The Angel and the Outlaw Page 16

  Hayley climbed the stairs with him. “So Sproule set it up at the last minute.”

  “Looks that way.” They reached the landing together. He let go of her to punch in the combination for the lock on the loft door, then swung it open.

  Moonlight streamed through the open blinds, bathing the room in a silver glow. Out of habit, Hayley toed off her shoes to make herself comfortable and reached for the light switch.

  “Don’t turn it on,” Cooper said. “I want to check outside first.”

  Hayley padded toward the center window. “Can we tie the arsonist to Sproule?”

  Cooper closed the door, set the lock and followed her. Hayley knew he was accustomed to moving around in the dark. Every night when he returned to the loft after closing the Long Shot he did a circuit of the apartment and got into bed without turning on a light.

  She loved listening to him as she sank back to sleep. With each slide of his skin against the sheets her dreams filled with the image of him lying only a few steps away. He had told her he slept in the nude, but she had yet to confirm it, since he was gone each morning by the time she woke up. Besides, the back of the couch that she used blocked her view of the bed.

  He stopped beside Hayley, leaned his hand on the edge of the frame and peered down at the parking lot. A pair of his men moved among the cars and disappeared around the side of the building. “We’ve got nothing solid, just word on the street,” he replied finally.

  She curled her toes. Although the music from the barroom was muted up here, she could still feel its vibrations in the hardwood floor. “Do you think it’s worth pursuing?”

  “Our best bet is working on the drug angle with Nathan. I just thought you’d like to know about the fire.”

  “I did. It’s obvious the timing of the arson couldn’t be a coincidence. Since it was a rush job, it looks certain that Sproule learned about our investigation because I told my father. Whether someone overheard, or my dad told one of his friends—”

  “Don’t start blaming yourself again.”

  “I can’t help feeling responsible.”

  “Take it from me, regrets are more than useless.” He pushed away from the window and caught her elbow. “Here, better step back from the glass.”

  She moved toward him. Cooper’s men did regular circuits of the parking lot, yet the orchard beyond it was full of shadows that could conceal anything. They were all aware that simply because Sproule hadn’t yet made another move against them didn’t mean that he wasn’t planning one. She rubbed her hands over her arms.

  Cooper slipped his arm around her waist, drawing her closer to his side. “Cold?”

  She shook her head, relaxing into his warmth as she looked outside. Only the tops of the apple trees were visible from here. Above them, the sky glittered with stars. The music from the bar had slowed. The soles of her feet tingled with the steady throb of the bass guitar and the rest of her was humming from the contact with Cooper’s body.

  She wasn’t going to pretend that she didn’t know where this could lead, yet she didn’t consider pulling away.

  Something had shifted between them this afternoon. It wasn’t only because of the passion that had erupted from their kiss, it was because of the emotional closeness that had led to it. They had reached a new level of honesty. Touching him felt so natural, she no longer wanted to fight it.

  “Do you have regrets, Cooper?”

  “I try not to. Regrets are like a prison in your head. They lock you in one place and keep you from moving on.”

  “I can’t imagine you in prison,” she murmured. “It must have been awful.”

  “That’s why I like windows.” He moved behind her, fitting her back to his chest. Cupping her shoulders, he swayed to the beat that came through the floor. “Even when it’s dark, I like being able to look outside.”

  “You value your freedom.”

  “Everyone does.”

  Her heart turned over as she thought about what she had learned tonight. “And yet you sacrificed your freedom for the sake of your friends.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Ken told me the reason you served three years instead of a few months is because you refused to testify against the rest of them.”

  He muttered an oath.

  “It’s true, isn’t it?”

  “Could be.”

  “That was a noble thing to do.”

  He blew out his breath. It sounded like a huff. “I was looking out for myself, that’s all. I knew I was going to do time. If word got out that I was a snitch my life wouldn’t have been worth a dime in the joint.”

