She broke the surface coughing out lake water, and it took several seconds for her mind to calm enough to recognize that it had been Cole who’d dragged her to the surface of the lake.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he pushed the soaked hair away from her eyes and mouth.
After another cough, she nodded. It took a few more seconds for her breathing to slow. But then it threatened to speed up again when she felt how closely she was pressed to Cole’s body. She looked up into his eyes and saw a spark of something there, almost like the last bit of resistance being snuffed out.
In the next moment, he lowered his mouth to hers with a growl that set her blood on fire. The way she’d been pretending with him evaporated, and she lifted her hands to his shoulders and kissed him back. Her head swam with how intoxicating he felt. His strong arms wrapped around her back were like nothing she’d ever felt, as if nothing in her life could ever feel better.
His tongue slipped inside her mouth, and she welcomed it with her own.
She had no idea how long they kissed. The sun could have set while they kissed and treaded water and she wouldn’t have noticed. Eventually, they broke apart, both of them breathing hard. He stared down at her as if he couldn’t quite believe what had just happened.
Please, don’t regret it.
“Way to go, Cole! Looks like you won the big prize out here today.”
They both jerked their attention to where Greg Boze man was paddling by, a smiling woman Devon didn’t recognize accompanying him. Greg was the poster boy for playing the field, so the lack of recognition wasn’t surprising.
Devon wondered if she should move away from Cole, but she didn’t want to. She feared she might do something embarrassing like whimper if they broke contact. Of course they couldn’t stay in the water the rest of the day, would have to manage getting themselves back into the canoe, but she wasn’t ready to let go just yet.
Greg laughed as he moved his canoe farther away.
“I’m sorry about tipping the canoe,” she said when Cole returned his attention to her.
“It was a softer landing than I’m used to.”
“Oh, your back! You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”
Cole ran his thumb across her cheek, causing her heart to speed up again. “I’m fine. Which is more than I can say for your snack basket.” He nodded behind her.
She looked back, still holding on to his arms. The lightweight basket floated upside down, its contents probably at the bottom of the lake.
“Oh, no! The Hawaii prize.” Tears popped into her eyes that she’d lost it. She wouldn’t be able to claim it, not without proof.
“You mean this?”
She looked back at Cole to see him holding a sodden piece of paper, the first three letters of “Hawaii” all she could read because of the paper being folded over on itself.
“Isn’t there a saying about possession being nine-tenths of the law?”
Her mouth dropped open, but how could she deny him? He’d just dragged her to the surface of the lake, made sure she was okay, then given her the best kiss of her life.
He laughed. “I’m joking.” He took her hand and placed the wet piece of paper in it, then closed her fingers over the top of it. “What do you say we get out of the water before we turn into prunes?”
He had a point, but a part of her couldn’t help wondering what he’d thought of the kiss. It almost seemed as if he was pretending it hadn’t happened. Was she that bad of a kisser?
Ugh. Dating, even fake dating, was so complicated.
They grabbed the canoe and swam with it closer to shore to make it easier to climb back in, grabbing the floating paddles along the way. As Cole held her hand while she stepped back into the canoe, it felt as if every tiny bit of her brain was focused on the sensation of their skin touching. She hated to let him go. And once they were back in the canoe, a swamping sense of awkwardness hit her. Thankfully they weren’t facing each other or he’d no doubt be able to read her feelings like a large-print book.
“I think we’re going to need that pizza when we get back,” Cole said from behind her.
“Yeah, considering all the food I brought is feeding the fish right now.”
The entire way to the starting point, Cole said nothing about the kiss. Did he not know what to say, or was he hoping she’d just forget about it? As if that was possible. The sudden need to put distance between them, to try to convince herself the kiss had meant nothing to her, made her fidgety.
“You okay?” Cole asked.
“Yeah. Just tired. I suppose a busy week of work and falling in a lake will do that to a gal.”
She wondered if he believed her.
Cole jumped out of the canoe when her end moved into the shallow water next to the shore. He extended his hand toward her, and she couldn’t refuse to take it without making it obvious how much turmoil was whirling inside her.
When she had two feet on land, Cole didn’t release her hand. What was going on? Was it possible his feelings toward her were changing?
“Looks like you two had an eventful ride,” Chloe said as she spotted them.
“Yeah, we took an unexpected swim,” Devon said.
“Devon was a bit excited by what she found in her balloon.” Cole squeezed her hand again, making her pulse snap to attention.
She pulled the wet pieces of paper from her pocket and found the one that had led to her current soggy state.
“Congratulations!” Chloe said when she saw what it said. “Hawaii is so romantic.” She gave Cole and Devon a knowing look.
Was it possible Devon could take the dream trip with her dream man?
“I suspect you want to get into something dry, so I’ll email you all the details about the trip.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Cole held her hand all the way back to her car. She hated to let it go, but he stepped aside as she pulled her keys from her pocket.
