The Rebel (The Millionaire Malones Book 3) (21 page)

When Maggie got
home, she found Cooper in the
living room on the sofa, struggling to stand. Every nervous thought she’d had thrumming through her head as she’d driven back from her mom’s disappeared when she saw his struggle.

‘Cooper?’ She dropped her keys on the coffee table and reached for his arm. She could see the strained expression on his face, the sheen of sweat on his brow. Her friend, her man, her love, was still trying to hold
on and her heart broke for him.

‘Do you need some painkillers? Why don’t you sit down? I’ll go grab them. Where did you put them? And I’ll get you a glass of water while I’m at it. Have you been doing your rehab? Have your hurt yourself?’

Cooper looked down at her, the smile she knew and loved right there on his mouth. The mouth she hadn’t kissed in days. It ached not to have been close to him
the way she’d become so used to.

‘You finished?’ He slipped an arm around her waist and looked down at her with heavy eyes, his gaze on her lips.

‘No,’ she smiled as she moved in close and snaked her arms around him too, nestling her head against his chest. She could hear his breathing and his heartbeat and wished she could take away his pain.

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.

‘I’m sorry, too,’
he said as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. ‘I’ve been waiting here to talk to you.’ She slipped out of his embrace and urged him back down again. With a dull thud, he fell backwards onto the sofa and she moved in next to him, reaching for his hand, her feet up between them so she could face him.

‘Talk,’ she said. ‘I’m ready to listen now.’

Cooper held her hand tight. Looked down at
where their fingers were entwined. ‘This thing with my knee and what it means? It’s been easier to be here with you and Evan than to think about it. Watching those damn cartoons with Evan. Making love to you at night. You’ve given me a taste of what my life might be like after surfing, you know that?’

‘I’m glad.’

‘For the past decade plus some, I’ve followed the waves, lived my life out there
on the water. You know what they say, that surfing is ninety per cent waiting for a wave and then ten per cent riding the hell out of it? That waiting has been absolutely worth it. I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve travelled the world. I’ve surfed beautiful beaches. And I’ve met beautiful women.’

Maggie chuckled. ‘I bet you have.’

He squeezed her fingers tighter. ‘But I met the most beautiful
woman of all in a bar in Bali about six years ago.’

When the words sunk in, Maggie’s heart began to pound. ‘I remember that night.’

‘You walked in and I heard your voice first, that American twang above all the German and Italian and that old-fashioned disco music in that bar. And when I looked over my shoulder and saw you … I was blown away.’

‘But … you hooked up with my Irish friend that
night. Marion.’

‘Vance saw you first. He moved in too fast and before I knew it, he’d whisked you away. I should have knocked him out that night instead of in South Africa.’

‘What?’ Maggie whispered. ‘You punched Vance?’

Cooper’s face grew serious at the memory. ‘I was there when he found out you were pregnant. That night he stopped being my best mate and became a total bastard instead. It
gutted me that he’d seen you first, that I’d wanted you first, that I’d thought about you every single day since that night … and that he didn’t give a shit about you. He was about to have a child, and he didn’t care. I smacked him in the jaw, walked out of that bar and never talked to him again.’

Maggie held her breath. ‘Oh my God.’

‘I tried to convince him to do the right thing. To go to you
and be a father to his child, but he booked a flight to Spain instead. I tried to get him to stay, Maggie.’

‘Cooper … He’s not the one I wanted to stay. That night in Bali … I wanted you too. I saw that look in your eyes, and you’re the one I wanted to talk to. But I thought you weren’t interested.’

‘Maggie … I swear I’ve been in love with you for six years. But I’ve run from it because wanting
you, wanting Evan and a family that wasn’t mine to have, that was too damn hard.’

Maggie lifted their joined hands to her lips and kissed his fingers.

‘You know why I didn’t tell you about my career being over? I was scared as hell that I won’t have a reason to be in California anymore. I won’t have an excuse to see you and Evan.’ Cooper reached for her and she moved into his lap, resting her
weight on his good leg and they looked into each other’s eyes.

‘You gonna give me a reason to stay, Maggie?’

Oh, she had a really good one. ‘I love you too, Cooper. More than I can bear. I tried not to, and I was really good at pretending, because I knew that if I let myself love you, it would only hurt more when you had to leave.’

‘But I don’t have to leave anymore.’

‘So what are we going
to do?’ Maggie asked, a hitch in her throat.

‘You and me? That was never gonna be just about sex and you know it. And every night wouldn’t be enough with the way I feel about you.’ His face was serious and soft. ‘I don’t want to stop making love to you. Ever. We’ve wasted too many years, don’t you think?’

Maggie searched his eyes and saw the truth. She saw love. ‘I’ve been at my mom’s. I told
her everything.’

‘Great. She’s really gonna hate on me now,’ Cooper said wryly.

‘Mom said she couldn’t believe we waited this long to realise what she has apparently known all along.’

Cooper kissed Maggie’s lips gently. ‘And there I was thinking she didn’t like me.’

‘There I was thinking this was all about Evan. About some sense of guilt you felt about what Vance had done.’

Cooper sighed
against her lips as he kissed her again. ‘Evan … you know how it felt the other day when he asked me if I was his dad?’

‘Oh, Cooper.’ Tears trickled down Maggie’s cheeks.

