CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
“MORNING, sunshine,” Cooper said, his voice hoarse, lips brushing over her hair at her temple.
Harley had wandered away from him while she slept, but now she shifted so she could snuggle right up against his chest. She needed to touch, to confirm that this was real. She was dating Cooper Brickman. She was sleeping with Cooper Brickman. She was with a man who loved her.
Crazy. It was just crazy.
Beautiful. Wonderful. Amazing. Orgasm-inducing.
“Good morning. Do I even want to know what time it is?”
“It’s only nine.” He yawned. “I think we slept a total of three hours. But sleep is overrated.” His hand strayed down her back and rested on her hip. “We can sleep when we’re old.”
“What is on your schedule for today?”
“Hell if I know. Cami will be bugging me soon enough with details. There’s a lot of details.”
Idly, Harley scratched her nails lightly over his chest, enjoying how hard his body was. She wasn’t sure how to be the woman in Cooper’s life. It seemed bizarre that everything had changed, yet nothing had changed. She would go and help Mary Jane with her schoolwork. Cooper would go to work. They would eat dinner together, like they did every weeknight. Yet this weeknight their relationship had completely changed.
“Are we going to tell Mary Jane? Or do we keep it a secret for now?”
“I think we can ease her into the idea. I don’t think she needs to know you’re sleeping in my bed, but we should introduce her to the fact that there will be a you and me.”
Knowing Mary Jane, she was probably already on to them. Harley wasn’t in her room, and Mary Jane had most likely gotten up already. She would question where Harley had been. “I agree. But she’s smart. It will be a challenge to smoke it past her. What if she gets really angry?”
Her finger had gone up to her mouth and she was chewing on her nail without even realizing she was doing it. Cooper pulled it out of her mouth and laced her fingers through his. “No worrying, remember? We’re not going to let my sister put a Tootsie Roll in the punch bowl. She’ll be fine.”
That might be wishful thinking on his part. “I hope you’re right.”
“I’m always right. Haven’t you figured that out by now?” He gave her ass a smack. “Now I’m going to either make love to you again or get out of bed and be a responsible adult. Which do you think I’m going to choose?”
Except right at that moment the door to Cooper’s bedroom opened and Rosa came in with a laundry basket. “Ah!” she shrieked when she spotted them. Her eyes widened and she let go of the basket long enough to make a hasty sign of the cross.
Harley wanted to crawl completely under Cooper’s posh covers. And die. At least all her important parts were covered, but it was a small consolation.
“Morning,” Cooper said to his housekeeper. “I had a late night, so late start today.”
“I see.” Those two words held a world of censure. “I’ll come back later.” She turned but as she left she pulled something out of her pocket and left it on Cooper’s bureau.
He started laughing the second the door shut.
“What did she leave?” Harley asked, her cheeks hot from embarrassment. She was a grown woman and could sleep with whoever she damn well pleased, but she didn’t particularly want anyone to be a party to it.
“Probably a prayer card. She is perpetually trying to save my soul. I appreciate the effort.” He gave her a charming smile. “Now what can I offer you in exchange for you making coffee for me?”
She wasn’t sure why the coffeemaker stymied him as much as it did, but she thought it was cute. “I’ll do it for no reason other than the fact that I think you’re adorable.”
He made a face. “Adorable? I’d rather be manly and strong. Can’t I just buy you some jewelry and have you think I’m the hottest thing since Flaming Hot Cheetos?”
Harley laughed and pushed herself up on his chest to stare down at him, her nipples teasing over his skin. “Do you ever see me wearing jewelry? Save your money, please.”
For a second, he looked surprised. Like he couldn’t comprehend a woman turning down a gift of precious stones. But then he grinned. “I suppose you’re right. Dang, you’re a cheap date. Now I know I really am the luckiest man in the world.”
Which brought her to another point. “Don’t you find it a bit awkward that you’re paying me to be Mary Jane’s nanny when we’re seeing each other now?”
“It wasn’t weird until you just brought it up.” He gave her a smirk. “Should I stop paying you? Would that make you feel better?”
That made her laugh. She really was borrowing trouble. It was a gift she had. “Don’t even try it. I’ll sue you for wages earned.”
“Tough words.” He tweaked her nipple and shifted out from under her. “Have your people call my people. I need some goddamn coffee.”
“You’re a caffeine addict, you know.”
“Duh.” Cooper gave her a sleepy, sexy smile as he maneuvered out of bed. When he stood up, he stretched his arms over his head, giving Harley a delectable view.
There was nothing between him and the good Lord but a smile, and she was heartily grateful.
“Like what you see?” he asked.
“Duh,” she parroted back.
He laughed and Harley wondered how it was possible to be so truly and thoroughly happy.
