Chapter 17
17
Isla
“YOU LOOK ANGRY.”
Griselda’s voice startled her. Sent her spinning from the sink to face her grandfather’s girlfriend where she stood on the opposite side of the island in Grady and Evelyn’s kitchen. “What?”
“I said, you look angry.” Griselda’s eyes narrowed. “Is it because of that idiot you were dating in New York? Your grandfather said he sent you a letter.”
“Oh.” She’d forgotten all about the letter. All about Eric, honestly. “No. I don’t care about him.” She realized her omission could be seen as an admission, so she added, “And I’m not mad. Just focused.”
Focused on who in the hell Cooper had been in love with. Probably some gorgeous, sexy, educated, successful woman who was great in bed and learned how to drive at a normal age.
Griselda’s lips flattened. “Hmm.”
Isla gave the older woman as much of a smile as she could manage then turned and went back to the task of scrubbing down the kitchen sink.
“Did you know it took me five years to seduce your grandfather?”
Her body froze, unable to move thanks to the horrifying images playing through her brain. “No?” And she could have gone her whole life without knowing it.
“It’s true.” Griselda didn’t seem to be aware of the trauma she was dishing out as she rounded the island. Standing next to Isla, she continued her story as she retrieved a glass from the cabinet. “We’d become very close over the years and I wanted to take things to the next level. I dropped little hints, thinking he’d figure it out.” Her eyes rolled Isla’s way, one perfectly groomed brow lifting. “He did not.”
Isla dropped the scrubby sponge she’d been using with enough force to exfoliate the top layer of stainless steel from the basin. “Really?”
Her grandmother had died years before she was born, leaving her grandpa to raise their children alone—one reason they were all so close—and as far as she knew, he’d not dated anyone besides Griselda. And while she didn’t necessarily think of him as a romantically aware sort of person—he was her freaking grandpa—she also didn’t believe he could be that oblivious. Griselda was many things, but elusive and bashful weren’t two of them.
When she wanted something it was pretty obvious. A point that was made when she lifted her brows at Isla.
Moving out of the way, she waited as Griselda used the smaller tap that filtered the regular water into drinking water to fill her glass.
As the waterline slowly rose she said, “I could have laid naked and spread eagle in front of him and he would have simply asked me if I needed help getting dressed.”
Gross. And pointless information to be shar?—
She thought back to the sexy picture she texted to Cooper. When he sent that single word voice recording and photos of his own, she thought things might heat up between them. But the next time they saw each other, it was like nothing ever happened.
Then a week ago she’d walked past him wearing nothing but a towel. He’d watched her every move but never budged from his spot on the couch. At the time, she thought he seemed a little interested, but again, nothing came of it. Things went right back to normal.
“So what did you do?” Was she really asking her grandpa’s girlfriend how she got into his pants?
Apparently, she was.
“I told him I had needs I wanted him to take care of.” Griselda took a drink of her water then continued. “I got very specific and told him if he wasn’t interested I’d find someone who was.”
Damn. Gram-Gram was ruthless. “Did you think he’d say no?”
Griselda scoffed. “Of course not.” She lifted her chin. “Even if he wouldn’t do anything about it, I saw the way he looked at me.” Her eyes met Isla’s. “It’s obvious when a man wants a woman. His whole world revolves around her.”
That had her thinking. Looking back at all the things Cooper had done in the time they’d known each other. The help with the goats. The driving lessons. The chicks. Taking her shopping for a coat and texting her every night.
“But weren’t you afraid things would change between you?”
“My dear, I was hoping things would change between us.” Griselda said it like she was missing the whole point.
“So you weren’t afraid you’d lose him as your…” Her grandpa and Griselda’s situation didn’t apply entirely and it was throwing her off a little. “Employee?”
“Why would I lose him?” Griselda said it like it was simple. “He still does everything he did before, now he’s just also my lover.”
Again, gross.
But also thought provoking.
“I just point it out because it seems as if you might have a little situation of your own going on.” Griselda lowered her voice. “I thought it would be helpful to hear how stepping out of my own comfort zone worked out for me.” A hint of a smile curved her lips. “Because it was the best decision of my life.”
The smile flattened almost immediately and Gram-Gram was right back to her cool self. “Speaking of good decisions, I heard you obtained your license.”
The conversation change gave her whiplash. “Uhh. Yeah. I took the test this morning.”
“Wonderful.” Griselda reached into the pocket of her perfectly tailored pants, pulling out a fob. “Then this belongs to you.”
Isla stared at where it dangled from the older woman’s fingers. “I’m sorry. I don’t follow.”
