Get a Clue

'Yeah? What's that?'

'I won't be fooled again, not by another pretty face and hunky body, not by sweet words, no way, no how.' She shook her head, her eyes luminous in the dark 'Love does not exist.'

“You really believe that?'

'Yes. You?'

He shook his head.

'You've been in love?' she asked.

He lifted a shoulder. 'I guess I thought it might become love.'

'Did it?'

'Nope.' He shot her a smile. 'Got my heart crushed like a grape about six months ago.'

Her gaze softened. 'Oh, Cooper.' She reached out and touched his chest over his heart. 'I'm sorry.'

'I'm over it.'

Shifting up on her elbow so she could see his face, she left her hand on him and looked at him intently. 'So you got hurt, and yet you'd give it another shot?'

The vulnerability in her voice made him ache. It'd been easier, far easier, to resist her when she wore her sarcastic edge like a coat, because this softer, kinder, caring Breanne tore through his defenses in a way he hadn't anticipated. 'Hell, Breanne, I'm just saying it exists.'

She flopped to her back, staring up at the ceiling. 'Well, it can exist all it wants, as long as it stays far, far away from me.'

Cooper lay back down as well, joining her in the study of the ceiling. He'd spent much of the recent past feeling exactly the same, but for some reason he didn't like to think that this vibrant, exciting woman, who had so much to offer, was going to hold back from love the next time it came around, simply because she'd been burned.

'Cooper?'

'Yeah?'

'Are you really unemployed?'

The sixty-thousand-dollar question. 'I am.'

'Where do you live?'

'In San Francisco.'

'So what are you doing out here in the mountains? Alone?'

'My brother thought I needed to ski my brains out for a week and get over myself.' And get laid by a pretty, warm, sexy ski bunny.

'Why?' she asked.

'Too many reasons to get into.'

'We have all night.'

'Maybe I'm tired.'

'I thought guys liked to talk about themselves.'

'Not this guy. Tell me about you. What do you do?'

'Bookkeeping for a big CPA firm.' She frowned. 'At least at the moment.'

'At the moment?'

'I'm going to have to find another job.'

'Why?'

'Because I'll have to see Dean there-that's rat fink bastard to you and me-and I still have an uncontrollable urge to kill him. That won't look good in my review, plus it'll be hard to get another job from prison.'

He tried to see her in the dark. 'You're not going to let him take that job from you, are you?'

'It doesn't matter,' she said with a sigh. 'You should see my resume. It'd make you dizzy.' She sighed. 'Truth is, I don't sit still for long anyway.'

'No? What jobs have you held?'

'Receivables, payables, payroll-you name it in accounting, I've done it.'

'So you like numbers,' he said, nodding. 'Makes sense. You like order.'

'How do you know that?'

'This whole setting makes you nervous because it's not what was planned.'

'You can say that again,' she said with feeling.

“And I've seen your journal. Very organized. Like an accountant's brain.'

“I wasn't that organized when it came to staying with one job.'

'Nothing wrong with that, as long as moving around makes you happy.'

Now it was her turn to come up on her elbows and peer through the dark. 'You really believe that?'

'Sure,' he said, leaning in closer for a better look, because for a second he'd have sworn that her eyes went suspiciously bright with a sheen of tears. But then it was gone. 'Breanne?'

'I'm tired,' she whispered. She turned over, curling up into a tiny ball facing away from him. ''Night.'

''Night.' He was confused as hell, but when it came to women, that was really nothing new. Nothing new at all.

He was just drifting off when he heard her soft whisper. 'Cooper?'

'Still here.' Maybe she'd changed her mind about the sheet. The thought made his body twitch. Yeah, she was going to toss that damn thing aside and roll toward him. She'd wrap that hot little bod tight to his, and he'd-

'Thank you,' Breanne said very quietly.

He blinked. Thank you? He slid his hand down to cup himself. Still hard. Nope, he hadn't missed anything. 'What are you thanking me for?'

'For chasing my boogeyman. For making me feel safe.' Her smile broke his heart. 'For letting me sleep with you.'

Ah, hell. 'No problem.' But as he lay there, aching for reasons other than physical discomfort, reasons he couldn't seem to put words to, it was a very long time before he followed her into slumber.

***

Cooper was having the dream of his life, and he hoped he never woke up. In a bed of the softest down, surrounded by the gentle glow of dawn, she lay in his arms, the woman of his fantasies. She was scantily clad in silk that seemed to mold to her skin in an erotic, seductive way, and he couldn't keep his hands off her.

And because this was a dream, he didn't have to.

She was his. He couldn't quite remember how or why, but in dreamland, what the hell difference did it make? Around them, the air seemed thick. Spicy. Erotic. He dragged some of it into his taxed lungs and cupped her face, trying to see her through the haze all around him, but he couldn't quite-

A sound escaped her, a sort of breathy, wordless plea, and he smoothed his fingers along the line of her jaw, sinking into the lovely disarray of her hair, letting it drape over his forearms as he leaned over her, lowering his mouth toward hers.

'Mmm,' she murmured as he swallowed her sigh of acquiescence. Her body seemed to melt against his like hot wax, and her mouth-God, her mouth was soft and warm and luscious, indescribably luscious.

She opened it to him, allowing his tongue to stroke hers, stroking his right back, both greedy and generous at the same time. His fantasy girlfriend was the best kisser he'd ever dreamed up. Not too wet, not too dry, but juuuust right. Her hand came up between them, opening flat on his chest. He took it in his, along with her other, and slowly dragged them both up over her head, palming them in one hand, using his free fingers to skim the hair from her face while he made himself at home between her thighs.

Eyes closed, hands captured by his, she arched up into his body with a soft, needy whimper.

In answer, he kissed her, and then again, sending shivers of heat and desire skittering to the base of his spine, pooling in his groin, where he was so hard for her he could hardly stand it.

'Nice,' she murmured, sighing with pure, unadulterated pleasure. Her full breasts pressed to his chest. Her hips cradled his. Her shorts were so minuscule his fingertips grazed bare skin as he reached down, the sweet curve of a cheek filling each hand. When he squeezed, kneading, she moaned and arched up, spreading her legs to better