His body suddenly relaxed, and he slumped on top of her, shifting a bit to the side so he wouldn’t crush her.
“Wow,” she said.
Now that was the kind of review he liked to hear. “Yeah,” he agreed. He’d known just from looking at her that making love with Allie Bateman would be spectacular, but he’d never imagined how much.
“I feel like a boat that’s just sailed through a hurricane with all the sails up.”
“That’s good, I hope.”
She laughed. “Oh, yeah.” Her face grew pensive. “I think we should do it again, just to prove it wasn’t a fluke.”
“Have mercy, woman.”
“You did promise.”
“Give me a few minutes, huh?” He’d created a monster. Fortunately, it was a species of monster he liked.
“Okay, but no snoring.”
He figured she’d probably fall right to sleep, but every time he looked at her, her pretty green eyes were wide open and studying him expectantly. Waiting for the snore.
Well, hell, he wasn’t about to fulfill that expectation.
She began rubbing his chest, almost experimentally, and he guided her hand down where it would do the most good.
“Oh,” she said. “Ohh.”
He gave her a wicked grin. “I don’t believe in false advertising. I said we’d do it all again, and we will.”
Chapter Ten
Allie woke with a start, disoriented and faintly panicked. Was it the fire alarm again?
But, no, it was a cell phone going nuts. A muscular, masculine arm reached past her to turn off the phone, and memories of last night came crashing back into her head.
Oh. My. God. What had she done? She’d slept with the man who was trying to ruin her!
“Morning, gorgeous.” He nuzzled her neck and the panic receded slightly. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing.
“Don’t you have to answer the phone?”
“It has an alarm function. I set it for seven.”
“Seven?” Judging from the sunlight pouring through cracks in the curtains, she hadn’t misheard.
Cooper’s nuzzling grew more insistent. “We have plenty of time if you want to-”
Abruptly she sat up. “You might have plenty of time, but it’ll take me a while to throw myself together.” She jumped out of bed, knowing she was stark naked and that he was watching her, but there was nothing she could do about it.
She quickly gathered up her discarded clothes-Good Lord, how had her panties ended up on the bedpost?-and made a break for it.
She didn’t take a full breath until she was safely in her own room.
Time really was short, but that was only an excuse for the cowardly way she’d fled Cooper’s bed. She simply hadn’t been ready to face the consequences of her actions in the cold morning light. She didn’t want to give Cooper the chance to say all those morning-after things men said when they wanted to extricate themselves.
Now that she thought about it, though, he hadn’t seemed eager to get rid of her. She touched her neck where he’d been kissing her. Maybe she’d made a mistake.
No, it really was late. And it really would take her a long time to get ready. Aside from the usual showering and dressing, she had to do something with her unruly hair. And, Lord help her, she had to put on makeup and file her nails. No point dressing up in new girlie clothes if the rest of her still looked a tomboy.
Her body felt strange as she let the hot water from the enormous shower’s twin sprays beat down on it. Her skin was sensitive in a way it never had been before. It was almost like she had a brand-new body, and as she soaped herself up she couldn’t help remembering all the places Cooper had kissed her, touched her.
All alone in her shower, her nipples hardened and she blushed.
She used the built-in blow-dryer to straighten her hair, making it a little easier to style. She thought about leaving it loose-for a change it wasn’t all over the place. But she decided it would just get in her way, so she pulled it back in a loose braid and pulled a few strands loose to frame her face. In the bathroom’s humidity, they started curling again.
Makeup was even more of a challenge. She’d never worn makeup on a regular basis and had never excelled at applying it. She had to do her eyeliner three times before she got it straight. She managed to get mascara in her hair, and her first attempt at eyeshadow was so heavy-handed that she had to wipe it off with a wet washcloth and start over.
But in the end, she was pleased with the results. As she studied her reflection in the full-length mirror on the back of the door, she felt she was looking at a different person. An Allie Bateman clone who lived an altogether different life from her own.
This Allie wore beautiful clothes, stayed in luxury hotels, and had sex with handsome and completely unsuitable men.
When she emerged from her room she got another surprise. A waiter was just leaving; he’d set up a table for two near the window, and the delectable scents of bacon and coffee tickled her nose.
Cooper turned after closing the door and greeted her with a smile. In a pressed Hawaiian shirt, baggy khakis and Top-Siders, he looked even more delicious than the breakfast that no doubt awaited her. Still rather neat, but inching toward Jimmy Buffet casual.
“You look fantastic.”
The way he was looking at her, like he wanted to devour her on the spot, made her feel fantastic. “Thank you. You ordered breakfast?”
“Since you felt pressed for time, I thought this would be faster. I wasn’t sure what you wanted so I ordered a little bit of everything.”
She was so hungry she could eat a little of everything. Maybe even a lot of everything. When she inspected the contents of the covered plates on the rolling cart next to their table, she found eggs, biscuits, pancakes, waffles, French toast, sausage and bacon.
“You weren’t kidding,” she said. “I would love waffles.”
“They’re all yours.” He served them both, poured them orange juice and coffee.
She felt like a princess. It was sweet of him to go to all this trouble and expense just so she wouldn’t feel rushed. She’d ogled the prices on the room service menu. He might be getting the room for free, but she bet he had to pay for the food. This spread probably set him back seventy-five dollars.
She’d never known what it was like to have disposable income. She’d never gone hungry, and her father had earned enough that she had all the necessities. Later, when she was earning her own paycheck, she socked away every spare penny with the idea of buying her own boat.
But luxuries had never been a part of her life, and she felt a little strange letting Cooper provide them for her. But as she crunched down on the perfectly cooked waffle topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, she realized she could get used to this.
Hah. Dream on, girl. This was a once-in-a-lifetime treat for her-all of it, including the mind-blowing lovemaking.
“I don’t mean to rush you,” Cooper said, “but we probably should get a move on. We have a lot of last-minute adjustments to make before the convention center doors open.”
“Oh. Right.” She was the one who’d flown out of bed in a panic about the time, and here she was woolgathering.
THE CONVENTION CENTER was a beehive of frenzied activity as everyone hustled to be ready by ten o’clock. Allie fussed with the satin booth skirt, evening out the pleats, and Cooper set out an antique fisherman’s basket to hold the entries for their drawing, as well as the blank entry forms and pens.
Max showed up at ten minutes to ten with his last contribution-give-away key chains with little dolphins printed with Remington Charters, Port Clara, Texas and a phone number-not hers, she noticed.
“Whose phone number is this?” she asked.
“My cell phone,” Cooper answered. At her frown he added, “Don’t worry. If you end up with the boat, I’ll refer any potential customers straight back to you.”