Chapter Nineteen – All Night
Chapter Nineteen
Cooper
ALL NIGHT
Performed by Brothers Osborne
All the lightness went out of Andie, and I cursed myself. Her back was stiff, and her eyes had gone flat. I hadn’t considered that it might be her parents she was running from, but now all I could think of were the dozens of reasons a child would need to escape a home.
I leaned in, lowering my voice. “Are they the reason you’re hiding?”
Her head jerked back as if she’d been shocked. “No…” She shook her head but then stopped, dropping her gaze. “And I guess, yes…”
“Well, that clears things up,” I said, purposefully forcing my voice to be lighter than I felt.
Her lips tilted upward slightly at my sardonic reply.
While I wanted her to trust me with her secrets, I also didn’t want the trauma of her past to invade our first date.
I wanted tonight’s memories to be of laughter and happiness.
I wanted to bring that joy home with us so when I walked her to her door, I could kiss the hell out of her again.
And with Luca sleeping at my parents’ tonight, I was hoping I could turn that kiss into something more.
The more I’d been thinking of ever since she’d let out that delightful purr at the ranch.
The DJ kicked the music up another notch, playing a country line-dance song I hadn’t moved to in decades. Eden certainly wouldn’t have been caught dead in a country bar. Far too lowbrow for her.
The wind swept through the trees, and Andie shivered.
She’d left her coat inside again, putting on display her purple sweater that clung to all her curves and dipped low enough to give me a tantalizing view of her cleavage.
Even though she’d dressed casually, as I’d told her to, she still had her hair in a tight bun, with every curl tucked away.
She was still a hundred times more put together than she’d been on Halloween in a sweatshirt with her hair in a loose braid around her shoulder.
I yearned to undo every clip and pin. To see her undone again.
“You’re cold,” I said. “Only one way to warm up out here.”
Her gaze went to my lips before slowly lifting to my eyes.
I chuckled. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Havoc. We’re at a party.”
I took her empty plate, tossed it in one of the large garbage cans placed around the yard, and then came back to grab her hand, tugging her up from the table.
A few couples were already twirling to the foot-stomping rhythm as I pulled her into the middle of the makeshift dance floor.
“What are you doing?” she asked a bit breathlessly.
“Looks like dancing,” I said.
I put one hand on her waist, twined the other with hers, and hoped I’d remember the steps well enough for both of us. But after several turns, I realized she didn’t need my guidance. She was keeping up as if she knew the moves better than me. “You’ve line-danced before?”
A shadow clouded her face for two seconds before she shook it off. “A friend taught me. He and I used to go a couple times a week to this country bar and stay until they kicked us out.”
A cold, hard zap of jealousy struck my chest. Someone else had held her like this, touched her, likely kissed her.
It was ridiculous because she was a woman in her thirties, who’d obviously been kissed and fucked and swirled around a dance floor.
And yet, I couldn’t help this feral desire to have been the only one to touch her.
Had I ever felt that way with Eden?
Jealous, yes—with justification, as I found out the hard way. But absurdly possessive? No.
As one song ended and another began, I guided us into the next set of steps.
Andie didn’t protest. She just smiled up at me and met my every move with her own graceful ones.
She was a natural. Hips swaying, limbs shifting.
I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed dancing with a sexy woman.
How tantalizing it could be, with each touch an act of foreplay.
I slid my fingers over her every opportunity I got and bumped hips wherever the song called for it, adding in some unnecessary ones. And when I twirled her out and back, I wrapped my arms around her and ensured every body part that could possibly collide did.
We were several songs in by the time my dad swung my mom next to us in the growing crowd of couples. Mom’s laughter lit up the entire night. As they went by, Dad raised a brow at me and said, “Never thought I’d see you dance again, Coop. You look good out here.”
His comment caused me to fumble the next step.
Dad chuckled, but Mom dragged him to a stop and demanded a picture of the four of us.
She took the picture herself, insisting she was the only one who knew how to take the shot correctly.
Most of the time, she was right. I had hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures on my phone that she’d taken of us in different groups and poses.
Some of me and Luca, or her and Dad, or any mixture of the four of us.
When I’d been with Eden, my ex had often refused to be included, insisting her manager didn’t want any unflattering photos leaked. How many times had we fought about it?