“I gave Evelyn a car when she got her license, and now I’m doing the same for you.” She shoved it closer to Isla’s face. “And when your little brother gets his license, we’ll give him one as well.”
Was she kidding?
Isla took the fob, feeling even more like she was in a parallel universe than when Griselda called her grandpa ‘lover.’ “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Of course I didn’t.” Gram-Gram straightened the sleeve of her blouse. “I wanted to. I’m proud of all you’ve accomplished in the past six months.” In yet another shocking move, Griselda reached out to rest a hand on her shoulder. “You’re a brave girl, Isla. Great things can be yours. All you have to do is take them.”
She was stunned. Stupefied by so many parts of the conversation that she didn’t reply. Just stood there while Griselda gave her a little pat then walked out.
Like some sort of rich-lady fairy grandmother.
Isla spent the rest of the day marinating on everything Griselda said. All it meant.
Gram-Gram had obviously been paying attention for the past few weeks, witnessing enough to form an opinion about what was going on between her and Cooper. She’d seen things that made her think Cooper was interested. Isla had wanted to think the same, but didn’t trust herself. Not after the way she was so oblivious in her last relationship.
But did she trust Griselda?
Yeah. She did. She’d never seen her grandpa as happy as he was with her, so obviously the woman knew a thing or two about men.
Now she just had to decide what in the heck she was going to do about it.
Griselda called her brave, but was she? Did she have the balls to ask Cooper if he wanted to try taking things outside of ‘friends’ territory?
She’d sent sexy photos, walked past him in a towel, and made those very thinly veiled comments about climaxes, so maybe she was braver than she gave herself credit for.
And maybe Cooper was just as clueless as her grandpa had been.
By the time she was finished for the day, and going out to the car she’d assumed belonged to someone taking a yoga class—the car that was now hers—she still wasn’t sure what she was going to do. If anything. And it stayed that way while she showered and blew out her hair. While she ate dinner and scrolled on her phone.
It wasn’t until she was stretched across her couch, some random show playing in the background, that she remembered something. The whole reason she’d been frowning so hard when Griselda found her taking her frustration out on the kitchen sink.
I’ve only been in love once.
That was the secret he shared with her. The one she’d earned by passing her driving test.
She got shafted in that deal.
Why would he tell her that? Didn’t he know thinking about him with another woman would get her hackles up?
According to Griselda, probably not.
So maybe she should clarify things a little. Not ‘if you don’t take care of my needs I’ll find someone who will’ clarify. Something a little less aggressive. Something a little sweeter.
Something a little sexier, because darn it she could be sexy.
Grabbing her phone, Isla marched into her bedroom in search of that teddy from the week before. She hadn’t put it back on since that first impromptu photo shoot, but it was about to get another?—
Her eyes landed on something else hanging in her closet and an idea sparked.
Peeling away her oversized T-shirt and sweatpants, she grabbed the item off its hanger and pulled it on before going to her bed and snapping a few photos using the skills she’d picked up from the red-headed farmer on Instagram.
Looking them over, she decided to make a little adjustment.
After shimmying out of her panties, she laid back down, carefully adjusting the heavy canvas coat she’d picked out with Cooper to cover only what was absolutely necessary before trying again and looking over the photos.
Wowza.
A smile spread across her face as she checked the clock. If Cooper was working a mid-shift, he’d likely be getting off soon. She smirked as she typed out a message.
I really like that coat we found.
A hint of giddiness bloomed in her belly over what she was about to do.
Was she also a little terrified? For freaking sure. This could all go sideways.
But being satisfied with what someone else fed her hadn’t worked out so well. It was time to step up. To be brave. To go after what she wanted instead of planning for what might never come.
After stacking the best of the photos into a single message, she sent them off, heart racing as the little word ‘delivered’ popped up beneath them.
The three little dots appeared almost immediately, just like they had last time. But this time, they didn’t disappear. This time they turned into a message right away.
You aren’t supposed to wear it inside.
Did he want her to go outside like that? She stared at the words, trying to decipher what he was implying.
It took way too long to figure out what he meant.
What she hoped he meant.
The coat hit the floor and she took a deep breath, wrapping one arm across her boobs before snapping a photo downward. It didn’t show anything super exciting, but it was clear she was naked.
Then she sent it.
Again, those little dots popped right up, followed by Cooper’s response.
Send me another one.
Isla rocked her head from side to side, shaking out the ants crawling inside her arms as she went back to her bed and posed, this time without covering up.
Doubt crept in right away, making her regret sending it the second it was gone. She started to spiral, falling into a pit of panic.
Why did she listen to Griselda? What possessed her to let the woman talk her into fucking up the first real friendship she’d ever had?
