He sat up when he saw a pickup truck come out of Lang’s driveway. The truck headed toward the Mattingly ranch. Tyler started the car and followed from a safe distance. He could see Kendra in the truck and Lang was driving. He followed them until they pulled into the driveway of the Mattingly ranch. Tyler was so tired of this shit. He wished he knew then what he knows now. He laughed without humor because he knew he’d still do it the same way. Everything happened because he couldn’t stop gambling. His wife left him because he couldn’t stop. It had been the final straw. He wanted her back and once he paid his debts, he’d go after her. For now, he’d earn his money doing Jasper’s bidding.
Chapter Eleven
Two weeks later, Kendra sat in her bedroom wondering what she was doing with a man like Cooper. He had told her he didn’t want to settle down yet she didn’t want to believe that. It felt as if she’d loved him forever. Her marriage to Jasper had been a sham from the start. She never loved her husband but only married him because she never thought she could have Cooper. Now since she’s been with him, how could she walk away?
Sighing, she stood and walked to her closet to find something to wear. Cooper would be arriving soon to pick her up for dinner. Why are you wasting your time with a man who will never settle down? Because she loved him, that was why. She’d take whatever time she could get with him.
A knock on her door startled her and she opened it to see her mother standing there.
“Your dad and I are leaving for dinner. I just wanted to let you know.” Her mother smiled at her.
“Have fun.” Kendra smiled but her heart wasn’t in it.
Her mother frowned and stepped into the room. “Are you all right, Kennie?”
“I’m wondering why I’m wasting my time with Cooper.”
“Wasting your time? What do you mean?”
Kendra sighed and sat on the bed. “He doesn’t want to settle down, and although I had a horrible marriage with Jasper, I do. I want kids someday, Mom.”
Her mother sat down beside her and put her arm around her. “Honey, most men say they don’t want to settle down. Only a few will admit to wanting it too.”
“Daddy wanted to marry you the night you met.”
“He’s one of the few. He told me he wanted to settle down with one woman and have kids. I’m sure he’s not the only man who will admit to it, but some just have this thing about settling down. They say they don’t want to but I think, deep down, they do.”
“But how long is a woman supposed to wait before the man she loves wants to?”
“That, I can’t answer for you. I wish I could. You just have to decide if you want to see if Cooper changes his mind or move on.”
“I’m afraid to fall deeper. He’s always been the one and now since being with him, I love him even more. I see him every day and we spend every weekend together. We’ve been together almost a month. It’s hard.”
“I know you love him, honey, but you can’t stick around and not find your happiness. You deserve to be happy. Especially after being with Jasper.”
Kendra nodded. “I agree. I think Cooper and I need to have a talk. He has to know how I feel.”
Her mother stood and kissed the top of her head. “I’m here anytime you need to talk. Will you be home tonight?”
“I don’t know.” Kendra told her.
“All right, honey. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow then.”
Kendra smiled as her mother left the room. She knew she wouldn’t be home tonight. Not if Cooper wanted her to stay with him. Heading back to the closet, she pulled out a white sundress with red polka dots on it, and her white wedge heel sandals. After her bath, she painted her toenails and fingernails a bright red.
When she entered the living room, she gazed around the room. Soon, there would be a roaring fire in the hearth. It was early September but snow moved in quickly, living close to the Big Horn Mountains, as early as mid-September some years.
She walked around the living room, touching pictures of her and her parents. The love was evident in their eyes. There were only a few where her mother wasn’t looking at her father. Kendra wanted that. Her parents were very much in love and she grew up watching them. She could remember her mother smiling at her dad anytime she saw him, and her dad would always kiss her mother, sometimes on the lips or temple and sometimes on the top of her head or forehead. Their love was strong and binding.
Kendra sighed. Why couldn’t she have that? With Cooper. She quickly blinked back tears. No sense in crying over it. She didn’t know what the future would bring with Cooper, but having him tell her he didn’t want to settle down had almost killed her. She’d ask him tonight. She had to know.
Kendra saw his truck coming up the driveway and smiled when she saw he had the windows down. The man would rather sweat in the hot air than use the air conditioning. He did turn it on for her though. She walked through the hall and into the kitchen. She opened the back door just as he bound up the steps. He halted when he saw her.
“Wow,” he said.
“Wow?”
“You look...amazing. Beautiful.” He stepped close to her and cupped her face in his hands. “I need a kiss,” he said leaning down, and then brushed her lips with his. “I really want to kiss you more but if we don’t leave now, we won’t at all.”
Kendra felt the heat pour into her cheeks. “I’m hungry.”
Cooper chuckled. “Oh, darlin’, so am I.”
“For food?” she whispered.
“For you,” he whispered back. He pressed his lips to hers and moved his tongue along the seam of her lips. “Open for me, Kendra.” He growled low in his throat when she did.
She pulled back. “We need to leave now.” She watched as his gaze ran over her face and stopped at her lips.
He blew out a breath. “If you say so.”
Kendra laughed. “Yes. Food first.”
“First? Does that mean you’ll come home with me tonight?”
Kendra stared up at him. “We’ll see,” she murmured.