Andie didn’t even bat an eye, even though her normally perfect hair was askew from our dancing.
Her smile was wide and beautiful on the screen as my mom took several shots.
My phone buzzed almost immediately as Mom shared the pictures, and I was inordinately happy she’d taken them.
I knew I’d savor the memories of tonight no matter what happened between Andie and me in the long run.
The song ended, and the DJ started up another with hardly any pause.
“Sorry to have interrupted,” Mom said. “Get back to work winning that woman over, Coop.”
Dad winked, Andie made a garbled noise, and I responded by swinging her right into the next beat.
Andie laughed, the sound sweet like jingle bells at Christmas.
Like anticipation and excitement and home.
I was sunk far more into this woman than I should be, especially knowing everything she’d told me today was true.
I might wake up tomorrow, and she’d be gone, whisked away to keep her identity hidden.
I swore again that I’d do anything and everything in my power to ensure Andie didn’t have to leave. That she was safe. That she could be with me and not regret it.
Talking was impossible at the pace of the music, but it didn’t matter. I got to touch her, listen to her laugh, and watch a smile light up her face. It was a damn good way to spend a first date, with good food, good people, and good music.
I’d forgotten so much of this in LA. Lost so much of what had once made me who I was.
When I glanced over Andie’s shoulder and saw Wysteria teaching Luca some of the steps, my heart filled nearly to the brim.
Coming to Rivers had been the right thing to do.
For months now, I’d worried I’d made a drastic mistake, not for me, but for my son. Now Luca was coming out of his shell, losing the anger and attitude, finding a place for himself here. We’d just needed time to adjust.
Once I built the half-pipes in our yard, he’d have almost everything he needed here.
The pressure in my chest eased, my heart feeling almost buoyant for the first time in weeks.
We danced until we were both hot and sweaty, until the music turned soft and slow, and I gladly tugged Andie to me, wrapping her tightly in my arms. When she shifted, as if to put a little space between us, I grunted my objection in her ear and pressed my hand to her lower back, guiding her right back to me.
After a moment, she relaxed, her body molding perfectly to mine. She fit like she was meant to be there, as if every groove of mine matched a valley of hers. As if this joining had the potential to be everything my parents’ relationship was and more.
And fuck if that wasn’t scary as hell. But I wasn’t a chicken. I’d face it, own it, and try to convince Andie that we could make this work, if only she’d trust me.
The lyrics of the song were sultry and sensual, beating out a rhythm that promised things adults could do in the dark of the night. Delightful tastes and sounds and touches that would lead to thundering hearts and beautiful climaxes.
I wanted that with Andie. The hunger and passion I’d barely gotten a sip of earlier.
I wanted it tonight.
Now.
“Let’s get out of here,” I whispered in her ear.
She looked up at me, and I was relieved to see a fire burning in those eyes that was as wild and intense as the one in me.
“What about the party? We haven’t even had cake yet.”
“I’d trade every dessert for the rest of my life for another taste of you.”
Her mouth parted, and all I could think about was how it had felt to slide my tongue between those pretty lips.
“If we don’t leave soon, all anyone is going to be talking about is Sheriff Wylee’s horribly impressive, but inappropriate, hard-on at his mother’s party.”
She laughed softly, glancing around the yard full of my parents’ friends and neighbors.
“What about Luca?”
“He and Wysteria are spending the night here. My parents are taking them riding tomorrow.”
I ran a finger along her cheek, cupped her neck, and tipped my forehead against hers. “No pressure, Havoc. I can kiss you at your door and walk away, but I need to get out of here before I embarrass myself.”
Leaving her at her door was the last thing I wanted.
I wanted to be invited inside. I wanted to strip that purple sweater off and find out what was beneath it.
Lace or cotton. Black or beige. Simple or fancy.
I wanted to take out every clip and twirl those long strands around one hand while the other slid inside her panties and worked her up until she begged me for release.
It would take a piece of my soul to walk away tonight, but I would, if that was what she wanted.
I’d walk away and then spend an hour in the shower trying to relieve the ache.
Andie let out a long breath and then nodded. The absolute joy that filled me at her agreement was overpowering.