Cooper's Fall (5 page)

Cooper watched Sair as she moved away from him. Her trim, delicate figure glided, moved with a sensual unconscious grace that had his balls tightening, his cock throbbing. Hell, if he jacked off much more he was going to risk pulling off his dick.

He stayed quiet as they moved past the beverages. Pulling a six-pack of beer from the cooler at the end, he caught up with her at the checkout, remaining quiet as she spoke to the few mothers in line.

They were wary. It was a small town. Sair was the interloper and it would be years before she was fully accepted, unless someone intervened.

And he had hurt that process. The warning he had put out not to touch had somehow morphed, as it did in little towns, to a message that she was to be pushed away. Hell if he had meant for that to happen. Sometimes, he just forgot what home was like, though.

“Miss Maggie, that baby’s growing.” He moved behind Sair and stared over her shoulder at the precocious little boy waving his hands at Sair as she turned to amusing the baby rather than trying to push past the reserve of the mother.

Maggie’s brown eyes sharpened as he all but laid his chin against Sair’s shoulder. Sair was still, silent in front of him.

“Cooper, are you being bad again?” Maggie narrowed her eyes at him.

He had gone to school with Maggie. She was several years older than he was and had several kids now. She had brothers, a husband, and sons. Maggie Fallon was a damn scary woman.

“I’m always bad, Maggie.” He flashed her a quick smile, his hand moving to Sair’s hip to curve over it as he moved closer and made a face at the baby.

Maggie laughed and little Kyle Fallon gave him a drooling smile. The kid was cute as hell. Sair was as tense as a board.

“Has anyone warned Miss Fox about you yet?” Maggie’s gaze
warmed a little as she looked at Sair. “You have to be careful of that rogue behind you. He’s a heartbreaker.”

“So I’ve figured out.” Sair’s voice had just the right amount of husky interest in it, and wary reserve.

He wished he could see her face. Her eyes. Maggie glanced back at him with a smile and wagged her finger at him. “Ethan Cooper, don’t go running off the new girls in this town with broken hearts. This town is small enough.”

Cooper laughed, and he played. He let his fingers grip Sair’s curved hip. His hand pressed against it and he inhaled the fresh scent of her hair, wishing he could let it down.

“If you need any advice where that wild man is concerned, Miss Fox, give me a call.” Maggie shook her head at Cooper, amused indulgence filling her eyes. “I’ve known him since he was born.”

“She likes to brag she changed my diapers,” Cooper drawled in Sarah’s ear, laughing at Maggie. “She was the first girl to get in my pants.”

“Ethan Cooper!” Maggie was scandalized, but too amused to do much else but laugh at him. “You’re getting worse in your old age.”

And Sarah was blushing. He could see her profile, could see the wash of the flush rising in her cheeks.

The cashier was chortling. Mark Dempsey owned the grocery, and worked it often, along with his wife and two children.

But both Mark and Maggie were more relaxed now, their gazes more curious as they watched Sair.

Maggie paid for her purchases and Sair’s moved down the conveyor belt where Mark scanned them quickly and rang up her bill.

“Thank you, Mr. Dempsey.” She paid him quickly.

Were her hands shaking just a little bit? Cooper wondered.

“You’re welcome, Miss Fox.” Mark smiled back at her. “You watch out for that one behind you, too. Maggie’s right. He’s a rogue.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” she promised.

She must have flashed those pretty, hidden dimples, because Mark’s hangdog face softened for just a minute as he gave her change back. And Sarah was walking away, quickly.

The soft dark-blue summer dress, sleeveless again and buttoned to the neck again, swished around her hips and calves as she moved from the store with her purchases.

“She seems like a nice kid.” Mark was watching him expectantly. “Neighbor of yours, ain’t she?”

“She’s a good woman,” Cooper nodded sharply. “I don’t think she likes me much, though.” He laughed.

Mark shook his head on a chuckle. “You need to settle down, Cooper. Ladies know a wild rouser when they meet one. She’s a smart one, she seems. Bet she sees right through all that charm of yours.”

Cooper arched his brow and smiled. “So she does, Mark. So she does.”

Mission accomplished. He could go home and stop feeling so fucking guilty because he had almost made little Sair cry. Shit. Since when had he grown a conscience?

Sarah’s next stop was the post office, where Maggie Fallon just happened to be as well. The other woman lived near Sarah, and she had rarely talked to her. But today, she kept her at the post office boxes for nearly twenty minutes, talking. Just talking.

And something inside Sarah had eased. She wasn’t certain what it was, and she knew the other woman had loosened up only because of Cooper’s teasing. But after Maggie finished talking to her, several other women spoke; the postmaster actually asked her how she was doing, and while she posted Sarah’s packages, talked about an upcoming summer festival in the town.

Sarah left the post office with a warm glow. She had lived here for more than two years, and finally, she felt as though there might be a chance she could fit in.

She returned home, put her groceries away, and then moved to the front room as she heard Cooper’s truck pull into the drive beside her own. From behind the shelter of her curtains she watched him look toward her house as he got out of his truck, then he was loping to his porch and out of sight.

