‘Penny!’ she exclaimed. ‘I didn’t know you visited this side of town.’
Her expression a study in curiosity, Penny glided over. She smelled great. Looked great. That white designer dress looked sensational against her spray tan and glossy, ash-blonde, perfectly ironed mane.
Penny barely acknowledged Sophie before offering her hand to Cooper. An admiring smile graced her full lips. ‘I remember your departure very well, but I don’t believe we’ve actually met.’
Cooper accepted Penny’s hand. ‘Time we did.’
Sophie held her breath.
Don’t you dare say too much.
‘Cooper Smith.’ He gazed down at Sophie. ‘Sophie and I were just about to enjoy a leisurely lunch. We missed breakfast.’ His grin exuded charm. ‘You know how it is.’
Penny arched a brow and considered Sophie. A beat too late she laughed, as if she understood perfectly. ‘You met for the first time at the wedding?’
Cooper leant in to Penny. ‘Do you believe in fate?’
Penny’s perfect bosom rose and fell as he held her with his best bedroom-eyes gaze. ‘I think so … yes,’ she said, a little breathlessly.
‘So do I.’ He looked at Sophie with adoring eyes and she rolled hers. What a ham. He winked just for her, then spoke to the attentive Penny. ‘Care to join us?’
Penny chewed her lip, as if considering, but shook her head. ‘I’m meeting someone. But we can catch up at my party next month.’
She slid a considering look Sophie’s way. Sophie grinned. Penny’s pink lip-liner was too dark.
‘I’m sure I put your invitation in the mail …’ Penny said.
What would the newly released Sophie say? She pretended to think. ‘You might have. Can’t remember if I’ve seen it.’
But Penny’s attention had skipped back to Cooper. She all but gushed. ‘No problem. I’ll drop off another.’
Cooper tipped his head. ‘I look forward to seeing you there.’
As Penny moved off, slim hips swaying, Cooper grinned across at Sophie. ‘That should set the tongues wagging.’
‘I’m surprised you didn’t swoop me up and twirl me around your head on one hand.’
He reclaimed his seat. ‘If only I’d thought sooner.’
She tried to frown, but secretly she’d enjoyed the show. Cooper certainly had a serious concrete side, but he could be the best fun, too.
His warm hand folded over hers, and a tingling flash sped up her limbs. ‘Now, talk to me.’
The deep rumble of his words turned that tingling into a potent effervescent swirl that reached and then burrowed into her core. She battled to maintain an ambivalent expression. It would be safer to retract her hand. And she would … in just a minute.
‘I was saying that if I agree to the three-month thing …’
He nodded. Moved closer.
She shivered at his intoxicating proximity and sucked down a breath. ‘No sex will be involved.’
His brow dropped and he searched her eyes. ‘Is there some problem? A complication?’
‘Not the kind you’re thinking. The baby would be fine.’ Nodding, he moved closer still. She hurried on. ‘I want you to know I don’t believe our living together will change my mind that marriage is any kind of option. If we were any other couple you’d agree this is a hopeless cause.’
He dismissed her with a flick of his free hand. ‘No need to go into that. Point is you’re giving us the chance our baby deserves.’ His thumb grazed the back of her hand and the smouldering swirl in her stomach spiralled lower. ‘To give us the very best chance there can be no question. Sex is in.’
Her insides squeezed with longing, but she whipped her hand away. Face flushed with telltale heat, she shook her head. ‘I won’t back down on this. Making love will only muddy the issue.’
‘The issue being whether we can make a decent, happy home for our child.’
Her heart thumped low in her chest. When he said it like that …
Her hands clenched into fists on her lap. Hell, he was a lawyer—a master manipulator. If anyone knew how to work a topic, Cooper did. But she was up to the challenge. A lawyer might think he was omnipotent, but a teacher possessed the power to shape the future.
Recovering her bearings, she shored up her line of defence. ‘You’re just trying to confuse me.’
He undid a cuff and folded his sleeve up the strong bronzed column of one forearm. ‘Think about it,’ he said in a deep, tolerant tone. ‘We’re practically strangers, yet bonded in an irreversible way. Clearly we need to get to know each other better. What better way than to pick up where we left off … where we got along best?’
Gradually she realised she was still looking at his arm, remembering how it had felt to have him tug her close and do exactly what he wanted with her, precisely the way she wanted him to.
As her breasts swelled with awareness and their tips hardened and rubbed, she snapped back to reality. To argue now would do more harm than good. She simply had to remember that, and never allow any hazardous situations to escalate out of control. There were such things as locks on bedroom doors, after all.
Close to okay with that scenario, she laid out her other provisos. ‘Paige is leaving for her trip to France in two weeks. Yesterday after class she asked if I would go to the airport to see her off. That would be a good time to start our “living together” clock. But no contact with each other till then.’ She added in an undertone, ‘I have a lot to organise and get my mind around.’
His mouth slanted in a triumphant smile. ‘Agreed.’ He leant forward to seal their arrangement with a kiss.
She inserted a hand between their mouths. ‘Did you miss the part where we haven’t agreed on the intimacy issue yet?’
He captured her hand and eased it aside. ‘Kiss me—it might jog my memory.’
Before she could find another barrier, he gently cupped her nape and pulled her close. His lips grazed over hers, lingering long enough for her heartbeat to hammer and her resolve to slip. When his mouth parted, and the warm, wet tip of his tongue touched hers, she somehow found the wherewithal to break away.
She tried to tamp down the mesmerising heat drifting through her bloodstream. ‘Never forget that I’m doing this against my better judgement.’
He flicked out his napkin and laid it in his lap. ‘Thank God your better judgement is wrong.’
CHAPTER SIX
TWO weeks later, Sophie smiled into Paige’s wide crystal-blue eyes and held tight to the teenager’s finely boned hands. ‘Don’t look so worried. We’re only a phone call away.’
Paige swallowed, then spoke over the noisy international airport bustle. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited or frightened in my whole life.’
More appealingly masculine than ever, big brother Cooper stepped into their circle. ‘Two months in France will be an adventure you’ll never forget.’
Sophie dragged her gaze away from the strong planes of Cooper’s face to Paige, who was dressed in soft blue jeans and a comfortable yellow jersey knit for the long flight to Paris. She looked younger and more vulnerable than Sophie had ever seen her. Weird, but she even smelled like baby powder—although Sophie knew darn well Paige only wore fashionable fragrances, like the majority of seniors at Unity.
Hormones. They were playing havoc with her mind and her body. Her breasts