They spoke for a few more minutes before Cooper hung up.
A party for his son.
He was stunned, but deep inside he knew he shouldn’t be. The Fortune family was everything to Lily. She’d already proved her resiliency in doing whatever was needed to help William recover his memory, even if that meant taking divine advice from her first husband. From what he’d been told, Lily and Ryan had had a wonderful marriage until the man had passed away too soon from a brain tumor. The fact that she and his Uncle William had found love again with each other—
Hell, he’d never felt that way about a woman in his life. Never thought it was possible to fall in love, to want to spend his life with one person.
Until now?
He looked at the piece of paper in his hand. Flipping it open, he saw the small, neat handwriting. His gaze immediately went to the end to see who’d signed it.
Kelsey.
He released the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding and went back to read her note from the beginning.
Cooper,
I stopped by to see if you and Anthony are free for dinner. I’ll bring the food and I’ve got the perfect blanket for a picnic. Around 5:00 p.m.? If you’re interested, give me a call.
Kelsey
Cooper grinned and punched in the number at the bottom of the note. It went to her voice mail. Damn, he hated talking to these things. Maybe he should hang up and call again later—
Beep!
“Ah, hey Kels…I got your note. I’m sorry I—ah, wasn’t here when you stopped by. Yeah—yes, we’d love to have dinner with you…”
Beep!
Damn thing had cut him off midsentence. He was tempted to call her back, but was afraid he’d seem desperate if he did.
Well, wasn’t he?
Cooper shut his eyes, his teeth clenching. Maybe, but that was a reality that was better kept to himself.
Chapter Eleven
Kelsey’s knock came at ten minutes after five. Cooper halted his pacing, took a deep breath and glanced at his son who sat in an aptly named bouncy seat, waving his hands and feet at the colored beads attached to the handle.
“Wish me luck, kid.” Cooper’s words were a low whisper. “And let’s hope your old man doesn’t screw things up. Again.”
He walked to the door and yanked it open. Kelsey stood on the other side of the screen looking exactly like she did the day they met. A simple T-shirt showed off her curves and snug jeans emphasized her long legs. Her hair was in a ponytail, but thankfully she’d left the ball cap at home, allowing him to see her beautiful eyes.
Eyes that stared back at him with a mixture of bravado and apprehension. Two feelings that were totally his fault, dammit.
“Kels, I’m sorry.”
“Cooper, I’m sorry.”
They spoke at the same time, their apologies jumbled together, then both smiled.
“I wanted to say it first.” She shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “You beat me to it.”
“I think it’s a tie, but I’m glad we got that over with.”
Relieved that getting things back to normal between them was that simple, Cooper pushed open the screen door. An oversize, wicker picnic basket, cooler and the blanket he’d given her sat next to her feet. “You want to come inside?”
She took a step back and jerked her thumb at the truck parked in front of the cottage. “Why don’t I just put the picnic stuff in the back so we can head out?”
“I’ll do that.” He walked outside, and she again moved back, this time almost to the edge of the porch. “If you don’t mind keeping an eye on Anthony?”
“Sure, no problem.”
He held the door with a straight arm and Kelsey quickly ducked underneath and scooted inside. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so easy after all. Minutes later the three of them climbed into his truck, but other than giving him directions to a shady grove of oak and ash trees near a small pond, Kelsey said very little.
“This is still part of Molly’s Pride. I come here often when working the horses.” She finally spoke, leaning out the passenger window when he eased the truck to a stop. “Wow, the ground still looks pretty wet. I figured with today’s warm temperature and the sun…maybe we should go somewhere else.”
Cooper had anticipated this problem when he’d read her note. “No worries, I loaded the back of the truck with some extra blankets and pillows.”
Enjoying the look of surprise on Kelsey’s face, he parked so the truck’s tailgate faced the water. He then hopped out, slapping his Stetson on his head.
Kelsey slid out, too. “But we can’t picnic on the grass. Anthony will get—”
“We’ll stay in the truck.”
Cooper went to work making the truck bed comfortable, keeping the blanket he’d given her for last. Then he moved the cooler and basket off the lowered tailgate and set them into the middle of the blanket.
“There. One picnic, ready to go.”
“I can’t believe you thought of all this.”
Hell, he’d pictured a similar scenario last night at the fairgrounds just before she’d kissed him.
A kiss he wanted badly to recreate, but instead he said, “Why don’t you climb on up while I get Anthony from his seat?”
Kelsey nodded and bent to untie her tennis shoes.
He made quick work of freeing his son from the car seat. Grabbing the diaper bag, he turned back in time to see her scramble into the truck on her hands and knees. After she got settled up near the cab of the truck, he handed over his son and then joined them, stretching out his legs to keep his wet boots off the blankets.
He pulled in a deep breath, loving the fresh outdoor smell of Texas dirt, wild grass and the towering trees. The sky was a stark blue with not a cloud in sight and a slight breeze kept the late May afternoon from being too hot.
Bumping up the brim of his hat, he reached for Anthony, who showed his reluctance in leaving Kelsey by grabbing handfuls of her shirt. I know the feeling, kid. “Here, I’ll take him.”