* * *
COOPER tucked into his eggs and took a sip of his second cup of coffee. He couldn’t stop smiling at Harley across the kitchen table. She looked beautiful. Sexy. Unintentionally seductive. The way she tilted her head, licked her lips, looked at him from under her eyelashes, all turned him on. Made him grateful that despite their rocky and bizarre start, they had worked their stuff out and were together.
It had been years since he’d felt this giddy.
The only downside was that everyone else seemed to notice it as well. Rosa had given him the evil eye several times as she had passed through the kitchen for no apparent reason. Cami had remarked on it over the phone before sniffing that he was late coming in to the office.
But the worst was MJ. She was eyeing him over her orange juice with a hearty dose of suspicion.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked. “You look like you have some creepy secret.”
“Creepy” wasn’t the word he’d use for it, but it was a secret that he was itching to tell. When a man fell in love, he didn’t exactly want to stay quiet about it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Did you get Serge back for me?” she asked.
“Who the hell is Serge?” he asked, caught off guard.
“My llama!”
Right. The llama. “I told you six months of good behavior. It’s only been one.”
“Then what?”
He suddenly had a fabulous idea. “You and Harley are coming to Phoenix with me. There’s a charity fund-raiser going on after the race. Y’all can be my dates.”
Harley coughed and her eyes widened.
MJ gave a whoop of excitement. “Holla! It’s black tie, isn’t it? I can’t wait to buy a new dress. This is awesomesauce.”
But his brand-new secret girlfriend didn’t seem to share the same enthusiasm. In fact, she said, “I forgot I need to take care of something. Excuse me.”
Then she abandoned her breakfast and rushed out of the room. He could hear her running up the marble steps a minute later.
“Huh. Wonder what that was about,” he said.
Before he could reflect further, his phone buzzed on the table between him and his sister. They could both see that it was Holly calling him. Odd. He hadn’t heard from her in weeks.
“I thought you were done with her,” MJ said, scornfully. “Please don’t tell me she was at the Buckle last night. How pathetic would that be?”
He didn’t even want to know what MJ knew about the goings-on at the Buckle. “She wasn’t there. And why does Holly bother you so much anyway?”
“I told you. She’s all wrong for you.”
“Who is the right kind of woman?” He knew. But did his sister?
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes, I would really like to know.”
“Someone like Harley.”
Amen. She was preaching to the choir. “I couldn’t agree more.”
“But don’t wreck my nanny. She’s no use to me with a busted heart.”
And with that, his Machiavellian sister made him, a grown-ass man, feel completely like he had to defend himself. “I’m not going to wreck your nanny, for chrissake. You make me sound like I have a string of destroyed women in my past.”
“Just sayin’.”
“And she’s just upstairs. I’m sure she wouldn’t appreciate this conversation.”
Mary Jane shrugged. “Not that she would be interested in you. She’s too smart to get involved with a guy like you.”
He wasn’t going to ask. He wasn’t going to ask. “What kind of guy is that?” Damn it. He asked.
“A player.”
Nice. Cooper ran his hand through his hair. He refused to defend himself to a thirteen-year-old. “For your information, Harley is involved with me. That’s why I’m wearing a shit-eating grin. She has agreed to be my girl.”
Mary Jane dropped her toast. “Are you serious? But my sources say you were seen kissing Charity, Harley’s twin, last night.”
He was going to have to strangle these mysterious sources. “Your sources are wrong. Harley and I are an item. Put that on your blog.”
But his sister looked worried. “This is a totally stupid idea. It’s not fair to Harley, Coop.”
That irritated him. What exactly did she think he was going to do to Harley? “I don’t believe I asked for your permission in who I date.”
“You’re a jerk,” was her opinion as she shoved her chair back. “You could have any stupid girl you want, why do you have to pick Harley?”
“Because she’s the most amazing woman I’ve met.”
But she just shook her head. “I’m not going to Phoenix to watch you trying to touch her butt all the time. I’m staying home.”
He was so offended, he just shrugged. “Suit yourself. Rosa will have you on lockdown then.”
“Ugh!” She yelled in frustration, then ran out of the kitchen.
Cooper looked down at his breakfast and wondered what the hell had just happened.
Rosa came in right then and stood in front of him, arms crossed over her chest.
He sighed. “Yes?” he asked when she didn’t say anything.
“I cannot work here if you are going to be doing the thing with the nanny. It’s not right and I quit.”
“What thing is that?” he asked, out of spite because he was pretty damn sick of everyone telling him he was misbehaving when for once he was just trying to enjoy the love of a good woman.
“Sex,” she hissed. “It’s not good for the child.”
“The child isn’t in the room when it’s happening.” He knew he was being an asshole to Rosa, but enough was enough. “Look. I care about Harley, alright? I plan on being with her as long as she’s willing to put up with me. This isn’t some wham-bam, thank you ma’am. So I think you should just accept that sometimes people have sex and go about the job I hired you to do. I respect and admire you and I don’t want to lose you. But how I live my personal life is my own business.”
