CHAPTER
NINETEEN
“WELL, that was a freaking disaster,” Cooper said, ripping his tie off and tossing it on the bed in their hotel suite. “I have a massive headache.”
Here he had stupidly hoped for a relaxing weekend with Harley and MJ and so far, he’d had everyone he knew find one way or another to make his girlfriend uncomfortable. And that was before his mother had shown up. Like a Hermès hurricane, she had blown through the room and completely destroyed his cool. She’d ruined the night for all of them. Mary Jane was clingy and peevish, and Harley was pensive.
“I almost feel sorry for Serge,” he told Harley as he peeled off his suit jacket.
“The llama?” she asked, taking her earrings out of her ears and tossing them on the bureau.
“Llama? No, my mom’s boyfriend.”
“His name is Sebastian.”
“Oh. Right. Serge is the llama. Sebastian is the poor fool stuck with my mother.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I want a hot shower and an ibuprofen.”
“I have some in my bag. I’ll get you some.” She stepped out of her shoes and sighed. “I’m not used to wearing heels.”
Cooper kissed the back of her head. “I’ll rub your feet if you rub my shoulders.”
“That’s a deal. I’ll go get some water so you can take the pain reliever.”
“Thanks, baby. I’m going to talk to MJ for a minute.” He wanted reassurance from his sister that what she wanted was to stay with him. Because he was about to have a lowdown, dirty, nasty, and bloody fight on his hands. He wanted to go into this knowing that was what his sister wanted, without question.
“Hey, short stuff,” he said, when he found her in the living room of the suite, watching TV, feet on the couch. She was still wearing her dress and her face looked pale, despite the glittery eye shadow she was sporting. “You okay?”
She shrugged, eyes still on the TV.
He sat down next to her. “So, uh, that was unexpected. I didn’t know Mom was back in the country.”
When she finally turned to him, there were tears in her eyes and it was like a hot poker shoved in his chest. Damn, he wished he could take away her hurt.
“Why didn’t she ever check on me? She didn’t know I was going to be there. That was just an accident that she saw me. Why doesn’t she love me?”
Jesus. Cooper blinked hard to keep the tears stinging his own eyes from falling. “She does love you, sweetheart. But people like our mother are just selfish. She will always love herself more than she loves you or me, and that’s just the way she’s drawn. It doesn’t have a damn thing to do with you.”
“She left you, too, didn’t she?”
He nodded. “Yep. Dumped me with our grandparents and took off for years.” He put his arm around his sister and hauled her against his chest. “Some people aren’t meant to be parents, only they don’t figure that out until after the fact. So you know what? We need to be grateful to her for giving us life, but beyond that, we don’t owe her a damn thing.”
“I wish she had died instead of my dad. Is that bad?”
Sad thing was, it probably would have been better for his sister. But even though he was furious and disgusted, he couldn’t wish his own mother dead. “I think that’s a very normal feeling to have.” He paused because he wanted to be honest, but he wasn’t sure how to say it without making MJ feel like she was the pawn in the battle brewing. “I would like to file for full custody of you, but I need to know that’s definitely what you want. Mom is going to fight me on this, so while I don’t want to pressure you, I need to know that you want to stay with me. Because the courts will ask you questions and I want you to be sure of your answer.”
But she was already nodding her head. “I want to stay with you. Please don’t make me go back with her. I don’t even want to see her and I don’t get why she even cares. She wants custody so she can ignore me? It’s stupid.”
It was about power, but he wasn’t going to tell his sister that. “Okay. Then I’ll file the papers tomorrow.” He had already filed for emergency custody months ago, figuring he needed to legally have the right to make decisions about his sister. He wasn’t sure his mother even knew that because while she was supposed to be informed, he hadn’t known where she was. The guardianship had been granted on the grounds that she had just taken off and left MJ. So Cooper thought it was damn stupid on her part to put up a fight. He was confident he could win.
“Get some sleep. You have Jeff’s number, right? He’s going to have you and Harley sit in his box for the race Sunday. Tomorrow you can hang out at the pool while I work.”
“Cool.” Then the tender bonding moment was over. She pulled away from him with a sniff. “You smell like sweat. Gross.”
He laughed and stood up. “And you smell like brat.”
She stuck her tongue out at him.
Harley was in the kitchenette and she called out, “Do you want water or juice?”
