Free Some Girls Do (Outback Heat Book 1) by Amy Andrews Page B

the clean but worn carpet.
    “Are you going to be able to get away from the business for two weeks?”
    He quirked an eyebrow. “If you really cared about that, you wouldn’t have put me in this position in the first place.”
    Lacey deserved that. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hit her like a tyre wrench to the chest. She did care about Coop. A lot more than she let herself ever think about. She took a step towards him but stopped when he stiffened.
    “Coop … I really do appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
    He nodded, but tension radiated from every line of his body. “I’ll drive back to Brisbane in the morning and sort a few things out at work.”
    Lacey dared a smile. “Thank you.”
    “Two weeks,” he reiterated.
    She nodded. “Two weeks.”
    A lot could happen in two weeks, right?

Chapter Six
    ‡
    C oop’s jaw was killing him when he woke to the first trickle of light pushing into the room through the high windows that sat above the kitchen. His fingers gently probed the slight swelling from the outside as his tongue ran along the inside. He should probably take something for it.
    But he wouldn’t.
    He didn’t believe in popping pills. He’d rarely taken anything for the terrible headaches that had plagued him for those first few months after his injury and occasionally still did. They made him tired and woozy and he felt tired enough after precious little sleep last night.
    He lifted his head and looked down at himself, wincing as his jaw protested the movement. He was still laying on top of the bed covers, his clothes from yesterday staring back at him. He’d finally fallen asleep in them, sans shoes, at around two am.
    He looked at his watch. Six o’clock.
    Christ, he was tired.
    He eased back down onto the pillow then rolled his head to the side to look at Lacey. She lay on her back on the far side of the double bed, her head turned away from him, hair splayed over the pillows and sheets and her torso, the blankets pushed down to her waist. It might be winter outside but it was toasty inside and her flannelette pajamas no doubt added to the heat in the bed.
    He shut his eyes and turned his head away on an inward groan. Do not put heat and bed and Lacey in the same sentence.
    This is going to be your view every morning for the next two weeks, buddy. Get used to it.
    He almost wished she was pregnant for a moment. Maybe that would be the kind of cold bucket of water he needed to stop the wave of heat currently washing through his balls.
    Carrying another man’s baby—unsexy and aggravating as hell.
    He swung himself off the narrow single mattress, which had been remarkably comfortable. It hadn’t been the thing keeping him awake all night. It was the other mattress and its occupant that had been responsible for that.
    Coop slipped his feet into his shoes and did them up. He’d kill for a shower and some caffeine to wake him up properly, but he planned on leaving with as little disruption as possible for Lacey. She’d insisted last night that he wake her before he left but there was a difference between a gentle nudge and a whispered good-bye to clomping around the place for twenty minutes.
    He walked over to the coffee table, scooping up his wallet, car keys and his room key then walked back to her bed. Standing at the end, he contemplated leaving without the nudge she’d asked for. Leaving a note maybe?
    Her breathing was deep and rhythmic and even though he couldn’t really see her face she looked peaceful. So peaceful he was tempted to crawl in beside her, wrap himself around her and go back to sleep.
    Why she even wanted to be woken he had no idea. It wasn’t like they were a real couple. Why he’d agreed was also a mystery, although he suspected it was something to do with the fact she’d been curled up in her bed looking at him through sleepy lashes.
    Come on, man . Just do it already and get the hell out.
    Coop stalked around to her side of the bed. He stood looking