My stomach churned and in my throat, I tasted a knot of unease that made swallowing difficult. Despite my earlier summoned desire to start living again, that fled as soon as I opened the door for Cooper.

He was wearing jeans and a navy blue T-shirt that fit him so well they could have been painted on him. I scarcely had the time to take in the sandy blond wig he was wearing under his blue KU hat before I forced myself to look away from him.

Even the ridiculous wig made him look good and it wasn’t the first time I noticed he was attractive, it was just the first time I had difficulty forgetting it.

“Hey,” I practically croaked. “Ready?”

His gaze dipped down the length of my body and quickly lifted. A trail of heat flickered down my spine at his quick perusal.

My hands shook as I grabbed my keys from my purse.

He cleared his throat. “I am. You okay?”

There was no honest answer I could give him.

No. I didn’t think I was okay in the slightest and only part of the butterflies swarming my stomach had anything to do with what I was about to face once we stepped into The Tavern.

I barely remembered the drive into town, the tunes from the country station filtering through the radio, and the lights of the street giving me a path I could drive with my eyes closed.

Nope. I was swarmed with the strange, hot sensation of Cooper next to me in my truck. His tanned, strong hands thumping to the beat of the songs on his thigh that occasionally bounced up and down. His cologne or aftershave or whatever he used smelled so good I continued fighting against taking a deep inhale just to soak that scent into my veins.

None of it felt right in the least, so by the time I managed to throw the gear shift into park after I pulled into a parking spot, I was one-half second away from throwing it back into reverse and peeling out of there.

One second, my hands were wrapped around the keys still in the ignition, and the next moment, a blast of heat covered my hand, twisted it and pulled it back.

The heat evaporated, my hand fell lamely to my lap, and my head twisted. “What was that for?”

Cooper dangled the keys in the air and flipped them into his fist. “Go. I’ll come back and get you later, but you’re obviously uncomfortable with walking into that bar with me and I’m not going to press it anymore.”

Oh, damn. That was nice of him. “That’s not what I was thinking.” Not fully anyway.

“Then what is it? And don’t say nothing,” he said when I opened my mouth to speak. “You’ve barely said three words to me since I stopped by your place and those were mostly mumbles. Talk to me.”

“Everyone will look at us, and I’m not lying when I say everyone, and part of that problem is that Joseph was really loved in this town, and my family…well, not everyone liked my family, Mom in particular. And since they passed, there’s been a lot of people who want my land to become their land.” It was the most I could give him, and yet it was only half-truth, but I still wasn’t lying. The Jeffersons had been after my land, trying to get me to sell it to them since Mom and Dad died, but they’d been forceful since Joseph. They were causing headaches I didn’t have the headspace for, and I knew without one single shred of doubt, that Gavin Jefferson would be inside The Tavern, huddled around a pool table, thinking he owned everything in Carlton like he’d been doing since he was old enough to be in that bar.

We had two hundred acres. They had three, and they wanted three to become five by taking my land and my ranch. I more than suspected some of the issues I had this year came from them.

I hadn’t even thought of most of that until I pulled in and caught a glimpse of Gavin’s Dodge Ram, mostly because I’d been so consumed with ignoring how good it felt to be heading into town with Cooper.

I shook my head, tried forcing out all my thoughts of Cooper and turned to him. In the dark of the truck, the only light came in through the parking lot lights shining through my windshield, his eyes were mostly shaded over, hidden by the bill of his hat.

“Plus there’s everything I gave you earlier, about the gossip. I just have a lot on my mind, Cooper.” And no one to unload it on who’d be able to do anything about it.

“Okay. So, we go in there, you get as drunk as you need to so you can get through this. You and I hang out with Brooke, you tell her whatever you need to about me. I trust you to do whatever you think is best with that. I’ll drive you home, and then later,” he leaned in, and good gracious he smelled good. Minty, clean, that waft of delicious spice from his cologne or body wash, and I almost missed what he said next because his voice was quiet and my brain was clouded. “Tomorrow, you’ll tell me everything about how there’s even a chance you’re going to lose your land, and we’ll figure it out.”

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 stood. 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.”