Chapter 5
***COOPER***
“I’m Dr. Warner, and I don’t recall having an appointment with anyone this afternoon,” Dr. Warner said, pushing her way past him. “Who did you say you work for?”
The man stared at her for a second, then let out a frustrated huff, “The New York Historical Society for Preservation,” he said very slowly. “Pay attention, young lady, this is very important and I don’t want to have to repeat myself.”
“I suggest you stop talking to me like I’m a child, Mr. Berkley, or I’ll have Cooper throw you out on your rear end,” Dr. Warner said, folding her arms across her chest. “What is it you want? And make it quick, I have things to do.”
“I work for a group of investors who are interested in preserving history and when they heard about this site, they became very interested,” Mr. Berkley said.
“I’ve come to take a tour of the ruins to determine if they would be a good investment for my employers.
I’d also like to see any site maps you may have. ”
“Mr. Berkely, this isn’t an investment, it’s a historical site, and I don’t believe it’s up for sale,” Dr. Warner said, her face turning pink with anger. “There will be no tour, and I’m certainly not going to hand over my maps. I think it’s time you left.”
“This land doesn’t belong to you, and I’m sure the dean will be interested to know that you kicked me out,” Mr. Berkley said.
“He’s very interested in our proposal, which would mean a lot of money for the college.
I would also like to point out that it might be in your own best interest to cooperate with me.
After all, once we take over, there might be a very lucrative position available to you. ”
“That sounded an awful lot like a bribe to me,” Dr. Warner said, advancing on Mr. Berkley a few steps. “I don’t take bribes, and I don’t want to work for you or your employers. I’m going to ask you nicely once more to leave, and then I’m going to have Cooper show you the way out.”
“You’re going to be sorry, little lady, I’m very good at what I do, and this site will make the society a lot of money,” Mr. Berkley said, backing away from Dr. Warner. “You’d better enjoy your time here while you can; it won’t last long, and I’m going to enjoy kicking you out when the time comes.”
“The only one who is leaving is you,” Cooper said, at the end of his patience. “I’m beginning to get tired of asking you to leave. This is your last chance to go on your own.”
“You’ll be sorry,” Mr. Berkley repeated, then turned and stomped off.
“Jerk,” Dr. Warner said to his back as he disappeared into the tunnel. “Men like that give archaeology a bad name, and they’re destroying some of the most important sites around the world. I’m not going to let that happen here.”
“Do you know him?” he asked. “Does he really work for the historical society?”
“Not the one you’re thinking about,” she said, starting for the tunnel.
“I don’t know him, but I know men like them.
They buy up sites like this one out from under the real preservation societies, then they open them up to the public and make a tidy little profit.
I wouldn’t have a problem with it, but they don’t protect the sites, they let them get ruined by the public just so they can make a little bit of extra money. ”
“So, the college could sell this land to a group like that and they could do whatever they want with it?” Cooper asked, his face creased with confusion. “I thought stuff like this belonged to the people, I mean, it should, right?”
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple. Private owners have rights too,” she said. “The government can seize the land if an owner doesn’t want to sell but that can take years, and if someone like Mr. Berkley is snooping around, throwing stacks of bills at the owners, the government can’t always compete.”
“That’s not right, this should belong to the people, not some group of investors who just want to exploit it,” he said. “We can’t let that happen to this place.”
“My thoughts exactly,” she said, pulling her phone out of her pocket. “I think it’s time Dean Proctor and I had another little chat, the sooner the better. Then I’m going to go home and Google that jerk. I need to know who we’re up against. If he wants a fight, he’s going to get one.”
The fire in Dr. Warner’s eyes made his heart skip a beat and desire flood his system and he had to take a deep breath. “Have you forgotten pizza and miniature golf?” he asked. “I thought we were supposed to be celebrating? The crew is going to be disappointed if you cancel on them.”
“I’ll make an appointment for first thing Monday morning,” she said. “I just hope Mr. Berkley doesn’t get to Dean Proctor before I can talk to him.”
“I know Steven, he used to be our frat sponsor. He won’t be swayed by money,” Cooper said. “He’s a good guy; you can count on him to see through Mr. Berkley. He won’t fall for his games, he’s too smart for that. Let’s go have some fun, we deserve it, we’ve been working really hard.”
“You’re right, I’ll just make this call, then I’m going to go home to shower and change,” Dr. Warner said, smiling at him. “Thanks for calming me down. I get worked up about this stuff sometimes. I could use a break.”
“Then I’ll see you at the park later,” he said. “I’m a champion at miniature golf by the way.”
“Oh, really? I’m pretty good myself,” she said, grinning at him. “This might be interesting.”
He studied her for a second. “Do you want to make it really interesting?” he asked, grinning at her. “How about a little bet?”
“I’m not much of a gambler,” Dr. Warner said, a look of interest in her eyes that made his heart pound a little faster. “But what did you have in mind?”
“You and me head-to-head,” he said, a wave of desire making it difficult to think. “Looser owes the winner a favor.”
“What kind of favor?” she asked. “It can’t be something illegal or that will hurt someone else.”
“That sounds fair enough,” he said, grinning at her, already planning the favor he would ask for. “Are we on?”
“You bet,” Dr. Warner said, grinning at him. “Just be prepared to lose.”
