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

they happened. And maybe she hadn’t ended up with Cooperthen was because Evan needed a father. Cooper was that person to him, always had been and, in the years since, he’d been the man of the family without being the man in her bed. Oh, the universe worked in mysterious ways.
    Which was exactly how she wanted it, right?
    *
    Hours later, half asleep, Maggie tossed and turned and gave in tobeing awake. She felt the familiar pressure in her stomach and groaned. Since having Evan, her bladder had never been the same. She glared at her bedside clock, one eye barely open. Of course it was three a.m. On autopilot, she pulled herself upright, planted her feet on the rug and shuffled to the bathroom. Every morning, three a.m. It was such a habit now that she could almost do it in her sleep.No lights necessary, she knew her way around her compact house, illuminated by the glow of moonlight through the open curtains and Evan’s night light spilling dimly into the hallway.
    Pee, don’t flush in case it wakes Evan, and tiptoe back to her bed. She passed the spill of light from Evan’s room, turned left, crossed the room, felt the familiar shag pile of her rug under her feet, turned backthe sheets, climbed in, and fell back to sleep in seconds.

Chapter Five
    ‡
    M aggie slowly came to life, limb by limb, breath by breath, one eye blinking open, then the other. It was hard to rouse from her sleep. She’d never been a morning person, although she’d been forced to be one since Evan was born. Once, in a fit of sleep-deprivedmadness, she’d attempted to add up all the hours of sleep she’d lost since becoming a mom and finally gave up in sheer exhaustion. All she knew right now was that she was awake and, judging by the silence in the house, her son wasn’t.
    And that was bliss.
    Was it Saturday? Yeah, it was Saturday. And Saturday meant no school and no client work, just hanging out with Evan. The forecast was for aclear, warm day so maybe they’d walk down to Del Mar to grab some lunch and then walk along the pier. But for now, sleep. Maggie yawned and indulged in the sleepy and luxuriously decadent feeling of having time to herself. She turned onto her back and splayed out her arms like a starfish.
    Her right hand hit something hard.
    Had Evan left a toy on her bed?
    Had she left a toy in her bed? No, hervibrator was safely tucked away in her walk-in robe.
    Her heart began to pound when she realised what the hard thing was.
    It was muscle and man.
    Maggie turned her head to the right. It was a big, blond hulk of a man, still asleep.
    And now she was wide awake. Shit shit shit.
    She must have climbed into her bed by mistake in the middle of the night. Damn her middle of the night bladder.
    Shechecked again. Cooper was on his side and facing her, his slumberous eyes closed and his full mouth relaxed. She could hear his soft breathing and hoped he was still out to it enough that he wouldn’t wake when she got out of bed. She took one last look. Half uncovered, his broad chest was on full display and one muscled arm lay loose in the space between them. He really was a fantastic looking specimen.If someone were designing a man from scratch, he would pretty much look like Cooper Malone. Tall, broad-shouldered, strong without being a muscle man. His sun-bleached hair, his tanned face and his strong jaw always reminded her of the way he’d looked the night they’d first met.
    Stop it, she told herself.
    If Cooper caught her out, his teasing would go on for years. Maggie slowly turned, tryingnot to tug at the sheet covering them, inching across the mattress to the side, hoping her movements didn’t wake him. She was about to push herself up to sitting when her son appeared at her open bedroom door.
    ‘Wait, Evan, you—’ She held out a hand to stop him.
    Too late. When Evan saw the sleeping form of Cooper next to her, her son transformed from half asleep to wide awake in a millisecond.

    ‘Cooper Cooper Cooper!’ Evan ran to