She should thank him, she thought, biting at her lip. Nothing ventured nothing gained. That was the hospitable thing to do, or so her uncle Martin had always told her.

She wiped her damp palms down the skirt of her dress and left her house, gripping her keys in her hand, and moved across her drive. A six-foot wedge of grass separated her asphalt driveway from her neighbor’s.

She stepped up on the porch and moved to the door before knocking with a quick, decisive rap of her knuckles. And she waited. Holding the keys tight in her hand, one sharp point ready if need be. She jerked a little as he opened the door and stared back at her in surprise.

“Miss Sair,” he drawled, leaning against the door frame. “What can I do for you?” The amber highlights in his eyes seemed to spark, flare.

“I wanted to thank you.” She refused to twitch or stutter. “For what you did at the store.”

His expression tightened as he lifted himself from the door frame and stood back. “Come on in.”

“But I just wanted . . .”

He reached out, gripped her wrist, and pulled her in before closing the door behind her.

She never once thought to defend herself. She stood in the small foyer, a frown tugging at her brow at the thought. Had she forgotten how dangerous even innocent things could seem? She must have, because she wasn’t frightened of the large, dark man looming over her.

“I didn’t do anything,” he said turning away from her. “Come on out back. I was just putting lunch on the grill. You can share it with me.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to impose.” But she did, she really did want to impose.

“Get your butt back here.” His voice held a thread of command that had her following him slowly.

He stopped at the fridge in the kitchen, reached in, and pulled out a thick, raw steak before adding it to the platter on the table. There were vegetable kabobs, steaks, and shrimp kabobs.

“Are you expecting company?” There was a lot of food there.

“Nope. Just me.” The ever present T-shirt shifted over the hard muscles of his chest, shoulders, and biceps. The action made her mouth water, made her sex swell and come into agonizing contact with the little curved bell that pierced the hood of her clit. “Grab you a beer and come on out. I have to get the grill heated up before I can put on this stuff.” He paused as he covered the platter and set it back in the fridge. “Or, the whiskey is in the cabinet.” He grinned. “Whichever you prefer.”

She chose the beer, though she would have preferred the whiskey, and followed him out to the deck.

The wide wooden deck matched her own. One half was covered, the other open. Cooper moved to the large grill in the uncovered corner and set the flame to it before lowering the lid and turning back to her.

She held the beer in both hands, watching him. Watched as he
picked up his beer from the wooden table beside him and took a long drink, staring at her, his gaze heavy-lidded, thick black lashes framing his hazel and amber eyes.

“Are there rules in a small town?” she asked him then, for a lack of anything better to say. “No one wanted to talk to me until you made them.”

He grimaced at that. “I checked around. The no-touch policy in my bar got kind of mixed up.” He shrugged. “That happens sometimes. People were just a little wary, uncertain of what was going on. In little towns like this, everyone tends to watch newcomers suspiciously for a while, anyway. The twist in the order in the bar making its way around town just snowballed. I’m sorry about that.”

“You must have a lot of power in town then.” She frowned. She hadn’t realized a small town had a power base. Rather like society. It didn’t matter how much others liked you; if a prominent figure didn’t, you could be ostracized immediately.

Cooper grimaced. “I don’t have a lot of power, Sair. I told you, others know what you don’t about me. I’m not a nice guy.”

“Maggie liked you. And children are incredibly astute. Little Kyle reached up for you several times. And the store owner seemed to like you.”

“Doesn’t mean anything in a town like this.” He sat down on the bench as she stood watching him. “I’m a hometown boy. And I don’t take much shit. They would act like they liked me even if they didn’t.”

His stare was direct, honest. Sarah licked her lips and stared back at him, uncertain what to say. Her body was humming, as it always did around him. Vibrating with need. It didn’t make sense. Her nipples were hard and sensitive, her breasts swollen beneath her dress.

“You’re wet, aren’t you?” His expression suddenly shifted, became
sensual, filled with male lust. And if she hadn’t been wet before, she would have been in that instant.

Sarah cleared her throat, speechless. “I’m sure a lot of women get wet around you, don’t they?”

She surprised him. She watched his lips quirk, his eyes become more intense.

“You’re messing with trouble, you know that, don’t you, Sair?” His voice deepened, became graveled. Rough. “You’re a nice, sweet little thing. And I’m a very, very bad boy. You sure you want to keep watching me with those hot little eyes and tempting me with that pretty body of yours? You should have a nice guy, Sair, not a man that’s forgot all the softness in life.”

Was he willing to be tempted? Sarah shifted slowly and almost moaned at the feel of the little piercing at her clit rubbing against her.

“Perhaps I want to learn how to be bad,” she answered him softly then. “If you’re that bad, Cooper, then you could show me
how
to be bad. And I’ll remind you of the softer things in life.”

Pure, raw lust tore through his system. Cooper stared at her, wondering if he looked as shocked as he felt, looked as damned hungry as he knew he felt.

She stood there, her cheeks a little flushed, gripping that beer bottle with tight, nervous fingers. Her gaze was direct, though. A hint of heat, embarrassment, and something he didn’t want to look too closely at, filling her eyes.

As he stared at her, a sudden thought shook him to the core.