Free Embraced by Love by Suzanne Brockmann

lucky-son-of-a-bitch husband,” Coop had told her with a grin. “And if I had my way, he’d be right more often.”
    It was working, Josie thought as Annie moved to the computer on the other side of the office, and Frank brought the opened mail over to her desk. True, she was still putting in long days, but Cooper was there, forcefully dragging her away from her computer whenever he decided she—or he—had had enough. They’d managed to take in several movies and even go out dancing three or four times in the past two months. She was on schedule with the work, she was managing to get enough sleep, and Lord, it was hard to believe, but her sex life was better than ever.
    As Josie sifted through the pile of mail, the office intercom system clicked on.
    “This is the captain speaking,” Cooper’s voice intoned in his best William Shatner imitation. “All hands to battle stations, repeat, all . . . hands . . . to battle stations. Ready photon torpedoes and brace for impact—”
    He was broadcasting all over this floor, and downstairs, too. Josie could hear his voice echoing in the hall. She looked at the clock on the wall. Ten-fifteen. He was right on schedule.
    “It’s time for the coffee break dance!” Cooper said. “Mr. Spock, you have the comm!” A pulsating Latin beat started playing over the intercom—it was the “Star Trek” theme, salsa style. Josie could hear whoops and shouts of laughter from the offices down the hall.
    Her private door burst open, and Coop leapt into her office. He was wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, a pair of Bermuda shorts, and nothing on his feet.
    He pulled Josie up and began to dance with her.
    “Frank, Annie!” Cooper cried. “Mambo! I insist!” He turned to David and said in a calmer voice, “Dave, feel free to sit this one out.” Then back to Frank and Annie who were clumsily, laughingly trying to oblige. “Come on, Frank, you remember what I taught you! Step on the two. One
two
three four!
Uno
dos
tres quatro!
That’s it! My God, you’ve got it!”
    Cooper danced Josie out into the corridor.
    Everywhere, up and down the hall, people were dancing or laughing or at the very least standing up and stretching.
    As the song drew to a close, Cooper danced Josie back into her office, kissed her on the hand, and vanished behind her private door. The last few notes of the song faded out, and Cooper came back on the intercom.
    “The coffee break dance is over,” he said, sounding remarkably like a smooth-voiced, sedated deejay from a Muzak radio station. “Please return to work.”
    The intercom clicked off.
    Throughout the office, the staff cheered and applauded loudly.
    Annie and Frank were smiling, but David looked decidedly unimpressed. “Isn’t this getting a little old?” he asked. “Every day for two months at ten-fifteen—”
    “Cooper lets off a little steam,” Josie finished for him. “I think you’re the only one in the office who objects.” She turned to Annie and Frank. “Am I right?”
    “Absolutely,” Frank said. “Everyone I’ve talked to loves it. Cooper’s achieved a kind of a legend status here. You know, I overheard some of the junior staff saying that they can’t wait to get to work in the morning to see what your husband’s going to do next. Cooper’s ten-fifteen coffee break is being touted as one of the perks of working for Taylor-Made Software.” He grinned. “He’s even teaching a bunch of us to mambo, every day after work in the downstairs lobby.”
    “Oh joy,” David said dryly.
    “You should try it,” Annie said to him, pushing her long, blonde hair behind her ear. She blushed very slightly as he turned to look at her in pointed disbelief and disapproval over the tops of his glasses.
    According to Cooper, Josie’s new female assistant had “a thing” for David Chase. Beauty and the Geek, Coop had called it, saying that this was, indeed, proof that love was blind.
    If Cooper was right, and Josie had seen very