Allie knew it was the last time. Tomorrow, after the trade show, they would pack up and drive back to Port Clara, back to the real world where a court battle awaited them.
When she was sure he was asleep, she turned her face into the feather pillow and cried for something that could never be.
WHEN COOPER EASED INTO wakefulness, it was still dark out. He wondered what had awakened him, then remembered the beautiful woman in his bed and realized he’d awakened many times that night, each time reaching out to make sure she was still there.
He briefly considered tying her to the bed to prevent a repeat of yesterday morning when she’d fled him in a panic, then smiled into the darkness at the mental picture of how furious she would be if he tried anything like that, even as a joke.
But his smile faded as he realized that nothing he could do would hold Allie. No matter what she’d said last night, she would regret this. Because Allie Bateman wasn’t a no-strings-sex kind of woman.
She might not know it, but Allie was a long-term, ring-on-her-finger, forever kind of woman. And he was the last person with whom she could possibly have forever.
As he lay there in the growing dawn light, perhaps still half-asleep and unguarded, a strange thought took hold of him. At first he dismissed it as ridiculous, but the thought kept coming back.
Maybe he needed to take a novel approach to the problem of Allie and her claim on Johnny’s boat. Yes, he was used to approaching problems from a win-lose perspective. The law had always been his comfort, something in black and white that, when skillfully interpreted, solved all dilemmas. He pursued legal avenues until he came out on top, or didn’t, though usually he did because he’d never been one to squander resources on iffy legal battles.
Allie, however, required some thinking outside the box. How could they both win? How could they each get what they wanted and remain friends-or lovers?
Allie had already rejected a cash settlement. But what if he made her a different kind of offer?
Though it was tempting to wake her up and tell her what he was thinking right away, he decided to let her sleep while he chewed on this new, better solution. He thought about it while he showered and shaved, and while he dressed in a wild Hawaiian shirt he’d borrowed from Max knowing it would make Allie smile. If she wanted him to be a “Margaritaville” kind of guy, he’d give it to her in spades.
Breakfast had just arrived when she woke up. He saw her standing in the doorway to his bedroom, wrapped in his terry cloth robe, looking adorably rumpled and sleepy.
“Why didn’t you wake me?” she asked as soon as the waiter had gone.
“You looked so peaceful, so I thought I’d let you get an extra hour of sleep.”
“Well, you did keep me up late,” she said with a saucy toss of her head.
As if he needed reminding of last night. “Come sit down. We don’t have to rush today, since everything is already set up.” He poured her coffee and orange juice and uncovered all the dishes.
“Do you eat like this every day?” she asked as she scooped up a small portion of scrambled eggs and added one strip of bacon and one toast triangle.
“Most days.”
“If I ate like this all the time, pretty soon I wouldn’t fit through the Dragonfly’s hatch.”
“I just burn it off, I guess.” But maybe he should start considering his health. He’d never thought much about the future before, figuring it would take care of itself. But he wanted to live a long time. Now that he had a future really worth living, he wanted to make it last.
He added a healthy portion of fresh fruit to his plate. “So, speaking of the Dragonfly, I’ve been thinking.”
Her fork stopped midway to her mouth, and she looked up warily. “Cooper, haven’t we done enough thinking? I mean, we’ve already launched several of your ideas-different kinds of cruises, new ways of marketing. Shouldn’t we see if all this newfangled stuff works before we start even more? Maybe you can afford to lose money on high-risk ideas, but I can’t.”
“I couldn’t agree more, and I don’t intend for you to bear more risk than you can withstand. This is something a little different.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“You and I work pretty well together, don’t you agree?”
She had to think about it for a few moments. “When we’re not fighting, yeah. You’re pretty easy to work for, and you’ve certainly shouldered your fair share of responsibilities.”
“If we didn’t have this legal problem hanging over our heads, we would be compatible partners. Right?”
She took a long sip of her coffee, watching him carefully over the rim of her cup. “What are you getting at?”
“Say the judge awards you the boat. You’ll have to hire someone to help you handle all the cruises we’re booking. The same is true of me-because frankly, though my cousins are enthusiastic about the boat, Reece gets seasick and Max is going to be too busy with his new ad agency to help me much.
“But if you and I continue our partnership indefinitely, we can share the work and the profits.”
“So what you’re thinking,” she said slowly, “is that once the fishing business is legally yours, I’ll be your employee. Not interested.” She took a bite of toast and chewed it furiously, staring out the window.
“That’s not what I meant. I said partnership.”
“So, what, you’ll offer me a small percentage of the profits?”
“Damn it, Allie, are you going to keep trying to read my mind-and doing it badly, I might add-or do you want to hear the proposal?”
“Sorry.” But she didn’t look sorry. “I’m listening.”
“We’re good together. We each have skills the other lacks.”
“You mean, I can navigate, find fish and cook, and you can drink expensive beer and talk about the stock market with the good ol’ boys?”
“You’re not doing a very good job listening.”
She clamped her mouth shut.
He started again. “What I propose is a full, fifty-fifty partnership. My cousins and I won’t contest Johnny’s handwritten will if you’ll agree-”
“You want me to just hand over half my business?”
“Look at the big picture, Allie. With my input, and that of Reece and Max, Remington Charters will earn twice as much as it did before.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I’ve worked in business for a lot of years, Allie. Reece and Max and I-we know what we’re doing. We’ve turned several businesses around. Of course we don’t have guarantees, but we can make an educated guess.
“But there’s another reason a partnership makes a lot of sense.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s this thing between us. We’re good together in more than a business sense, and you know it. I want to see where it goes.”
“Oh my God.” She stared at him with a dawning look of horror on her face.
“What?”
“So that’s what all this is about. I should have known.”
“All what?”
“This!” She stood and made a sweeping gesture with her hand, encompassing their breakfast and the entire suite. “You planned it from the beginning-the fancy clothes, the fancy hotel suite. You set out to make me feel like Cinderella at the ball. Then, when you got me all softened up, you spring this partnership thing on me.”
Her attack was so blatantly unfair, Cooper was for once in his life utterly speechless. He was known for his ability to cleverly negotiate no matter what kind of nasty surprises the opposition lobbed at him, but this one feisty redhead had rendered him mute.
“With you lawyer types, it’s all about the bottom line. Win at any cost. You know you’re going to lose your bid to crack Johnny’s handwritten will, so it’s on to Plan B. Fifty percent is better than nothing, plus you get a built-in galley slave and free sex. And when you get tired of me? You’ll find some legal maneuver to get rid of me.”