She handed over his son and then pulled out a foil-covered dish from the picnic basket that had his mouth watering, a few smaller containers and a crusty loaf of bread.
“Can I do anything to help?” he asked.
He got a quick smile, but Kelsey kept her attention on the food. “You’ve got your hands full. I can take care of this.”
Cooper pulled out a few toys for Anthony and watched as she set up a meal of fried chicken and potato salad. Call him crazy, but at the moment the last thing he wanted was food.
No, what he wanted was to lean over, cup her cheek until she finally looked at him.
Despite the limited space in the truck bed, she still seemed so distant. The couple of feet that separated them seemed bigger than the Grand Canyon. He wanted them back where they’d been last night—both at the fair and as they made love—but he was clueless how to get back into her good graces.
“Kels—”
“Okay, I think we’re all set.” She cut him off. “What do you want to drink? I brought bottled water, iced tea and I grabbed the last couple of beers I had in my fridge.”
“Iced tea is fine.”
“You sure? I kind of figured you for a guy who enjoys a cold brew.”
“Not anymore. Not since Anthony came into my life. Too many memories of a mother who never quite learned her limit when it came to martinis.”
Surprised that he actually said that aloud, he waited for a response, but Kelsey only nodded and handed him a cold bottle from the cooler. “Ready to eat?”
Not sure how he was going to get food past the lump of doubt in his throat, Cooper returned her nod. Setting the drink aside, he fixed a couple of pillows between them and propped Anthony upright, thankful the baby was content to play with a string of colorful beads.
After filling his plate, Cooper took a big bite of chicken, amazed when it did indeed slide down his throat. As soon as he could talk again, he said the first thing that popped
into his head. “So, who’s your favorite sports team? I’m guessing it’s connected with b-ball?”
Surprise again crossed Kelsey’s features, but he was genuinely interested. He knew she was great with horses, loved her family and had an awesome hook shot when it came to a basketball, but there had to be more to her. He wanted to know more, wanted to know everything.
Then they could work their way up to the hard stuff.
Like what had happened this morning.
They easily navigated some of the less complicated topics like sports and movies while enjoying the warm spring evening and keeping Anthony entertained. He discovered her passion for college basketball, and as a graduate of West Texas A&M, she was an ardent fan of the Lady Buffs. She also loved any film that included horses, with the classic National Velvet starring Elizabeth Taylor being her favorite.
“Thomas considered those two strikes against me,” she said with a wistful smile, pushing around the remains of her salad with her fork. “That I played basketball and wanted to work with horses, but both were such a part of who I was—and I wasn’t willing to give them up.”
Cooper sat up a bit straighter. That was the first time she’d ever mentioned someone specific from her past. “I take it things didn’t work with the guy?”
“Nope, and that’s a good thing because otherwise I wouldn’t be here with you two.” She tossed the paper plate into a small trash bag next to her. “Of course, it’s sort of a set pattern when it comes to the men in my life. Maybe that’s why I’m more devoted to the four-legged stallions in my life than the two-legged ones.”
Cooper smiled at her joke, but anger bubbled inside him that she’d been hurt like that. “Well, I love horse movies, too, but usually there’s a cowboy or two involved.”
“John Wayne or Clint Eastwood?”
Cooper handed over his empty plate when Kelsey motioned for it and grinned as he readjusted Anthony’s pillows to keep the baby from falling over. “Gene Autry, actually.”
“Really?”
“There was a run-down, one-screen movie theater a couple of blocks from where I grew up in San Antonio.” He rarely shared this life-changing moment from his past, but after what she’s just revealed about herself, it felt right. “The summer I was twelve, they showed Gene Autry Westerns every day. I saw as many as I could, two or three a day sometimes.”
Kelsey froze in the middle of putting away the remains of their picnic dinner. “Your folks didn’t mind you spending all your time and money at the movies?”
Hell, that summer hadn’t been any different than any other.
He shrugged and kept his attention on the horseshoe-shaped baby rattle he spun in a lazy circle with his finger. “My dad had been long gone by then and my mother all but disappeared with her latest boyfriend. My older brother, Ross, was in charge of keeping me and my siblings out of trouble.”
“Oh, Cooper.”
“Seeing how I rarely had any money, I found a way into the theater through a busted window.” He continued talking over her sympathetic tone, having no idea why he was saying all this, but the words spilled out of his mouth anyway.
“It worked pretty well until I got caught by the owner, but instead of calling the cops, he gave me a job. So, I made a few bucks under the table and saw all the movies I wanted for free. I knew then what I wanted to be when I grew up.”
“A cowboy.”
He nodded, remembering how he’d spent the following summer in Red Rock at his Uncle Ryan’s ranch learning all he could about horses and the hard work involved with his dream job. By the time he’d graduated from high school he’d been working at a local ranch and entering rodeos.
“That must’ve been rough, being on your own that summer.”