“Is there orange juice? I’ll take that. Thanks, baby.” He met her as she came out with two bottles in one hand, a bottle of pain reliever in the other. He gave her a soft kiss. “Thank you. You’re amazing.” He took the bottles from her and whispered in her ear. “Come take a shower with me.”
The way she leaned into him was immensely satisfying. “I’d love to.”
In the bedroom, door firmly shut behind them, Cooper kissed Harley slowly, loving the way she dug her nails into his shoulders and massaged at the knots of tension there, while their mouths met. He didn’t deserve a woman this kind, this considerate. He hadn’t done enough to be entitled to her, and he wanted to prove that he could care for her the way she innately cared for him.
Slowly taking down the zipper of her dress, he murmured, “You looked beautiful tonight. Thank you for being with me.” He wasn’t sure that she’d enjoyed herself, even before his mother had turned up like a bad penny. With a slight tug he pushed her dress over her shoulders and down over her body. It pooled at her feet and she was left in a nude bra and panties. He liked that they blended with her flesh and didn’t give that eye-popping contrast of red or black lingerie. This allowed him to focus on her, the dip of her waist, the curve of her hip, the lush rise of her breast above her bra.
“Your friends are all very nice,” she said softly, eyes on his chest as she worked to unbutton his dress shirt.
That was when he decided he didn’t really want to talk. Yanking his shirt out of his pants, he stripped it off and took Harley by the hand and into the bathroom. The shower was huge, with multiple spouts, including several on the wall that were at the right height to hit strategic spots on a woman’s body. Well, a man’s, too, but he was more interested in her reaction than his. He knew he’d be turned on. He already was. While he turned the water on and tested the temperature, Harley ran her fingers over his bare back, then snaked around to undo the button on his pants. He never quite knew what to expect from her. Sometimes she was shy, sometimes bossy, always sexy, always perfect.
He helped her out by taking his pants off and gesturing to the luxurious shower. “Ladies first.”
Harley undid her bra and took it off slowly, her eyes never leaving his. Then she bent over and divested herself of those little panties, giving him a showstopping view of her breasts and the curve of her ass. With a sassy little kick of the panties off her foot, she gave him a smile and stepped into the shower.
“Oh, Cooper,” she groaned as the water hit her. “This feels so good.” She rolled her head side to side. “I didn’t realize how tense my muscles were.”
His mother’s legacy—shoulder knots. He got in and closed the glass door behind him. Reaching for the shower gel, he squeezed it into his hands and moved in behind Harley, starting a slow massage of her shoulders from inside to out. The sigh of pleasure she gave brought a strange sense of pride to him. He’d never really understood the satisfaction that could come from putting someone else first. Sure, he was well aware of his particular nickname because of his affinity for going down on a woman. But that was different. That was something he enjoyed because he liked driving women mad, making them completely insensible during sex, and shocking them at how far their eyes could roll back in their heads. That was pride, but a different sort of pride. It was pure ego.
But this . . . it was different. He just wanted to make sure that every day Harley was happy, comfortable. Was that what love was?
It felt like love, that was for damn sure.
Straying a bit from her shoulders, he moved lower and lower, massaging her back, before reaching around, hands slick and bubbly, to cup her breasts, squeeze her nipples. The steam rose between them and the gel smelled like coconuts. Harley tilted her head back toward him, the palms of her hands resting on his thighs. His cock was nudging between her cheeks and he felt relaxed, aroused. Rinsing his hand off first, he slipped his fingers between her thighs and stroked her clitoris. There was no rush, nowhere to be, just him and Harley in the warm heat of the water and their bodies.
So he stroked down, delving inside her slick heat, and nibbling her ear. But Harley had a different idea in mind. She spread her feet apart and leaned forward, putting her hands on the soap dish as she made soft sounds of pleasure. “Is that an invitation?” he asked.
“It’s a request.”
He smiled, urging her feet further apart with a nudge on her ankle. She obliged and he moved his hands to her hips. She was wet and slick everywhere and he took in the sight of her damp hair clinging to her shoulder, the droplets running down over her pink skin, the bumps of her spine leading right down to where he could sink inside her and lose himself in ecstasy. She turned her head so that the water wasn’t hitting her directly in the face and he got to see her parted lips, her slumberous half-closed eyes, the tip of her pink tongue darting out to lick a stray drop.
