Chasing Dreams (Devil's Bend)

by Edwards, Nicole

  “How’s it feel to be back in Small Town, USA again? I’m sure it’s a lot different than being on the road, touring and all that,” Jack stated as soon as Cooper had moved into the booth beside Tessa.

  He glanced over, noticing she was eyeing her tea glass as though she would be able to morph the amber liquid into something else.

  “I’m getting used to life in the slow lane.” Leaning back, Cooper hooked his arm at the top of the booth behind him, casually letting his hand rest close to Tessa’s shoulder between them.

  “Do you think you’ll enjoy being on the other side of the fence when it comes to music? Adam said you’re handling the entertainment at Tessa’s bar.”

  “That’s the plan. Right now I’ve been ordered to sit around and look pretty,” Cooper said, peering over at Tessa. He noticed the way she grinned slightly as she continued to study her glass.

  “Look pretty?” Jack questioned. “That’s not easy for you, is it?”

  Cooper laughed, liking the way Jack said what was on his mind, unlike so many people who spent their time trying to kiss his ass and make him feel important. He didn’t want to feel important. He wanted to feel as though he contributed to something. Something more than other people’s wallets.

  “I’ll admit, I’m not good at it,” Cooper added.

  “Not true,” Tessa mumbled and Cooper slid his arm around behind her on the booth, still being careful not to touch her.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing,” she said, peering over at him while using her hair to shield most of her face. He still managed to get a peek at the bright pink blush that suffused her cheeks.

  He let it go, but he kept the information filed away for later. So it would seem she might actually be attracted to him more than she was letting on. Although based on the way she had kissed him back, he wasn’t sure he should be all that surprised.

  “I hear you’re buying the Deluth farm,” Jack commented as Miranda brought another glass of tea and set it in front of Cooper.

  After saying thank you to the waitress, Cooper turned his attention to Jack. “That was the plan. I thought it was all a done deal initially, but the woman who owns the property called my Realtor a few minutes ago and told her there was another offer on the table. Said I might want to reconsider the price if I really wanted the land.”

  “What!” Tessa jerked as though someone had hit her before turning to face him more directly.

  At her passionate reaction, Cooper focused on her, watching her expression change from shocked to angry and then back again.

  “Something wrong?” Cooper noticed that the pretty blush was gone and reflected in those crystalline green eyes was something more like fire.

  “You didn’t offer more money, did you?”

  “Not yet, no.”

  “Don’t.” The single word was a command, and Cooper suddenly wondered what she knew that he didn’t.

  “Why not?”

  Cooper studied her, watching as she looked over at her brother. He followed her gaze, noticed the way Jack cocked an eyebrow as though giving her some sort of signal. Apparently Cooper was right because she sighed. Before she said anything, Miranda brought out two plates, setting them in front of Jack and then Tessa.

  “I’ll have yours in just a minute,” Miranda told him and then turned away quickly.

  “You didn’t order anything,” Tessa commented as she glanced up at him.

  “I don’t have to these days. Seems I’ve become a regular in here, and they bring me the same thing every time.”

  “Would you order something different?” she asked, a cute smile tipping her lips.

  Cooper laughed. “No, probably not. I guess they’ve figured out I’m a man of routine.”

  Tessa turned her attention back to her food, but she didn’t start eating.

  “Go ahead. Don’t wait for me,” he told them both.

  Jack dug into his food like he hadn’t eaten in a month and Cooper tried not to stare. He had so many questions running through his head, most of them having to do with the land and what these two knew that he didn’t, but he didn’t want to interrupt their meal. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to wait but a few minutes before Miranda was back with a plate containing chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans.

  “Can I get you anything else?” she asked the three of them. When everyone said no, she moved on to the next table.

  “So, one of you want to give me more details on the land? Or do I have to guess?” Cooper asked before he put the first bite in his mouth.

  He noticed Jack didn’t stop shoveling food in his mouth, his cheeseburger never getting too far away from his lips. Cooper figured the guy was making sure he didn’t have to talk. Tessa, on the other hand, wasn’t eating much of anything. She was pushing her onion rings around on her plate, flattening them with her fork.

  “Finish eating,” she told him. “Then we’ll talk.”

  Cooper nodded, realizing he wasn’t going to get any further with the conversation until Tessa was willing to talk anyway. Doing as she said, he resumed eating, and the three of them talked mostly about the bar and the events of the night before – which were rather mundane for a Saturday night according to them.

  Once Jack was finished, he looked over at Tessa and then back at Cooper before he spoke. “I just realized I had something to do,” he blurted. “I’ll get the check on my way out.”

  “Wait!” Tessa called to him, but he was already climbing out of the booth.

  Cooper noticed the wry grin Jack sent Tessa. “I’ll catch up with you later. Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Dammit,” Tessa muttered, snapping a bite of food in her mouth.

  “I see he bailed on you,” Cooper joked. “What are you going to do now?”

