Chapter Six
T he sun was setting over Copper Mountain a few days later, casting the prairie and everything between in a purple-pink wash of color. Skies like this one were often seen during a fire or a storm, but tonight was perfect, with no sign of rain. In the distance, the wild mustangs grazed in the dim light, huddled together in groups, a few of this season’s foals napping close by their mamas. The scene could have been ripped off a postcard advertising Montana with the mountains in the distance and the occasional glimmer of the snaking Yellowstone in between.
Shay wandered out from the house to the corrals where she saw Cooper giving the new horses evening treats—carrots and sugar lumps, which were Kholá’s personal favorite.
Her annoyance with Cooper being such an eyeful had begun to wane, despite her best intentions to ignore him. Instead, she now and then allowed herself to sneak a look to appreciate his beauty. His ripped torso, muscular arms, the way his denim followed the curve of his butt.
To say nothing about his eyes—as green as the Montana prairie after a storm. And the way he looked at her sometimes as if there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t bring himself to say it. Gone was that nerdy boy who’d once been, and in his place, this beautiful man, who sent unwanted prickles of heat to her core when she was close to him and made her forget that ogling his rear end was a very bad idea.
Shay straightened, embarrassed. That’s so cringe, Mom , she could almost hear Ryan saying. Cringe. Yeah.
What was wrong with her? And how long had it been since she’d even noticed a man’s... nicely curved ass?
Too long was the answer. It had been too darned long. Wasn’t thirty-one supposed to be the height of a woman’s feminine power? Somewhere, she’d heard that. And where was she? Single, living with her mother, standing in the yard of her struggling ranch, imagining how Cooper Lane’s lips would feel against hers.
Stop. That kind of dangerous thinking will get you exactly nowhere. And she didn’t want to kiss him for heaven’s sake. She didn’t even really like him.
Much.
God, she was out of practice.
From a distance, she watched him distribute the treats to all the new horses who had already come to accept his offerings without complaint or fear. Likewise, Ryan had made great progress with his filly just watching Cooper work with the others. Already they were working with lunge lines and several looked like they’d already had histories of being ridden.
In the cool of yesterday evening, she’d seen Cooper working with the bay mare in the circle pen while her son watched. The mare was running in panicked circles on the lunge line and Cooper had stood casually in the center, seemingly unconcerned with whatever the horse was running from, but calmly shifting the lunge line from one hand to the other, speaking softly, not buying into the horse’s fear. After a good little while, the mare slowed and walked directly up behind Cooper, stopping, covered with sweat and confusion, but looking for relief from the only likely source. Cooper.
Slowly, he turned to the mare, stroked her nose, and fed her a treat for doing what he’d wanted all along. The mare licked and chewed, a sign Shay recognized from being around horses her whole life as some kind of release of tension. Baby horses clacked their lips together when they approached an older horse, as if to say, “I’m just a baby, don’t hurt me.” Older horses similarly did this as if relaxing of tension in their jaws once the threat of danger seemed past.
At any rate, Cooper had a Zen way of being with the animals. It was almost as if some magical thing was happening between them. These were damaged animals that had been universally abandoned, given up on, and rejected by whatever humans had had them before.
And as the dun mare finished up and joined the others, the gray mare with the silver mane actually nuzzled Cooper’s chest, and he wrapped an arm around her head and patted her back. Shay thought, in that moment, that those horses might just follow him anywhere. And not just for the sugar.
Now, Cooper looked up to find her watching him again. He smiled. “Hey, there.”
“Hey, yourself.” She climbed on the rail of the paddock. “I see you’re making new friends.”
He patted the mare one last time and moved away from her. “You can’t ever have too many,” he said, smiling at her. “Especially on a night like this.”
They both turned to look at the sunset. “I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ll never get used to how beautiful it is here,” she said. “Did you miss this sky when you lived in Texas?”
“Texas has its own supernatural beauty, but this place... it gets in your blood.” He moved beside her at the fence. “I can see why you never wanted to leave.”
“It’s not that I never wanted to,” she admitted. “I did once. I thought there might be bigger things out there for me somewhere.”
“Bigger than this ranch?”
“Silly, huh?”
“Not at all. There is something to the old the grass is always greener saying. I never expected to be where I am now either. I guess I imagined something else altogether.”
As she recalled, their high school class had dubbed him Most Likely to Succeed . Then again, the horses in his care might argue that he had achieved just that.