“Thank goodness these didn’t end up at the bottom of the lake,” she said as she shook her keys, feeling so nervous she was afraid it was visible. From the moon.
“Congratulations on your trip. You deserve it.”
“Whatever for?”
“You work hard, are kind to people.”
“So are you.”
“I’m just a has-been rodeo cowboy. What would I do on a beach?”
“Soak up the sun like everyone else?”
He gestured toward the sky. “Plenty of sun right here.”
She clamped down on saying anything further, not wanting to look desperate.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I think I have some dry clothes at home calling my name. Thanks for coming and doing this today. Rain check on the pizza?”
She nodded, though it seemed they were back to the friend zone, as if that hot kiss out on the lake hadn’t happened. Had she knocked her head on the canoe and imagined the whole thing?
“Uh, yeah, no problem. It was fun.”
When he leaned forward, she thought maybe she’d misread his distance, that he was going to continue what he’d started out in the middle of the lake. But when he planted a kiss on her cheek instead, her heart sank so hard and fast that she had to bite her lip to keep it from trembling.
As she watched him walk away, it felt so final, as if it might be for the last time.
Chapter Eleven
What the hell had he been thinking? It was all kinds of stupid to start something with Devon because he knew what she was looking for, and he wasn’t it. But he hadn’t been able to stop himself, not with her pressed so close against him. He tried to pinpoint when the pretend had started being not so pretend, but it had been so gradual, he couldn’t. There wasn’t one thing he disliked about Devon, and he knew that was bad news. He had to keep his dist
ance. Maybe with her trying online dating, that would hold off her mother.
Besides, he needed to focus on work, especially now that he had a commission to complete.
As he pulled into the ranch, this was one time he wished he lived alone. He couldn’t let his mom and brother know what had happened with Devon. His mom would be convinced she’d been right about them all along.
But he was drenched, and soaking-wet underwear wasn’t the best-feeling thing ever.
Cooper was headed toward the barn when Cole got out of his truck. His brother started laughing as soon as he saw Cole. “The idea is to stay in the canoe.”
“Really? I had no idea.”
By the look on his mom’s face when he stepped into the house, he knew word of what happened had already reached her through the miracle speed of the Blue Falls gossip network.
“I’m so happy,” she said.
“That your oldest son nearly drowned?” He toed off his sneakers, thankful he hadn’t worn his boots for the canoe ride. As it was, the sneakers were going to stink so much they’d have to go in the garbage.
“You swim like a fish,” she said. “Have since you were little. You know very well what I mean.”
“And you’re getting your hopes up for no reason.”
“So you didn’t kiss Devon?”
“I was just glad she was okay. I didn’t know if she could swim.”
“So if you’d saved anyone else, you would have kissed them the same way?”
“Depends.”
His mom made an exasperated sound. “Why are you resisting your obvious attraction to her so much?”
He spun toward his mom. “Because she wants happily-ever-after. I can’t give her that.”
“Why not? Maybe she’s the one you’ve been moving toward all along.”
He sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know what else to tell you. I’m going to take a shower.”
She mercifully didn’t say anything else as he retreated to the bathroom and fought his way out of his wet clothes and dumped them on the tile floor. He stepped into the shower, intent on washing the events of the day away. Instead, his thoughts went back to that moment he’d stopped resisting and given in to the attraction to Devon that he’d been fighting.
And it had been awesome. When they had walked the same halls of Blue Falls High School, the thought that she’d be a great kisser, that she hid a killer body under all those loose-fitting clothes, had never entered his mind. But since he’d held her and kissed her, it was all he could think about.
The scariest part? He wanted to do it all over again. And maybe more.
No, no maybe about it.
He had to stay away from Devon and let her move on with her life, to protect her. To protect himself.
But thinking it and actually doing it were two entirely different things.
* * *
DEVON TRIED WORKING on A Good Yarn’s website, then restocking the fabric section of the store, and finally rearranging the storeroom. Nothing took her mind off missing Cole. It’d been three days since their outing at Canoe Fest, since the dump into the lake, since their brain-scorching kiss. She’d heard not a peep out of him since, and she hadn’t reached out to him, either. If he wanted to step away for good, then she’d let him. He’d told her plain as day he didn’t want a serious relationship ever again, and yet she’d allowed herself to hope he might change his mind. No one was to blame but her.
She realized she’d been staring at the display of oatmeal soap for who knew how long when the front door opened. Her brows furrowed when Mandy walked in, followed by India Parrish, who owned Yesterwear Boutique a few doors down, and Skyler Bradshaw, who owned the Wildflower Inn, which overlooked the lake.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” she asked Mandy as she walked toward the front. “It’s your day off.”
“I came to cheer you up, and I brought reinforcements.”
