One-Amazing-Night Baby!

His tanned, toned abdomen rippled and flexed as he slid off his trousers, then his shorts. Then he swung a crooked leg onto the bed and faced her. Awed by the complete bared-all package, she dared a two-finger stroke of his thigh—a surface that compared with sun-warmed granite. Cooper Smith had the body of a male swimwear model—tight, polished, bulging in all the right places. And that included south of the border.

Her mind was stuck on glorious freeze-frame when he urged her onto her back and, reclining beside her, smiled down, as if pleased by her level of interest. He held her hand and placed it on his sternum. Her more romantic side was convinced he had imprinted her touch on his heart.

The sound of his pleasure rumbled beneath her palm, deep and seductive. ‘Your turn.’

Ready to return his smile, Sophie instead found herself holding her breath. All at once the shadow on his strong jaw seemed darker, the blaze in his eyes more intense.

No! She’d promised herself she wouldn’t change her mind. But now the former, far more anxious Sophie whispered in her head. Don’t be a fool. You’ve bitten off more than you can chew.

As if reading her thoughts, Cooper’s smile vanished. Hair fallen over one side of his brow, he pushed up to support his weight on one arm as his gaze skimmed her lips, then examined her eyes. ‘You’re trembling.’

Sophie inhaled his fresh, earthy scent, drank in his concerned expression, and, suddenly feeling childish, shook her head. She wanted this. Would always remember it. All she had to do was take this last step. ‘It’s just that it all seems a little … surreal.’

The air compressed, then pulsed around them as he leaned in close to draw his bristled chin up her jaw. ‘Great, isn’t it?’

His reply was so gravelled and honest, so what she felt as well, that Sophie laughed. Smiling again too, he rolled, sweeping her over on top of him with the movement. She went with the flow and, naked but for her panties, pushed upright to straddle his hips.

A moment of something like reverence passed between them before he reached around, held her behind and, his gaze lowering to caress her body, began to rotate his pelvis—back and forth, up and down. As she let herself go, closed her eyes and gently rocked above him, she felt his physical appreciation increase along with her own. Head lolling forward, then back, she worked with him—against him—till nothing barred their joining but crumbling restraint and an annoying strip of damp cotton brief.

Lost to the swirling depths of sensation, she was about to clear the obstruction when a hot fingertip began a tantalising ascent up her spine. Starting with circling at the base, his touch traced up over each vertebra—an action so subtle yet so exceptionally seductive it raised her skin to goosebumps and her soul to even dizzier heights.

By the time his touch arrived at her tingling nape Sophie’s backbone had not only straightened, she’d over-arced. Her fingers dug behind her into his thighs, while her face worshipped those stars in her own private sky.

As she sizzled with need, he pivoted to a sitting position and, framing her face with his hands, kissed her so deeply she thought she might pass out. When he tried but failed to work a set of fingers through her coiffed hair, his husky murmur brushed warmth across her lips.

‘I want it down.’

She smiled, blindly withdrew some hairpins, then shook out her waist-length hair. More freedom!

Teasing, she hitched up one shoulder and staged a pout. ‘Ready for the wild Lady Godiva look?’

His brows opened up as he twirled one of too many curls. ‘Wild is right.’

Her elation dipped. She combed a fall of spirals away from her cheek. She hated her hair. She only kept it long because it was impossible short. ‘Is it too wild?’

‘Absolutely feral.’ He leaned in, dragged his teeth over her neck and growled, ‘I love it.’

As exhilaration washed through her, his warm, wet mouth discovered the tender peak of her breast. She hummed with unabashed delight as his tongue worked its magic and the friction sparking low in her belly spread a marvellous liquid heat through the streams of her body. An arm bracing her back, he gently twirled her and lowered her upon the sheet.

The exquisite suction and occasional nip on her breast gradually eased. Sophie let out a long pleasure-filled sigh as his lips—his entire frame—began to travel down … over her lightly panting ribs, across her quivering tummy. The warm tip of his tongue trailed around and around her navel till she thought she might go mad.

Biting her lip, she pushed his head aside. ‘That tickles!’

By the lamp’s glow, she watched shadows move over the chiselled planes of his face. His eyes glittered with an authoritative style of mischief that left her weak all over. ‘I’ll have you know I’m being serious here.’