“I guess dreams don’t always take a linear path. And most get detoured by reality,” she said. A fact they both knew all too well. “I’m not saying I regret anything. I don’t. I’m right where I should be. I have Ryan, my family, everything I need, right here. All the rest is just geography.”
He smiled the smile that made her heart stutter. “And now look. You’re building something to bring the world to you. It’s a big dream turned real.”
“With your help,” Liam said to Cooper, walking up behind Shay. “Your ideas have been really innovative and helpful. If this place succeeds, it will be in no small part because you were here to help.”
Shay couldn’t decide if she was relieved or annoyed that Liam had interrupted their conversation.
“Don’t you agree, Shay?” Liam prompted, putting her on the spot.
“I—Yes.”
Cooper patted the mare who was nuzzling his shoulder. “I was just about to go get some dinner started for my dad.”
“Wait,” Liam said. “Since I’ve got the two of you together, I wondered if you’d mind, Shay, taking Cooper for a ride to scout out parts of the ranch that would make for good trail rides tomorrow. We’ve booked a wedding for a couple of friends of mine here as well as their honeymoon later this month in one of our glamping tents down by the river. They’re so excited and have never been on horseback, but it was their big request. I want to make sure we get those trails set and start clearing them in case they need some maintenance before our guests come. Shay knows the ranch pretty well, and she can show you around.”
The thought of spending hours alone with Cooper was... well, she wasn’t sure at all what it was. “But... really?” Shay knew her cheeks were flushed. “I thought that was something you’d want to do. Knowing the ranch backward and forward as you do.”
Cooper stared down at his boots and said nothing.
“You’ve ridden this ranch every bit as much as I have,” Liam told her. “And you’ll come at it with a different perspective than me. I’ll make sure Lulu and She-Ra are pulled off pasture tonight so they’ll be ready to go in the morning.”
“Lulu and She-Ra?” Cooper asked.
“Two of our best ranch horses. Unless you want to take one of the new ones?”
“Not ready yet. No, Lulu and She-Ra will be fine.”
Flustered, Shay did her best to make light of the situation. Could she spend the morning riding with Cooper Lane? Of course, she could. “Shall we say eight o’clock then?”
“Sounds good,” Cooper replied. “I’ll have the horses saddled up and ready to go.”
“All right then. See you in the morning.”
As she walked away, she felt his eyes on her, simultaneously telling herself she was crazy and almost turning to confirm. But in the end, she kept walking. Because looking back would be admitting she was hoping he was watching her. And how idiotic would that be?
*
Morning broke over the ranch as Cooper finished eating breakfast with his father. Ray had been even quieter than usual the last couple of days, since Sarah’s visit, and Cooper wondered about it. But, because his father had drawn a line in the sand, Cooper didn’t broach the subject of Sarah with him. Instead, he talked about the ride he would take this morning with Shay.
“Maybe sometime, you’d like to take a ride with me,” he suggested. “I can saddle up a horse for you and we can go down to the Yellowstone to fish.” How many hours had they spent doing just that when Cooper was a boy? Tossing lines into the shallow river and catching dinner or just catching and releasing the fat rainbow trout that hid in the deeper shallows beneath stands of oaks and willows? He missed those easy days with his father, and he wondered if Ray missed them, too.
“Yeah,” Ray said, his look suddenly far away. “I’d like that. You remember that time we caught the grandfather of all trout up by Twisted Root Cove?” He did. “You fought that fish for nearly a half hour before you got him up on shore. You were sure proud of that fish. And then you threw him back in before I could get a picture.”
“I didn’t need a picture. You and I were the only ones that mattered, and we knew. Besides, he was too old and still had too much fight left in him to let that be his ending,” Cooper said.
Ray smiled. “I guess so. You always were a soft touch with animals.”
“I like ’em better than people, for the most part.”
“They’re more trustworthy, that’s for sure,” Ray said, pushing his eggs around the plate with his fork. “I was wondering if later today, you could drive me into town?”
“Sure. What do you need?”
“I... made an appointment with a doctor at the hospital.”
Cooper leaned forward. “Are you feeling worse? Do you need to go now?”
“No, no. I’m, uh, meeting with an oncologist at Marietta Hospital.”
“You are?” That admission couldn’t have surprised him more if he’d taken a two-by-four upside the head. “Wait, are you considering treatment then?”
“Don’t get all excited. I’m talking to him. That’s all. Maybe give it a shot. See if there’s other options.”