“That doesn’t sound good. What’s wrong, Kendra?”
“Nothing. We’ll talk later.”
“Shit. The dreaded we need to talk.”
“I didn’t say we needed to talk, I just said we’d talk later.”
“Same fucking thing,” Cooper muttered.
She shrugged and walked around him toward the truck. Cooper ran past her and opened the door for her. She placed her hand in his and climbed into the truck. She watched as he ran around the front, and then hopped in. He pulled out of the driveway and drove toward town.
“Is Zellene’s all right again?” he asked.
“Of course.”
“Tell me about Chloe.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know much about her.” Cooper shrugged. “Just that she was here during the summer months, living with her grandmother, but where was she the rest of the time?”
“In boarding school. She doesn’t have the best parents. They shuffled her off to boarding school during the school year and to her grandmother’s in the summer. Zellene adored her and Chloe felt the same about her. Emily and I met her one day at the restaurant when we were all about seven years old. We all became close friends that summer. We hated it when she had to go back to San Diego. We were always afraid it would be the last time we saw her but she came back every summer, and after she graduated from college, she moved here permanently. She was engaged to be married when she was twenty-two but he was killed in a car accident.”
“She seems tough though.”
“Chloe is very tough. I know she has my back. She loves Emily and Isabella too. She’d fight to the death for us.” Kendra glanced over to Cooper. “She’s a wonderful woman who says what she thinks, but I know she’s hurting inside. Her parents never show her any affection.”
“I can understand that.”
“I think her parents love her in their own twisted way but they’ve never been close to their own daughter. I wasn’t real
close with my mom until recently. I’m a daddy’s girl and I shoved my mom away. I hate that I did that to her.”
“I’m sure she understands. Your parents seem really close.”
“They’re very much in love. I want that in my life. Not what I had with Jasper.”
“You’ll find it,” Cooper said.
Kendra nibbled on her bottom lip. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She wanted to find it all right, but with him. No one else. She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Cooper, what are we doing here?”
“What do you mean? We’re going to have dinner.”
“I mean this.” She waved her hand between them.
“We’re dating.”
“But if you don’t want to settle down, then I’m wasting my time with you.”
Cooper pulled off the road and slammed on the brakes. Dust flew around the truck. “Wasting your time? You don’t like us being together?”
“I do but you don’t want to settle down, and I do.”
“Right now? You just got out of a marriage. Are you so eager to get back into one?”
“I didn’t say right now! I’m saying, you don’t want to settle down, and I do. Why continue to see each other if it’s not going where I want it to? I need to start seeing someone else. I’m not looking to get married tomorrow, or even in a year, but a relationship takes time to develop. If you have no desire to get married, I need to find someone who wants what I do. Is that so hard to understand? Apparently all you want is sex.” She huffed and folded her arms across her chest.
“The sex is damn good. Tell me it’s not.”
“You’re completely missing the point. Yes, the sex is good but I want more than just sex.”
His hands tightened around the steering wheel as he gazed out the windshield. He sighed. “Can we eat, and then talk about this later?”
Kendra was shocked. He was willing to talk about it. “Of course.”
Cooper grunted and pulled out onto the road. After a few minutes, they pulled into the parking lot of Zellene’s. The parking lot was full. Cooper rode around until he found a spot and parked. He helped Kendra out and held her hand as they entered the restaurant.
“I think we’re going to have to wait,” Kendra said.
“Nope. I see some people we can sit with. Come on.” He led her through the tables. She tried to see around him but he was too big. When he stopped, she peered around him and grinned. At the table sat Emily and Lucas, Mont and Isabella, Lincoln, Storm, Dakota, Nathan and Shelly.
“Do you have room for two more?” Cooper asked. All the men stood when they spotted Kendra.
“Hell yeah,” Lucas said as he moved away to grab two chairs.
Kendra hugged the women and took a seat beside Emily. “The whole gang’s here, huh?”
“Kennie, how are you?” Dakota Walker asked her.
Dakota was gorgeous—tall, dark brown hair and brown eyes. Nathan was his brother and both were hot, sexy men. This was the first she’d seen him in a long while. He was a bigtime lawyer in Denver.
“I’m fine, Dakota. How are you?”
He grinned at her and her stomach did a little flip. “I’m great. I just came home for a visit, and Nathan, Shelly, and I decided to have dinner here. We saw the others here and joined them.” He leaned toward her. “What the hell are you doing with Cooper? Shouldn’t you have some class?”
“Fuck you, Walker,” Copper growled, making everyone laugh.
“Well, it looks like everyone’s here,” Chloe said from beside the table.
Kendra noticed she stood close to Storm’s chair and winked at her when she knew Chloe noticed.
“Waitress, how about some menus?” Lincoln said.
Chloe slapped him on the back of the head. “You don’t get one,” she told him as she handed the menus to everyone else.
“Hey, I was just kidding. Come on, Chloe.”
“All right, Linc, but you just remember, I’m the owner not a waitress. Although there is nothing wrong with being a waitress. They work their asses off.” She started to move away. “I’ll send your waitress over in a little while to take your orders.”
