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

circumstanceand timing. And the fact that this town must be filled with men who are completely blind. You’ll meet that guy one day. I know you will.’ He moved a little. ‘The way we left things before … I didn’t want you to think I was laughing at you. Because I wasn’t.’
    ‘Okay,’ Maggie said.
    ‘Glad we’ve got that straight.’
    ‘Me too.’
    ‘Goodnight,’ Cooper said quietly.
    ‘Night,’ she replied.
    And then Cooperleaned down to kiss Maggie goodnight. Like friends do.
    Except, in the dark he missed her cheek completely, and his lips landed on her mouth.

Chapter Seven
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    I t was meant to be a mate’s goodnight peck on the cheek. Nothing more. Cooper had gone to her room because he’d figured she needed reassuring after that conversation about her sex life. Or the lack of it, to be more precise. And heading into her room to explain,to tell her it wasn’t her fault, had everything to do with being a friend and absolutely nothing to do with wanting to kiss her.
    Nope, a kiss definitely wasn’t on his mind when he walked into her room.
    But when he found her mouth in the darkness instead of her cheek? Something clicked in his brain. Or maybe lower. And from that moment, he could no more have ended that kiss than danced a jigon his bad leg. Years of regret ignited the heat he felt, the regret that he hadn’t kicked Vance to the curb all those years ago and broken the wingman rule when he’d had the chance to.
    Her lips were soft where he expected firm, slow when he’d expected fast and they tasted like … oh, they tasted sweet and hot and like the woman he always suspected she was.
    When he resisted the voice in his headtelling him to stop, when he moved his lips just a little to nibble her top lip, hers parted on a sigh and when she let loose a little moan in the back of her throat, he was done for.
    And then Cooper wanted more. He needed to deepen the kiss, and he moved over her, planted a hand on either side of her soft pillow, as well as he could manage with his leg still aching, and Maggie responded by reachingfor him, by splayed her hands on his still damp chest. And if he’d felt pressure there in her fingers, pushing him away, he would have dragged his lips from hers, but it wasn’t that kind of pressure. She flattened her palms on his abs and clenched against his bare skin and it was like lightning.
    Holy shit.
    This was Maggie Mac and he was kissing her and she was kissing him right back. And shetasted like honey and sex and when her fingers slipped around him, under his arms onto his back, her tongue teasing his, her fingernails digging into his back …
    He had to stop.
    It ached to do it but he did.
    She’d been drinking. She didn’t know what she was doing.
    And he did?
    Cooper pulled back, giving him just enough space to murmur against her lips, just enough to feel her ragged breathon his cheek.
    ‘Maggie?’ he managed.
    ‘Oh, Coop,’ she panted and when she got her breath back, she added, ‘That was really stupid.’ She hadn’t moved her hands from his back. He liked the way they felt, as if she was claiming him, as if, any second now, she would pull him down against her. He wanted her breasts slammed against him, was desperate to feel her breathe and have her arch her back intohim as they kissed some more.
    He searched her eyes, trying to see what was in them, but it was too dark. Would he see regret or would he see desire? ‘Stupid? Yeah, that was pretty stupid all right.’
    Maggie blew out a breath. Her hands were still on him. ‘Damn stupid.’
    ‘It was dark. I missed your cheek.’
    ‘I know,’ she whispered.
    ‘Okay,’ he replied.
    He could still feel her breath, could stilltaste her lips. They sat in the silence and the darkness, breathing, settling their heartbeats, looking at each other.
    Her hands slowly slipped away.
    Cooper leaned down and pressed a peck to her forehead. This time his aim was dead on. ‘Goodnight, Maggie Mac. Sleep