“Well sure, that was the first thing she thought of. Wait until he was sitting across from her at lunch, smiling that unflappable smile of his and then<em>nyah</em>!” Coop made a stabbity-stabbity gesture with the scrap of metal as if using it to poke someone in the eye. “Didn’t take her long to realize you really can’t disable a guy with something the size of a toothpick.”<br/><br/>He settled on the bench beside Sarah. Whether or not she knew she had petted his leg as he sat, he certainly did. An agreeable tingle ran up his back and down again, and he let out a barely audible rumble of pleasure as their hands nestled together.<br/><br/>“Anyway, Rosalinde finally got the door to her chamber open and crept out into the hallway. The place was quiet as a tomb, just like she had hoped. Before long she had found the stairs that led down to the ground. When she got there, though, there was one last thing between her and freedom.”<br/><br/>Millimeter by millimeter, Cooper had shifted closer to Sarah until their legs rested against one another, interlinked hands atop them. His voice had dropped until his tone had become almost conspiratorial, even though there wasn’t another soul in sight. Or maybe it was just an excuse to lean closer to her, feel the soft curve of her shoulder against his.<br/><br/>“The staircase let out onto the main guard room. To get to the door to the outside, she would have sneak past four snoring pirates.”