Free For Keeps by Karen Booth Page A

wanted nothing more than to be alone with her.
    Brian came into the conference room with his wife. Cooper dropped his hand from Allie’s back.
    “Allie, I want you to meet my wife, Laura,” Brian said.
    The two women shook hands and Cooper wondered how awkward it would be if he ordered his brother to go pester someone else.
    “Brian tells me you own your own ad agency. That sounds amazing,” Laura said. “I used to work in insurance. Not that exciting, but there are days when I would take that over being at home with the kids.”
    Here we go. Put one beer in her and Laura is off to the races.
    “I bet,” Allie said. “I know it’s a really hard job.”
    “They keep me busy, but in a totally different way.” Laura swayed as she seemed to notice that her husband couldn’t take his eyes off Allie. She downed the rest of her beer. “You know, Allie, Brian mentioned that you’re single. You should get Cooper to introduce you to Phil, the CFO. He would love you.”
    “Yeah, she’s met Phil.” Cooper folded his arms across his chest. “Brian, I think you need to feed your bride before she has another beer.”
    Laura cleared her throat and stared at Brian indignantly. “Yeah, Bri, I really need to eat something.”
    Brian gave his brother the stink-eye before he snaked his arm around Laura’s waist. “Sure, babe. We have crab cakes.”
    They followed Laura and Brian out of the room. Cooper leaned down and whispered in Allie’s ear. “Don’t stop for anybody or it’s going to take us an hour to get to the other side of the office.”
    Allie looked at him quizzically while she seemed to fight a smile. “Got it.”
    He strode through the throng of people. No longer concerned with appearances, he tugged on Allie’s hand. He muttered “hello” once or twice to people they passed, but otherwise avoided eye contact. Once they were in his office, he closed the door and locked it. A desk lamp cast a soft light, but the room was otherwise dark.
    “Beautiful space,” Allie said, walking to one of the tall windows at the far side of the room.
    “Thanks.” He went to his stereo and turned on some music. He would have taken the time to put on something more romantic if he had any patience left at all.
    “It’s a little loud, Cooper. I can’t think.”
    He stepped to the other side of the desk and wrapped his arms around her. “That makes two of us.” He tore into her lips, buttery soft and exactly what he needed. He felt every stress begin to fade away.
    Allie kissed him back enthusiastically at first. The minute he became more adventurous with his tongue, she tensed. “Won’t they miss you out there?” she asked, their mouths a sliver apart.
    He flipped her hair away from her neck and went to work. Her skin against his felt so much better than anything else had that day. “Are there people out there? I hadn’t noticed.” He kissed her ear and brushed the side of her breast with his hand. “I wish I could get you out of this dress.”
    She laughed breathily, making his need for her more urgent. “That sounds fun, but your entire office is on the other side of that door. That one guy brought his mom. It’s not a good idea.”
    “I know. You’re right.” He pulled her closer and grazed her cheek with the back of his hand. “Can I ask you a question?”
    “Of course.”
    “I was wondering…” He shook his head, drinking in the sweet look on her face. “I don’t really know how to say this.”
     
    Nervous anticipation crept along Allie’s spine. “What?” The heat of his body attracted her like a moth to flame. She molded herself against him, even when she worried he might be preparing to say something she didn’t want to hear.
    “Am I confusing you?”
    She felt her eyebrows knit together. “You are now.”
    “It’s just that when we talked about this last week, I said that I thought we should just have fun.”
    Allie’s heart rose up into her throat. Why did I have to complain about