Then Cooper shifted and took her with an easy thrust. He didn’t want to pound her. He just wanted to go in, and out, and in, until she was panting and he had tight balls and no control.
But Harley said, “Harder. Please.”
How was he going to argue with that? Gripping her more firmly, he thrust hard, yanking her hips back so that they collided violently, water kicking up, the sound of the hard slap making him groan. So maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Within seconds she shocked him by having an orgasm, the unmistakable sensation of her climax gripping his cock and plunging him over the edge. All the night’s frustrations, anxieties, just ripped out of him as he gritted his teeth and embraced the feeling of coming inside Harley.
“Damn,” he said, when he could finally breathe again. Harley was panting, too, and she shifted forward with a little laugh.
“My knees are knocking.”
Cooper sighed when her movement broke their connection. He didn’t want to let her go. But the water was getting cooler and he could see that Harley was ready to get out. So he didn’t protest when she gave him a kiss and a smile and slipped out, immediately wrapping herself in a towel. Ducking his head under the water, he washed his hair and face quickly, rolling his neck to get the last remnants of tension out.
“My headache is gone,” he told her as she dried herself off.
“Glad I could help.”
If only she knew how much help she was to him. Maybe he should tell her. But he didn’t have the words. Saying he appreciated her was too polite for what he felt. He would just have to show her. He turned off the water and took the towel she handed him, but he just stuck it around his waist and headed for bed.
“You’re getting in bed wet? You’ll dampen the sheets.”
“They’ll dry.” He was tired, bone weary. He just wanted to lie down with Harley in his arms.
“It will make us both cold.”
Before he could comprehend what she was about, Harley had laid into him with a towel from behind, rubbing his wet hair vigorously.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked, amused, but perturbed by the sensation. No one had dried his hair since he was five.
“Drying you off.”
Cooper reached back and yanked the towel out of her hands. “I don’t think so.” Instead he turned and hooked the towel behind her head, to draw her to him. Her warm chest pressed against his damp flesh. “Come here. And never leave.”
That was the closest he could get to explain how he felt.
Her eyes softened and she cupped his cheeks. “I’m not going anywhere.”
* * *
HARLEY hadn’t been to a race yet as Cooper’s guest. Or Jeff Sterling’s guest. Or anyone’s guest. She and Mary Jane had gone to the fateful beach trip in Daytona instead of the race, but in Phoenix she was sitting in a luxury box with a whole crowd of strangers. It was intimidating as hell. Mary Jane was of course perfectly comfortable with both the adults and the display of wealth. It was just another Sunday to her. To Harley, who had only ever been to a race in person a handful of times, it was overwhelming. Despite being friends with Eve, she’d never expected any sort of perks, knowing that Eve couldn’t get tickets for every friend she had.
Maybe if she had, the whole experience of being with the in crowd wouldn’t have been so terrifying. But it was. Harley couldn’t help it. She wasn’t precisely shy, but she was no chatterbox either and she had no clue what to say to the assortment of drivers’ wives, sponsor reps, media personnel, and Jeff himself. Mary Jane was running around the room making conversation, which was a clear ruse for ferreting out information from them. No one seemed wise to what she was doing, but Harley knew she was formulating a blog post.
Why couldn’t Mary Jane be the typical kid who didn’t want to say two words to anyone over the age of twenty? Then she would at least be someone Harley could huddle with. Instead, she was huddling with a plate of cheese. It was ridiculous.
Jeff came over and gave her a smile, right as she was popping a cracker with Brie into her mouth. “Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked.
She nodded. Then swallowed, determined not to let him walk away without her clearing her conscience. “Jeff, I’ve been meaning to tell you that I’m sorry for the night at the Buckle. That was just way out of line for me to accept your invitation and then to be, well, with Cooper.” She would not blush. She would not.
But he put his hand up. “Hey, no apology necessary. I wasn’t exactly being fair to you either. I was interested in your sister, but my ego was dented. Not cool at all of me.”
Relieved, she shifted the cheese plate and held out her hand. “Even?”
“Even.” He wore a suit like he’d been born in one, and he returned his hands idly to his pockets. “I hope your sister doesn’t mind how much I’m on the road.”
Considering every day Harley had gotten ooey-gooey texts from Charity about Jeff, she was pretty damn sure she was willing to overlook that. “She understands it’s part of the business. I would say she’s really looking forward to getting to know you better on a personal level.”
