The Bad Boy

by Leah Vale

  "And I can’t forget what you said to me that day, Cooper."

  Her aim was deadly. But the hurt in her voice trumped his instinct to defend himself. He enfolded her in his arms then, bringing one high above her breasts, the other around her slender waist. If only he could hold her this way in the dark, with nothing between them but a common need, a shared yearning... He drew in a steadying deep breath. "I’m really sorry you’ve been caught in the middle of this, Sara."

  She softened against him and something came undone in him. "So that’s where you think I am? In the middle?"

  "You would have busted me in a heartbeat today if you weren’t."

  "Did it ever occur to you that I might be on your side?"

  She unraveled him completely. If only a relationship with her could be. He laughed ruefully. They were destined to be on opposite teams. "You wouldn’t have interfered today if you were on my side."

  She actually snorted the way he was prone to do. "That just proves you’ve never had anyone on your side, Cooper. No one’s ever been there to help you get what you really need."

  Her words hit him like a bucket of ice. They were far too close to the mark. He released her and stepped away. "And having my best chance at getting back at the McCoys royally screwed up is what I need?"

  She threw him an exasperated look over her shoulder. "What you need is to stop trying to get back at the McCoys. You are a McCoy."

  He waved off her familiar argument and, to avoid the discussion, returned to the food he’d unloaded. "What I am is hungry." He focused on unwrapping the cellophane sealing the steaks in their foam tray. With a wet plop he dumped the meat on one of the plates Sara had set out. Then he unwrapped the prawns and dumped them right on top of the steaks.

  He realized he no longer heard the water running, and glanced up. Sara was watching him, concern marring her smooth forehead, the freshly washed asparagus dripping on her pale pink painted toes.

  She said, "You can talk to me, Cooper. You know that, don’t you?" Her gentle voice caught him right beneath the ribs. If she kept this up, he might not have the strength to do what he had to do.

  Having plenty of practice at being flip when he ached the most, he brushed her off. "There’ll be plenty of time for that kind of grilling after I’ve grilled these babies." With one hand he picked up the plate of steak and prawns, and with the other he snagged the seasonings he’d bought. On his way to the deck he said, "Would you mind bringing that asparagus out with a plate to put them on when they’re done?"

  "Sure." There was disappointment in her tone.

  Damn it. She still thought she could fix him.

  Cooper shook his head at her misguided notion and placed the steaks and prawns on the grill, even though the briquettes weren’t nearly hot enough yet. After putting the lid back on the grill, he sat down in one of the bent-willow chairs and stared out at the low sunlight playing in the broad maple leaves.

  Sara came out. "Do you want these on the grill yet?"

  Assuming she meant the asparagus, he answered without looking at her. "No. Just put them next to it. They don’t take long to cook, so I’ll add them on when take the prawns off."

  Her bare feet were silent on the deck, but he heard her set the plate down on the little table. Then she was next to him, holding out one of the beers he’d brought with him. She had one for herself in her other hand.

  He glanced up at her as he accepted the opened bottle. "Thanks." He tilted his beer toward hers. "I wasn’t sure if you drank beer, but it’s been a beer kind of day."

  She sat down with a loud sigh in the chair next to him. "Ya think?" She took a drink, and all he could think was lucky bottle.

  She finished and made a satisfied sound. "I don’t normally have any on hand, but I occasionally order one when I go out."

  He shifted in his chair to more easily look at her. "When exactly do you do that?"

  "Go out?"

  "Mmm-hmm."

  She picked at the label around the neck of the beer. "Oh, Rob liked to go to that bar-and-grill chain restaurant on Main Street--"

  His entire body went on alert. "Rob'?" He’d tried to sound casual, but after his earlier thoughts about her lovers, the name had come out sharply.

  The label suffered some more. "Rob Ward. Someone I used to date."

  He was ready for the jealousy this time when it crept out of its hole, but he still had difficulty controlling it. "Let me guess. Someone at McCoy Enterprises." He mentally ran through the names he’d encountered during his short time with the company, but no Rob Ward came up.

  She nodded, her attention firmly on the beer bottle label.

  "So, is it ‘used to’ because there actually is a rule against office romances?"

  "No. But people do talk, so it probably is best not to mix business and pleasure." Her voice sounded a little strained; clearly, she was speaking from personal experience.

  The unbidden urge to soothe had him leaning toward her, the arm of the willow chair creaking under his weight. "And did they talk about you and Rob?" He was coaxing her to open up, not at all sure why he cared, unwilling to figure it out.

  Her shrug was unconvincing.

  A violent need to do some damage to Rob sneaked in with the jealousy. Through clenched teeth, he asked, "Does this Rob still work for us'?"

