Felicity paused. She wasn’t one for snuggling. But then all of this was just temporary, wasn’t it? A long fuck hello and goodbye, to put it crudely?
An exceptionally magnificent one at that, though, her brain supplied merrily.
“Well,” Felicity said, slithering up beside Cooper, “I suppose if I have to snuggle for the first time, at least it’ll be with someone worthwhile.”
“The first time?” Cooper eyed her in surprise.
“I don’t generally stick around to find out who’s a snuggler and who isn’t.”
“Then I’m honored. And why do I suspect calling me worthwhile is the world’s best compliment, coming from you?”
“You wouldn’t be wrong.” Hesitating, Felicity slowly slid an arm around Cooper’s waist and squeezed in closer next to her.
“You really haven’t snuggled before?” Cooper asked gently.
“Are we going to talk about it all day or…”
“Right, right.” Cooper chuckled and pulled Felicity in properly. “Never thought I’d be the little spoon.”
“There are spoons?” Felicity asked.
Cooper chuckled.
Naked skin on naked skin fizzed Felicity’s brain again until she forgot the question. And oh… Why did it feel so good? Different from sex, despite all the slickness and warmth, because, well, there was always a goal with sex, wasn’t there? Felicity was always motivated when goals were involved. This was just…closeness.
“I like this. It’s acceptable,” Felicity admitted before she could stop herself.
“Acceptable, huh?” Cooper burst out laughing. “You might be a big deal, Felicity Simmons—hell, the biggest I’ll likely ever meet.” Her fingers trailed along Felicity’s bare arm. Goosebumps rose in their wake “But you’re going to miss this, aren’t you? You might even miss me.”
Felicity didn’t reply immediately.
“Well, I’m really going to miss you,” Cooper said quietly, all traces of laughter gone. “You’re like no one I’ve ever met in my little world. You’re special.” She leaned in. “You do know that, right?”
Special. No one had ever called her that—not in a good way at least. Well, maybe Elena, though not in so many words. She’d showed her that by offering her a job. But actually hearing it? That felt so…gentle. Like a compliment wrapped in tissue paper.
Tears pricked Felicity’s eyes, and she blinked them away. No time to get maudlin. “I’m glad you think so.”
“I do. Look, I know you’re good at solving things, even weird mysteries like ours, so your time with Living Ruff might be over real soon. So if this is the last time we ever do this… Or hell, if the next time I see you you’re on TV explaining how you just took over the world’s biggest newspaper corporation, I’ll remember this you. The one who cries when she’s snuggled.”
“I do not!” Felicity protested, alarmed that Cooper had noticed.
“The you who cuddles kittens.”
“I never… That’s a complete twisting of—”
“The you who rocked up on day one with all these completely wrong-assed opinions about the homeless—”
“Wrong-assed! But—”
“—and yet were prepared to ask questions and change your views when given better information—something most people move heaven and earth to avoid.”
“Well…” That one at least was true. Felicity sputtered to a stop.
“And the you who loves my dog so much you can’t even bear to pet her in case you get attached. Until this afternoon, when you cracked because you couldn’t stand not doing it a second longer. All of these sweet and quirky and decent yous who you hide when you’re playing God at work? They’re the Felicity I know.”
Sweet? Quirky? Decent?! Felicity was quite sure no one else on earth would ever assign those descriptors to her. She drew in a breath, not sure what to say. In any event, rebuttal wasn’t what she was in the mood for. “Just be quiet and snuggle me some more,” Felicity muttered. “And don’t be smug about it.”
“Never.” Cooper chuckled, then added in a quiet voice, “Hell, woman, I really will miss you.”
Me, too, Felicity thought with a faint stab of regret. Me, too.
CHAPTER 10
Mint Condition
Charles Stone looked like one of those swaggering ex-high school football stars who hadn’t realized he’d gone to seed. His handsome face, framed by thinning blond hair, was flecked with faint red blood vessels—a sure sign his party-boy image was well earned. Broad shoulders gave way to a beer gut that puckered the buttons on his expensive-looking blue-and-gray business shirt.
With a smile he no doubt thought was charming, Charles rocked back in a black leather chair that was too big for his office at Charles Stone Sporting Goods. Some ego, naming a store after yourself when it was your sister who’d bought it for you to run.
His office was lined with shelves of collectibles. Baseball wasn’t Felicity’s thing, but she knew enough from her sister to recognize a few famous players. Heather had displayed posters of her favorite players in her room for years before discovering new-age men with earrings, VW buses, and weed.
Charles followed her eye. “You like baseball?” he asked, looking enthused.
“No.” Felicity folded her arms.
He didn’t seem to know how to answer that. After a moment, he eyed her up and down. “So my secretary tells me you’re a fancy lawyer high up the greasy pole at Bartell Corp. Darlene left out the bit where you look like a movie star. Is that something you do on the side? Make movies?” He smiled and leaned over his desk toward her, as subtle as a rutting bull.
Felicity forced herself not to move an inch. “I have no time to do anything on the side when I’m so busy taking over newspapers and magazines with my boss and stripping them for assets. Think of me like a legal vulture, Mr. Stone, tearing flesh from bone.” She gave him a cold hard smile to sell her bullshit. “Occasionally, I even let some companies keep their entrails.”