“What exactly did Sarah say to you anyway?” Cooper asked.
“What makes you think she had anything to do with—”
“Just tell me, Dad. What did she say to change your mind?”
Ray ran a hand through his graying hair, as a muscle in his jaw tensed. “She said I couldn’t be a ghost on her ranch, not until I am one, officially, and she wouldn’t have it. She said—” He hesitated for a long pause.
“What?”
“She said you needed me.” Ray looked up and met his gaze as Cooper’s eyes began to sting. It was the first hopeful thing he’d said since he’d brought him home.
“I do. Need you. You’re all I’ve got, Pops. I’m not ready to lose you.”
“Well, then.” Ray swiped at his nose. “My appointment is at eleven.”
Cooper nodded. He’d be back long before that.
*
Lulu and She-Ra were saddled and ready to go by the time Shay got to the barn at eight. Lulu was Shay’s horse—a sweet, nineteen-year-old bay quarter horse with white stockings and a blaze down the center of her forehead. She had the temperament of a lamb but could still out quarter any quarter horse around. Years ago, before Ryan, she’d done some barrel racing with Lulu and still had the trophies and ribbons up in the attic somewhere to prove it.
She-Ra—named by Ryan after becoming enamored with the cartoon character on YouTube as a little boy—was a gentle, strawberry roan Appaloosa who had taught Ryan all about loving a horse, and to this day, was his favorite. At least, up there with Kholá.
Cooper led the horses out of the barn and handed her the reins to Lulu. With a smile he touched the brim of his Stetson, the same way he had that first day they’d met at the auction. “Ma’am?”
Shay blinked. “Cooper? Did you just call me ma’am ?”
He swung up on She-Ra. “We’re on official ranch business. What should I call you? Ms. Hardesty? Boss?”
“Let’s get one thing straight. You can address my mother as ma’am all day long. And you can call Liam boss if you want. But don’t ever call me ma’am again. It makes me feel... old.”
“Okay,” he said. “But you should know, you lookin’ old was the furthest thing from my mind.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that you look real pretty at eight o’clock in the morning. Sunshine on your hair and all. That’s what I was thinkin’.” He nudged his horse into a lope and pulled off in front of her, leaving Shay to stare after him in shock. Pretty?
Her pulse scraped against the collar of her shirt as she mounted Lulu and nudged her after him. If she’d been trying to impress him by curling her hair or even putting on makeup in the two hours she’d, instead, spent futzing around the kitchen avoiding anything that smacked of trying , she’d be flattered. But she’d done none of those things, perhaps on purpose. She’d left her hair in a single loose braid, specifically to make sure he knew she hadn’t tried. The thought of spending the morning with him today—balancing on that precarious edge of her feelings about him—had cost her sleep last night, and now, with a few words, he’d justified every lost minute.
Just that you look pretty at eight o’clock in the morning. Sunshine on your hair and all.
She couldn’t remember the last time someone told her she looked pretty. Most of the time, she just felt invisible and frazzled.
His easy compliment set her teeth clenching. Gosh, she wasn’t that easy. Was she?
She inhaled deeply and gave Lulu another nudge to catch up with him. And wasn’t she supposed to be showing him the ranch, not the other way around?
It took them a while to work their way through the pastures and through the cattle gates that led to open grazing land. Copper Mountain rose in the distance, but here, the land rose into foothills, winding through scrub-covered washes and leading to the tree line. It was pretty country, and here, the pines scented the air as the horses crushed pine needles beneath their hooves.
Cooper glanced at his watch. “You got a destination in mind?”
“There’s an overlook that’s amazing and you can see the whole valley. There’s also a little surprise there.” She pointed to where the trail forked two ways. “Let’s head that way.”
There was a good deal of brush and low-hanging branches that would need to be cleared before bringing guests up this trail, but it looked doable to him with a hand-held mini-chainsaw.
He inhaled deeply, feeling the calm of nature soaking in. Even in North Texas, where there was nothing but prairie, he’d missed the forest and the singular fragrance of Montana. This was what the Hard Eight ranch could offer city folks who lived amidst concrete parking lots, skyscrapers, traffic, and honking horns. There was something centering about this breath of nature and beauty. Something that made one forget, for just a little while, that there were problems in their life, jobs to worry about, or things going wrong. Here was a little piece of heaven, and the only soundtrack that mattered was the sound of your horse’s hooves, the cry of eagles flying overhead, or the rush of your own heartbeat.
