Some Girls Do (Outback Heat Book 1)

by Andrews, Amy

  Cool relief flushed through her system. She’d like longer but considering he was offering to be her fake baby daddy for any length of time, she’d be wise to quit while she was ahead. She stood, wanting to fling herself into his arms but he didn’t look in the mood to celebrate. She ground her feet into the clean but worn carpet.

  “Are you going to be able to get away from the business for two weeks?”

  He quirked an eyebrow. “If you really cared about that, you wouldn’t have put me in this position in the first place.”

  Lacey deserved that. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hit her like a tyre wrench to the chest. She did care about Coop. A lot more than she let herself ever think about. She took a step towards him but stopped when he stiffened.

  “Coop … I really do appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

  He nodded, but tension radiated from every line of his body. “I’ll drive back to Brisbane in the morning and sort a few things out at work.”

  Lacey dared a smile. “Thank you.”

  “Two weeks,” he reiterated.

  She nodded. “Two weeks.”

  A lot could happen in two weeks, right?

  Chapter Six

  ‡

  Coop’s jaw was killing him when he woke to the first trickle of light pushing into the room through the high windows that sat above the kitchen. His fingers gently probed the slight swelling from the outside as his tongue ran along the inside. He should probably take something for it.

  But he wouldn’t.

  He didn’t believe in popping pills. He’d rarely taken anything for the terrible headaches that had plagued him for those first few months after his injury and occasionally still did. They made him tired and woozy and he felt tired enough after precious little sleep last night.

  He lifted his head and looked down at himself, wincing as his jaw protested the movement. He was still laying on top of the bed covers, his clothes from yesterday staring back at him. He’d finally fallen asleep in them, sans shoes, at around two am.

  He looked at his watch. Six o’clock.

  Christ, he was tired.

  He eased back down onto the pillow then rolled his head to the side to look at Lacey. She lay on her back on the far side of the double bed, her head turned away from him, hair splayed over the pillows and sheets and her torso, the blankets pushed down to her waist. It might be winter outside but it was toasty inside and her flannelette pajamas no doubt added to the heat in the bed.

  He shut his eyes and turned his head away on an inward groan. Do not put heat and bed and Lacey in the same sentence.

  This is going to be your view every morning for the next two weeks, buddy. Get used to it.

  He almost wished she was pregnant for a moment. Maybe that would be the kind of cold bucket of water he needed to stop the wave of heat currently washing through his balls.

  Carrying another man’s baby—unsexy and aggravating as hell.

  He swung himself off the narrow single mattress, which had been remarkably comfortable. It hadn’t been the thing keeping him awake all night. It was the other mattress and its occupant that had been responsible for that.

  Coop slipped his feet into his shoes and did them up. He’d kill for a shower and some caffeine to wake him up properly, but he planned on leaving with as little disruption as possible for Lacey. She’d insisted last night that he wake her before he left but there was a difference between a gentle nudge and a whispered good-bye to clomping around the place for twenty minutes.

  He walked over to the coffee table, scooping up his wallet, car keys and his room key then walked back to her bed. Standing at the end, he contemplated leaving without the nudge she’d asked for. Leaving a note maybe?

  Her breathing was deep and rhythmic and even though he couldn’t really see her face she looked peaceful. So peaceful he was tempted to crawl in beside her, wrap himself around her and go back to sleep.

  Why she even wanted to be woken he had no idea. It wasn’t like they were a real couple. Why he’d agreed was also a mystery, although he suspected it was something to do with the fact she’d been curled up in her bed looking at him through sleepy lashes.

  Come on, man. Just do it already and get the hell out.

  Coop stalked around to her side of the bed. He stood looking down at her for long moments. Her face was just peeping out from the fan of her hair and her hand rested low on her belly.

  And he wanted her.

  “Lacey?” he whispered. She didn’t answer so he crouched beside the bed, his hand on the mattress and tried again. “Lacey?”

  “Mmm …” her eyelids fluttered open briefly before shutting again.