  The beer-bottle label came off with a jerk. "No. He left the corporation, and town, a year and a half ago."

  "Good. I don’t feel like going back to jail."

  She gave a strangled-sounding laugh but didn’t comment.

  Feeling like a dentist pulling healthy teeth, he pressed, "Did you stop seeing him because he left, or did he leave because you stopped seeing him?"

  She took a swig of beer before answering him. "Rob was very ambitious. And competitive."

  "Ah. Let me guess, you were promoted to VP of Operations a year and a half ago."

  A nod and another swig of beer.

  "Did he ask you to choose the job or him?"

  She shook her head. "I was nothing more than a means to an end. When it became clear his relationship with me wasn’t going to get him further in the company faster, he went searching for different opportunities elsewhere."

  She finally met his gaze, and the hurt in her eyes dug a hollow, aching hole in his chest. He reached for her. Physical comfort was all a guy like him had to offer a woman like her.

  He cupped her soft cheek in his palm. "It’s a good thing he left town, because that would be one bar fight I’d go looking for."

  She smiled at him and surprised him by snuggling her cheek against his palm. "Then I’d have to bail you out again." Her expression turned serious and her gaze searched his, for a way in. "What about you, Cooper? Why isn’t there someone special in your life?"

  Because she cares more about the McCoys than me.

  Cooper blinked. The thought made his heart lurch like a misstep on a steep roof. He slipped his hand from her cheek and shifted defensively back in his chair, requiring space. "Because I’ve known from the get-go that love stinks. Keeping a relationship casual and being up-front that it’s just for fun is the way to go. No one gets hurt. No one wastes time pining for something that will never be."

  He could see her swallow, as if what he’d said had left her with a bad taste. "Is that what your mother did?"

  He grunted at the understatement. "My mother spent her life wanting a man who’d only wanted her for a whopping month. That was all it took Marcus to convince Nadine Anders that she was about to be handed her very own fairy tale. Instead, she got saddled with a nightmare."

  Before Sara could comment, Cooper got up and went to the smoking grill. He lifted the cover and turned the steaks and prawns, then sprinkled on the seasonings. This wasn’t the conversation he’d come here for. It was getting way too personal. "Why did you cover for me today, Sara?"

  "The truth?"

  He replaced the lid and faced her. "That’s all there should ever be between us."

  She rose
and came to stand in front of him, her green eyes fierce. "Because I’m not going to let you ruin your chance to be a part of that family, Cooper."

  His blood turned to ice in self-defense. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, that’s definitely none of your business, Sara."

  "Like hell it isn’t." She grabbed one of his wrists and pulled to uncross his arms, then dragged him inside. She led him to a wall covered in framed photos, some of them black-and-white, before she released him. "Take a good look, Cooper. What do you see?"

  He saw Sara’s journey through life, starting as an obviously happy little girl, grinning with the security of both parents flanking her while she sat on a bike with a basket and tassels on the handlebars, or holding a fluffy puppy in her arms. As she grew, her smile dimmed a bit, with only her father and the dog, a golden retriever, next to her. Then she was smiling widely again perched on a horse with her father and Joseph and Elise McCoy at her side. Finally, she only had Joseph standing by her as she wore her cap and gown on the steps of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

  All that redbrick and white columns and domes. _

  Humph. He'd never noticed before how ol' Mizzou looked a lot like The Big House.

  She’d had the sort of life he used to dream about as a kid. A life that could never have been because of one man’s selfish callousness.

  She watched him expectantly. He remained stubbornly silent, refusing to let her see his envy.

  She made a frustrated sound and waved at the pictures. "This is what you could have."

  "A dog and a pony?"

  He earned himself a glare. "People to stand by you. To be there for you throughout your life. Joseph is the type of person to always be there. When my father died--" She hesitated, drawing Cooper from his own pain until she had his complete attention. "My father had accumulated some debts. He loved horseracing. But unlike Alexander, who enjoys raising racehorses, my father enjoyed betting on them. No one knew just how much. He’d hidden the habit to keep from disappointing anyone."

  Her eyes filled with tears that pulled at everything vital in Cooper. She started talking faster, as if that was the only way she could get the story. out. "But Joseph took care of everything. He paid my father’s gambling debts and my tuition so I could finish my education."

  "And effectively kept anyone from finding out his right-hand man had had a gambling problem. He only cares about the family’s image, Sara." The man had raised a son who’d ripped out the heart of Cooper’s mother, then desecrated her memory. Cooper wouldn’t--couldn’t--let himself care about Joseph.

  "No, Cooper, you’re wrong. When will you admit you’re wrong about the McCoys?"