Shay held back until he caught up with her and the two of them took the wider trail together for a while. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done this,” he said as they rode. “There’s a terrible beauty up here.”
“That’s a funny way to put it.”
“But accurate. In this season, these mountains are a refuge. In others, they’re just a dangerous reminder of how insignificant we really are.”
She considered his words that were surprisingly deep for a man who moved cattle and trained horses for a living, proving, yet again, how little she really knew him. “And I agree. Winter’s unforgiving here and these mountain trails will be buried under snow and no good for riding. That’s when we put people on snow mobiles instead.
“To be honest, I haven’t done this in a long while either,” she said. “In fact, I can’t remember the last time. Life gets busy with Ryan and driving him five ways to Sunday. And ranch work is pretty focused on the cattle, so if there’s riding to do, it’s chasing after them or herding them into pens. This...” she said, staring out at the view ahead of them. “This is what it’s really about to live here. It’s, granted, a narrow window for this kind of weather, but even in the winter, these hills are beautiful. Good for snowmobiling at least. But summers... when I wasn’t practicing my barrel racing, we used to ride up here when I was young. Me and Lulu.” She patted her horse’s neck. “She’d been my one constant through it all.”
Cooper nodded. “I had a horse like that. Petra. She was a pretty Pinto and steady as they come. She was born on our ranch. But... we lost all of our horses, including her, when my dad went to prison. Lost pretty much everything but the ranch itself.”
She could hear the pain in that memory. “I’m sorry.”
He stared out over the valley as they passed through a stand of lodge pole pine. “I often wonder where she ended up. But that was a long time ago.”
“Maybe you could find her?”
He shook his head. “Doubt it. Anyway, I always imagined—or hoped—she’d found some kid to love her and that she had a good life.”
“I’m sure she did.”
He smiled a little sadly. “Hope so.”
They broke through a stand of trees and found themselves in an open field covered with end-of-summer wildflowers that had turned to straw. The grass here was still a little green and they pulled up the horses and let them graze for a minute. “This still Hard Eight land up here?” he asked.
“It ends a little way up ahead. But yes. This is all ours down to the valley.” Shay dismounted. “Come on. I want to show you something.”
*
They took the horses with them as they walked a short distance to an outcrop of rock where a small creek ran down the mountain, following the jagged granite boulders in its path. Shay knelt beside the outcrop and pointed to the small gush of water spilling out from the mountain. “It’s a mountain spring. Freshest water you’ll ever taste. Luckily, it’s on our land, but I suppose if water companies found it here, they’d want to ruin everything and bottle it up.”
The horses dropped their heads to the small creek for a drink and Shay cupped her hands into the trickle of spring water and took a long drink. “Try some.”
He did. And she was right. It was the best-tasting water he’d ever had.
“This little spring feeds our ranch and has forever, I guess. A decade ago, or so, another rancher tried to divert the water to his land, but that was short-lived. Tom Hardesty would do anything to protect this land. Our legacy. He wasn’t an easy man, but I guess we’re lucky he was so hardheaded.”
A distant rumble of thunder brought their gazes to the dark clouds that had begun to gather to the west with the suddenness of typical Montana weather. One minute the sky could be clear, the next, a downpour waiting to happen.
“We’d better get back before that storm that’s coming hits. Looks like it’ll be a good one.”
She followed his gaze with a worried look. “The weather forecaster didn’t say anything about rain today.”
“Looks like he was wrong.”
A movement to their right caught Cooper’s eye. Some animal darting into the brush. She-Ra whinnied an uneasy high pitch squeal.
“What was that?” Shay asked, hopping to her feet.
“Not sure. Coyote?” He reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a pistol.
Her eyes widened. “You brought a gun with you?”
“Not gonna stop a bear, but it’ll stop a coyote if need be. We’re in prime wildlife territory with this fresh water source.”
Something moved in the bushes, rustling the drying leaves of the scrub. Cooper aimed the pistol in that direction, then yelled, “Yahh!” to scare whatever was in there away. But instead of a coyote, a small brown and black pup flattened itself to the ground, poking its nose under the bushes.
“That’s no coyote. That’s a dog! Put the gun down.”
He leaned closer. “You sure?”
Shay approached the scrub and spoke softly. What appeared was a small puppy. “Oh, no! What in the world are you doing all by yourself, all the way up here, baby?”
