Free The Rebel (The Millionaire Malones Book 3) by Victoria Purman

pillow. ‘Admit what, exactly, Cooper?’
    He took an edge of the pillow Maggie was hugging and tugged it but she held on tight. ‘I’m willing toadmit that I noticed.’
    There was no point asking him what he’d noticed. Her nipples had betrayed her. Damn nipples.
    ‘Yeah, well.’ She reached for her glass and took a gulp of wine. ‘It’s biology, remember? You’re a man and I’m a woman and there are certain physical reactions that happen when you …’
    She gulped again. When you suddenly can’t stop thinking about someone. When you suddenly startwishing for what you can’t have.
    ‘When you what?’
    Maggie turned to glare at him. ‘You want me to say it? Okay, I’ll say it.’ She put her glass carefully down on the table but felt like slamming it. ‘When you haven’t had sex in six years. Six years . Did you hear that?’ Maggie flopped back against the sofa, defeated, and stared at the ceiling.
    ‘Fuck me, that’s a long time.’ Cooper paused, asif he was doing some complicated math in his head. ‘Wait a minute. Six years? That’s when Evan was born. You haven’t had sex since before Evan was born ?’
    Maggie bristled at the disbelief in his tone. Like she’d forgotten to brush her teeth for six years or something. Well, screw him. ‘No!’
    ‘But you had a date a year ago. Evan stayed at my house when I’d just got back from Fiji.’
    Maggie stilled.‘You remember that?’
    ‘Yeah. Of course I do.’
    ‘Well … those two things are not a coincidence, my Aussie friend,’ she huffed. ‘I’ve been a little busy since I became a mom. Too busy to hang out in bars looking for dates. Bars.’ She snorted. ‘What am I talking about? I haven’t been in a bar since …’
    Maggie stopped. Her mind flashed back to that night in Bali. The bar in Kuta. The distorted discomusic. The cold beer in her hand. Cooper’s eyes on her. Vance’s hand at the small of her back.
    ‘For a damn long time. Who knows if that’s even where people hang out these days to meet men. How the heck would I know? Everyone’s probably meeting online.’ Her head fell onto the pillow in her lap. ‘It’s been so freaking long, I’ve probably closed over down there!’
    She waited to hear laughter fromCooper but there was none. And he was so close, and there was just the two of them and his fingers were right near her shoulder … she tossed the pillow on to the floor, stood and began to pace. She felt Cooper’s gaze on her as she walked up and down in front of him, between the coffee table and the television, like a demented catwalk model. She couldn’t reveal to him what she’d been thinking.
    ‘C’mon now. I don’t know if that’s physically possible,’ Cooper said, his voice sounding a little strangled. ‘The closing over, I mean. Earlobes close over if you don’t stick an earring in them every so often. I don’t think your pussy is like an earlobe, Maggie.’ He cleared his throat.
    She stopped and propped her hands on her hips. Glared at him. ‘Really? You’re talking about my pussy now?’
    He looked her up and down. Slowly. ‘Fair’s fair. You did see my dick.’
    Maggie bit her lip. Cooper looked her up and down again.
    Neither said a word.
    A moment later, Cooper’s dark look turned into a smile and then a deep rumble bubbled up from his chest. His palms were flat against his stomach and he was laughing so hard he was almost doubled over, his blond hair flopped over his forehead andhis sparkling blue eyes were shining.
    There was nothing she could do but join him. And when they were laughed out, Maggie’s sides aching, she snatched up the remote control and started the movie, believing that she’d got away with it.
    *
    A couple of hours later, Maggie lay in bed listening to Cooper shower. They’d finished the movie,sharing a few laughs and groans at the cheesiness of the action blockbuster, and then decided to call it a night. She was listening out to make sure he didn’t need a