  She elbowed him in the ribs. “Oh, right. You’re tough as nails. You’re bad to the bone. Not one redeeming characteristic.”

  He caught her wrists and crossed her arms in front of her to keep her from jabbing him again. He resumed his gentle rocking. “You better believe it.”

  “So what’s your excuse for being so considerate when you handled my father today?”

  “With my record, if I bruised a former cop I’d do another three years.”

  “Uh-huh. And the reason you took me in when my house burned down—”

  “—is because I wanted to get into your pants.” He dropped his chin on her shoulder. He flexed his forearms so that his tensed muscles nudged the undersides of her breasts. “Why are you asking me all this, Hayley?”

  Her nipples tingled at his subtle caress. “I thought you liked honesty.”

  “I’m being honest.”

  “Bull.”

  “Hayley—”

  “You’ve got this habit about wanting people to think the worst of you. I don’t know why you do it, but you don’t fool me anymore.”

  He nipped her earlobe.

  Pleasure shot through her nerves. She tipped her head as he tickled her ear with his tongue. It was difficult to concentrate through the distraction, but this was something that had to be said. “Since I met you, my entire value system has been turned upside-down. Everything that I thought was so black and white has a million shades of gray. But there’s one thing I’m completely certain of.”

  “What?”

  She turned in the circle of his arms to face him. She stabbed her index finger against his chest. “Whatever mistakes you made in your past, you, Cooper Webb, are the most honorable man I have ever met.”

  He fastened his hands on her hips. “I just told you I want to get into your pants. That’s not honorable.”

  “But you haven’t, have you? If you’re so bad, why haven’t you? You’ve had so many opportunities. You have to realize that I wouldn’t have stopped you, but you’ve respected my wishes. From the very start you’ve shown me nothing but kindness. You’re too good a man to—”

  “Hayley!” He moved his grip to her waist and lifted her up so that her face was level with his. The lines beside his mouth deepened with a smile that was part bad boy…and pure dangerous man. “You know better than that.”

  “But—”

  “Why the hell do you think I brought you upstairs?”

  Her pulse jumped so fast it left her giddy. She clasped her hands behind his neck. “You said you wanted to talk about my house.”

  Holding her off the floor, he took a step away from the window. “I lied.”

  She hooked her legs around his waist to make it easier for him to carry her. “Ah. You lied.”

  “Yeah. If I’d only wanted to talk, I would have taken you to my office.”

  “Then why did you bring me here, Cooper?”

  “Because I’ve been waiting almost six hours for the chance to get you alone and finish what we started—and I’ll be damned if anyone’s going to interrupt us again.” He anchored her more securely to his body as he moved past the furniture in the center of the floor and started toward the platform in the far corner. “And I figured the next time I kiss you we should be near a bed.”

  “Mmm.”

  “But if you’re partial to that truck bumper, let me kn
ow and we’ll go out to the parking lot.”

  With each step he took, her breasts rubbed his chest, her thighs slid over his hips and the hard length behind the front of his jeans pressed exactly on the spot where she had been wanting to feel him since he had left her on that bumper. The sensations that pulsed through her made further speech impossible.

  But what was left to say? They had both made themselves clear. She knew what he was offering. It wasn’t love, but she wanted it anyway. She wanted him.

  She pushed his collar aside with her chin and opened her mouth over the base of his neck, drawing in the taste of his skin.

  He stopped moving. A tremor traveled over his body, tingling through her breasts and stomach, whispering across her thighs. He tightened his fingers on her buttocks and rotated his hips. “Hayley?”

  She ran her tongue along the ridge of a tendon to his ear, then lifted her head to look at him.

  Despite the shadows left by the moonlight, the desire in his gaze was unmistakable…and so powerful it stole her breath.

  There was no going back, yet Hayley didn’t want to. Cooper had been right—this part wasn’t complicated. It was inevitable. She didn’t want to wait one more second for him to kiss her. She smiled, framed his cheeks in her hands and kissed him.

