The Rebel (The Millionaire Malones Book 3) (5 page)

He made a fist and tapped it on her thigh a couple of times like a high five with her leg. ‘I know what you’re going to say. So don’t waste your breath.’

Maggie tucked her long hair behind her ears. ‘You do, huh?’

He looked sideways at her, through the flop of his sun-streaked hair. ‘Please. I can see it in that fake smile of yours. You’re busting to tell
me I’m a fuckwit.’

That fake smile was all she could manage right now. ‘I was going to wait until you were feeling slightly better. There’s no fun in kicking a man when he’s down.’

Maggie looked down into his lap. There were parts of Cooper on show that she’d never seen displayed quite so plainly before and it came as something of a shock. At the top of his thighs, there was one hell of a bulge
covered by black Calvin’s. Clearly that’s where his reputation as The Ladykiller had come from.

‘You have no food in the house,’ she said as she lifted her gaze to his face. ‘Unless you count beer as a food group.’

Cooper shrugged. ‘What do I need food for? There are plenty of good restaurants down at the beach. And if I’m not down there I’m eating at your place.’

‘What’s your plan now, big
guy? You can’t even put on your shorts, much less walk down to Del Mar.’

She couldn’t help it. Just mentioning the word ‘shorts’ had her looking down into his lap again and when she shifted her attention back to his face, he was watching her with a grin. ‘You checking out my package, Maggie Mac?’ He dropped his voice and it was low and smooth as a great whiskey.

Where had the heat in her cheeks
come from? She pulled herself together. ‘However impressive it might be, fat lot of good it will be to you now. Poor Cooper. Hearts are breaking on beaches all over the world, no doubt.’

So much for her attempt to lighten the mood. Cooper didn’t respond with another shit-eating grin and the usual quirk of his eyebrow whenever she teased him about his fans. He looked pensive, unsure. And she was
confused by it.

‘Leaving hospital so early was not a good idea,’ she told him.

‘You’re sounding like a broken record.’ He shifted position, moving the weight of his body on to his right side. The strain in his voice revealed the agony he was suffering.

‘You’re infuriating, you know that, Cooper?’

‘Ah, she’s back. The no-bullshit Maggie Mac.’

‘Yeah, I’m back. And you’re coming home with me
and Evan.’

‘The what now?’

She got to her feet and manoeuvred herself carefully between his legs. ‘Lift your butt.’

‘I can do this.’

She huffed. ‘Clearly you can’t or you wouldn’t be sitting there with your shorts around your ankles.’

They stared at each other for a long moment. Finally, Cooper pressed his palms into the mattress and shifted his weight to his right side, lifting his ass just
enough so Maggie could bend over, grip the waistband of his shorts and tug them up. Damn if they didn’t brush over his thighs with just a little too much tightness and then, they got caught against the bulge of his package. Once they were on—roughly, but it would do—she stood back and brushed her hands together.

‘Right. Where’s that bag we brought home from the hospital?’

Cooper raised a hand.
‘No can do, babe.’

She huffed and crossed her arms angrily. ‘Save the flirting for your beach bunnies. You know that no-bullshit, no-excuses promise we made to each other like a million years ago? This is me telling you: you can’t look after yourself here on your own. You’re coming home with me and Evan and, before you argue right back at me, for the first time in your goddamn life, will you
listen to me and do what I say?’

Cooper’s looked at her, his expression serious. ‘I’ll be fine here. I can order food in. I’ve got beer. And you’ve got too much to do without having me hanging around.’

‘Cooper Malone, you big idiot. Don’t you know what goes around comes around? Do you want me to count how many times you have been there for Evan and me over the years?’ Maggie stopped. She didn’t
need to say more. The softening look in his eyes told her he knew what she meant. He’d been wonderful to her son. He’d been there for her more times than she could count. As a friend. She knew he felt some kind of twisted responsibility for Evan, seeing it was his friend who ran out on them. Cooper had never let Evan down. Ever. When he’d promised something to her little man, he’d delivered.

‘For fuck’s sake, Maggie …’

She lifted her hands to stop the discussion, like she did with Evan when he wanted to debate the finer points of watching extra cartoons on a Sunday morning. ‘No discussion. And I’m not doing this for you, in case you’re asking. Evan will be miserable until you’re better.’

‘I’m not going with you, Maggie,’ Cooper said through gritted teeth. ‘I don’t need looking after.’

‘Oh yeah?’ she said and then turned towards his bedroom door. ‘Now I’m calling in my backup. Evan!’

At the sound of his name, Evan bolted into Cooper’s bedroom. ‘Yeah, Mommy?’

She stretched an arm out and her son came into it for a hug. ‘Guess what? Cooper’s coming to stay with us for a while. Until his knee gets better.’

Evan’s mouth fell wide open in shock and joy and he began to bounce up
and down like an Energiser bunny. ‘You mean like a sleepover?’

Cooper snorted and Maggie ignored it. ‘Kind of. We’ve got a big job to do, you and me. We have to look after him until he’s all better.’

‘Cool.’ Evan held his hand out to Cooper for a high five.

The smile returned to the big man’s face. ‘Thanks, mate.’

When Cooper realised he’d been played, he looked up at Maggie and muttered under
his breath. ‘You’ll pay for this.’

She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘I fully expect to.’

‡

A
n hour later,
after they’d packed some things for Cooper and arrived back at Maggie’s house, Cooper was standing in the doorway of Maggie’s bedroom, his arms up high on the frame. She was behind him, her flat palms planted in the small of his back, just above
the curve of his butt, nudging him forward. He was trying not to think about the warmth of her hands on his back. He was finding it a little distracting, especially since he’d caught her checking out his package earlier. To say that had thrown him off his game was the understatement of the year.

