Free Cooper by Liliana Hart Page B

with it. He was ten years older than she was. And Claire had no idea what kind of trouble she was asking for in a place like this. Which was fairly obvious since she’d decided to make her first attempt at seduction on one of the most notorious drug lords in the country. When he got hold of her, he was going to paddle her ass good.
    He caught Cade’s gesture from the corner of his eye and narrowed his eyes. Cade had obviously recognized Claire as well and wanted him to get her alone so she could be questioned about the conversation Morda was currently having with the two gentlemen seated across from him.
    “I want her,” Coop decided, trying to think of a way to get her out of Morda’s clutches and isolated.
    His cock throbbed with the words he’d been denying himself the last few years. Want didn’t begin to describe his feelings for Claire. The intensity of his feelings scared the hell out of him.
    “I don’t want anyone else touching her. Pass the word around and put one of the private rooms on my tab.” A private room was the only place in the club they’d have any privacy.
    Renegade laughed until tears ran down his cheeks. “You gonna steal her from Morda?” Renegade slapped him on the back and almost fell over laughing. Cooper just stared at him and waited for the storm to pass.
    “He’ll kill your ass, man.”
    Cooper shrugged it off. “He’s not interested in her. You can tell by his body language. He hasn’t even looked at her since she’d been sitting there. She’s the most beautiful woman in the room, so Morda automatically thinks that she should belong to him. But Morda doesn’t like women who won’t cower in his presence. And this woman won’t ever cower before anyone. Look at the defiance in her eyes. She’ll be a hell of a challenge to tame.”
    “Whatever you say, my man. I’ll pass the word around, and then I’ll come to your funeral.” Renegade slapped him on the shoulder and moved closer so he wouldn’t have to shout his words over the bass coming from the speakers. “Word of caution, my friend. A little birdie told me we have a cop in the house tonight. I’m shutting down the club at midnight instead of two, so you’d better tame her fast and then get the hell out. Things is likely to get ugly. Like I said, there’s something in the air.”
    Cooper kept his expression completely blank as he thanked Renegade for the warning and watched the man walk away.
    Son of a bitch . They’d been compromised. He scanned the room again and scratched at a spot just below his ear. Cade obviously caught his signal because he was off the bar stool and blending into the crowd before Cooper could blink. He trusted that Cade would take care of warning the rest of the team of possible danger. Now Cooper only had to worry about Claire.
    He had no idea why she’d decided to track him to this particular club at this particular time, but if Claire Drexel was so curious to find out about the life he lead, then she was about to get an education she’d never forget.
     
    ***
     
    Claire knew Cooper had spotted her the minute he’d walked into the club. If she hadn’t been able to tell by his angry stance—the way he leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed over his massive bare chest or the way he stared at her with those glacier chip eyes—she would have been able to tell just by the way her body started tingling. Cooper MacKenzie always made her body tingle.
    She’d been in love with him since she was fourteen years old. Since he’d been twenty-four at the time, he’d obviously had no interest in her crush. He probably hadn’t even known her name. Most people in town just knew her as the youngest of the Drexel pack. Since there were eight Drexel children, she could understand how it might be hard to remember everyone’s name. It was sometimes hard for her parents too.
    Claire hadn’t been like the other girls in town who’d chased after the MacKenzie boys. She’d been quiet