  Chapter 12

  They never did make it to the bed.

  Cooper sank to his knees on the floor with Hayley still wrapped around his body. He lowered the zipper at the back of her dress. For the second time that day, she reached for the buttons on his shirt. She heard something rip but she didn’t care, didn’t stop. A pair of shirt buttons bounced across the hardwood.

  And still the kiss went on. She shoved his shirt over his shoulders, yanking it down his arms. As soon as he shook his hands free from the sleeves he reached behind her to unhook her bra and peeled her clothes to her waist.

  She shuddered at the puff of cool air on her breasts. She moaned at the touch of his hands. She could feel his urgency in the tension that hardened his muscles, yet his caress was gentle, tender, so achingly sweet it brought tears to her eyes.

  Patient, gentle, sweet. And so sexy he was making her crazy. She ran her hands over his chest, driven by the need to touch him. She traced the swells and dips of muscle with her palms, reclaiming the skin she had touched that afternoon, reveling in the freedom to explore him again.

  He did the same, lavishing her with attention. He cupped her breasts, rubbing his thumbs around the tips, coming close to the center again and again but not touching until she was ready to crawl out of her skin. He caught her arms, eased her back just enough so he could curl himself forward and tongue her nipple into his mouth.

  The contact was electrifying. She slapped her palms on the floor behind her, arching into his kiss. His throat rumbled with a groan of approval as he took what she offered.

  She moistened her lips. She could still taste his mouth. “Cooper…”

  He lowered her to her back so slowly, so smoothly, she hadn’t realized she was lying down until she felt the vibrations from the floor tingle through her shoulders. He lifted her hips to pull off the rest of her clothes, got rid of his own, then knelt between her legs and kissed her thigh.

  Her senses spun. She writhed impatiently, but Cooper wouldn’t be hurried.

  Hayley’s world dissolved into a blur of skin on skin, of intimate tastes, of longing so intense it verged on the brink of pain. Yet the instant she thought she couldn’t take any more, Cooper slid inside her, stretching her, filling her, sending her over the brink.

  She might have screamed. She wasn’t sure. His mouth was on hers, his tongue moving with the same rhythm as his hips, with the same beat as the bass throb from the barroom. He caught her hands and laced their fingers together as the strength of his thrusts pushed her across the floor.

  It was what she thought it would be. Sex. Simple and straightforward. With no sweet words, no promises.

  Yet it was more.

  She could feel it in the tremor that shook his fingers, she could hear it in the hitch in his breathing.

  She could sense it in the tenderness that glowed in his eyes as he wrapped his arms around her oh, so tightly and simply held her as the aftershocks of what they had done rippled through her heart.

  Cooper rubbed the water from his hair, then draped the towel around his neck and walked naked to the bed. Hayley was curled on her side with the sheet pulled tight across her breasts. One hand was tucked under her pillow, the other stretched over the place where he had slept beside her. Not that either of them had gotten much sleep last night.

  He gripped the ends of the towel, a smile of satisfaction spreading over his face. Damn, it was probably illegal to feel this good.

  He had been right about the passion Hayley kept under that classy exterior. She was high-grade dynamite in bed. And on the floor. And against the wall. He couldn’t get enough of her, and she had made it plain as day that the feeling was mutual.

  Her face was relaxed now, but her lips were parted and still swollen. The flush that had pinkened the skin above her breasts had faded, yet a trace of red remained at the crook of her neck where he’d kissed her harder than he’d meant to. He didn’t feel the least bit guilty about that. After all, she had put her mark on him—in the bathroom mirror he’d seen the lines her nails had left on his back.

  Oh, yeah. He felt too smug for his own good. A guy could get used to having a woman like Hayley in his bed.

