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The wo out at the rain Her shoulders were hunched a little as if trying to protect herself froed down her body She had a tiny back, narrow shoulders, and a narroaist, but that waist swept out into a curvy ass Cooper appreciated greatly Especially since that ass was attached to long, slis She wore skinny jeans that showed off those fantastic legs of hers The jeans were tucked into high-heeled boots

Casual but sexy, he thought It worked At least it did for him

He suddenly wasn’t so cold

And he was going to listen to that tingle “You can wait out there if you want Or not”

She swung around, staring at hiot to see all of her

All of it was good

She wasn’t a striking beauty like his ex, but there was coldness to Dana’s beauty There always had been It used to intrigue him Now he knew better

Other than the wet clothes on her body, there wasn’t a hint of coldness in this stranger

She did, however, look uncertain She peered past hiht?”

He nodded

The wo an ee ht now she looked like a teenager deciding whether or not to do the s

Amusement filled him

As she nodded and strode past hiht, kind of flowery, nothingat his bar in curiosity, and he took in the rest of her Her black shirt clung to her, straining over full breasts More than a handful Fuck, but she had a body on her

Then Cooper noticed that body was shivering

Asshole He needed to stop checking her out and get her warm

“Tea? Coffee? Hot cocoa?” he called out, heading toward the kitchen

“Hot cocoa,” she called back

He went to the linen closet in the hall first, where he kept dish towels and towels for the staff bathroorabbed one and took it out to her

“Thanks,” she said, staring up at hi almost confused for some reason

He nodded and got back into the kitchen to make them a warm drink as fast as possible

When he returned to her with herof cocoa he noticed her hair was a little drier There was a lot of it

The one, too

He glanced at the white towel he’d given her and grinned when he saw the black on it

“Thank you,” she said, taking theof hot cocoa and whipped cream from him

She was soft-spoken and, for whatever reason, his lower belly reacted with a tugging sensation to the sound of her voice

Cooper took the seat across fro the chance to study her as she studied him There was an air of easy confidence around her that he appreciated That kind of confidence usually belonged to women who knew and liked themselves

“Do you work here?” she said after a few minutes of comfortable silence had passed between them

Cooper nodded

“You’re a bartender here?”

“I own the place”

He watched her study his bar, and he had to wonder what she thought of it She had little dia a nice watch, plus those sexy boots weren’t cheap, as far as he could tell, and he’d lived with Dana long enough to know a designer purse when he saw it If he’d had to guess, he would have thought the tourist a cocktails-at-a-trendy-bar kind of woht her appreciation of his body earlier, he saw a different kind in her eyes as she looked around at his place

He felt a spike of pride It used to be a dowdy little pub Noas a successful one It was all him in that bar and it was nice that she liked what she saw

“Nice place,” she said, confir her appreciation “What’s the bar called?”

“Cooper’s”

She narrowed her big eyes on him “Are you Cooper?”

“Are you a detective?” he teased

“A doctor, actually”

Well, he hadn’t been expecting that “Smart lady”

“I’d hope so” She grinned at him

Silence fell between theain and Cooper found that he liked that she could sit quietly with hi uncomfortable He liked the quiet He liked that she wasn’t rushing to fill it with less chitchat like most people did

In the little time he’d spent with her he knew she was sexy, cute, smart, and nice to spend time with All that meant Cooper wanted to know more “You’re not from Hartwell”

“No, I’m not” She sidestepped his unspoken question

Cooper als you to Hart’s Boardwalk, Doc?”

“At the lad it did”

Yeah, he was glad, too He reached across the table, offering her his hand “Cooper Lawson”

She smiled at him and took his hand, hers ston”

That tingle sprang to life down his neck again

He tensed, his eyes sharp on Jessica Huntington “Nice to meet you, Doc”

“You, too Thanks again for the cocoa”

“You’re welco her sip the drink he’d made for her A bit of crea not to think about howhis eyes fros you to Hartwell?” o out at the rain Her shoulders were hunched a little as if trying to protect herself froed down her body She had a tiny back, narrow shoulders, and a narroaist, but that waist swept out into a curvy ass Cooper appreciated greatly Especially since that ass was attached to long, slis She wore skinny jeans that showed off those fantastic legs of hers The jeans were tucked into high-heeled boots