Page 26 of The Love Lie
So when he woke up to find her bedroom door still firmly shut this morning, he’d come out for a swim more to clear his head than anything else. But it seems that even without his trying, the sight of him in the water affected her enough to prompt a counterattack.
The realization leaves him grinning.
“Excellent swim,” he answers and stretches his arms overhead, drawing Sam’s focus. Her gaze burns a path up his deltoids, along his forearms, all the way to his fingers. He draws in a deep breath, and she zeroes in on his chest, then slides farther down to the ridge of his abdomen, and farther down still, until she distantly swallows. He folds his hands behind his neck with a smirk and flexes his biceps for extra measure.
She snaps out of the daze and finds his eyes with a heated scowl. Next thing he knows, that ass is right back in prime view as she rises hastily into downward-facing dog again. Under the guise of stretching her calves, she wiggles her hips suggestively. One leg kicks into the air before plunging forward in a deep, deep lunge that lets him know exactly how flexible her lithe body is. She lifts her torso and arches back, giving a sneak peek at those two swells hiding beneath her sports bra. Cooper suddenly finds it difficult to swallow.
“I, uh, didn’t know you did yoga.”
The edges of her lips twitch. “When the mood arises.”
Something is definitely a-rising, and it sure as shit ain’t a mood.
Dammit.
He adjusts his feet, trying to stop his body from reacting. Unfortunately, his wet bathing suit clings like a second skin,hiding nothing. A smug look crosses over Sam’s face before she folds herself back over and repeats the process on her other side.
Rather than stand there and continue ogling her like a creep, he goes back inside, grabs some water, and watches from the other side of the glass like any self-respecting stalker would do. When she finishes and starts rolling up the mat, he hastily grabs a nearby book and dives onto the couch. He tucks a hand behind his head to give the illusion of comfort before she walks back inside. Sam pauses briefly in the doorway and sweeps her gaze in his direction. He keeps his face resolutely still.
“Good book?” she asks, tone far too innocent.
What’s her angle?“Yup.”
“Hmm. Looks a little out of your league.”
“Why? Because cowboys can’t read?”
“No…” She pauses for effect. He can’t help but flick his gaze in her direction. She smirks the moment their eyes make contact. “Because it’s upside down.”
He cuts back to the book.
Well, shit.
Soft laughter trickles in her wake as she makes her way to the table where her work is already waiting. He stuffs the book beneath a pillow and watches her fill a glass with water, then take a seat. His cover is blown anyway. He might as well be honest with his interest. Sam doesn’t seem to mind. Without glancing in his direction, she takes a long sip, neck arching back as her muscles work to swallow. Then she eases open her laptop. Within seconds, the quiet fills with the steady clicking of keys. She stares intently at the screen. It’s admirable how quickly she sinks into whatever she’s doing—or it would be, except the more focused she becomes, the more she seems to fold in on herself, shrinking, shrinking, shrinking until the beautiful, confident, challenging woman he spoke to minutes before all but disappears. It’s different from simple concentration, deepersomehow. He’s not sure how he knows, but he can just tell her soul is weary as her shoulders hunch and her lips bend into a slight frown. Energy that was once infectious just seeps away. Gone.
Cooper’s never been one for life behind a desk. He’d rather spend the day fixing a hundred yards of barbed wire than sit for half an hour crunching numbers. Both are necessary evils, but only one allows for fresh air, sunshine, and the ache of a job well done. He can appreciate that not everyone thinks like him. But all he wants to do is shake her and say,Look where you are! What the hell are you doing?
He should just leave her to it.
He should walk away.
He should let it go.
Heshould.
But he can’t.
“Working?” he inquires softly.
“Mm-hmm,” comes the distracted reply.
“Can I ask why?”
“My boss is meeting with a client in about six hours. I need to finish inputting his changes to this deck and then double-check a few projections for the report he’s presenting. It’s this big acquisition we’ve been working on for months. He’s already pissed I’m not there, but Em needed me, so…” She trails off before clearing her throat. “Anyway, I should be done by the time we need to leave for jet skiing.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
A slight crease forms between her brows. “No?”