Oh, she believed him.

Her previous thoughts floated back, ribboning around the ecstasy of his mouth’s moist caress as he angled closer to the juncture of her thighs. Inside, she held herself tight as the delectable ache of arousal grew stronger and deeper, until a fine spray of flaming arrows began to fly at her core. The intensity built to such a degree she barely knew she was writhing, or that her fingers were knotted in his hair. She could literally taste the ultimate satisfaction waiting a heartbeat away.

His slightly roughened palm skied down her waist, over her hip, till his touch delved past her panties’ elastic and, curling beneath, met with the unmistakable evidence of her need. At the same moment she gasped at the contact, he snatched the scrap of fabric down and fully off her legs.

Bunched up inside, she shook like a kitten as he kissed her there, with such tenderness and obvious enjoyment that after a moment she forgot every concern other than being an aroused woman with urgent burning needs. She followed where he led, ever closer to the cliff, more than willing to freefall into the blazing whirlpool he had so effortlessly created within her.

Her climax crept up, then knocked her flying. An unfamiliar noise escaped her throat as she gripped his head and held on tight. The release was a continuous detonation of throbbing pleasure that kicked her hips off the bed and sent her soul soaring towards those far-flung stars.

She rode the rolling crest until the intensity gradually ebbed, and bit by bit she washed up on the shore. As the delicious ripples faded and real time began again, she dragged herself back and sighed on a smile. She needed to take a good deep breath.

Her eyes sprang open.

Oh, God, so must he!

Smothering a whimper, she released her hold. But when he peered up over the length of her body he didn’t look concerned, or the least bit annoyed. In fact, he looked positively pleased as he prowled up on all fours, a sleek-muscled jungle cat stalking its second course.

A strong arm drew her near as, propped up on an elbow, his pure masculine perfection hovered close. ‘Any regrets so far?’

Her heart squeezed.

Yes—but she wouldn’t say it. She didn’t want to even think it. This was the best she’d felt about herself in—well, since for ever. Her regret was that tonight would end; they would say goodbye. They were fundamentally different people, who thought and operated in very different ways. Cooper would find a beautiful agreeable woman who fitted his list, while Sophie Gruebella would carry on with her life.

The silver lining? Hers would be a new life, a metamorphosis, so to speak; tonight had proved that as nothing else could. From this time forward she made her own rules. The husk of ‘pushover Sophie’ would be left behind for ever. She couldn’t wait to see Penny and Kate’s reaction when she saw them next.

Cooper’s voice was so low he sounded as dangerous as he looked. ‘Miss Sophie Schoolteacher? That question requires an answer.’

Her lips curved as she twined her arms around the thick column of his hot damp neck. Thatching her fingers up through the back of his silky black hair, she shook her head. ‘No regrets. No going back. Only forward.’

And, although her body buzzed with deep satisfaction, her sizzling nerve-endings already anticipated the next round. The best was yet to come. Three times, if she was lucky.

As he searched her eyes, his expression changed.

‘You’re beautiful.’

He said it simply, seemingly without artifice, and for a moment the breath caught in her throat. But, come on … She knew what lay behind that statement. Cooper might be alpha, and built, and sexy and rich. He also had a conscience. And right now that conscience told him to be kind to the girl he was about to know in the most intimate way possible.

She traced a fingertip around his cleft chin and lower, to circle his prominent Adam’s apple. ‘I know one thing,’ she murmured.

A faint line brushed between his brows. ‘Tell me.’ All warm inside, she tugged some chest hair and

grinned. ‘I’ll remember this night.’

Returning her smile, he grazed the hard, ready

length of his body against her. ‘You won’t need a

memento?’

She pretended innocence. ‘You could arrange one?’ ‘I do have something you might remember fondly.

Unfortunately you can’t take it with you when you go.’ He found her hand and redirected her attention …

The rest of the night and half the next day, Sophie enjoyed Cooper Smith’s extraordinary hospitality. They didn’t exchange addresses or any personal details. Exactly the way she wanted it. Him too. They’d agreed. They had no future together. This was one night and one night only. Neither needed to pretend to the other it was anything more.