***Stephanie***
Stephanie gave her golf ball a sharp tap with the putter, then held her breath as she watched it sail along on the fake grass toward the cup, knowing this was the last chance she had to beat Cooper.
When the ball plopped into the hole, then bounced back into the air before landing back where it started with a thunk, she let out her breath slowly, a smile spreading across her face.
“The only thing that will beat me is a hole in one,” she said, giving him a big grin before retrieving her ball. “You only have one shot, let’s see what you’ve got.”
Cooper gave her a dirty look. “You haven’t won yet,” he said, then became very serious, walking around the hole, using his club to measure the distance and testing the wind with his finger. “Okay, I think I’m ready, stand back and watch the master.”
She let out a derisive snort to try and spook him, but she knew that there was a very good chance he was going to beat her, and that didn’t make her happy.
At first, she’d been sure that she was going to win, but then Cooper’s game started to improve, and she started to worry.
Now it was clear she might end up owing him a favor, a thought that was both tantalizing and frightening.
Cooper finally took his shot, and they watched silently as it rolled away from them, over the slight rise before bouncing against the hazard exactly where it should have, then plopped into the cup.
The silence lasted for a few more seconds, then Cooper let out a whoop of excitement, and she couldn’t help but smile at the look of pure joy on his face.
“Did you see that?” he asked, striding over to the cup and looking inside. “I didn’t think I’d be able to do that in a million years. I was just making a big deal of taking the shot; none of that stuff I did made any difference. I can’t believe it went in.”
A wave of warmth washed over her as she watched him celebrating, and she realized that she didn’t mind losing that much if it made him so happy. “It was an amazing shot,” she admitted, walking over to him. “I guess that means you won, name your prize.”
“There are a few things I can think of that I want,” he said, grinning at her. “But I’m saving that favor for later.”
“You can’t do that,” she said, not liking the idea of having it hanging over her head. “You have to ask right now.”
Cooper shook his head. “Nope, I’m holding onto it for right now,” he said, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “But don’t worry, it won’t be long before I ask for something.”
The warmth was back, but this time it came with a spark of desire that took her breath away for a second and made her entire body tingle. “Remember our deal,” she finally managed to say. “Nothing illegal, nothing that could hurt someone, and nothing to do with sex.”
Cooper studied her for a second. “Hmmm…I don’t remember sex being mentioned in our bet,” he said, stepping closer to her. “But now that you mention it, I might just ask for a kiss.”
“I didn’t… that’s not what… you can’t…” she stammered, her heart pounding in her chest, her mouth suddenly dry. “Cooper… it would be inappropriate… unprofessional…”
“Hey, you two, are you finished?” Kendra called, interrupting them to her relief. “Everyone else is finished and we’re ready for that pizza you promised us.”
“I guess we’ll have to postpone the rest of this discussion,” Cooper said, grinning at her. “I’m still not convinced kissing you is a bad idea.”
“It would be a very bad idea, a terrible one,” she said, walking away from him. “It would be disastrous.”
“Hey, I’m not that bad a kisser,” he said, catching up to her with an amused smile on his face. “Who knows, you might even like it.”
“I don’t want to even think about it,” she said. “I’m your boss, kissing you would be highly inappropriate. I can’t afford to mess up right now, so just forget about it. Don’t think about it, don’t think about me.”
She did the only thing she could think of and sprinted away from him toward the rest of the staff gathered a few yards away.
Cooper let her go, but she could feel his eyes on her the entire way.
When she finally felt brave enough to look over at him, he was watching her, a mixture of surprise and desire in his eyes.
Then he slowly strolled over to the group, but kept his distance from her.
Not sure if she was disappointed or not, she took a deep breath and reminded herself she couldn’t have him, he was her intern.
She’d be risking her job and nothing was worth that, not even a great kiss.
Forcing herself to stop thinking about Cooper, she turned away so she couldn’t see him.
Taking a deep breath, she told herself she could get through the rest of the night; she just had to avoid him.
Looking at her crew all talking and laughing, she decided it wouldn’t be that hard.
She’d spend some time with each of them during dinner.
That would keep her busy and away from Cooper.
What she’d do the next day, she wasn’t sure, but hoped the longing deep inside her would be gone by then. “I hope everyone had fun,” she said. “I hear you’ve worked up an appetite.”
“I feel like I could eat an entire pizza all by myself,” one of the interns said. “Where are we going?”
“I reserved the back room over at Maurice’s on Main Street, everyone said they have the best pizza in town,” she said.
“They’re going to put together a buffet for us, so you can eat as much as you can hold, just don’t eat so much you can’t make it to the dig tomorrow.
The room is ours for two hours. Does anyone need a ride? ”
“I think we’re all good,” Kendra said, then looked behind her. “Oh, except Cooper, I think he walked here.”
She turned to find him standing a few feet away, a sad look on his face. “I could use a ride, but I don’t want it to count as my favor. Maybe I’ll just walk,” he said, then sighed dramatically. “It won’t take that long; I should still have some time to eat when I get there.”
Kendra gave her a questioning look. “Never mind,” she said, then looked over at Cooper. “You can ride with me.”
He perked up instantly. “Great, thanks for asking,” he said, closing the distance between them with only a couple of strides of his long legs, a big smile on his face. “Lead the way.”
“Behave yourself,” she said, glaring at him. “I’m just giving you a ride, that’s it.”