Kendra watched her stride away and noticed Storm did too. She picked up her menu and glanced through it. She set it back down. Everyone at the table stared at her. She shrugged. “I know what I want.”
“So do I, darlin’, so do I,” Cooper murmured next to her.
“Stop it,” she hissed.
Cooper burst out laughing. “You think they don’t know?”
Kendra gazed around the table. Everyone was still looking at her. The heat poured into her cheeks. Thank God, the lighting was dim. She stood and the men rose.
“I’m going to visit the ladies’ room.” She moved away from the table and glanced back. She grinned when she saw the other women following her.
****
“So...you and Kennie, huh?” Lucas asked him.
Cooper picked up his glass and took a sip. “We’ve been dating a while. Problem?” He raised his eyebrow at his friend.
“I don’t have a problem with it but you will, if you hurt her. Those friends of hers are lethal.”
“You would know since you’re married to one of them.”
“Damn straight, Cooper. Emily and the rest of them are loyal. Especially Chloe. She’s Kendra’s closest friend and I wouldn’t want to tangle with her.”
Cooper grinned. “No, but maybe Storm would.”
Storm choked on his soda. “Why the hell would you say that?”
“I saw you looking at her when she walked away. You couldn’t take your eyes off her ass.” Cooper laughed.
Storm shrugged. “She has a great ass but that doesn’t mean I want to tangle with her, as you put it. I’m not looking for a relationship and you know it.”
“Maybe Chloe isn’t either,” Mont added.
“I asked her out once,” Lincoln told them. “She turned me down.”
“She’s not your type anyway, Linc,” Cooper said.
Lincoln nodded. “I know, but I gave it a shot.” He elbowed Storm. “You should go for it.”
“Hell no,” Storm muttered.
“Why do they all go to the bathroom together?” Nathan asked with a frown.
“To gossip. I bet we’re the topic of conversation in there,” Lucas said as he sat back and folded his arms.
That was just what worried Cooper. Was his unwillingness to commit to marriage or any other permanent sort of relationship the topic of conversation among the women in the bathroom? It wasn’t that he was against marriage, although his father’s hadn’t been a great role model for him, it was just that he feared his luck with marriage and family wouldn’t be any better than his father’s was. He watched his father live out a lonely existence while raising him alone. Granted, he hadn’t made life easy for his dad and regretted his behavior far more than his father knew. Sure, he could marry someday but what if his wife wanted children. Would he run from it like his mother had? He liked kids well enough...other people’s kids.
“Where are the kids tonight?” Cooper asked glancing at Lucas, Mont, and Storm.
“Babysitter. Emily and I wanted to have an evening out,” Lucas told him.
“Same here. Isabella and I haven’t been out in forever,” Mont added.
“Mandy is at Mom’s this weekend. She goes there just about every weekend. I think it’s because she gets away with more there.” Storm grinned at them.
“This is why I’m not getting married. Too many confinements. I want to sleep with whatever woman I want and not worry about having to get a babysitter,” Dakota told them.
“I’m not getting married again either, but I wouldn’t trade Mandy for the world. I love my baby girl,” Storm said without hesitation.
Mont and Lucas agreed. Nathan sighed. “Shelly wants to have kids. I don’t know. Am I too old for this shit?”
The men shook their heads. “You’re never too old. You’d love it. Hell, you raised Dakota after your
parents died,” Mont said.
“True but maybe that’s why I’m skittish. Jesus, what a pain in the ass he was.” Dakota tossed a napkin at his older brother making Nathan laugh. “See? He’s still a child.”
The men laughed and the conversation flowed easily in other directions as they waited for the women to return.
****
“When did you start dating Cooper?” Emily asked Kendra.
“We’ve been going out almost a month.”
“He’s hot. Of course, they all are. I remember meeting all of them before Montgomery and I were married. I thought they were all so gorgeous,” Isabella Bradford told her.
“I’ve always liked Cooper, Isabella. Since I was fifteen, but he broke my heart telling me I was too young for him.” Kendra laughed. “I was, but what did I know? I was in love.”
“And you still are,” Shelly murmured.
Kendra sighed. “Yes. I have a feeling he’s the one, but I’m not for him.”
The bathroom door opened and Chloe stepped in. “I had to see what you were all doing in here. I can’t miss any gossip.”
“We’re just asking Kennie about Cooper,” Emily told her.
“Ah, yes. Kendra and Cooper. What’s been going on, Kennie? You’ve blown me off twice to go out with Cooper. Are you sleeping with him?” When Kendra’s cheeks turned pink, Chloe jumped on it. “You are! You didn’t tell me. How is it?”
Kendra sighed. “Fantastic. I didn’t know what I was missing but now that I do, how can I walk away?”
“Wait. What? Why would you walk away?” Isabella asked.
“He doesn’t want to settle down. I told him I do, eventually. He brought up that I just got out of a marriage. I told him I didn’t mean right now. I don’t want to waste my time with Cooper if there’s another man out there I should meet and marry.”
Cooper Bad Boys of Dry River, Wyoming Book 3 Page 13