Her response was entirely in Spanish. Then she went the way of Harley and MJ.
So he had no idea if he even still had a housekeeper, let alone a sister or a girlfriend.
Cooper took a sip of his coffee. It was cold.
* * *
HARLEY hadn’t meant to run away like a complete and total coward, but the idea of going to a black tie event at the track with the swanky people had her butt cheeks forming a fist. The most comfortable she’d been at Ty and Imogen’s wedding was when she had been out on the terrace by herself.
Plus then she’d felt the unmistakable sensation of warm fluid between her legs, dampening her panties, from the aftereffects of not using a condom. It had just been too much, sitting there with Mary Jane, who was clearly suspicious, Rosa passing through in silent judgment.
She wasn’t sure how to navigate these waters. Cooper, on the other hand, looked perfectly at ease. But then he always did. She was the only one who was perpetually a hot mess. The only time she had any confidence was when she was with kids, and this upset the balance of even that.
After taking a five-minute shower, she changed into clean panties and jeans and a sweatshirt. When she stepped out of her en suite bathroom into her bedroom she jumped. Mary Jane was lolling on her bed.
“I see you made your bed today,” she said pointedly.
“Are you done with your breakfast already?” Harley asked, avoiding that obvious dig.
“I’m not hungry. Neither are you, apparently.”
“Upset stomach.”
“Are you having sex with my brother?” she asked, baldly.
Oh, God. “Mary Jane. I don’t think this is a conversation we should be having.”
“So, in other words, yes.”
She wasn’t going to lie to her. Mary Jane had had enough people brushing her off in her life. “Cooper and I have gotten closer, that’s true.”
It caught Harley completely off guard when Mary Jane’s lip trembled and tears came to her eyes. “No, don’t do this, Harley! He’s going to dump you and then you’re going to leave and I don’t want you to leave.”
While it was not reassuring to hear that Mary Jane assumed Cooper would get tired of her and ditch her, it was nice to know that his sister would miss her. “Hey.” Harley climbed onto the bed with her and pulled her into her arms for a hug. “I’m not going to leave. No matter what happens, okay? You need to trust me.”
“You’re mine, not his.”
The words were muffled against Harley’s sweatshirt, but they still made her heart squeeze. She cared a great deal about Mary Jane. She’d fallen in love with her as well and she knew how much she meant to Cooper. It was scary to think that if what happened between them went south, Mary Jane would be impacted. No pressure or anything.
But it was important to let Mary Jane know she mattered. Her feelings would be taken into consideration. “My friendship with you is totally separate from my relationship with Cooper. If it doesn’t work out with us, he would never ask me to stop being here with you. He’s a good man, sweetie, and he wants you to be happy. So do I.”
Mary Jane pulled back. “I’m just scared.”
Harley gave a choked laugh. “Oh, trust me, so am I. I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring, but I’ve spent thirty years playing it safe and I don’t want to play it safe anymore.” She petted Mary Jane’s long blond hair. “Remember when you told me I shouldn’t be going for stable and sturdy? That I needed to feel a tingle when I was with a man? Well, I feel that with Cooper.”
Mary Jane gave a hearty sigh. “I find that makes me want to throw up in my mouth, but I can’t argue with love. Who can argue with love?”
“Many have tried. It usually just gets you in the end, though.”
“I told Cooper I wasn’t going to Phoenix. That was dumb. Will you tell him I changed my mind?”
“Sure.” That made Harley feel better. Mary Jane didn’t look like she was about to stage a coup or plan a full-scale runaway. If she was willing to go to Phoenix, then Harley might feel a little less terrified about the prospect herself.
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
Cooper’s head popped in. He looked sheepish and a little nervous. “You girls okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” she told him. “Right, Mary Jane?”
“Yeah, I guess. I’m going to Phoenix and don’t give me crap about it, Cooper.”
Poor Cooper looked so bewildered as he came into the room. “Why are you so belligerent about it? I offered for you to go.”
“Fine. I’m going. And I’m warning you, I’ve got my eye on you.” She put two fingers up in front of her eyes then turned and pointed them at her brother. “No pit lizards. No Budweiser girls. No stop-offs at Hooters when you’re with the ‘guys.’” She used air quotes on “guys.”
Harley was amused. It was nice to have Mary Jane in her corner telling Cooper all the things she would never voice out loud. Though she as usual found it oddly disturbing that Mary Jane sounded like a forty-year-old cynic.
“I haven’t been to Hooters since I was twenty-five. Maybe twenty-four. If women hit on me, I will dissuade them the way I always do. No one needs to be worried I will stray.” Cooper shifted his gaze from his sister to her. “I promise I would never betray you like that.”
When she looked at him, she never doubted it. Not for one minute. “I know.”
So it seemed that Cinderella got her prince after all.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a text from Charity.
I’m in love.
What a coincidence. So was she.
Harley grinned at the object of that affection. “So when are we leaving?”