A Fallow Heart (Tommy Creek #2)(12)

Coop had to look away, so he focused on Em.

She continued to analyze him before her face cleared. “Oh, that’s right. Someone told me you’d done that.”

“She was awfully sick,” he explained. “I just wanted to make sure she felt better.”

Em snorted. “Sick? What, was she drunk?”

Coop lifted his brows. “Yeah, she was.”

Emma Leigh’s snigger died as her jaw dropped. “Seriously? The princess drank last night? She drank alcohol?” Before Coop could respond, she threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, man, I wish I would’ve seen that.”

“And I wish Mom and Dad would’ve seen the both of you,” Grady cut in. “If they knew you two were at Eden’s party last night, drinking, you’d be grounded until you’re thirty. I’ve a mind to tell them myself. Jo Ellen was so far gone anyone could’ve taken advantage of her. Who knows what might’ve happened if Coop hadn’t found her and brought her home?”

Coop’s cheeks turned a dull red. He couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened, and he had been the one to find her and bring her home.

“Oh, don’t tell on ‘em,” Caine begged. “Em’s paying me good money to keep my trap shut. If Mom and Dad find out, I won’t see a cent.”

“What?” Grady smacked him on the back of the head. “You should be ashamed of yourself; more concerned about cash than your two sisters’ welfare.”

Caine shrugged as he rubbed his cranium. “What’d I have to worry about? Coop was there.”

Coop coughed into his hand, and tried not to feel guilty about last night, but a quick shame filled him. If they knew what he’d done to their sister, all three of them would probably find the nearest tree and string him up.

He opened his mouth, though he wasn’t sure what he was going to say. As much of an honest idiot as he was, he probably would’ve confessed how he’d let Jo Ellen play with his erection and kiss him…and how he’d kissed her back. But thank God, the crackle of crunching gravel diverted everyone’s attention.

A sleek, red Mazda Miata—its engine so quiet Cooper didn’t even hear it running—pulled to a stop next to his clunker. He narrowed his eyes as the driver’s side door opened and a tan pair of khaki pants slid out before Travis Untermeyer unfolded the rest of his body from his toy box automobile. When he spotted Jo Ellen’s siblings, he waved congenially and started their way. All four of them waved back, and Coop was tickled to note the other three appeared about as eager to welcome Untermeyer as he was.

“Hey,” Pretty Boy greeted, his fake smile flashing until he spotted Cooper. Then he pulled to a stop, smirking. “Gerhardt?” He laughed. “Wow, it’s nice to see you finally cleaned up for once.”

Cooper felt so hot, he couldn’t even answer. He just wanted to reach out and wrap his hands around the dirt bag’s scrawny pencil neck.

Hurts enough when he shoves inside me.

Coop decided he could easily solve Jo Ellen’s dilemma by snapping Untermeyer’s small penis clean off with his bare hand and tossing it to the hogs.

As Grady, Caine, and Emma Leigh explained the oil mess on his clothes, Cooper seethed. Usually he felt a mild contempt whenever he encountered Travis Untermeyer. But today, the only emotion boiling inside him was white, hot hatred.

What the hell was Untermeyer doing here anyway? Had Jo Ellen called him over to break up with him in person? He hoped so. He hoped he got a front row seat, watching her dump the rich jackass. He bet Pretty Boy was a crier.

But even as he imagined a pathetic Untermeyer bawling and begging on his knees at Jo Ellen’s feet, the main entrance of the mansion sprang open again. This time, Jo Ellen herself emerged. It was the very vision he’d dreamed up when he’d first parked. The door flew open and she appeared under the covered porch, smiling as if she’d just spotted her one true love. Then she bounded down the steps and sprinted their way, her long, dark hair flowing behind her and her slim body eating up the ground with graceful strides.

His chest constricting with painful longing, Coop took a step in her direction…until he realized she was racing toward Pretty Boy, not him. The dirt bag opened his arms, and Jo Ellen leapt into them, hugging and kissing him as if she hadn’t seen him in a millennium.

And as he watched, unable to look away, Cooper’s world crumbled around him.





Chapter Four


Grady cleared his throat—loudly.

Finally, the two necking lovebirds reluctantly broke apart. Jo Ellen’s grin looked embarrassed. Untermeyer’s went smug. Cooper longed to break his face.

“We’re going for a picnic,” Jo Ellen announced, taking Untermeyer’s hand and snuggling close to him, but not quite as close as she’d snuggled to Coop last night.

He shifted, uncomfortable, and glanced away.

“Em,” Grady barked, impatiently motioning a finger in Emma Leigh’s direction. “Maybe you should go with them.”

Just as Jo Ellen frowned and said, “I didn’t pack enough food for three,” Emma Leigh made a face. “Eww, I don’t want to go with them and watch them suck face all afternoon. Gag me.”

Cooper tried to look invisible and remember how to breathe while the siblings continued to argue. In the end, Jo Ellen got her way. She and Untermeyer convinced Grady to let them go off alone together while Coop just stood there, soaked in grease and completely ignored by the girl who’d stolen his heart less than twelve hours ago.