‘C’mon, Cooper, you’re being ridiculous.’

‘Am not.’

‘Are too,’ Maggie answered.

‘Am not,’ he replied.

‘Are too.’

He twisted his neck to look back and down at her, trying not to smirk. ‘What are you, ten years old?’

‘Shut up and get in there,’ Maggie said as she gave him an extra push. Why she thought her strength could match his—even with his injury—he had no idea.

‘Maggie Mac? This is a first. I never thought I’d be saying this while standing in the doorway of a woman’s bedroom, but I’m not
going in there.’

What the hell was this woman thinking? He was here in her little house against his will, thanks to her conniving—yet genius—tactic of getting Evan involved. And now? She wanted to give up her own bed for him?

‘Oh, yes, you most definitely are. There is no way on God’s little green earth that you will fit on the sofa bed in my office. Especially having to keep that leg straight.
I’m a short ass so it works fine for me.’

Maggie snuck under his raised arm and stood in the middle of her bedroom. He glanced around it. It was girly. Not pink-and lacy-girly—Maggie wasn’t that kind of woman—but it was girly nonetheless. Her wooden bed frame had scarves draped at the foot—his imagination would have run wild if this wasn’t Maggie’s bed—and there were half a dozen throw pillows
stacked in a grid pattern. He’d never understood how a sane woman could be as obsessed with throw pillows as she was. Two bedside tables, twin lamps and, on one side, a pile of books that looked like it might topple over if one more were added. A Mexican blanket on the bed, a couple of framed pictures of Maggie and Evan on the walls and that was about it.

No sign of anything vaguely masculine,
which was no surprise really, given that Maggie hadn’t had a man in her life since she’d had Evan. She’d been on a few dates but that was it. The last one was twelve months ago, he remembered, and when she’d dropped Evan off at his place, she’d hated when he’d teased her about the possibility of getting laid. Man, she’d stood in his living room and had blushed like a beetroot. Funny thing was, the
next morning when she’d picked Evan up bright and early for his soccer game, there was nothing about her that suggested she’d had sex. He knew women well enough to know the signs. A woman who’s just had sex has a look: an exhausted ‘I’ve been awake all night swinging from the chandeliers’ look. The beatific smile. Last night’s clothes. The smile that can’t be hidden. The drowsy eyes.

He didn’t
know why he’d been looking so hard for the signs, but she hadn’t exhibited any. And he didn’t want to think about why he’d felt relieved.

Cooper glanced around her bedroom. It sure was a loss to all humanity that the first man to be in Maggie’s bed since Evan was born was going to be him. On his own. She deserved some male attention. Hell, he knew she got that wherever she went in San Clemente.
What he meant was, she deserved to loosen up and let go enough to have some really great sex.

He pulled himself up. He shouldn’t be thinking about Maggie and sex at the same time. He’d thought about it once before, in that crowed bar in Bali when they’d met, but Vance had moved in and chosen Maggie first. Cooper was his wingman that night so he didn’t get to choose. He took his mind off what
Vance and Maggie were doing by dancing with Maggie’s Irish friend and then later holding her hair out of her face as she puked into the lush gardens of the bar. In the years since, Maggie was his friend. And friends shouldn’t think about each other having sex.

So why had he thought about that night for the six years since?

He dropped his arms to his sides and shifted his weight onto his right
leg. Maggie stood cross-armed, glaring at him, a tender-hearted mix of stubborn and caring all at the same time. She let out a frustrated breath. ‘You gonna stand there all day like a big idiot or are you going to agree with me?’

‘Oh, so now I’m an idiot.’ He let go of the door frame and splayed a hand across his chest like she’d shot him with an arrow. He dipped his chin and looked at her through
lowered eyelids. And yeah, maybe he pouted as well. Just for some fun. ‘Cold, Maggie Mac, cold. Talk about hitting a man when he’s down. Look at me.’ He glanced down at his leg.

‘Oh you poor pathetic thing you,’ she laughed.

That made him laugh, too. ‘Okay, okay, I’ll take the bed.’

Maggie uncrossed her arms, propped them on her hips. She looked at him a moment, as if she was debating with
herself. ‘You know why I’m doing this, don’t you, Coop?’

She came closer, slipped her fingers through his. Cooper looked down. Her small hand looked so tiny in his big paw.

He squeezed her fingers tight. ‘Yeah.’

And he didn’t say what he wanted to:
It’s never been a chore, Maggie Mac
.

*

Supper that night
was toasted cheese sandwiches
on the sofa. Cooper sat at one end, his left leg stretched out in front of him, propped up on a tower of pillows on the coffee table. Maggie was at the other end and Evan was nestled in between them, freshly washed and smelling like soap, his hair stuck up all over, and with chocolate chip cookie crumbs all over his Spiderman PJs. The kid was in heaven. Maggie was sipping on some chilled white
wine while Cooper stuck to water, thanks to the post-op medication he was still taking.

They’d been watching a DVD of old cartoons, and Cooper wasn’t sure who got more of a kick out of them—him or Evan.

‘This takes me back. You know what, Evan?’

Evan wriggled and turned to Cooper with wide eyes. ‘No, what?’

‘In the olden days, I used to watch these with my brother when I got home from school.’

‘You got a brother?’ Evan asked still wide-eyed.

‘Remember? I’ve got a twin brother. His name’s Callum. And I’ve got an older brother, too. Chris.’

‘Two brothers. Wow.’