by Stacey Lynn
We’ll figure it out.
He sounded so confident, looked so serious, I couldn’t think of an argument.
“Okay.”
His lips lifted and the cloudiness in my brain fizzled down my spine. “Good. Ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Because you’re still sitting here, frozen.”
“Right.” I turned and grabbed my purse from where I’d stashed it in the back of the truck, opened my door and slid out. As I turned, Cooper was already there, holding the door for me and closing it when I stepped out of the way.
He stopped me, blocking me with his body. “Before we go in, and not to freak you out, there’s something you should know. Something I should have said earlier, but I was trying to forget about it.”
Which sounded like bad news was coming. “Okay…”
“Camilla went on a late night talk show last night. She sat across from a man who she cheated on me with, telling him how much she loved me and wanted me back. That shit was apparently all over social media today along with photos of us over the years. It’s spreading like wildfire in part because no one can figure out where I am.”
My gaze darted to the door of The Tavern. We were a small town, but we weren’t some back wood hicks who didn’t have a clue about celebrities. More than one person in there followed everything, Brooke being one of them. “Crap.”
“There’s a chance I could be recognized, even with the wig and the hat, but if you say the word right now that scares you, I’ll do what I said earlier. I’ll head home. I’ll give you your night with your friend, and come back and get you whenever you call. Not kidding, Rebecca. You’re not comfortable with this, tell me. If people are going to be looking as closely at you, and me, as you think they will, I don’t want to turn tonight into a circus show.”
That was really sweet of him. And he’d do it, I knew he would.
“No.” I hitched my purse on my shoulder. I was determined, damn it. Scared out of my brain, but for that moment, determination was winning. “It’ll be fine.”
“You sure?”
“Nope. But we’re doing it anyway.”
I stepped around him and he fell into step next to me, chuckling, and I knew it was at me, or what I said, but I didn’t care and I didn’t look back.
He had a really beautiful laugh and if I looked at him, he might see how much I liked it. And that was something I was going to hide for as long as he was there.
* * *
“So, spill it. Tell me why you didn’t let me know you had some hottie living on your land as soon as that hunk of a gorgeous man showed up.”
“You’re so weird.” I grinned at Brooke.
Hers stretched from ear to ear.
I was surprised she hadn’t said that to Cooper when we’d found Brooke inside at a small four-top table near the back of the bar.
There was a time we’d have been front and center, standing at the railing separating the pool tables from the rest of the place, not caring at all if people watched us or heard us laugh. Brooke took a hidden, quiet spot, to make it easier for me. She even took the seats facing the bar so I could put my back to everyone.
Then, Cooper went and slid into the seat next to Brooke.
And I knew they both did that to make it easier for me to avoid everyone staring at me.
I had good friends.
We’d ordered drinks, I’d ordered a plate of nachos because I suspected I was going to be drinking a lot and needed sustenance in me to keep me from falling over. Then I gave Brooke brief details of who Cooper was. Really, I didn’t tell her anything new from when we were on the phone.
She looked at me doubtfully and rolled her eyes. “There’s more, and I want to know it.”
Cooper laughed and pushed back his chair. “I’m going to use the restroom. I’ll give you two a minute.”
Further proof he trusted me to tell her whatever I needed to. I’d thanked him and when he was gone, I turned back to Brooke.
She was staring at his ass.
I cleared my throat to get her attention.
Once I had it, I narrowed my eyes. “Before I tell you anything, you have to promise me you won’t scream or freak out.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
I leaned forward, elbows on the table and slid my glass of wine to the side. “Promise me, Brooke. Like, this is important, and we might not be teenagers anymore making blood promises to never ever, ever go after a boy the other one liked even if that boy didn’t like us, but it’s that important.”
Her eyes widened. She knew what I meant. We’d made ourselves bleed and shook hands when we were thirteen and she had a crush on Tim Parker, but Tim had asked me to go steady with him. Which meant nothing in eighth grade other than holding hands, but it was the first time our friendship had been tested. We’d sworn then no man would ever come between us, that nothing would come between us. Seventeen years later and nothing had.
“Okay.” She inhaled a breath and nodded, understanding even as her eyes were still wide. “Sock it to me.”
“Max called me a couple weeks ago saying he had a client who had to get out of California for a while. Needed to hide out, get his head on straight. Said the guy was going through some horrible divorce. Said he was sending him my way and I was supposed to put him to work.” I let that settle, seeing the gears turning in Brooke’s mind. Everyone knew what Max did.
Few cared, but Brooke was one of the ones who did.
Her lips parted, mouth fell, opened in slow motion. I slammed my hand over her mouth before she could scream.
“Yes,” I hissed. She squealed behind my hand, hands flapping in the air. “His name is Cooper. It’s Cooper Hawke, and I knew you’d figure that out, but you need to settle, Brooke.”
She shook her head, kept squealing, the sound muffled by my hand over her mouth, but if I dropped my hand that squeal would be ear-piercing, nails on a chalkboard loud, getting everyone’s attention.
