The Rebel (The Millionaire Malones Book 3) Read online

  ‘Are Maggie and her kid part of that plan?’

  Cooper paused. ‘The invitation to your wedding. I need a plus two.’

  *

  When Maggie got home, she found Cooper in the living room on the sofa, struggling to stand. Every nervous thought she’d had thrumming through her head as she’d driven back from her mom’s disappeared when she saw his struggle.

  ‘Cooper?’ She dropped her keys on the coffee table and reached for his arm. She could see the strained expression on his face, the sheen of sweat on his brow. Her friend, her man, her love, was still trying to hold on and her heart broke for him.

  ‘Do you need some painkillers? Why don’t you sit down? I’ll go grab them. Where did you put them? And I’ll get you a glass of water while I’m at it. Have you been doing your rehab? Have your hurt yourself?’

  Cooper looked down at her, the smile she knew and loved right there on his mouth. The mouth she hadn’t kissed in days. It ached not to have been close to him the way she’d become so used to.

  ‘You finished?’ He slipped an arm around her waist and looked down at her with heavy eyes, his gaze on her lips.

  ‘No,’ she smiled as she moved in close and snaked her arms around him too, nestling her head against his chest. She could hear his breathing and his heartbeat and wished she could take away his pain.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.

  ‘I’m sorry, too,’ he said as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. ‘I’ve been waiting here to talk to you.’ She slipped out of his embrace and urged him back down again. With a dull thud, he fell backwards onto the sofa and she moved in next to him, reaching for his hand, her feet up between them so she could face him.

  ‘Talk,’ she said. ‘I’m ready to listen now.’

  Cooper held her hand tight. Looked down at where their fingers were entwined. ‘This thing with my knee and what it means? It’s been easier to be here with you and Evan than to think about it. Watching those damn cartoons with Evan. Making love to you at night. You’ve given me a taste of what my life might be like after surfing, you know that?’

  ‘I’m glad.’

  ‘For the past decade plus some, I’ve followed the waves, lived my life out there on the water. You know what they say, that surfing is ninety per cent waiting for a wave and then ten per cent riding the hell out of it? That waiting has been absolutely worth it. I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve travelled the world. I’ve surfed beautiful beaches. And I’ve met beautiful women.’

  Maggie chuckled. ‘I bet you have.’

  He squeezed her fingers tighter. ‘But I met the most beautiful woman of all in a bar in Bali about six years ago.’

  When the words sunk in, Maggie’s heart began to pound. ‘I remember that night.’

  ‘You walked in and I heard your voice first, that American twang above all the German and Italian and that old-fashioned disco music in that bar. And when I looked over my shoulder and saw you … I was blown away.’

  ‘But … you hooked up with my Irish friend that night. Marion.’

  ‘Vance saw you first. He moved in too fast and before I knew it, he’d whisked you away. I should have knocked him out that night instead of in South Africa.’

  ‘What?’ Maggie whispered. ‘You punched Vance?’

  Cooper’s face grew serious at the memory. ‘I was there when he found out you were pregnant. That night he stopped being my best mate and became a total bastard instead. It gutted me that he’d seen you first, that I’d wanted you first, that I’d thought about you every single day since that night … and that he didn’t give a shit about you. He was about to have a child, and he didn’t care. I smacked him in the jaw, walked out of that bar and never talked to him again.’

  Maggie held her breath. ‘Oh my God.’

  ‘I tried to convince him to do the right thing. To go to you and be a father to his child, but he booked a flight to Spain instead. I tried to get him to stay, Maggie.’

  ‘Cooper … He’s not the one I wanted to stay. That night in Bali … I wanted you too. I saw that look in your eyes, and you’re the one I wanted to talk to. But I thought you weren’t interested.’

  ‘Maggie … I swear I’ve been in love with you for six years. But I’ve run from it because wanting you, wanting Evan and a family that wasn’t mine to have, that was too damn hard.’

  Maggie lifted their joined hands to her lips and kissed his fingers.

  ‘You know why I didn’t tell you about my career being over? I was scared as hell that I won’t have a reason to be in California anymore. I won’t have an excuse to see you and Evan.’ Cooper reached for her and she moved into his lap, resting her weight on his good leg and they looked into each other’s eyes.

