The Bad Boy. Leah Vale

      Chapter Two

      “Joseph, I need to—” Sara broke off when she saw who stood next to the man who had stepped into her life and filled the void left by her father’s death. Cooper must have parked in front of the eight-car garage on the side of the house. He appeared far too satisfied at having his newly found grandfather’s hand resting proudly on his shoulder.

      While Sara had always seen Joseph as being a little larger than life, Cooper was a good head taller than him. Even so, their stature and stance—not to mention their arresting blue eyes and strong jaws—screamed family resemblance.

      And Joseph’s misty gaze told her he was very happy to have Cooper with him. Her grip tightened on the handles of the doors to Joseph’s study.

      Crap.

      Cooper’s smile gave new meaning to the word gloating. “What took you so long, babe?”

      His declaration of war on the steps of the county jail still rang in her ears. Despite the empathy she’d felt for him, she could barely keep from snarling. “I made it halfway to McCoy Enterprises headquarters before I remembered that the shabby little bar where you were arrested for brawling is named The Office.”

      Cooper shrugged and said to Joseph, “Had to get my rig.”

      Joseph raised his bushy gray brows and looked to her. “Sara was supposed to have driven you here.”

      Cooper shook his head. “I wasn’t sure my truck would make it through the night without being stripped or swiped from the bar parking lot. Fortunately, neither happened, but I didn’t want to leave it there any longer than I had to. And The Office is only a block off Main Street, so not much of a walk.”

      Unfortunately for Sara, the McCoy estate was on the opposite side of town from what she considered the office, so she’d had to double back, allowing Cooper to get to the house first. As much as she admired Joseph for building his headquarters in a part of town that had needed revitalization, the extra time it’d taken to get back here had stretched her nerves to the snapping point.

      When her father had died ten years after her mother and the McCoys had been so kind to Sara, she’d sworn she would do anything for them. A failure like this could cost her everything. She had to warn Joseph about Cooper Anders’s intentions.

      She refused to consider the motivations behind those intentions. On the way here, she’d focused on steering her car down the tree-bordered road to the estate, not on her memory of the pain clouding his blue eyes, the hard line he’d pressed his sensuous mouth into, the poorly contained emotions in his gruff voice. Her own throat tightened. To be that adrift in the world…

      She frowned fiercely and released her death grip on the door handles. Cooper had simply startled her. That was the only reason she’d been so affected by him.

      Joseph gave Cooper an altogether too affectionate squeeze before releasing him. “You still should have let Sara drive you. That was partly why I sent her to the jail.”

      Cooper in turn sent her a look full of sexual innuendo and heat, to remind her exactly what he’d believed she’d been sent for. His mouth quirked. “You’re very thoughtful.”

      Sara’s mouth went dry. But she would not be attracted to him. Not after what he’d said, regardless of her compassion for him and her understanding of his reasons. She shot Cooper a glare before shifting her gaze to the older man’s. “Joseph, I need to speak to you immediately.”

      “What is it?”

      She darted a glance at Cooper, who raised his eyebrows at her as if daring her to tattle on him.

      She dropped her chin and asserted, “In private, please.”

      Joseph shook his head and placed a big hand on his grandson’s broad shoulder again. “Cooper is a part of my family now, Sara.”

      Her heart stuttered. A part of his family. Something Sara would never truly be. But that didn’t diminish her loyalty one bit, regardless of how much it had already cost her.

      Joseph’s voice was thick with pride. “A McCoy by blood, if not name. Though I’ll want to discuss the name thing some time down the road.”

      She met Cooper’s gaze, but his hooded expression revealed nothing of the animosity she’d seen there when he’d speculated about being required to change his name. His ability to hide his true feelings hardened her resolve and drew her farther into the high-ceilinged room that was as much a library as a place for Joseph to work at home. “Joseph, please—”

      “As such—” Joseph interrupted her and moved to stand behind the massive cherrywood desk he routinely ran an empire from. When he spread his hands wide on the gleaming wood and braced his weight on his fingertips, as he did now, he always reminded her of a captain taking the wheel of a great ship. “I expect you to speak freely in his presence, just as you would with Alexander or would have with my poor Marcus, God rest his soul.”

      Only a week had passed since Marcus’s death. But after the memorial service on Thursday, where Joseph had grieved so heavily Sara hadn’t been able to stop crying, Joseph had declared that because of the revelations in the will, it was time to move on. And he seemed to be doing just that, with his trademark gusto.

      That didn’t mean he was seeing things clearly again, though. “But Joseph—”

      He heaved a sigh. “Spit it out, girl.”

      She glanced at Cooper again and her gaze snagged on the challenge in his. He kicked up a corner of his way-too-sensual mouth in a silent I double-dare you.

      She raised her chin, more than willing to meet his challenge now. “It seems Mr. Anders bears the McCoy family ill will.”

      Joseph scoffed. “Ill will? Whatever made you think that?”

      She looked back at Joseph, the man her own father had admired more than anyone on earth, the man who’d always been there for her, and just said it. “He told me he plans to ruin the company.”

      Joseph chuckled. “You misunderstood him, Sara. Which surprises me. You’re normally such a good listener.” He lowered himself into his large, dark brown leather desk chair.

      Sara blinked. “I misunderstood him?”

      Joseph nodded with certainty. “Cooper has already expressed to me his concern that his inexperience might harm the corporation. I was just reassuring him that he knows more about big business than he realizes.”

      To Cooper he said, “Your construction company is successful, is it not?”

      Cooper tucked his thumbs in his back jeans pockets, drawing her attention unwillingly to the hard contours beneath the snug denim. She jerked her eyes upward, but landed on the muscular chest beneath his chambray work shirt before making it to his remarkably handsome face. That she noticed such things added to her growing frustration and incredulity. How could Joseph believe him over her?

      Cooper said, “It’s not just my company. I have a partner, Ted Orson, who fortunately can handle things while I’m…otherwise engaged. But yeah, we’ve operated in the black for some time now, doing custom residential and small commercial remodels.”

      They