“You okay?” I asked. Her cheeks were turning purple. I wanted her calm, not hyperventilating and passed out.
She shook her head.
“Can I take off my hand?”
She shook her head.
I laughed. Kept my hand right where it was and reached over and nabbed my wine. I was bringing it to my lips, grinning at my friend, when Cooper arrived at our table.
“So I take it you told her?”
Her squeal got louder, her hands slapped the table, and she bounced in her chair like she was sitting on a pogo stick.
I grinned up at Cooper. He grinned at me and then slid what could only be described as a red-carpet worthy smile at Brooke. Behind my hand, she sighed. “I’m just waiting until she’s calm.”
He looked at me and to the bar. “How long you think that’s going to take?”
I winked at Brooke. “About all night.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Ow!” I yanked my hand off her mouth, shaking it. “You bit me!”
“You. You. He. You.” Her eyes were bouncing back and forth and then she slid her hands through her shoulder-length brown hair and fluffed it. “You. Why. He. What.”
I slid her beer in front of her, turned to Cooper, and exaggerated our Southern accent. “She talks real good when she’s happy.”
“I can see that.” He slid back into his chair, turned toward us so he was blocking some of the view to our table further and dipped his head. “Can you get control of this, or should we go outside for a minute, so you can scream and calm down there?”
Brooke’s eyes popped so wide they were in danger of popping onto the table. “Outside with Cooper Hawke?” She sighed again, her voice gone dreamy, but thankfully, it was quiet. “Alone?”
“Brooke.” I used my warning, be careful tone and she picked up on it instantly.
“Well, give me a hot minute to get used to this. You’ve had two weeks. I can take two minutes. But, I’ll do that at the bar, getting another round of drinks. Holy shit,” she squealed and stoo
d. She grabbed her beer, drained the bottle, and stared at Cooper. “Wig?”
“Yup. But I’m liking the KU hat.”
He knew she was a fan. She’d mentioned the hat and the school as soon as I introduced them earlier. I had a feeling she was so excited to have another KU fan at the table she hadn’t given Cooper the appreciation she was doing now.
“Wow. You’re…wow. That’s great. Go Jayhawks.”
Her cheeks went hot pink and she moved away, one hand out like she needed help staying steady.
“So, that’s Brooke,” I said once she was gone and Cooper’s focus was back on me.
He grinned. “I like her. Before she comes back why don’t you tell me who that guy is by the dartboard, shooting glares at you ever since we walked in like he wishes your face was his target.”
I didn’t have to look, Gavin had been staring at me since we walked in. “Gavin Jefferson. He’s the son of the man who owns land next to ours and is trying to get me to sell.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m a chick and chicks can’t run ranches as good as men and because they’ve always wanted it because we have more access to the river and they want it for their land. Also because in high school, Gavin tried getting me to go out with him, thinking that someday he and I would be married and our lands would be easily combined and he’s never been the kind of guy who hears no and moves on.”
“He hurt you?” Cooper’s voice had deepened so quickly, so severely, I focused on him.
“No, he was just a jerk. When I brought Joseph home our senior year of college he turned into a bigger one.”
“And now?”
“I don’t trust him. I’ve had more cuts in my fence lines that aren’t natural and a few cows got out. I got them back from them, but I feel like they’re messing with me. I can’t prove it, though. It could also just be my own paranoia.”
“So,” Brooke said, returning to the table. She plopped down a round of drinks for all of us. “Now that I think I’m calm. Why is the hunk acting like he wants to punch someone and you look like you’re going to vomit?”
God, my friend. She was crazy.
“Gavin’s here.”
“Ah. So are Ryan and Kelly.”
“They are?” I whipped my head around and found them at a booth. Ryan’s eyes, like everyone else’s, were stuck on Cooper. Kelly’s though were glimmering. As our gazes caught, she smiled and waved, and turned back to her husband, slapping him on the arm. “Shit,” I muttered, turning back around. I hadn’t even thought.
“Who’s Ryan?”
“Brother’s best friend. Kelly’s his wife. I’ve known them my whole life.” I drained my first glass and reached for my fresh one. “Which means Jordan will be here in thirty minutes or out tomorrow morning. Which means I’m getting drunk, because I can have my friend freak out about knowing you, I can handle Gavin glaring at me, planning his next move, and I’m sure Kelly will be blowing up my phone all day tomorrow, but I cannot handle Jordan right now. Or ever.”
I chugged my wine, waved down the waitress as she passed by and got another, all while Cooper and Brooke both stared at me like I’d lost my last marbles.
Maybe I had.
Fortunately, Jordan didn’t show.
Kelly didn’t make an approach.
Gavin didn’t do anything.
But Cooper and Brooke and I hung out and talked and laughed so hard it became easier to ignore everyone and everything. We told him all the stories we could think of, one-upping each other on the embarrassment scales, and by the time Brooke’s husband Andrew came to pick her up and get her home and Cooper helped me into the truck, I’d laughed so hard and drank so much, I didn’t feel any pain at all.