  ‘You gonna give me a reason to stay, Maggie?’

  Oh, she had a really good one. ‘I love you too, Cooper. More than I can bear. I tried not to, and I was really good at pretending, because I knew that if I let myself love you, it would only hurt more when you had to leave.’

  ‘But I don’t have to leave anymore.’

  ‘So what are we going to do?’ Maggie asked, a hitch in her throat.

  ‘You and me? That was never gonna be just about sex and you know it. And every night wouldn’t be enough with the way I feel about you.’ His face was serious and soft. ‘I don’t want to stop making love to you. Ever. We’ve wasted too many years, don’t you think?’

  Maggie searched his eyes and saw the truth. She saw love. ‘I’ve been at my mom’s. I told her everything.’

  ‘Great. She’s really gonna hate on me now,’ Cooper said wryly.

  ‘Mom said she couldn’t believe we waited this long to realise what she has apparently known all along.’

  Cooper kissed Maggie’s lips gently. ‘And there I was thinking she didn’t like me.’

  ‘There I was thinking this was all about Evan. About some sense of guilt you felt about what Vance had done.’

  Cooper sighed against her lips as he kissed her again. ‘Evan … you know how it felt the other day when he asked me if I was his dad?’

  ‘Oh, Cooper.’ Tears trickled down Maggie’s cheeks.

  ‘Yeah, I’m jealous of that stupid prick who actually is his father. I mean, who wouldn’t kill to have a kid like that? And although Vance will never deserve him, someone else will always be Evan’s dad. One day, when Evan’s old enough, he might want to have a relationship with him. And whatever I am to Evan will just get pushed into the background. And I get that. I do. But it’ll hurt like a bastard.’

  ‘You big dope. You know Evan loves you,’ Maggie said.

  ‘I’ve been a risk taker all my life, Maggie. You can’t be a crazy-ass surfer without loving the adrenaline that comes with the water, leaping off rocks into shark-infested waters for the thrill of riding a killer wave. But I think that this, right here? It’s about the riskiest damn thing I’ve ever done. Pushing that boundary between friends and lovers? There are risks for me here, too, in loving you.’

  ‘You love me,’ Maggie repeated his words, letting them sink in.

  Cooper gently held her cheeks, just a whisper and a kiss away from his mouth. ‘I do, Maggie Mac. I love you.’

  Maggie exhaled, felt calm suddenly. ‘I’m so glad.’ She pressed her lips to Cooper’s and then deepened the kiss, her tongue finding his, a hand slipping up inside his T-shirt to find its resting place over his heart.

  When they came up for air, Cooper smiled at her. ‘You going to stroke my ego and tell me again?’

  ‘I kinda thought that was implied,’ she retorted, breathless.

  ‘Tell me, Maggie. I need to hear it.’

  ‘I love you back, Cooper Malone.’

  ‘You’ve made me the happiest man on earth, you know that?’

  ‘I’m not surprised. I’m quite a catch. I take in injured athletes and provide them with intensive 24/7 support. Spiritually, emotionally and …’ she trailed a hand down to his crotch. ‘Physically.’

  ‘Best ph
ysical therapy I’ve ever had,’ Cooper managed with a groan as Maggie undid the button and the zip on his board shorts. She tugged at the front of his jocks and his cock sprang free. God how she wanted him inside her.

  He hissed in a breath. ‘Jesus, Maggie. Get off me.’

  She slipped off his lap in a nanosecond. ‘Oh no, I’m so sorry. Did I hurt your knee? God that was stupid. Why did I think we could get down and dirty here on the world’s smallest sofa?’

  ‘Help me up, would you?’ Cooper tugged at his board shorts so they wouldn’t fall down and then held out an arm, who pulled him to standing. When he was balanced, he slipped an arm around her waist and crushed her body to his. ‘Believe me, Maggie Mac, when I’m fully fit, we’re going to christen every damn surface in this house. Twice. The sofa. That crappy rug. The kitchen table. Even the damn washing machine. But right now, you need to take me to your bed.’

  ‘That would be my absolute pleasure,’ Maggie said and took him by the hand.