His eyebrows rose and Harley realized that sounded a little sexual. “You know what I mean.”
He laughed. “I hope I do. But I’m looking forward to getting to know Charity as well.” Then he glanced behind her and frowned. “Damn.”
“What’s wrong?” Harley turned and before Jeff could reply, she saw Cooper’s mother. “Damn” was right. Along with “shit” and “fuck.”
“Excuse me for a minute,” he said, and moved off in June’s direction.
Harley took off for Mary Jane, wanting to warn her that her mother was there. She was at the window, looking down at the track. “You been watching, Harley?”
Yes, between cheese plates, she’d done nothing but stare at Cooper’s car, with a mix of amazement, worry, and pride. “Cooper’s driving well today. He’s got a real shot at winning this thing if he holds on. But I need to let you know that your mom is here.”
Mary Jane froze. “Ugh. Why?”
“I don’t know. She’s talking to Jeff.”
“I’m going to the bathroom.” Mary Jane spun on her heels and retreated into the bathroom, the sound of the lock audible through the door.
“Well, hello again.”
Harley shared Mary Jane’s sentiment of ugh. Suppressing the urge to sigh, she turned and without bothering to smile said, “Hi, Mrs. Rawlings.”
Partly she used the last name to make it clear they weren’t friends. Partly to remind June that she was in her fifties and had run through three husbands.
“I have a proposition for you.”
Oh, Lord. Harley just waited, sure she did not want to hear this. June was wearing a sleeveless, plunging stretchy top in an eye-popping lime, and skintight jeans with heels. Never mind that it was the third week in February and there was a cold snap in Arizona. Never mind that there were a bazillion stairs at the track.
She had an envelope in her hand. “I spoke with my lawyer yesterday. He said I have a strong case. But I’m willing to negotiate.”
“Shouldn’t you be discussing this with Cooper, not me?”
“No, because this concerns you. You see, the thing is, I don’t want you replacing me.” June’s expression wasn’t belligerent. It was simply matter-of-fact.
“Replacing you? How?” Though she knew the answer.
“As Mary Jane’s mother. As the most important influence on Cooper. So I will allow Cooper full custody of Mary Jane if you agree to make yourself scarce.”
For a second, Harley couldn’t breathe. Give up Cooper and Mary Jane? The very thought was incomprehensible. But she also couldn’t believe June would give in that easily. “Seriously? You must think I’m an idiot to fall for that. If I were to leave, you’d still pursue custody.”
June smiled. “At least you do have brains, I’ll give you that. It’s in writing, honey.” She tapped Harley’s arm with the envelope. “All spelled out, right there. You quit the nanny gig, you move out of the house, you agree to never have contact with Cooper and Mary Jane, and I grant him full custody as long as he remains in Charlotte. Simple. Straightforward.”
“You’d give up your daughter just to keep me away from her?” The whole thing was so beyond anything Harley could even comprehend. If she was ever blessed with children, nothing could keep her from them.
She couldn’t leave Mary Jane either. Or Cooper. How the hell could she?
But June had given her an impossible choice. Did she break her own heart and walk away, knowing that Mary Jane and Cooper could build a life together? Or did she dig her heels in, fight for what was right, with Cooper’s money, and hope like hell they didn’t lose Mary Jane altogether? The thought of her living with June made Harley’s stomach turn.
“I would,” June said. “I want what’s best for her, and with a nice grandmotherly sort of nanny, I’m confident she will be very happy living with Cooper.”
“I don’t understand what the objection is to me being her nanny.”
“Because you’ll poison her against me. You made your opinion of me quite clear and there is no way in hell I’m letting you have that much influence over my children.”
June handed her the envelope and left, without even seeing Mary Jane as she came out of the bathroom.
Harley was stunned. So she had opened her mouth at the benefit two days earlier and stood up for what was right, and this was what happened? No wonder she’d always stayed away from confrontation. She had no skill in playing the game, in strategizing, calculating the other players’ moves. Never in a million years would she have seen this coming as the result of her making a face lift crack, and now Mary Jane was going to pay the price one way or the other.
She felt absolutely sick to her stomach and wished more than anything her sister were there to reassure her.
But Charity was at home and Harley was alone with a heavy heart and anxious thoughts that went around and around like an emotional whirlpool.
So she stood at the window and watched Cooper go around and around on the track.