Somehow, those few hours—helped along with copious amounts of wine—had obliterated all my stress and my fears and my grief, and I was so damn thankful for the temporary relief.
I closed my eyes once Cooper started the truck, turned to him, and right before I passed out, said, “Thanks, Cooper. That was a pretty great date.”
Ten
Cooper
That was a pretty great date.
She didn’t mean it like she said it.
My head knew that.
Other parts of me burned all over at her words right before she passed out. She was facing me, head resting against the back of the seat. Her pale pink lips were slightly parted and infrequent, but cute as hell, murmuring sounds came from her every time we hit a bump in the road.
I stopped drinking hours ago so I was able to safely get us home, but I also quit drinking because I was so wrapped up in laughing with Brooke and Rebecca that I didn’t even think of drinking.
When I worked next to her, she appeared to be content, even with the despair evident in her eyes. It was plain to see that she loved her land and her life on the ranch and had never wanted anything else other than to take it over someday and run it with her husband by her side. He was gone, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still her dream.
Tonight, I saw something different in Rebecca Splendid that made it difficult to resist the overwhelming urge to wake her up by sliding my mouth over hers. She was full of fire—piss and vinegar like my mom used to say when I was being sassy. She and Brooke told stories all night long, fun and innocent stories of shenanigans they used to get up to, and while Rebecca more than once rolled her eyes and claimed every crazy idea was Brooke’s, it was bullshit.
Rebecca had at one point gripped life with both hands and lived it to the fullest. Maybe she hadn’t traveled the world—or much outside of Kansas—but that didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy every opportunity, every thrill life threw her way.
At least she used to.
Knowing her more after a night she spent most of reminiscing with her best friend proved how much she’d changed. I obviously wasn’t the only one to see it.
At one point when Rebecca had gone to the restroom, Brooke had turned to me, sadness in her expression watching her friend walk away.
“I hate what life has thrown her way. Hate it even more she’s not even attempting to crawl out from beneath it. Joseph would hate that.” She’d turned to me then, still talking, “You didn’t know him, but he was a good guy. A strong guy. She didn’t need someone strong because she’s strong as hell, but the two of them together, nothing could break them. Hate, freaking hate, that without him, she’s forgotten who she was before him.”
And that was all it took. My decision was made.
She might not want me, not like I wanted her, but I had two and a half months left with her and I was going to give her all of me she’d take. I would make damn sure that by the time I left and went back to my life, she knew exactly how strong and capable she was.
I would do whatever necessary to put a fire back in her eyes. It was the least I could do for her and Max, but mostly, I wanted it for me.
I was falling for a woman I’d never be able to have, but I could still take care of her.
“Damn it.” I needed to fall for a woman with an end date stamped bright and clear on a return plane ticket like I needed a hole in my head.
It was still happening.
I pulled the truck down her drive, careful of the bumps and potholes on the dirt and gravel drive, and slowed to a stop without pulling the truck into the detached garage. Hopping out, I shut the door quietly and moved to Rebecca’s side, opened her door, and reached across to unbuckle her.
She jumped as I did it, eyes fluttering open. “Hey. What’s going on?”
“We’re home. Thought I’d help you inside.”
She moved slowly, nodding and twisting toward me. I took her arm in my hand. Heat slid through my fingertips, but I pushed past it and guided her to her feet. Once out, I locked the truck with the key fob.
“I can do it,” she whispered, looking down at her feet.
“Sure you can, but you don’t need to do it alone when you have help, either.”
She stiffened in my hold before swaying into my side. C
razy woman. Brooke wasn’t wrong when she called her strong. Even half awake she didn’t like taking offered help.
I used the keys to unlock her door, followed her in and held her steady while she kicked off her sandals.
When she was barefoot, I let go, ignoring again, the coolness that slid through me as I released her.
“Thank you for tonight,” Rebecca said. She pushed back her long black hair, pulling it off her neck and draping it over one shoulder. She was stunningly beautiful, with soft curves in all the right places, trim and firm muscles in her legs and arms. Her large black eyes carried the weight of her life usually, but currently they were dull. Most likely from too much wine and needing sleep, but I still clenched my teeth together as I took her in.
I could pull her toward me and hold her. I should push her away to keep us both from getting into a mess that would only make our lives messier.
“I’m glad you had fun. Glad I could be there for you while you were doing it, too.”
I offered her the keys and she reached out, touching them like she didn’t want to touch me, but at the last moment, she held onto them a bit too long before taking them from me.
“You’re a good man, Cooper Hawke.” Her lips lifted into a soft, sleepy grin.
And damn, she was even more beautiful with a hint of happiness on her.
“Thank you,” I choked out. She was looking at me in a way I liked a whole hell of a lot. I’d seen that look on women’s faces lots after becoming famous. The look that said they were thinking of making a move, but nervous to do so.
Rebecca wouldn’t look at me like that. I had to be imagining it.