  Cooper wavered for the first time since she’d handed him that letter. Could he forget what Marcus had done'? For Sara?

  No. The scar Marcus had left was too tough, too unyielding. Too hard to forget. So Cooper took the easy way out. He stepped past her and headed for the front door, keeping himself and his need for revenge safe.

  "I think I’d better go, Sara. The prawns should probably come off the grill now, and you can tell if the steaks are done how you like by cutting into one. You can use my share on a salad or something tomorrow."

  "Please don’t go, Cooper--"

  He opened the door. He had to go. "I’ll see you tomorrow at work."

  She moved closer, a hand raised. "Cooper--"

  He stepped out onto the front porch and closed the door behind him, latching it tight against what could never be.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Sara stared at the closed door. She’d blown it.

  Again.

  She let the hand she’d lifted in supplication drop and leaned forward to rest her forehead against her front door, the wood cold against her flushed skin. Once again, she’d allowed him to overheat her, both physically and emotionally.

  But worse, this time, as they’d sat out on the deck with beers in hand and food on the grill, he’d made her yeam for things. Things she’d thought she no longer wanted. Like someone to share her evenings at home with, to talk about the past with, strong arms wrapped around her.

  Selfish things.

  Like how she wanted nothing more than to be a part of the family she relied so heavily upon for everything.

  But what she had to do for Cooper was more important. For Cooper and Joseph and Alexander and the company.

  The McCoys.

  Her father would have given his all to see them happy, and the company that had given them all so much thriving. She had to find a way to convince Cooper to let go of the past for his and his family’s sake.

  Not because it might allow her, somewhere down the road, to have what she yearned for. She had to admit that not just any someone would do. She wanted that someone to be Cooper.

  She thumped her forehead against the door twice.

  The door thumped back.

  She jerked upright. A couple of pounding heartbeats passed before she realized someone had knocked on the door.

  She opened it and found the object of her thoughts on the other side, as if she’d commanded him to return.

  She stated the obvious. "You’re back."

  "Yeah." He plowed a hand through his thick black hair. Annoyance sparked in his blue eyes. "Look--"

  Not annoyance, she amended at hearing his tone. Frustration.

  "l need you to come with me."

  Her heart pounded with feelings. Hope. Anticipation. Excitement. She couldn’t control any of them. "Where?"

  "The office."

  Fear took over. "What have you done, Cooper?"

  He heaved a sigh. "Nothing. There’s just something I want to show you."

  "Now?"

  "Yes. Right now." He gestured for her to step outside. "Come on. Please."

  "But the steaks..."

  He grumbled and brushed past her, leaving tingles where his big body had contacted with hers. His boots punctuated every frustrated step as he crossed the hardwood floor and went out the still-open French door.

  She closed the front door and started after him, but he charged back in with a plate of asparagus in one hand and another plate piled with charred prawns and steak in the other. "Do you have some shoes handy?" he asked as he brushed past her again on his way to the kitchen.

  "Uh, yes." She’d left a pair of black leather slip-on sandals by the French doors.

  He opened the refrigerator and stuck the plates inside. "Grab ‘em and we’ll go." He didn’t comment on the lone container of cottage cheese on the top shelf.

  And it was only slightly moldy. Fortunately, he had no way of knowing that.

  He swung the fridge door shut and headed back toward the front door without looking to see if she was doing as ordered.

  Normally, after being spoken to like that, she would have told him to stuff it. But not only was there something in his demeanor that said he wasn’t any happier about what he was doing than she was, this was another chance for her to try to get him to listen to reason.

  "I promise to feed you there," he said.

  Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who kept a stash of food at the office for those late nights when the deli was closed. Sara glanced at her watch. It was nearly eight. She doubted anyone would still be working this late, so she didn’t need to change her clothes. T-shirt and calf-length jeans didn’t exactly send the competent career-woman message she preferred to convey.

  Cooper held the door open for her, his handsome face set as if he was on his way to making the court appearance his grandfathers influence had saved him from. The palms of Sara’s hands grew damp. Pushing her foreboding aside, she went to her shoes and slipped her feet into them. Then she grabbed her purse and keys off the rolltop desk, preceded Cooper out the door and locked it.

  Cooper led the way down the stairs and headed straight for his gleaming black pickup truck. The driver’s door was still open and the engine was running. Had he been afraid he’d change his mind about returning if he took the time to turn off the engine and
shut the truck door? Or was whatever he had planned just something he wanted over and done with quickly?

  Neither possibility did much to raise her confidence that she could talk him out of his plan. A dark voice whispered she was just an employee to him, too. She shook the thought off, refusing to let it matter.

  Cooper went to the passenger door and opened it for her.