  “I’m leaving now,” he said, still whispering. It seemed appropriate in the low light. “I’ll be back later on this afternoon.”

  “K,” she half mumbled, half sighed, her lips curling up in a little half smile. “Drive safe.”

  Coop swallowed. “I’ll lock you in.”

  “Mmm,” she said again, rolling onto her side, her eyes still closed as her hand bumped against his, her mouth now dangerously close.

  His gaze dropped to her lips. Soft and slack in sleep. So near, so tempting. He wanted to lean forward and kiss her on that mouth, wake her up properly. Wake her up good.

  He wanted it so damn bad.

  If this had been real, if they’d been really living together, if his baby had been really growing inside her, he could. He could just lean forward and kiss her. Push her hair back over her shoulder, run his fingers down her arm, onto her hip, her thigh. He could whisper how much he wanted her. How hard he was for her right now. How he wanted to be inside her.

  Coop shut his eyes against the fire in his loins and the devil riding him hard. He had to be strong. Absence had always been the key to keeping this rampant attraction in check and now that was gone.

  He needed to be stronger than ever before.

  He stood. Took a breath and a step back. Took another breath and turned away. Headed for the door.

  Did not look back.

  Did not stop until he was leaning heavily against his car sucking in the frigid morning air down on the street.

  Fuck. Only fourteen more mornings to get through …

  * * *

  The day flew by in Brisbane. His parents were surprised at the suddenness of it all but understood when Coop explained that Jumbuck Springs needed a temporary mechanic and he’d volunteered. They’d accepted his story and his mother had pulled out a huge container of pumpkin soup from the freezer to take with him.

  He felt bad about lying to them, but his old man had long since recovered from his heart problems and the booming restoration part of the business, which Coop had started two years ago, would be fine in the capable hands of his second-in-charge. Gav was brilliant at his job and more than happy to step up when Coop asked him.

  He stopped in at his apartment to pack some clothes. It didn’t take long. With a population of two thousand, Jumbuck Springs was hardly party central so he didn’t need anything fancy to wear and fancy wasn’t really his thing anyway. He threw in a bunch of jeans, a variety of shirts, a couple of hoodies to ward off the nippy mornings and nights and three pairs of work trousers and shirts.

  On the way out of his room he opened his bedside table drawer to grab the true crime novel he’d been reading. There were going to be a lot of long nights with Lacey in that hotel room so anything that held his attention was worth packing. He stopped dead as a barely touched box of condoms stared back at him.

  Temptation stalked him as he’d stood there and thought about sliding into Lacey. Kissing her mouth while he did so. Swallowing her throaty yes. Feeling her ankles locking around his butt.

  He took a deep breath and shut the drawer.

  Next stop was Lacey’s dorm to pick up her phone and bag. She’d rung him to let him know that Jeremy had delivered them to the dorm. He passed her Mini in the car park and made a mental note to get it transported to Jumbuck Springs. He doubted Lac
ey was going to need it, which gave him the perfect opportunity to finally do something with it.

  The idea of a project appealed to him. It would be win/win. She’d get a restored working beauty and he’d have something to do, to take up his time, to distract him. Even if he was going to spend a lot of that time thinking about spreading her out on the hood of her newly renovated car and greasing her nipples.

  He drove back into town around four and headed straight for Campbell’s Auto-repairs. It was similar to what his father’s place had been like before Coop had modernised a lot of the equipment. Two petrol pumps sat out front. A shop where spare parts, car care products and junk food could be bought was attached to the main garage area where a huge workshop area was secured behind two large roller doors.

  Alec Campbell greeted him like a long-lost son and gave him a quick rundown on the business. They arranged for Coop to come in for a few hours tomorrow to see how things were done, then Alec would leave on Wednesday. Alec was keen to chat and Coop let the man ramble about the glory days before computers ran cars—anything to delay seeing Lacey again with that box of condoms still weighing on his mind.

  It was five before Coop ventured down into the main bar area of The Stockman looking for Lacey, who wasn’t in their room. With her phone in his possession he had no way of contacting her, but he figured JJ would know.