Over the following weeks Sophie thought often of Cooper, but she tried never to dwell on his offhand suggestion of fond remembrances or mementoes. Until one Saturday morning when, alone in her apartment’s bathroom, she gazed at the test stick and her jaw came unhinged.

Pink. Two lines. Positive.

In eight months’ time she would be a parent.

Sophie crumpled back onto the pedestal seat.

And, like it or not, millionaire Mr Smith would be one too.

CHAPTER FOUR

COOPER scowled at the Roman numeral clock above his home office filing drawers and bit down as his stomach muscles clenched.

Eleven-twenty on a late autumn day. His surprise visitor would soon be here. Question was … what did Sophie want so many weeks after the event?

Frowning, he pushed out from his high-backed leather chair, rounded his desk, and absently rearranged a stack of depositions he should have finished assessing that morning. Instead, most of the time he’d merely stared at them in a slightly vexed, preoccupied daze.

The hotel had passed on her message asking him to call. Since their brief phone conversation yesterday, when she’d asked to meet with him here, he’d thought of little else. He loathed wasting time, but this morning he’d been dressed by six, had finished his workout by seven, after which he’d achieved nothing more than washing down endless cups of strong black coffee.

He glanced at the clock.

Eleven twenty-one. Nine minutes to go.

‘Cooper, can you spare a few dollars?’

He jumped at the bright voice at his back, and the depositions scattered across the desk onto the floor. He spun to find his sister, dressed in worn low-slung jeans and a luminous pink midriff top. Her cropped blonde hair was styled to perfection. Shoulder propped against his office doorjamb, she munched on a bowl of rabbit food.

His arms folded over his chest. ‘Is that what’s going to fuel your day? A handful of lettuce?’

She was naturally small and lean, but a person needed sustenance—particularly when she was headed off in two weeks’ time on a students’ overseas exchange programme. The provincial city of Aurillac, France, was known for its chilly mornings. A little natural padding wouldn’t go astray.

Paige arched a brow. ‘And you’ve had … how many cups of coffee already today?’

He suppressed a grin. Smart Alec. ‘We were talking about you.’

She mumbled something like ‘bossy-boots’, then issued a put-upon sigh and pushed off the jamb. ‘Marlo and I will have lunch in between shopping, okay?’

His arms dropped to his sides. ‘More shopping?’

She stared at him, puzzled. ‘Why else would I ask for money?’

He scrubbed at his jaw. ‘Sometimes women’s logic frightens me.’

‘I need to upgrade my BlackBerry,’ she explained, setting her china bowl on the sideboard. ‘Treena Allen says mine is two whole models ago.’

He slid his wallet out from his back chinos pocket as he moved towards her. ‘How much?’

‘A debit card might be easier.’

He didn’t flinch. ‘No doubt it would.’

He handed one over, but she handed it straight back. ‘Not this one.’

He grinned. No flies on Paige.

The card boomeranged back. ‘It has a limit, Paige, but a very generous one. I’m sure you won’t run into trouble.’

Knowing she was beaten, Paige succumbed to give a grateful smile. When she craned up, he bent down to accept a kiss on his cheek. ‘Thanks, Coop.’

No big deal. Hell, if keeping his sister’s techno needs in superior shape was the least of their concerns, he wouldn’t grumble. When she started having trouble with boys, then he’d have something to say.

He blew out a long breath. God, he wished their parents were alive, then he wouldn’t need to say things like this old favourite. ‘No talking to strange men while you’re out today.’

Paige groaned and rolled her eyes. ‘Do we need to go through this every single time?’

While he had her attention, he’d slip in another one. ‘And if anyone tries to pull you into their car, you scream and kick—’

‘And run the other way. I know, Cooper. I know.’ She slotted the plastic into her designer handbag. ‘I’m not a baby.’

He placed his hands on her small, vulnerable shoulders. ‘You’re my responsibility, and I take that responsibility seriously. You might not agree with what I say, but there’s only one boss in this house. While you live under this roof I set the rules, and I expect those rules to be obeyed.’ His voice lost some of its sternness. ‘So, remember … home before dark.’

The doorbell chimed. Her expression alive again, Paige sprang around. ‘I’ll get it.’

Heartbeat slamming into overdrive, Cooper strode past. ‘That’s for me.’

