voice sounded as roughened as his hands and had the same effect on her, sparking fire along her nerve endings until she was certain she must be glowing from it.

  "Please get to it, though."

  "No boss lady," he warned, but still drew her white T-shirt upward with his free hand, his knuckles deliciously skimming her ribs.

  He worked her shirt up over her breasts and slightly askew white lace bra. From there he needed both hands to remove the shirt from her shoulders and over her head. She complied by not moving her hands from above her head where he’d left them.

  Rather than lifting her T-shirt all the way off her arms and tossing it aside as he had his own, he surprised her by stopping at her wrists and twining the thin cotton material around her hands.

  He met her gaze for a moment but didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. She hadn’t earned his trust in this any more than he’d earned hers outside the bedroom. And they were both willing to do what needed to be done to get the other to change.

  If only what he needed to change was as exciting and unexpectedly pleasurable as hers was turning out to be.

  She raised her head and kissed him, pouring as much acceptance and reassurance as she could into the kiss.

  A rumbling came from Cooper’s throat as he reminded her with a thrust of his tongue what he really wanted from her. The knowledge added yet another layer of sensation along her skin. She met his tongue with her own.

  His challenge accepted, he raised his head, slid his hands down her arms and over her breasts to the clasp at the front of her bra. With an ease she chose not to think about, he had it undone and up around her wrists with her shirt, caressing and teasing the whole way.

  He made a much more impatient noise and pushed himself up and got on his knees. He looked so beautiful she had to fight the urge to reach for his sculpted chest, wanting nothing more than to trail her fingertips over him. There was no way she could mistake the ridge below for buttons now. She fisted her hands in the shirt twined around her hands, instead, determined to give herself over to Cooper completely.

  As if sensing her total capitulation, he suddenly swung one leg over her and straddled her thighs. Then he did to her what she’d wanted to do to him, running his fingertips from her collarbone to the waist of her jeans, leaving a trail of shivers in his wake. He deftly unfastened the jeans and pulled her pants and white satin bikini underwear from her hips and down her legs as far as he could with her legs between his.

  Though she could have helped by kicking her legs out of her jeans, she forced herself to lie perfectly still. He managed undressing her just fine, reaching behind him to get her pants and undies the rest of the way off.

  Wondering if he’d use them in the same manner he’d used her shirt, she held her breath. They were tossed in the general direction of his shirt. Before she could decide if she was disappointed or not, he took hold of her hips and yanked her down between his legs instead of climbing back up the bed to her. She squeaked in surprise and wild delight, his power and possession thrilling her to her soul.

  He leaned forward to plant his hands on either side of her upstretched arms and lowered his head to kiss her. She met him halfway, hungry to show him where he’d already taken her, to get him there, too. He kissed her deeply, giving her a taste of his restrained passion.

  Okay, so he didn’t need her help to reach this wonderful place.

  He continued to kiss her until her elbows were inching upward of their own volition. She wanted to pull all his heat and weight down to her more than she wanted to catch a breath.

  Cooper lurched away and practically vaulted off the end of the bed. His hot gaze touching every inch of her, he took his wallet out of his back pocket and removed a foil packet.

  He held it up between his first and middle fingers. "In this, at least, I am not my father’s son."

  Her heart twisted for him as he stripped from his jeans, revealing still more breath-stealing strength and masculine beauty, and climbed back over her before she had a chance to comment or grow self-conscious.

  "You’re gorgeous, Sara."

  Her glimpse at all of him seared in her mind, she said, "Funny. I was just thinking the same about you."

  He eased down onto her. and Sara had never felt anything so perfect. She brought her knees up to better fit him against the spot where she wanted him the most. The hard heat of him sent shots of pleasure through her and made her gasp.

  Bracing his weight on one elbow. he slipped his hand down between them to stroke her, but she was more than ready for him. Oh. so ready.

  "Cooper."

  He kissed her softly. "I know, Sara. I know."

  "I’m not bossing--I’m begging."

  He stroked more, sending flashes of fire blazing through every inch of her. "I’d never want to reduce you to begging. You’re too special to me. You know that, don’t you?"

  His words made her tremble more than his touch. "Am I? Am I really?"

  He stilled. "Have I ever lied to you’?"

  "No."

  He smiled at her quick answer.

  "And I’m not just saying that because I really, really want you. Like, now." It was true. The immediacy of her answer had nothing to do with the moment and everything to do with fact. Cooper had withheld things and flat-out lied to Joseph and Alexander, but she felt sure he’d never lied to her.

  His expression softened. "I swear l never will." He kissed her as his hand moved again, touching deeply until she throbbed and burned for him. He pulled his hand from between her legs and, while still kissing her, put the condom on.

  He lifted his head and settled against her, poised where she burned more than she’d thought possible. His lips brushed against hers. "Never doubt how much you mean to me, Sara." Then he reached up and grasped her hands in his, slanted his mouth over hers and pushed inside her.

  And gave her a new definition of perfect.

  She wrapped her legs around his lean hips and they made love with more physical and emotional power than Sara had ever experienced. His body moved inside her while he held her hands above her head, electrifying her to the point that her skin felt fused to his

  despite the slick sweat developing between them.

  He took her to the heights of such passion that she couldn’t restrain the blast of pleasure that shook her. She actually saw white lights exploding behind her closed eyelids when she convulsed around him. He came apart with her, his release adding layer after layer of ecstasy to her own climax.

  She’d expected as much from a man like him.

  But when he collapsed on her and let go of her hands so he could gather her into his arms and hold her tight, Sara stunned herself by wondering how she’d ever be able to choose between this man and the family she’
d dedicated her life to serving.

  COOPER BOLTED AWAKE. The image of Sara’s beautiful face morphing from blissful to crushed lingered from his dream in the pitch-black of the night. The outside lights had been turned off before he’d taken his second trip to his new happy place with Sara--that time with her in control. Other parts of him stirred and he smiled into the dark at the memory of her surprising lack of inhibition.

  With nothing else to distract him besides the soft warmth of the incredible woman asleep, tucked against his side, thankfully undisturbed by his jerking awake, his mind was free to process what he’d done. And it occurred to him how stupid he’d been.