‘Yeah, I’m jealous of that stupid prick who actually is his father. I mean, who wouldn’t kill to have a kid like that? And although Vance will never deserve him, someone else will always be Evan’s dad. One day, when Evan’s
old enough, he might want to have a relationship with him. And whatever I am to Evan will just get pushed into the background. And I get that. I do. But it’ll hurt like a bastard.’

‘You big dope. You know Evan loves you,’ Maggie said.

‘I’ve been a risk taker all my life, Maggie. You can’t be a crazy-ass surfer without loving the adrenaline that comes with the water, leaping off rocks into shark-infested
waters for the thrill of riding a killer wave. But I think that this, right here? It’s about the riskiest damn thing I’ve ever done. Pushing that boundary between friends and lovers? There are risks for me here, too, in loving you.’

‘You love me,’ Maggie repeated his words, letting them sink in.

Cooper gently held her cheeks, just a whisper and a kiss away from his mouth. ‘I do, Maggie Mac.
I love you.’

Maggie exhaled, felt calm suddenly. ‘I’m so glad.’ She pressed her lips to Cooper’s and then deepened the kiss, her tongue finding his, a hand slipping up inside his T-shirt to find its resting place over his heart.

When they came up for air, Cooper smiled at her. ‘You going to stroke my ego and tell me again?’

‘I kinda thought that was implied,’ she retorted, breathless.

‘Tell
me, Maggie. I need to hear it.’

‘I love you back, Cooper Malone.’

‘You’ve made me the happiest man on earth, you know that?’

‘I’m not surprised. I’m quite a catch. I take in injured athletes and provide them with intensive 24/7 support. Spiritually, emotionally and …’ she trailed a hand down to his crotch. ‘Physically.’

‘Best physical therapy I’ve ever had,’ Cooper managed with a groan as
Maggie undid the button and the zip on his board shorts. She tugged at the front of his jocks and his cock sprang free. God how she wanted him inside her.

He hissed in a breath. ‘Jesus, Maggie. Get off me.’

She slipped off his lap in a nanosecond. ‘Oh no, I’m so sorry. Did I hurt your knee? God that was stupid. Why did I think we could get down and dirty here on the world’s smallest sofa?’

‘Help me up, would you?’ Cooper tugged at his board shorts so they wouldn’t fall down and then held out an arm, who pulled him to standing. When he was balanced, he slipped an arm around her waist and crushed her body to his. ‘Believe me, Maggie Mac, when I’m fully fit, we’re going to christen every damn surface in this house. Twice. The sofa. That crappy rug. The kitchen table. Even the damn washing
machine. But right now, you need to take me to your bed.’

‘That would be my absolute pleasure,’ Maggie said and took him by the hand.

*

‘We’ve got an
hour until I need to go and get Evan,’ Maggie said. She didn’t need to close the bedroom door this time. They had the whole house to themselves.

Cooper stood by the side of the bed and
she went to him, pulling off her T-shirt as she approached. He reached around her back and, with an expert flick, her bra loosened and she shrugged it to the floor.

‘You’re so beautiful, you know that?’ he said as he cupped her breasts, both of his warm hands on her. She threw back her head and let herself feel every nerve tingle.

‘You make me feel that way, Cooper.’ She tugged at her skirt
and panties and then she was naked before him. His eyes raked over her, taking in every inch of her body. She freed him of his shirt, his board shorts and his jocks and she splayed her hands on his chest, his beautiful body.

‘I always thought you were gorgeous’, she said as she pressed her lips to his abs. ‘But this is different. Your body is all mine now. I can do with it whatever I want.’ She
urged him backwards to sit on the bed, and when he was steady, she pushed harder. He fell flat on his back and she straddled him, her legs wide, her sex grinding against his cock; she was already wet and ready, so ready.

‘I know you like it with me on top,’ she said, leaning down to kiss his mouth, tugging at his lip with her teeth.

‘Damn right I do.’

‘But I like this.’ Maggie moved up his
body, sliding herself up his abs, over his strong chest, and when she was above his face, she lowered herself onto his mouth. Somewhere underneath her, he groaned and his hands clasped on to her hips as his mouth and tongue worked their magic and when she came, bucked over him, Maggie decided that loving Cooper was the best decision of her life.

‡

A
fterwards, they lay
together, hands and hearts entwined. They only had a little time before Maggie had to head to school and she needed to raise this with Cooper sooner rather than later.

‘We need to talk about Evan,’ she said.

‘What about him?’ Cooper
asked, concern in his tone. ‘Don’t you want to tell him?’

Maggie turned on her side. ‘Of course I do, but I’m not exactly sure what to say about this. About us. This isn’t just us, you know that.’

‘Of course I know that, Maggie. What does he know about his father?’

‘He knows what’s age appropriate, so it’s about a quarter of the truth. When he was old enough, started asking questions, I read
lots of books and talked to a lot of people about what to tell him. And it was hard, you know? I’ve never wanted my little man to think I’d found him under a cabbage patch or something, but I had to be cautious about the real story, too. How do you tell a boy that his father didn’t want him?’

Cooper’s eyes softened. ‘He’ll realise that for himself. I did.’

Maggie waited. ‘I know what it’s like
to be Evan, I really do. And I know what to say to him, if you’ll let me.’

‘Are you sure?’

Cooper took her face in the palm of his hand. ‘I’m sure. Why don’t we take him to the beach after school?’

Maggie nodded. ‘I really love you, you know that?’

‘Right back atcha, Little Miss Firecracker.’

*