  *

  ‘We’ve got an hour until I need to go and get Evan,’ Maggie said. She didn’t need to close the bedroom door this time. They had the whole house to themselves.

  Cooper stood by the side of the bed and she went to him, pulling off her T-shirt as she approached. He reached around her back and, with an expert flick, her bra loosened and she shrugged it to the floor.

  ‘You’re so beautiful, you know that?’ he said as he cupped her breasts, both of his warm hands on her. She threw back her head and let herself feel every nerve tingle.

  ‘You make me feel that way, Cooper.’ She tugged at her skirt and panties and then she was naked before him. His eyes raked over her, taking in every inch of her body. She freed him of his shirt, his board shorts and his jocks and she splayed her hands on his chest, his beautiful body.

  ‘I always thought you were gorgeous’, she said as she pressed her lips to his abs. ‘But this is different. Your body is all mine now. I can do with it whatever I want.’ She urged him backwards to sit on the bed, and when he was steady, she pushed harder. He fell flat on his back and she straddled him, her legs wide, her sex grinding against his cock; she was already wet and ready, so ready.

  ‘I know you like it with me on top,’ she said, leaning down to kiss his mouth, tugging at his lip with her teeth.

  ‘Damn right I do.’

  ‘But I like this.’ Maggie moved up his body, sliding herself up his abs, over his strong chest, and when she was above his face, she lowered herself onto his mouth. Somewhere underneath her, he groaned and his hands clasped on to her hips as his mouth and tongue worked their magic and when she came, bucked over him, Maggie decided that loving Cooper was the best decision of her life.

  Chapter Fifteen

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  Afterwards, they lay together, hands and hearts entwined. They only had a little time before Maggie had to head to school and she needed to raise this with Cooper sooner rather than later.

  ‘We need to talk about Evan,’ she said.

  ‘What about him?’ Cooper asked, concern in his tone. ‘Don’t you want to tell him?’

  Maggie turned on her side. ‘Of course I do, but I’m not exactly sure what to say about this. About us. This isn’t just us, you know that.’

  ‘Of course I know that, Maggie. What does he know about his father?’

  ‘He knows what’s age appropriate, so it’s about a quarter of the truth. When he was old enough, started asking questions, I read lots of books and talked to a lot of people about what to tell him. And it was hard, you know? I’ve never wanted my little man to think I’d found him under a cabbage patch or something, but I had to be cautious about the real story, too. How do you tell a boy that his father didn’t want him?’

  Cooper’s eyes softened. ‘He’ll realise that for himself. I did.’

  Maggie waited. ‘I know what it’s like to be Evan, I really do. And I know what to say to him, if you’ll let me.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  Cooper took her face in the palm of his hand. ‘I’m sure. Why don’t we take him to the beach after school?’

  Maggie nodded. ‘I really love you, you know that?’

  ‘Right back atcha, Little Miss Firecracker.’

  *

  ‘You really think you can make it?’

  Cooper, Maggie and Evan looked to the end of the San Clemente Pier, stretching out into the blue ocean, and Cooper nodded. ‘I’ll be fine. Let’s go.’

  Cooper had insisted they bring Evan here to tell him the news. They’d parked in the nearby car park but now Maggie was concerned that her stubborn surfer would push his knee too hard by trying to walk to the very end of the pier. The after-school crowds were descending on the beach below. It was a sea of tanned skin, bikinis, board shorts and surfboards, and the aromas from the nearby restaurants were making Maggie’s stomach rumble.

  ‘C’mon, Cooper.’ Evan tugged at her hand while balancing an ice-cream cone in the other.

  ‘I’ll be okay,’ the big man said with a smile, as he rested his right arm around Maggie’s shoulders.

  The worn wooden planks creaked softly underneath them as they strolled further along the historic pier, the waves gently rolling on the sand beneath.

  When Evan ran ahead to a couple of teenagers with fishing rods, Maggie slipped an arm around Cooper’s waist and kissed his shoulder. She looked up at him. ‘How’re you doing?’ There was such a look of love in his eyes that Maggie wanted to bottle it.

  ‘What are you talking about? I’m here with you and my little mate. Life doesn’t get better than this. Except if this was Sydney.’

