A Fallow Heart (Tommy Creek #2)(46)

One of his sisters looked more like him than the other did. Jo Ellen didn’t even know her name. Both girls had been much older than him and had moved off when he was young, but that was the extent of her knowledge about his siblings.

She veered back to study his senior picture. In the past ten years, he’d certainly filled out in all the right places. Now, he was solid and bulky and yet still appeared as if he didn’t own an ounce of fat.

When she heard an approaching engine outside, she gave a guilty lurch, unreasonably afraid she’d been caught ogling his photograph. The motor didn’t sound like Emma Leigh’s car, but Jo Ellen hoped against hope anyway as she wandered to the window and peeked out the blinds to spot a two-seater UTV pull up to the side of the house. With its bed loaded with toolboxes, the small vehicle hid under a thick layer of red dust. And behind the steering wheel sat temptation himself.

Her pulse lurched.

Unable to stop herself, she lifted the space a little wider in the window blinds and craned her head to see him better. For a moment, she lost sight of him as he drove around a corner. Then the engine of his UTV stopped and the cadence of boot heels striking against the Gerhardts’ concrete patio echoed through the front screen door, their rhythm telling her he was sauntering at a leisurely pace. Her stomach churned in anticipation.

Unexpectedly interested to catch her first glimpse of him for the day, she pressed closer to the window—the glass almost smashing her nose against the blinds—just as he stepped into her line of sight.

Even knowing how well he’d turned out, her mouth simply dropped. “Well, God bless Texas.”

In a dark t-shirt, dirty boots, a beat up straw cowboy hat, and greasy denim jeans held up by a huge belt buckle, he personified the perfect farm boy, the perfect man actually. Lust pooled warm and fluid in her limbs.

He paused, and Jo Ellen had to stand on her tiptoes and winch her neck just a little more awkwardly to continue seeing him. He took off his hat, revealing a head full of damp blond hair matted to his head. Helpless to control her eyes, she licked her lips as her gaze wandered south. My, oh my, but the man knew how to wear a pair of jeans.

With his hat off, he palmed the crown and used the back of his forearm to wipe at his sweaty face. Then he did the unthinkable. He paused at a water pump, which looked as if it might connect to an old-time, hand-dug well. Then he set his hat aside and pumped the lever a handful of times, the muscles in his arms and back bunching and shifting under his tight shirt. When water gushed from the spigot, he leaned down to stick his head under the stream.

Jo Ellen pressed her hand against her chest, hoping she didn’t have a heart attack before he was done because there was no way she wanted to miss the rest of this show.

The cool well water sluicing over his heated body made a slight steam rise around him and as wet cloth plastered itself to his torso. He drenched his hair, making it a shade darker than its usual light blond. After rinsing, he shifted his face around to the flow and opened his mouth, welcoming a nice, hearty drink.

Never in her life had Jo Ellen thought a man getting a mere drink of water could look so intoxicating. She watched his throat work as he swallowed. Then his eyes closed as he finished and he lowered his head to the spray again, obviously relishing his rinse down.

“Oh, Emma Leigh,” she whispered to her absent twin. “You are missing the view of a lifetime.”

It was a wonder every female with a heartbeat didn’t pant after Cooper Gerhardt, begging to bear his babies. A frown puckered her brow. And here, his eyes had been set on her in high school; her of all people. The idea made no sense. She was nothing special. Why had this fine specimen of male beauty even spent a second glance in her direction?

And yet, he swore he had, which caused a bloom of possessiveness to fill her. A part of that hottie out there belonged to her. Years ago, he’d given his heart to her. She liked that concept. Too much; so much it intimidated her.

If she could induce a raging jerk like Travis Untermeyer to dump her like yesterday’s news, no way could she keep a man as perfect at Cooper Gerhardt. He’d discover all her faults and eventually leave her too, except Cooper’s abandonment would hurt a million times worse than being abandoned by Travis. It would completely crush what little confidence she’d accumulated over the past ten years. She didn’t know if she could give so much of her faith, her love, her control to any man again, no matter how good he looked all wet and steamy. He’d only break her.

Unknowingly arguing his own case, Cooper promptly peeled his soaking wet shirt off as soon as the water slowed to a drip from the spigot. When he commenced to wringing it dry, Jo Ellen let out a whimper. His newly exposed muscles worked, flexing and shifting under his taut, golden skin, and he seemed to use every one of them to twist his discarded shirt into a tight rope and squeeze the water out.

“Here’s a bag full of vegetables to take with you, dear,” Loren said as she hobbled into the room.

A squeak of alarm escaped Jo Ellen. She whirled from the window and quickly clamped her mouth shut, her face scorching hot as she flashed Cooper’s mother a small guilt-ridden smile.

Frowning in confusion, Loren shuffled forward and opened the blinds with her finger.

Jo Ellen gulped.

But Loren didn’t seem to notice what kind of lusty thoughts she’d been having. When she spotted Cooper, pain filled her features. Her lips trembled and Jo Ellen swore she saw tears collect in the older woman’s eyes.