She was so freaking dumb. So insecure that just hearing Cooper mention that he’d loved someone—a completely normal thing for a man in his thirties—made her go off the rails.
Grabbing the coat off the floor she carried it to her closet, intending to hang it up.
But then her phone started to ring.
Cooper’s name flashed across the screen. And it wasn’t a regular call. It was a video call.
“Shit.” She flung the coat around her shoulders, shoving both arms into the sleeves and wrapping the open sides across her naked chest before smoothing down her hair and connecting the call. “Hey. Sorry, I was just—” She started to apologize—to backtrack—hoping this could all be glossed over.
But Cooper cut her off. “Why’s the coat back on, Princess?”
“Umm.” She looked down at the heavy canvas. “I thought maybe…”
“You thought wrong. Take it off.”
It seemed like maybe Cooper wasn’t as clueless as Gram-Gram had prepared her for. “Okay.” She shifted her shoulders, letting it slide back to the floor.
“Show me.”
She swallowed hard, but did as he demanded, stretching the arm holding her phone as far as it would go. Unfortunately, all the tips she’d picked up from her farmer friend had gone right out the window, leaving her just standing there, like a flat-footed potato.
Cooper didn’t seem to mind.
Everything behind and around him was shifting, but his eyes never left the screen. “Perfect.”
She got a glimpse of the outside of his truck and a flash of his garage. “Are you home?”
“I wouldn’t have called you if I wasn’t.”
That was nice to know. “I’m at home too.”
I’m at home too? What the frick did that even mean?
She was an inarticulate, flat-footed potato. Why did she think she’d be able to do something like this? Seduce a man like Cooper—her friend—and get him to magically want more by showing him her boobies.
She was a stupid, inarticulate, flat-footed potato.
“Good.” Cooper unhooked the vest strapped to his chest and hauled it over his head. “Go lay on the bed.”
Isla watched as he peeled his shirt off, her eyes fused to the screen as she padded across the floor and slid onto the mattress. She was so focused on him, her uncertainty and embarrassment got pushed back. It was still there, just less important than seeing what was happening at Cooper’s house.
He reached behind his head with his free hand and grabbed the back of the black undershirt he still had on, tugging it up and over—back to front—before peeling it away.
“Oh.” The air rushed from her lungs at the sight of all that naked skin. “You have a really nice chest.”
Cooper smiled, the expression slow and seductive. “Not as nice as yours.” He tipped his head. “Show me.”
In the process of getting onto the bed, she’d ended up with just her head and neck displayed on the screen. Before panning out, she took a second to position herself a little bit, pushing her boobs higher and angling her hips to one side so she’d look a little more hour-glassy.
No more potato here.
She stretched, giving him the best angle she could manage, eyes locked on his face as she tried to read his expression.
There was no reading necessary.
“ Fuck .” He said it just like he had the other day. Like he was suffering—in a good way.
She smiled—couldn’t help it—as a sense of victory and empowerment washed over her.
“Look how pretty you are like this.” Cooper continued moving around in a way that seemed an awful lot like he just took his pants off.
Her eyes drifted to the smaller window displaying what Cooper was seeing. She couldn’t argue with him. She did look kind of pretty. Except her one boob—the one more front and center in the shot—was sitting weird. She angled a little more toward her back then used her free hand to push it a little closer to its sister, creating a hint more cleavage.
Cooper groaned, the sound low and desperate. “That’s it, Princess. Show me how you touch yourself.”
He’d misinterpreted her boob relocation, but Cooper seemed so into it she didn’t have the heart to tell him that wasn’t what she was actually doing. Especially not with him watching her with so much intensity. Like he’d die if they lost their connection.
She felt the same way. And not just about the cell line.
Because she wanted to please him, and because she wanted more of whatever was happening right now, Isla teased the tips of her fingers across the nipple of the breast she’d stealthily adjusted. The scene behind Cooper finally stilled and came into focus. He was on his own bed, watching raptly as she circled her rapidly puckering nipple. Feeling a little silly. A little on display. A little exposed.
And a lot out of her element.
“I don’t know how to do this.” She wouldn’t admit that to anyone but him. Cooper had never judged her before, and she knew he wouldn’t do it now.
“I bet you know how to do more than you think.” Cooper’s low voice urged her on. “Just try for me.”
Isla worked her lower lip between her teeth, caught in a confusing cloud of arousal and fear. Curiosity and concern.
But there was something that might help.
“What about you? Are you going to try too?” A rush of heat flooded her body at the thought. At the idea of Cooper touching himself while she touched herself.
Of watching it happen.
A slow smile slid over his face, digging out that dimple she loved. “I thought you’d never ask.”