Paige sideswiped his arm as she skipped past and overtook him. Naturally he couldn’t let that offence go unchallenged, and he stepped on the gas. Paige crashed against the timber as they both skidded to a stop in the foyer.

Laughing, Cooper swung open the front door.

Sophie stood on the porch, wide-eyed and stiff.

He’d expected her to be glowing, like the last time he’d seen her. But in dark trousers, a white blouse buttoned to her throat and a black cardigan she looked staid and rather pale. Even her long tousled hair looked unfamiliar, tied back in a high, tight ponytail, though it was still super-sexy, with those haphazard spirals on either side.

But he wouldn’t think along those lines. Sexy or not, no encore was permitted. They were as incompatible as oil and water—bedroom activities obviously excluded.

Paige wheeled in front of him and gasped. ‘What are you doing here?’

Cooper squeezed his sister’s shoulder. ‘Paige, don’t be rude.’ No matter if she thought Sophie was a salesperson who’d ignored the sign at the entry gate. She needed her manners. ‘This lady is here to see me.’

Paige squeaked at Sophie, ‘You know my brother?’

Sophie’s eyes shot wider. ‘Cooper’s your brother?’

Groaning, Paige smacked her forehead. ‘Now it’s coming together. Cooper must be the guy you’ve been getting all dressed up for.’

Sophie shrank into her collar and gave an awkward half-shrug. ‘Who said I was getting dressed up for anyone?’

Paige laughed. ‘It’s kinda obvious. All the girls are saying so. It’s like these past weeks you’ve had a makeover. New clothes, hair down—not like today,’ she noted, inspecting the ponytail. ‘Even the way you walk has changed. It’s fantastic!’

Trying to track the conversation, and now hopelessly lost, Cooper held up his hands. ‘Slow down. Someone fill me in on the missing piece of this puzzle.’

Paige spoke over her shoulder. ‘Ms Gruebella is a teacher at Unity.’

Belated colour bloomed in Sophie’s cheeks, but Cooper didn’t allow his expression to let on either way. If a person had to hide a last name, Gruebella was one worth hiding.

And what about that second lot of information?

‘You’re Ms Gruebella from school?’

He’d imagined a fifty-year-old with wiry hair and Victorian morals. Not a desirable goddess of a woman with a voluptuous body, who had left him sated and then instantly craving more. When he lay down at night her unique vanilla scent flooded his imagination. The vision of her reaching for him gripped and didn’t let go. Instead of their night fading, memories had become stronger, until when he closed his eyes to sleep she was all that he saw.

But he needed only to recall those qualities which could not and would not be ignored for sanity to return. Argumentative, ambivalent about marriage and having children. And let’s not forget her impulsive nature. Of course he took full responsibility for making the first move … the second and third, as well. However, the fact remained she’d fallen into bed with him in record time. Outstanding mistress material? Absolutely. But he wanted a wife, dammit. Not sex on the side.

He half wished he’d known the drawbacks before asking her to dance. He could have saved himself some sleepless nights, as well as what promised to be an awkward meeting today if she planned on breaking their agreement and seeing him again. As much as his body might sit up and respond, this time he would listen to common sense and years of field experience. He had enjoyed their time together, but the answer to any future liaisons would be a resounding no.

He knew best, and this was best for all.

A late model black Mercedes glided up and around the paved circular drive lined with soaring pencil pines. Paige’s friend, Marlo Daniels, popped her head out of the lowering back window. Her large freckled nose scrunched. ‘Is that you, Ms Gruebella?’

Paige wrung her handbag and addressed Sophie. ‘You’re not here over anything we’ve talked about, are you?’

Unease looped in Cooper’s gut. He swung a furrowed glance between the two. ‘And just what have you two been discussing?’

Sophie’s face softened and she touched Paige’s arm. ‘I’m here to see Cooper about something else entirely.’

Paige seemed to think it through before she smiled, her teeth straight and white. Those braces had been worth every dime.

‘Okay. But be good.’ In a running skip, Paige headed off towards Marlo. ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’

As the passenger door closed and the Merc, Mrs Daniels driving, eased off, Cooper swept an arm through the air, ushering his guest in. Damn, she looked hot—

He set his jaw.

But not too hot to resist. When he made a plan he stuck to it. No detours.