  He looked around the room. He hadn’t bothered to close the blinds the night before, so the place was flooded with daylight. There was no mistaking what had happened here. Their clothes were still strewn on the floor where they had tossed them, along with pieces from empty condom wrappers. The blankets and pillow Hayley had been using to make up her bed on the sofa were piled neatly on the coffee table. She wouldn’t need them again. After last night, there was no way she would be sleeping alone.

  Slipping the towel from his neck, he propped one foot on the platform that held the bed and returned his gaze to Hayley. She sighed in her sleep and the sheet that covered her breasts inched downward, revealing the dark pink arc of one aureole.

  Cooper’s pulse slammed into high gear. He dropped the towel, stepped up to the bed and gave the sheet a tug.

  Hayley opened her eyes. She regarded him sleepily for a moment, then blinked hard a few times and ran her tongue over her lips. She groped for the sheet.

  He saw a twinge of awkwardness on her face. Damn. He wasn’t going to let her retreat now. No way were they going back to how things had been. Before she could draw the sheet into place, he knelt on the mattress, cupped her breast in his hand and bent to press a kiss to its underside.

  She gasped. Her hands went to his head. “Cooper!”

  He rubbed the side of his head on her chest and latched on to her nipple. “Good morning, Hayley,” he mumbled, his mouth full.

  Her chest heaved with a sound that was part sob, part laugh. “Cooper, you’re all wet!”

  “I had a shower.” He pulled the sheet aside completely, rolled her to her back and swung his leg across her to straddle her hips.

  Her eyes darkened. She shifted beneath him, her skin warm and sleep-soft.

  Cooper gathered a lock of her hair from where it was spread out on the pillow, brought it over her shoulder and used it to wipe the moisture that he’d left on her breast. The sight of her hair sliding around her nipple made him groan. Need hardened his body, yet he did his best to keep his caress light. She was probably feeling too tender to be ready for another round. “You woke up more gorgeous than when you went to sleep.”

  She spread her fingers on his knees, her gaze moving slowly upward. “You’re not too bad to look at yourself.”

  He sifted her hair through his fingers, then gathered it together again and stroked it along the side of her cheek. “I like your hair. It makes you look like an angel.”

  She touched her fingernail to his forearm. “I like your tattoo. It makes you look…”
She paused.

  “Bad?”

  “Sexy. The kind of guy I might have fantasized about when I was in high school.” She lifted her gaze to his briefly, then looked away. The awkwardness was back. Her cheeks pinkened. “Cooper, I…”

  “Hayley, don’t get shy on me now,” he said quietly. He caught her chin in his hand. “I know we’re different. That’s one of the reasons we’ve got this chemistry.”

  “We do, don’t we? Have chemistry.”

  “We’ve got a good thing going. Two people enjoying each other. It’s as simple as that.”

  She sighed. “I know.”

  He rubbed his thumb over her lip. “Did I do anything that you didn’t like?”

  The color in her cheeks deepened. “No, Cooper. It was all good.”

  “I’ve pictured you in this bed so many times. I’ve thought about what it would be like to hold you while you slept, but I didn’t know how good it would feel. You don’t really want to go back to the couch, do you?”

  She shook her head. Her hair fanned out on the pillow.

  “Nothing else has to change, Hayley. We’re still partners.”

  “Until we get Oliver Sproule.”

  “Right.”

  Silence spun out between them. Cooper had a crazy urge to say something else, but there was nothing more to say, was there? Their priorities were still the same. They both understood that.

  Hayley reached up and ran her index finger along his jaw. “You know I don’t have a boyfriend, but you never told me about you, Cooper.”

  “You want to know if I have another woman stashed away somewhere?”

  She paused. “No, I guess I didn’t really need to ask. I know you don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t have cheated on her with me.”

  Pleasure surged through him. It was more than sexual. Hayley’s faith in his character touched him in places he hadn’t known he had.

  It was like the pleasure he’d felt the night before, when she had stood in front of him in the moonlight, with her gaze sparkling and that determined set to her jaw he’d seen so many times. She had told him he was an honorable man. Did she realize how much that meant to him?