Indeed, it was a puppy, clearly starving, skinny and covered in dirt and burrs. It looked like it had been out here for days or longer. The pup whined and thumped its tail on the ground, edging out from the brush with a hopeful wiggle. Still, the pup cried in fear as Shay approached it, but didn’t run. Desperate, the puppy seemed willing to overcome his fear to ask for help. Gently, she lifted the pup in her arms, cradling him there.
“Poor thing! Who could do this?” Shay said. “Just... why? He can’t be more than two months old.”
“Maybe we should look around, see if there are any others.”
As they spoke, another one crawled toward them out of the bush. That one was white and brown coated, equally as scruffy and skinny as the other one. They searched for more, but if there had been others, they were gone now. By the time they’d finished catching that one, lightning streaked behind the mountain and thunder cracked loudly close behind. The puppies were shaking uncontrollably with fear.
“What if we’d never come?” she said. “These two were just abandoned here. They wouldn’t have lasted much longer.”
“We’ll get them back to the ranch, get them to a vet. But we’re not safe out here,” he said. “We need to find some shelter ’til that storm blows over.”
“We’re miles from any shelter I know,” she told him.
“Maybe not. I think I saw an outcrop of rocks not too far down the mountain. Better than nothing.”
*
They mounted and rode with the two lost puppies in their arms down the same trail they’d taken up. All the while, they could smell and feel the rain coming. The lightning storm grew worse, exploding a pine tree less than two hundred feet from them. Then, a drenching rain poured down on them.
Soaked to the skin almost instantly, Shay shouted to Cooper over the sound of the rain. “That way!” She pointed to the fork in the trail that ran along a wall of stone, above a steep ravine. “We’d better walk the horses!”
They led the horses down the narrow trail that led to a thin stand of pine in front of a shallow cave-like rock shelf in the wall. Quickly, they led the horses underneath and took shelter from the rain there, too. Water soon gushed over the rocks like a waterfall from somewhere above them, but they were fairly protected from the storm here. At least from the lightning. Even the horses were able to squeeze under the narrow shelf of rock.
Shay squeezed the water from her braid, then tucked a small towel from her saddle bag around her small, shivering puppy. The grateful pup curled in her lap as did his brother against Cooper’s warmth. Breathless, she looked up at Cooper. The two of them could only laugh, drenched to the bone, clothes sticking to their skin. Cooper fingered a loose strand of her wet hair off her cheek with a smile.
“Well, that was exciting,” he said, staring out at the lightning still forking across the darkened sky. “Though, I don’t think it’s a good idea to advertise that kind of adventure to your guests.”
The fabric of her blouse made a sucking sound as she pulled it away from her chest. “Yeah, I think we could skip that part all together.”
They poured bottled water into their hands to allow the puppies to drink. They were hungry and needed food soon. Cooper broke up a couple of crackers he kept in his saddlebag for them to eat. It wasn’t what they needed but it was all they had. They gobbled the crackers up.
“They’re so thin,” she said, stroking the one in her arms. He was already falling asleep there. “At least they had the spring there for water.”
“Probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer if we hadn’t found them. Lucky dogs.” He gave his puppy a scratch behind the ears. “Looks like you’ve got yourself a couple of ranch dogs.”
“Ryan will be thrilled,” she said, stroking the little dog’s ears. “When our ranch manager retired a year ago, he took his dog with him. Ryan has been wanting another ever since. But these two are in terrible shape.”
“We’ll get them down as soon as the rain lets up. They’ll make it. No thanks to whoever did this to them.”
“It’s a regular thing, this dumping of dogs on the roadside—which is awful—but up here? In the middle of nowhere? With hungry predators? It’s a wonder they survived at all.”
She couldn’t help but shiver.
“You cold?”
She shook her head, but they were both soaked through. Chilled to the bone with the sudden drop in temperature.
“I’d give you my shirt but—” He pulled the soaked fabric away from his skin with a sucking sound.
His every muscle was defined by his soaked shirt. For a few moments, she was lost staring at him. But she was every bit as exposed. She pulled the puppy closer to her chest.
“This storm doesn’t look close to letting up,” he said, “looks like building a fire is out.” Holding out his arm to her, he urged, “C’mere. Get closer. Let me warm you up.”
Shay eyed his muscular, open arms. Find someone to cuddle with, Izzy said. What about him? she said. “Oh. I don’t think—”
“C’mon,” he encouraged. “It won’t last forever, and I don’t bite.”