Sophie edged in across the threshold. ‘Small world, big school. There are quite a few Smiths. I didn’t put it together.’

He brushed it off. ‘Totally understandable.’

But her visit today had nothing to do with her being Paige’s teacher—although he was grateful to have heard only stellar compliments regarding the mysterious Ms Gruebella. It made his impaired judgement that night seem slightly less unreasonable.

Passing a cosy sitting room, he automatically cupped her elbow. Even through her shirt’s fabric, the powerful physical response sent lit fuses hopscotching across his nerve-endings. The impulse to linger and enjoy the sensation was crushing.

Inhaling deeply, he let go of her arm and slid his hand into his pocket. Small talk needed to be dispensed with.

He walked in step beside her. ‘So, Sophie, keeping well?’

She swept her heavy ponytail over a shoulder and her gaze connected with his. Ah, yes, he remembered those eyes.

‘Pretty much,’ she replied. ‘What about you?’

He shrugged. ‘Trying to keep out of trouble.’

Without a hint of warning, her legs went out from under her. Whipping that hand from its pocket, he wove, and caught her weight as she buckled.

Finding her feet again, with his help, she patted down her hair and nodded at the marble tiles. ‘Must be a slippery spot.’

He assessed first the floor and then his guest through narrowed eyes. They started off again. ‘I’ll have my housekeeper look into it.’

He opened a door that led off to a secluded patio— his favourite place in the grounds, enclosed by mock-orange shrubs, with a goldfish pond to one side. Cooper often came out here to breathe in the unpolluted air, ingest the clear blue sky, and revitalise his sense of order and control. He needed a double dose today.

Stepping out onto the slate, Sophie trailed fingertips along the border of bright green leaves before she lowered herself onto the calico-padded wrought-iron seat he’d retracted.

After dragging in his own chair, Cooper got down to business. ‘When I received your message from the hotel asking me to call you, frankly, I was surprised.’

She avoided his gaze. ‘I hadn’t planned on calling.’

He waited. Cocked his head. ‘Then why did you?’

He hadn’t changed his agenda; he was looking for long-term. Sophie might have been too sweet to leave hanging on the vine, but he had a goal, and sampling her fruit again did not feature. She’d known that as much as he had.

Uncomfortable, she shifted in her chair. ‘It’s a little difficult to explain.’

Was she waiting for him to make the first move? Suggest they should pick up where they’d left off? It wouldn’t happen. He wasn’t buying. No matter how much her curls taunted him, or how much those plump lips he’d kissed till dawn tempted him.

In fact, the sooner this was out, the sooner she would leave—and the sooner they could both get on with their lives.

Of necessity, he injected a grave note into his voice. ‘I thought we agreed that night that we have different agendas.’

Hands clasped in her lap, still avoiding his eyes, she nodded deeply. ‘Yes. Yes, we did.’

Cooper studied her more closely. Was this evasive, almost shy woman the same fireball who had detonated waves of heat through his blood? She still breathed flames over his skin merely by sitting near, clasping and unclasping the delicate hands that had travelled and aroused every inch of him. She was arousing him even now without touching him.

Brow low, knuckles knocking on the armrest, Cooper tossed an aggravated glance around. This setting was too personal. Too convenient. A more public environment would work best. No car blocked his drive so he assumed she’d taken a cab. They should have a civil discussion somewhere neutral, settle up and square off before he dropped her home. Case closed.

He tipped forward. ‘This is a little awkward. I think we should go somewhere else for—’ He’d almost said for coffee. But there was no forgetting what had happened last time he’d suggested that.

Finally finding his gaze, she filled in the blank. ‘Go somewhere for lunch? I am a little hungry. I missed breakfast this morning.’

His thoughts jumped to Paige and her rabbit food, then his own stomach growled.

Her smile spread. ‘Sounds like you did, too.’

His mind hurtled back to ‘the morning after’, when she’d taken great pleasure helping him devour chocolate syrup pancakes. They’d been naked, camped out on the rumpled sheets. He hadn’t meant to drip the chocolate sauce on her thigh, though he sure as hell had enjoyed licking it off.

Slanting forward too, she clenched her white-knuckled hands atop the round table. ‘But, Cooper, I really need to speak with you first. I’m not sure I can wait a minute more.’