  “Here he is!”

  Coop was surprised to find Lacey behind the bar with JJ. She was in jeans and a V-necked T-shirt, sporting that high ponytail of hers again. The one that made her look too young to be serving behind a bar.

  Or shacked up with him.

  “Oh. Hi. That was fast,” he said. Maybe this whole thing could be resolved much sooner than two weeks?

  “It’s just temporary,” she said. “Covering for one of JJ’s part-timers who’s broken an ankle.”

  Or maybe not. “I didn’t know you could pull a beer?”

  “She can’t,” a guy in an ancient hat further down the bar said, raising his glass to inspect the rather large head atop the amber liquid.

  “Hey,” JJ said. “She’s new, cut her some slack.”

  Lacey grinned at him and Coop was glad there was a stool nearby because he couldn’t remember when he’d ever seen such a glow to her.

  Sure, the night she’d lied about her age and seduced him, she’d been all smiles. But even back then he’d been aware of a brittleness to her smiles. Now though, her eyes shone.

  “You wanna beer?”

  “Don’t do it man,” hat guy muttered.

  Coop laughed. “Sure, I’m game.”

  Lacey’s eyes sparkled as she grabbed a glass and held it under the tap. The head was still large but what she lacked in skill she made up for with enthusiasm. JJ winced slightly when she saw it and apologised. Coop shrugged, picked it up and drank it.

  There were worse things in life than a beer with too much head.

  “So, how’d it go in Brissy?” Lacey asked.

  “Fine,” he nodded, licking the froth off his upper lip. “Your phone is upstairs on charge.”

  “Thank God, I’m having Facebook withdrawal,” she said. He rolled his eyes and she beamed at him. “What’d you tell your folks?”

  “That my mechanical skills were required in Jumbuck Springs.”

  Lacey laughed. “I bet that’s not something you thought you’d ever say.”

  “Ah, no.” But then he’d done and said a lot of things since meeting Lacey he’d never thought he would. “How’d you go today? Get everything sorted with college?”

  “Yes, I spoke with the dean at length about deferring. He was very understanding. He directed me to an online form to fill out, which is all sorted now.”

  “You have been busy.”

  “I needed to lock that stuff down so there aren’t any fall-back avenues for me.”

  He nodded. “And have you seen any of your brothers today?”

  She shook her head, her smile dimming a little. “Not yet.”

  “Correction,” JJ said as she brushed past with a drink order, tipping her chin towards the door.

  They both turned to watch Ethan stride in, a rather sombre-looking Connie by his side. Still in his navy police fatigues, he nodded at JJ and his sister and scowled at Coop.

  Coop’s jaw twinged.

  “Hey Connie,” Lacey frowned as Ethan boosted Connie up onto a stool. “What’s up?”

  “Looks like whatever it is calls for one of these,” JJ said, plonking a red lemonade down on the bar.

  Connie gave JJ a small smile as she ran her fingers up and down the frosty glass. “Mum was supposed to come to the Octopus’s Garden parade at school on Wednesday. She was bringing me a mermaid costume all the way from Sydney, but she can’t come now.”

  JJ’s mouth tightened as Connie smiled stoically at them like it didn’t really matter. Ethan looked pretty damn grim too as he patted his daughter’s shoulder reassuringly. “She really did want to come, sweetie. But you know how Mum’s job can be.”

  He smiled at his daughter, but Coop could tell the bullshit excuse he’d fed Connie had cost his friend dearly. Ethan hadn’t said much about his ex, Delia, over the years but it was clear that he’d do anything to protect his daughter from being hurt. Even from her own mother.

  “She missed the fete last month, too.”

  “I know,” Ethan said. “It was a shame she got caught up like that, but you know what? I bet Lacey could whip you up a mermaid costume on her sewing machine that would make a real mermaid jealous.”

  “Mermaids aren’t real,” Connie said with an I’m-not-a-child-anymore eye roll.

  Lacey laughed and her eyes went from shining to luminescent and something in Coop’s chest went thunk. “Real, fake, legend? Who cares? The most important thing is that your Dad’s right and you know how much I hate admitting that, right?”

