The Bad Boy. Leah Vale

honey, and couldn’t reach me. The more he tried, the more I tightened my hold.”

      He brought his elbows up just a bit, and she arched her back in response to the pressure, her full breasts straining against her sweater. Suddenly, he found himself doing some straining of his own. The woman could sure heat him up.

      He had to swallow before he continued. “Which really annoyed him. I didn’t have much choice but to keep a hold of him until someone took him off my hands. Unfortunately, that someone happened to be the law.”

      “Very nice. Now, let go.” Her voice was airy. And she still had her hands in his hair.

      Cooper chuckled. Knowing it would probably be a while before he could convince her to let him this close again, he murmured, “Do you have any idea how good you smell?” and indulged himself by rubbing his cheek against her hair, remembering too late that he hadn’t shaved since before he’d gone to watch the ball game at the bar.

      She relaxed against him and her fingers started moving in his hair. He could have sworn he heard her murmur, “Oh, crap.”

      Footsteps sounded on the hardwood floor out in the hall, clearly heading toward the den, and they both froze.

      Cooper released her and stepped away, but a few strands of her hair followed him, leaving her looking like someone had rubbed a balloon against the side of her head. She fixed her wide, surprisingly censure-free gaze on him just before Joseph reentered the room.

      “Hopefully, Alexander will be joining us soon,” Joseph said, returning to his chair behind the desk and allowing Cooper and Sara time to regain their respective seats. His smile of encouragement suggested he was oblivious to what had just been going on in his den. “Do you have a better grasp of things now, Cooper?”

      A cough sounded from the chair next to him, but Cooper simply smiled and shrugged. “There’s still so much to know. But I’m eager for the chance to feel my way along.”

      Old Joe nodded sagely, definitely oblivious to what Cooper was really referring to. “You’ll get to it all, I’m sure.”

      Cooper couldn’t keep from glancing at Sara, who was staring straight ahead, doing a bang-up job of appearing only mildly interested, aside from the raging blush on her cheeks and elegant throat. He added, “One can hope.”

      She didn’t look at him, but her nostrils flared and her chin went up a notch.

      Joseph asked, “Did any of our divisions snag your interest?”

      Cooper cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. “Well…”

      From the doorway behind them a deep voice said, “I know the perfect place for him in the company.”

      Cooper’s pulse jumped and he turned in his seat, seeing Alexander McCoy up close for the first time.

      In the past, Cooper had always thought of Alexander’s physical appearance as nothing more than a younger version of Marcus’s, though their similarities weren’t striking. Now he realized Alexander was more an older version of himself. They were roughly the same size and put together the same way. Definitely the same hair and eyes. Guilt and remorse sparked white hot. How could he have doubted his mother for a second?

      But because of that doubt, he’d generally tried to avoid anything having to do with the McCoys, doing his damnedest to pretend they didn’t exist. Though he was aware that the media had portrayed Alexander as the serious, down-to-business McCoy, well equipped to take the corporation into the next era.

      Jaw tight, he stood and met the other man’s gaze.

      Alexander’s expression was just as wary. This man didn’t trust easily. No big shock there, considering recent revelations. He wasn’t going to embrace anyone without question for a long time, if ever. Maybe making the McCoys pay wouldn’t be as easy as Cooper had thought. Alexander looked as though he wouldn’t miss much.

      But Cooper never could resist a challenge.

      Apparently equally clueless to the tension between the two younger men, Joseph said, “Excellent. Where?”

      Not breaking eye contact with Cooper, Alexander answered, “With his construction experience, he’d do well handling the new stores—”

      Sara made an odd sort of noise, but Cooper couldn’t tear his gaze away from his half brother’s. There was so much of himself in the other man’s eyes, and so much he’d never seen before. Primarily, what it was like growing up a McCoy in name, as well as blood.

      Cooper thought it amazing that Marcus had looked at this guy every damn day and lied like the dog he was.

      Shifting his attention finally to Joseph, Alexander concluded, “Under the guidance of the VP of Operations, of course.”

      “Of course,” Joseph concurred, sounding pleased. “At least, at first. So what do you think, Cooper? You interested in working for Ms. Barnes?”

      Cooper glanced at Joseph. “Ms. Barnes?”

      Alexander came to stand behind Sara’s chair, a suspicious glint in his steel-blue eyes. “Let me guess—no formal introductions were made. Allow me. Cooper Anders, I’d like you to meet Sara Barnes, vice president of Operations. Your new boss.”

      Cooper had to snap his mouth shut for the second time that day.

      Damn. He’d nearly felt up his boss.