Embraced by Love Read Free Page B

their deadline and received a hefty bonus from Duncan. Josie took two weeks off, and they had gone to their house in Connecticut and recovered. That
had
been fun.
    He smiled, remembering how, after three months of near celibacy, they had made love like newlyweds. Often during those two weeks they’d dressed to go out to dinner but had never made it out the door.
    Cooper kissed Josie lightly on the lips, and she stirred, sleepily opening her eyes and looking up at him.
    “Don’t tell me it’s morning already,” she murmured.
    “It’s not,” he said, kissing her again, longer this time. His hands swept down her body, touching, exploring. “Besides, you’re not going into the office until next Monday, remember?”
    She smiled, stretching languorously like a cat, pressing herself up against his fingers. “So you woke me up just to tell me that I don’t have to wake up?”
    “I just kissed you,” he protested. “How did
I
know you were going to do some kind of sleeping beauty thing?” He kissed her again and smiled. “But as long as you’re awake . . .”
    She put her arms around his neck, pulling him on top of her. “Cooper McBride,” she said, gasping as he pushed himself deeply inside of her, “you should wake me up more often.”
    He kept her awake until dawn.

TWO
    C OOPER ONLY glanced at his watch because his stomach growled. Eight-fifteen p.m. How the heck could it be eight-fifteen? True, he was hard pressed to finish up these drawings before his Wednesday deadline, considering that he hadn’t even thought about them since his wedding anniversary nearly a week ago. But the last time he’d looked at his watch, it had been twenty after six. He’d been hungry then, but he’d figured instead of cooking dinner, he’d work until Josie got home, and then they’d go out to eat or bring home Chinese.
    But she was over an hour late.
    He reached for the phone and hit the automatic dial.
    Josie picked up her private line on the first ring.
    “Taylor,” she said curtly.
    “Oh come on, babe,” Cooper said teasingly. “You knew it had to be me. Who else would be calling at nearly eight-thirty at night? If you’re going to stay late, the least you could do is answer the phone with a cheerful, ‘hi, honey.’ ”
    “I’m in the middle of a meeting,” Josie said. “Honey. Can I call you back?”
    “The
middle
of a meeting?”
    “The middle of a meeting that’s about to end,” Josie said. “I’ll call you back in about twenty minutes.”
    “Twenty minutes?” Cooper said. “I won’t be here.”
    “Cooper—”
    “I’ll be at your office, ready to take you someplace exotic for dinner,” he said. “Hey, did you get a package from me today?”
    “I most certainly did,” she said, “and I most certainly cannot discuss it right now.”
    “Was it a big box from Victoria’s Secret?”
    “Good-bye, Cooper.”
    “Aren’t you even going to thank me for the present?”
    “Since it’s more of a present for
you,
no,” she said.
    “Aha,” he said. “So you
did
open it.”
    She sighed. “Yes, and fortunately I was alone in my office at the time. Unlike now, where I’m in the middle of a meeting, with five of my staff sitting here watching me talk on the phone to you.”
    “Don’t you want them to know what you wear underneath those scary clothes of yours?” Cooper said.
    “
Definitely
not.”
    He laughed, a low, sexy rumble of sound. “You put some of it on, didn’t you? Which color?”
    He’d sent her a dozen sets of fancy lingerie in all different colors and styles.
    “I’ve created a monster, haven’t I?” she said. “Good-bye, Cooper. I’m going to hang up now.”
    “You realize that when I get over there, I’m going to lock myself in your office with you until we clear up this mystery,” he said.
    “Purple,” she said.
    “Oh, God,” Cooper said. “I’ll be right over.”
     
    At a few minutes to nine, the meeting was officially over. While the other members of