  Connie nodded. “Right.”

  “I can make you a totally awesome, completely kickass mermaid costume. Oops, sorry,” she said putting a hand over her mouth. “Kick bottom.”

  Connie giggled and JJ pressed her lips together as Ethan rolled his eyes. “Right,” JJ said, that’s settled. “Take your drink and find a booth. Here—” she reached under the bar and pulled out a spiral notebook, ripping a few pages out of it and handing it to Lacey, along with a pen, “show Connie what you’ve got.”

  Connie slipped off the seat looking more like her old self now. “C’mon Dad,” she tugged his hand.

  “I take it that happens a lot?” Coop asked JJ as Lacey made her way around the bar and Connie and Ethan headed towards the booths.

  “Delia?”

  “Yes.”

  Her mouth tightened again. “You could say that.”

  “You joining us, Coop?”

  Coop looked over his shoulder to find Lacey sitting at the booth, patting the empty space beside her. He glanced opposite to Ethan who looked like he’d rather eat nails than share a booth with Coop. Frankly, so would Coop. Sitting so close to Lacey was something he’d avoided for a long time. But he was supposed to be playing a role here.

  He was supposed to be her lover.

  “Duty calls,” JJ murmured.

  Coop looked back at her. He got the distinct impression that she wasn’t buying their story at all, but that wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have.

  He raised his beer to her then headed across the room.

  * * *

  Half-an-hour and three pieces of paper later Lacey was satisfied with the mermaid costume sketch. Connie was thrilled. They’d also talked about fabrics and colours and Lacey had jotted down some notes beside the final sketch. There was only tomorrow to get the costume done so there was no time for experimentation, which was the way Lacey usually rolled. Thank goodness Hoff’s Haberdashery had survived the test of time and was still doing business in the age of the internet.

  She supposed this wasn’t quite the designing her mother had in mind when she’d been saving up for Lacey’s college fund. Nor h
ad it been Lacey’s plan. But she felt more connected to this piece of work for Connie than anything she’d conjured up thus far at design school. She felt more fulfilled in this half hour seeing the excitement in her niece’s face than she had in three-and-a-half-years.

  Lacey forced herself to concentrate on that, because if she didn’t her brain slid to other things. Like how close she was to Coop in a booth that wasn’t exactly spacious. How good it felt to have his arm occasionally brush hers. And the intense heat radiating from his thigh, crossing the narrow gap to hers, melting her quads like gelatine.

  “Okay,” Lacey said dragging her attention back to Connie. “I just need to take your measurements and I can run this up tomorrow. Dad can drop you in for a try-on after school.”

  Connie gave an excited little wiggle on her seat, clearly thrilled by the happy ending she hadn’t been expecting. “Can I get another drink Dad, so I can toast Lacey? Please?”

  Ethan cocked an eyebrow. “A toast?”

  “Billy says that’s how people celebrate things.”

  “Oh does he now?”

  “I thought Billy was insufferable?” Lacey asked with a smile.

  Connie shrugged and her cheeks turned pink. “Sometimes he’s not.”

  “One more,” Ethan said. “But that’s it. Lacey still has to measure you and I’m sure you’ve got homework.”

  Connie wriggled out of the booth and they watched her practically skipping away. “Thanks Lace,” Ethan said, “Really. I appreciate it.”

  Lacey knew she should just shut up and take the compliment but she couldn’t resist a little dig. “Handy having me home isn’t it?”

  He grunted. “We would have cobbled something together without you.”

  Lacey could just imagine. “Marcus’s clamshell bikini top he wears to fancy dress parties won’t fit Connie.” Not to mention how trashy that would look compared to a subtle-but-glorious Lacey Weston original.

  “We’d have figured it out.”

  The way he avoided her eyes told Lacey that it had crossed Ethan’s mind. “Can I stop by the house tomorrow morning and pick up a few things? There’s some funky buttons that’ll look cool on the outfit and there’s probably some fabric from my stash there I can use.”