Shivering, she scooted close to him, hesitantly eased her shoulder against his chest. He put his arm around her. Instantly, she felt his warmth seep into her. She tried not to sigh as he pulled her against his side, rubbing her arm to warm her. “Okay. That is better,” she admitted.
“Yeah, it is.”
She wrapped her arm around his back to warm him, too. They sat like that, listening to the storm. Slowly, she began to relax there against him, tucking her cheek against his shoulder. It felt good, so good, to be held again. It had been a long time since she’d felt any man’s arm around her. She drank in the feeling, knowing it could be a long, long time before she felt it again.
For a long time, they didn’t talk. Instead, Shay listened to his heartbeat thud against her ear as the rain poured down in sheets, as the temperature continued to drop, as she chose and discarded a dozen things to say to him.
“I’m sorry you got dragged into coming up here today,” she said at last.
“No one dragged me. Least of all you.”
“Right, but just the same. I’m sorry. This is not the way I saw the morning going.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Didn’t turn out too badly. Considering.”
She looked up to see if he was kidding. His smile said he was. Sort of. She shivered again. “I skipped breakfast,” she admitted. “I was too nervous about today to eat.”
He pulled out a roll of mints from his pocket, handed her one and popped one in his mouth, too. “Nervous? Why?”
“I knew you were doing this whole ride under duress.”
“Not at all. I was looking forward to it. This storm was just an unexpected bonus.”
That caught her by surprise. “Really? At least it was Liam’s idea. So, he can’t be mad at us getting back late.”
Cooper glanced at his watch again and sighed. “Except my father has an appointment later this morning with an oncologist. I thought we’d be back in plenty of time for me to get him there, but I’d better call him.”
“Cell signals up here are spotty at best.”
He checked his cell. No signal. A low curse escaped him.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But that’s encouraging he made an appointment, though. I thought he was against getting treatment. That’s what I heard at least.”
“He was. But after a conversation with your mom, apparently, he changed his mind. At least he seems willing to try something.”
“With my mom? What could she have said to him?”
“But I happened to interrupt a conversation they were having in our apartment. That was your mom telling him to get his act together, I guess. That he couldn’t just give up. Not on her watch anyway. And…that I needed him. It was a surprise, really, because I thought that they hardly knew each other.”
As he talked, his thumb absently rubbed across her shoulder. His fingers warmed her arm.
She felt warm everywhere he touched her. “Maybe they did.”
“I feel like I would’ve known,” he said.
“Really? I don’t think any of us really know our parents when we’re young. I mean, life is complicated.”
Cooper frowned. “Are you saying—”
“I’m saying that our parents are and will forever be a mystery. I guess that’s how it should be. I mean Ryan might not understand... this .”
“Me, holding you, you mean?”
His thumb moved against her arm, sending tingles down to her fingertips. There was something particularly intimate about that motion, but she didn’t want him to stop. “Yes.”
“Mind if I ask you a question?”
She gave a noncommittal shrug, afraid he’d just heard her thoughts.
“You never married Ryan’s father. Or anyone else for that matter.”
“Is there a question in there somewhere?”
“I just wondered why. Why a woman like you would stay single and not find some man to love you?”
“Huh. I could ask you the same thing.”
“I asked first,” he said.
After a long moment, she decided to answer him. “Ryan’s father, Ethan Bradley, was a summer boy. You know the kind. His very wealthy family had sent him here on summer break to experience the West. To work on a ranch wrangling his father’s friend’s cattle. To at least pretend he understood an honest days’ work. I was young, he was different, attractive. He was everything I thought I wanted. Someone urban. Someone who could expand my universe. We spent the entire summer together. I thought I loved him. But at the end of summer, he returned to school back East with hardly a goodbye. When I realized I was pregnant, I called him. He told me that it was my problem, not his. He practically denied it could be his. He wanted me to—” She couldn’t even say it.
“So, he basically ghosted you?”
“His parents sent me money. A check. To me, then—even now, to be honest—it was a lot of money, but I wouldn’t keep it. I sent it back. I didn’t want their money. Or anything to do with them. Instead, I had him sign away any parental rights to the baby, which he happily but foolishly did. Because Ryan is an incredible kid who he’ll never know. That was the last I heard from him.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah,” she agreed.