  ‘There’s a long history of cooperative relations between our two countries, you know.’

  ‘It’s not those kind of relations I’m interested in, sweetheart.’

  Maggie laughed and took the chance to enjoy this moment. Her arm around Cooper. Her son happy. The Southern Californian sun on her face and the Pacific breeze in her hair. All around her, the beach she loved was filled, surfers and little kids and moms and dads and teenagers.

  ‘You remember your lines? What you’re going to say to Evan?’

  ‘Of course I do,’ Cooper replied. ‘I’m not buggering this up.’

  When they reached Evan, he was peering into a bucket.

  ‘Cooper Cooper Cooper, look at the fish!’

  Maggie and Cooper looked into the bucket. There was a silvery white fish floating inside it.

  ‘Would you like to go fishing sometime, mate?’

  Evan stared wide-eyed at Cooper. ‘That would be cool. Can we catch a shark?’ He ran to Cooper’s side and slipped his little hand into Cooper’s big paw. Maggie felt his shift, saw the change in his face. Something welled inside her and came out as tears. The happiest of tears. A smile tugged at the corner of Cooper’s mouth as he looked at her and the look on his face confirmed what they both knew: they would be all right. That one small gesture was enough to remind them that Evan already loved Cooper.

  They made it to the very end of the pier, stopping every now and then for Cooper to have a rest on one of the wooden benches on either side. They took in the magnificent views up and down the Southern Californian coastline; white beach and blue sky and palm trees reaching into the sky.

  Cooper took his arm from Maggie’s shoulders and reached for her hand. And there he was, her big Australian surfer, bookended by the two McLeans who loved him. He tugged at Evan’s hand and the little man jumped up on the bench seat.

  Cooper lifted his sunglasses and propped them on top of his head. He lowered his shoulders and peered into Evan’s face.

  ‘I need to ask you that favour now, mate.’

  Evan giggled and held up a hand to whisper behind it but he was so excited it came out in a little boy shout. ‘Do you want it now?’

  Cooper glanced at Maggie. ‘I reckon so.’

  Maggie watched Evan pull a leather string from around his neck until it was fully revealed from its hiding place inside his T-shirt. He looped it over
his head and handed it to Cooper. Attached to the end of it was a small, brown leather pouch. Cooper loosened its ties and pulled out a ring.

  Maggie forgot to breathe. Or maybe she was having a heart attack.

  It was a ring.

  A real ring.

  ‘What the …?’ Maggie clasped a hand to her chest so hard she almost knocked herself backwards.

  ‘Look Mommy!’ Evan giggled again and slapped his hands over his cheeks.

  ‘What have you two been up to?’ she gasped, looking at the faces of the conspirators.

  Cooper turned to face her, swivelling his body in her direction. ‘I was hoping to do this right, but kneeling is a little out of the question right now.’

  ‘You’re not going to …’ There was a thumping in her head and everything got very bright and glary real fast. Maggie squeezed her eyes shut and breathed deep, trying to get air into her lungs, but it wasn’t working.

  ‘You okay, Mommy?’ Evan whispered in her ear, his soft little hand on her shoulder.

  ‘Just a little dizzy, that’s all.’

  Cooper’s hand was on the back of her head in a flash and he urged her head down between her knees. There was a whooshing sound in her head and she realised this time it was the water underneath the pier. Cooper was rubbing her back with his palm, making soothing, gentle circles. She took deep breaths, in and out, the salty air that was so familiar to her finally filling her lungs. Evan’s face appeared, upside down. His mouth was set in a determined little line.

  ‘Mommy,’ he whispered urgently, ‘Cooper wants to ask you something.’

  Oh God.

  A ring and a question. She knew what that meant. At least she thought she did. If this was about to happen, it was something that had never happened to her before. She’d never been proposed to. Ever. How was one supposed to act?

  Maggie was pretty sure that hyperventilating wasn’t the most gracious of responses.

  As she sat with her two guys, her head dangling upside down, she gave herself a minute to think and digest this news. Why was she freaking out? This was Cooper. Her friend and now her lover. There was absolutely nothing to be afraid of. This was not a bad choice. This was a good choice. She’d never been surer of anything in her life.