She’d told Mandy everything, including the fact that she had to find a way to get past the empty feeling inside her.
“I’m fine.”
Mandy gave her a look that said she knew good and well Devon was lying.
“You haven’t been yourself this week,” India said. “You’re normally chipper and smiling, but when I passed you yesterday, you looked on the verge of tears.”
Devon didn’t want to share what a fool she’d been with anyone else, but she had to bite her lip and blink several times to prevent the very tears India had mentioned.
India rubbed Devon’s arm. “What’s wrong?”
Devon sighed and sank into one of the wicker chairs in the front corner opposite the checkout counter. Her friends sat in the other three chairs that were there for the local knitters’ club when they had meetings.
“Is this about Cole?” Skyler asked. “You two looked so happy at the Canoe Fest.”
“We were, but...it’s not what you think.” She glanced toward the ceiling, embarrassed by the words she hadn’t yet spoken. “Cole and I have been pretending to date so my mom would stop shoving ‘suitable men’ toward me.”
“Pretending?” Skyler said. “From what Greg says, you guys weren’t putting on a show for anyone when you kissed out in the lake. He said you appeared to have forgotten anyone was within miles.”
“That...was different. We’d never taken it that far.” She paused, thinking back to the kiss, wondering how she’d misinterpreted it.
“Maybe his feelings changed,” India said.
Devon shook her head. “Cole has no interest in me.”
“I doubt he goes around kissing women he has no interest in,” Mandy said, the same as she had when Devon had first told her about the kiss.
“Trust me, it was just a fluke. When we returned to shore, it was as if it hadn’t happened. And I haven’t heard from him since.”
“Do you want there to be more between you?” India asked.
Devon thought about it for a minute before nodding. “But he doesn’t. He knows that I’m looking for a happily-ever-after, and he no longer believes in them.”
“Then change his mind,” Skyler said.
“I don’t know if that’s possible. He’s been married twice, and neither time ended well.”
“If you care about him, I think it’s worth a try,” India said. “Take it a day at a time. But it may require you making the next move.”
“You have no idea how much that scares me. If it blows up in my face, I’ll still have to see him around town. I can’t just disappear into the crowd of a city.”
Mandy leaned forward. “Which will be worse, that or never knowing if there could have been more between you? What if there could be and you never find out?”
Devon ran her fingers back through her hair, wondering if there was one sliver of hope she and Cole could have a real relationship. Could he see her as more than a friend? More than the chubby girl from high school he’d overlooked in favor of the girl who’d ended up hurting him? “I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
India patted Devon’s knee. “It’ll be okay. We’ll all help you any way we can.”
Even after her friends left, Devon couldn’t decide whether asking Cole out was a good idea or not. She paced the store for close to an hour before she remembered her mother inviting her to the launch party. Maybe she’d ask Cole to go to the party with her and see where the night led.
When she picked up her phone to call him, she didn’t think she’d ever shaken so much in her life. It was insane to place so much importance on the outcome of one phone call, but she couldn’t seem to help it. She’d fallen for Cole, and if those feelings were unrequited she didn’t look forward to the process of grieving that, of trying to get past it.
“Hello?”
His voice startled her so much she almost dropped her
phone.
“Cole, hi. How’s it going?” Good grief, could she sound any more like she was forcing boundless cheer into her response?
“Good. Working on the commissioned piece.”
“Oh, that’s good.”
When she paused too long, he asked, “Something I can do for you?”
“Actually, yes. I hate to ask, but I was wondering if maybe you’d accompany me to a party my parents are hosting, a company thing?”
He didn’t answer at first, which caused the nausea to swirl inside her again.
“When is it?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“Okay, sure. I’ll meet you there.”
She tried not to fixate on the last part of his response, on how it sounded like he was trying to make sure she knew this was a favor for a friend and nothing more.
“Great. See you then.”
When she hung up the phone after giving him the details, her mind started to race. If she wanted him to know how she felt, to see if there was any chance he could feel the same, she had to commit totally to this one shot. With that in mind, she dialed another number.
“Yesterwear Boutique.”
“Hi, India. It’s Devon.” She paused for a moment. “I need your help.”
* * *
DEVON PAUSED OUTSIDE the entrance to her parents’ gorgeous home, the house where she’d grown up. She smoothed her hand over the front of the green, form-fitting dress, hoping she looked as good as India, Skyler, Elissa and Mandy had told her she did. She couldn’t remember ever wearing something so snug, that showed off her true shape. She’d spent so many years hiding under billowy clothing that she’d actually been shocked when she looked in the mirror in India’s shop. She’d liked what she saw. Now she just hoped that Cole did, as well.
She made her way inside and almost immediately came face-to-face with her mother.
“Devon, you came.” She looked at Devon’s ensemble, from her updo down to her heels.
COWBOY TAKES A WIFE, THE Page 12