Lightning streaked across the sky in a dozen little forks over the valley and thunder cracked, spooking the horses, tugging the reins that Cooper held tight. The puppies burrowed against them as well, still shivering.
“I’m single by choice,” she went on, ignoring the drama in the sky. “I won’t put my son through another disappointment. I... don’t need anyone.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Or is that because Summer Boy stomped all over your heart?”
She exhaled a laugh and pushed away from him. “He did, but I got over it. You don’t know me, Cooper, or what I want.”
“Maybe. But I’d like to,” he said, his voice low, his gaze focused on her. “Know you.”
She hugged her arms across her chest. “We shouldn’t be talking about this.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “You’re right. It’s a bad idea. We might actually find out we kinda like each other.”
She blinked up at him, indignant. “I don’t. Like you.”
His gaze was on her mouth. “Right. So... if I kissed you right now, you’d probably fire me.”
Shock rippled through her. But she imagined it. Suddenly and completely. She imagined his mouth on hers. The taste of him. “Definitely,” she lied.
He grinned. “I’d better not then.”
Disappointment, however idiotic, caught up with her bravado. “Why would you even say that? About kissing me?”
“Because,” he said, tilting his head back against the rock wall, “if I’m honest, I’ve been thinking about kissing you since that first day at the auction.”
“No, you have not.”
“Longer than that, actually. That summer? The one with Summer Boy? I came home from college intending to ask you out. I’d finally buffed up that year, grew a few more inches. I thought maybe you’d finally notice me. But turned out, I was too late. You never even saw me.”
“ What? ” Rain splashed down from the rocks above them. She shivered again.
“It’s true. You really didn’t know?”
“ No. I didn’t.” She sat and shivered for a whole minute before going on. “But... as long as we’re being brutally honest here, you’re wrong. I did notice you that summer. Before that, even. But I had no idea that—”
“That I liked you? Why would you? I was painfully shy. I couldn’t risk it.”
“Risk what? Me turning you down?”
“Something like that.”
“Hah,” she breathed, but it wasn’t a laugh. More like regret. She exhaled deeply. “Ironic. Sometimes, I wonder what I saw in him—Ethan. Why I was so foolish and determined to alter the direction of my life? It was all because of Ryan, I guess. He’s one thing I’d never change. But just so you know, in high school, I might have had a little crush on you, the smartest boy in the class. But I was sure I could never be interesting enough for you.”
“But you were a cheerleader,” he said, stating the obvious. “And... popular.”
“Well, I was a cheerleader.” Whatever everyone thought about her, however she’d managed to trick everyone into believing her I’ve-got-things-handled persona, there was a reason she’d allowed herself to fall in love with Ethan Bradley, a boy who never had any intention of loving or protecting her. A boy who got what he wanted from her and couldn’t be bothered with the consequences.
Now, Cooper pulled her against him again. She didn’t fight him. She felt chilled to the bone. It was only his warmth keeping her teeth from chattering. He pressed his face against her hair, and she felt his breath warm against her skull.
“Shay?”
“Mm-hm?”
“I bet... by now, Summer Boy has been married and divorced three times,” Cooper said against her hair. “And all of them have taken him for everything he has. The last one, well, I bet she smeared him on social media so bad he had to change his identity on his dating app.”
She snorted. “And he’s probably living in some lonely two-room apartment in Stamford, Connecticut, because his filthy rich father has finally cut him off for being an idiot.”
Cooper seemed to be enjoying this. “And when he’s not working his sorry butt off in his sad little white-collar job to pay his trio of alimonies, or scrambling to keep up with his golf membership at the club and the car payments on the Tesla he’s about to lose, he sits in front of the TV every night alone, watching Jeopardy! trying to outwit the much smarter players as he’s warming up his frozen dinners in the microwave.”
“Because he was a lawyer,” she went on, “until he got caught in bed with the senior partner’s wife and his firm had him disbarred and tossed him out on the street.”
“Boom!” Cooper laughed. “That’s what you’d call a karmic reimagining.”
“Ahhh,” she said, laughing now, too. “I feel so much better.” Throwing shade on Ethan in a purely karmic way felt good and weirdly empowering.”
“Oh, yeah.” That hand on her arm moved again, warming her. She made the mistake of looking directly at him and catching the twinkle of humor in his eyes. That, and something much, much hotter as his gaze dropped to her mouth.
“Just look what he missed out on,” he murmured.