“Did you know there’s even a Gene Autry Cowboy Code?” he asked, switching the conversation back to a more neutral topic. “I used to know it by heart when I was a kid, something about always telling the truth, being gentle with children and respecting women.”
“I think you live up to that code pretty well.”
That was nice to hear, but if he was telling the truth at the moment it’d be that he wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms. No, that wasn’t entirely true, either. He wanted to do that and so much more, but if she knew that, she’d probably kick his ass right out of the truck. Things were finally relaxed between them.
Did he really want to screw that up?
“Well, I guess we can thank the movies for our careers, huh?” Kelsey said. “Funny how both of us ended up following our childhood dreams.”
Except Cooper’s dream never included being tied down. Thanks to his mother’s life choices, he’d always believed having a spouse and children wasn’t worth the time, effort or required commitment, but taking care of his son wasn’t any trouble.
He’d willingly admit there’d been a big learning curve involved at first, but he was getting the hang of this parenting thing. He glanced down at Anthony who let loose with a big yawn and rubbed at his eyes with tiny fists.
Yeah, he liked being a dad.
Holding his sleepy son in his arms as he sucked down the contents of his bottle, Cooper decided that once Anthony settled down for a nap he was going to do something drastic.
Like grab the woman and kiss her. Or give her the kind of apology she deserved; whichever came first.
After Anthony made it clear he was more interested in sleeping than eating, Cooper put the half-finished bottle away and gently laid his son in a cocoon of pillows, the little guy’s eyes already closed. He reached for the light blanket nearby, but Kelsey got there first and covered him.
“They’re so sweet when they’re sleeping,” she whispered, lightly caressing Anthony’s cheek with her fingers. “Just like little angels who’ve fallen from heaven.”
“Yeah, sweet.” A heavy feeling settled in his gut as he watched her, remembering that dim-witted line he’d spouted off to her that first day. The thing was she really did remind him of an angel.
“You’re good with him.”
Kelsey’s soft praise hit him square in the chest. He blinked and looked down as Anthony coughed and snuffled, rubbing at his nose in his sleep.
“Thanks. Considering I’ve had a crash course in this baby stuff, I don’t think I’m doing too badly. Not that I still don’t have doubts, but I really think I can handle this daddy business.” Cooper leaned back, put his weight on one arm and patted his stomach with his free hand. “And thanks for a great dinner. I’m stuffed.”
“Does that mean you’re not interested in a tasty dessert?”
Yeah, he was, but he doubted his idea of dessert, as in her mouth under his, was what Kelsey had in mind.
He watched as she took out a trio of bright green apples and a plastic dish filled with a dark brown liquid. Then out came a paring knife and in minutes she skinned one of the apples entirely without stopping.
“Okay, I’m impressed.”
Kelsey blushed. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
“I’ve never met anyone who can peel a whole apple in one long curl,” Cooper said. “And with such speed.”
“Well, now we both know you’re easily entertained.” She sliced the apple into pieces and then took the lid off the container. Using a spoon to first stir the contents, she then dipped in an apple slice.
Cooper peered at the bowl. “What is that?”
“Melted caramel. Do you want a piece?”
He should’ve known.
He’d learned last night how much of a sweet tooth she had. Cooper shook his head and watched as she quickly placed the apple in her mouth, using the tip of her tongue to catch the gooey strings that followed. “Mmm, so good.”
She ate two more bites, needing the help of her fingers to stop the messy liquid from dripping down her chin. His smile faded as she slowly licked the sticky remnants from her fingers. The sight of her lips closing over each individual tip drove him crazy.
Damn, she was killing him.
“Okay, now I get it.”
The last caramel-covered finger stopped inches from her mouth. “What?”
“This is divine punishment, right? When I couldn’t think about anything except how much it hurt that you’d planned to walk out on me.”
“Cooper—”
“No, I totally understand.”
It was time to man up and just spit it out.
He wanted to be with this woman and it was time he told her so. He yanked off his hat, needing to see her eyes as he spoke. “I’m sorry, Kels. I was a total ass this morning. I never even thought about how you might be handling—” he paused and waved his hand between them “—whatever this crazy thing is between us. All I could think about—still think about—is how amazing last night was, and I’m not just talking about when we got back to my place—”
She leaned over and pressed her fingers, including the sticky caramel one, to his lips. “Cooper, shut up.”
He did as he was told.
Then he captured her hand when she started to pull away. Drawing her finger into his mouth, he gently sucked the sweet confection from her skin. Passion blazed in her eyes, the same passion he’d seen last night when she looked at him as he made love to her.
He curled her hand in his. “Would you believe me if I told you I had to kiss you right now or I’m going to die?”
Ah, a smile.
“No.”
His heart stopped. “No, I can’t kiss you?”
Her smile turned soft yet sexy and his ticker started pounding again. “No, I don’t believe you.”
He scooted closer. “Are you willing to take that chance?”
“No,” she repeated.
He covered her mouth with his. Pressing her hand to his chest, he slid his to the nape of her neck and held her like he’d wanted to ever since she’d appeared on his front porch. The way he should’ve kissed her the moment she’d told him she’d never had sex on a first date before.
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