She wiped a drip of rain from her nose and tipped her face up to him. “Yeah. Just look.”
“I am,” he said, his look intense and focused on her mouth.
The way he was looking at her stirred a rush of emotions. But worse than that, stirred a flutter in her belly that wouldn’t quit until she gave in to what she’d wanted all along. “Okay, then,” she said abruptly. “Go ahead.”
He tilted a questioning look at her.
“Just—just get it over with, then we’ll both stop being curious.”
“Oh, you want me to kiss you now? Well, put it that way, it’s a... damned enticing offer, which I’d oblige, but, you know, I can’t really risk my job.”
“I won’t fire you,” she promised with a sigh. “It’s just this once, then we won’t ever talk about it again.”
“You sure? I mean,” he said, dropping his mouth close to hers. “I might want to talk about it again.” His lips brushed hers with the briefest of kisses, then hovered there, just out of reach as he moistened his lips with his tongue, taking in the taste of her. “Because you never know how these things g—”
She pulled him toward her. He covered his mouth with hers in a kiss that was hard and long. It breached any agreement they might have struck for that kiss to be forgettable. He tasted of rain and peppermints; he filled her senses with the flavor of him. A delicious flavor that seemed to short-circuit her brain as it stirred a thousand butterflies in her belly.
He pulled her closer against his hard chest. Insensibly, she heard the small, needy sound that must have come from her. But she was helpless to stop him now. She didn’t want to stop him. She clung to him when he deepened the kiss, shifting his mouth against hers, first one way and then the other, exploring hers with his tongue. She wanted this kiss to go on and on.
If the small puppy in her arms hadn’t chosen that moment to climb up her chest and slather their faces with kisses of its own, Shay likely would have given in to that need.
But reclaiming her sanity with that small interruption, she broke away from Cooper, breathless, and laughing at the puppy staring up at her, wanting to join in on the fun.
“Apparently, our tiny chaperone is aghast at our lack of decorum,” Shay murmured, petting the puppy in an effort to disentangle herself from Cooper. To stop the tremor that had quaked up from inside her. Hadn’t she been cold only a moment ago?
On a shaky exhale, Cooper let her go, running a hand through his wet hair, sniffing at the rain still dripping down his face. It seemed to occur to them at the same time that the storm beyond the ledge had moved on. They turned to stare out past the horses who stood like quiet sentries to the drizzle that remained.
“Looks like it’s clearing up. We should get these dogs back down soon.”
“Yes,” she agreed, avoiding looking at him.
Cooper considered her again. “I gotta say, Shay, that was—”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “No, no. We promised not to talk about it.”
He frowned. “I don’t think I ever promised that.”
“It was a good kiss, okay? A great kiss even. But it shouldn’t go any further.”
“Because... why?” he asked in all seriousness.
She blinked and looked away. “Because... because it was just a kiss. A curiosity kiss.”
“Your words,” he reminded her. “Not mine.”
“And I do not need anyone in my life right now to—”
“Kinda felt for a minute like you needed that kiss.”
More like that kiss had shaken her body awake from some long, deep slumber. Even now, she could still feel the delicious tingle of it inside her. But she stumbled to her feet, cradling the puppy. “We should head back. Maybe there’s still time to get your father to his appointment.”
“That ship has sailed.” Cooper got to his feet, too, handing her Lulu’s reins. “But pretending that kiss meant nothing to you is a choice, Shay. So is not talking about it. But just so you know, before we close the subject for good, what just happened between us? A kiss like that? That isn’t something that happens often. Or ever before. For me anyway. Maybe that’s all there is to it. But I don’t think so.”
“Cooper, you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone about what happened here,” she begged. “I don’t want them to know.”
He shook his head, tossed the reins around She-Ra’s neck, and climbed into the soaked leather saddle. “Talkin’ about what happens between you and me is always gonna stay strictly between you and me. That clear?”
Great job hurting his feelings, Shay, when he only did as you asked. “Yes. Thank you.”
“Okay, then. Let’s head back.”
“Cooper—”
Pulling up the horse, he turned back to her.
“Just so you know, it’s not you. It’d be easier if it was you. But it’s not. It’s me.”
He nodded as if he didn’t believe her and nudged his mare into a trot. She cradled the puppy against her shoulder as she mounted Lulu. With a tender caress, she stroked the small puppy between the ears. “You believe me, don’t you?” The pup whined. “No? Yeah, I don’t think he does either.”