  If she had her way, she’d probably knock him out of the booth and onto the floor. When his teasing didn’t get a rise out of her, he grew concerned. “I take it there’s a problem?”

  With the booth on the other side now empty, Cooper knew he should move, but he didn’t want to. In fact, he wanted to stay right where he was for the duration. Sitting close to Tessa, inhaling her sweet fragrance and listening to her mutter obscenities under her breath was making his body stand up and take notice. Yes, he was even turned on by her irritation.

  “Only if you consider Luanne Deluth a problem,” Tessa said, not looking at him.

  “So you know about the other offer too?”

  “I don’t think there is another offer,” she admitted.

  “Why would you think that? Do you know her?” Now Cooper was thoroughly confused. Tessa must have realized it too because she continued, not looking at him though.

  “I went to see Luanne,” Tessa began, another long sigh as she paused to wipe her hands on a napkin. “I had an agreement with Jerry Deluth, Luanne’s father, before he passed away a couple of months ago.”

  “What sort of deal?”

  “To buy the property.”

  That got Cooper’s attention. Pushing his plate away, he decided he did need space. This conversation didn’t sound like the intimate one he’d have preferred to have with Tessa over dinner. Once he was situated across from her, he rested his forearms on the table and waited for her to continue.

  “I had a verbal agreement with Jerry to buy the land. We agreed that I’d come up with twenty percent down and then I could take possession of the house and continue paying out the rest of the note.”

  Cooper didn’t take his eyes off of her. He noticed the way she wrapped her arms around herself as though trying to hold herself together. “Go on.”

  “Apparently, now that he’s gone, the agreement he and I had is null and void. At least that’s what Luanne told me a little while ago. She said you were paying her double what Jerry was charging me, and she wasn’t going to pass up an offer like that for my measly price.”

  Fucking hell. Cooper didn’t like the sound of this. It wasn’t that he didn’t want the propert
y because he did. Even at the price he agreed to, but something was off here. What were the chances that he had stumbled on some property that Tessa was in the process of buying – without a legal, written agreement?

  “I would bet that she’s using me to try and get more money out of you,” Tessa offered. “I was having a hard enough time coming up with twenty percent, and that was at half the price you agreed to. As it was, I could barely afford what I was paying Jerry monthly just for the down payment.”

  “What about the money you’ve already paid?” he asked, still wary of how this all came about.

  Another sigh, then Tessa sipped her tea, although her glass was practically empty. He waved Miranda over to refill her glass while he waited for her to continue.

  “Luanne said she’d give me my money back. Said she didn’t need it.”

  “Did she?”

  “Not yet, no. I just talked to her right before I came over here.”

  Well, that explained the phone call he’d received from his Realtor a few minutes before he got to the restaurant.

  “What were you planning to do with the land?” he asked, having a feeling there was more to this story than Tessa was telling him.

  Finally, she looked up at him. When their eyes met, Cooper saw the sadness in her eyes. His stomach clenched painfully at the sight.

  “I was going to build an equestrian center,” she said softly.

  “Seriously?” he asked as he leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. He realized he looked as skeptical as he sounded.

  “Yes,” Tessa answered firmly, her eyes locked with his. “Quite the coincidence, don’t you think?” she asked snidely.

  He’d have to agree. And yet he still wondered whether he was the butt of someone’s joke here. Was there a conspiracy to try and get more money out of him?

  “I thought someone had told you and you were messing with me. I’ve had plans for that land, and if you don’t believe me, I’ve got the designs to prove it. Not only was I going to build an equestrian center to provide equine therapy to both the disabled as well as troubled youth, but I wanted to build a farm that would give the troubled kids a place to go. I’ve grown up around horses and figured it was the best of both worlds.”

  Holy shit. Still leaning back, Cooper stared across the table at Tessa, noticing the way the soft waves of her hair fell over her shoulder, resting just above her breasts. God, the woman was beautiful, and for some reason, when she looked vulnerable like that, his protective instincts kicked in. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t want to know that though.

  “Why troubled teens?” he asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.

  Tessa’s expression turned stony. “That’s a conversation for another time.”

  Figuring that pushing her would only make her get up and leave, he decided to take a different route. “So what do we do about it?”

  “We?”

  “Yes, we.” Cooper smiled. “It sounds like we’ve got a few things in common and I’m not here to step on any toes. Maybe we can work out a deal.”

  “What kind of deal?” Now it was her turn to sound disbelieving.

  Not that he blamed her for not trusting him. After all, it looked as though he’d waltzed right into her life and stole her dream right out from under her.

  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

  Tessa wasn’t sure what Cooper was angling at, but she was a bit surprised. Truthfully, she had expected him not to care one way or another about what she had put into the land so far. Not that the money was her greatest concern. Sure, she wanted her money back if she wasn’t getting the property because she could certainly use it to put toward something else. But the Deluth land was something she had wanted for a long time. Not only because of the price, but because of the location. She would be able to stay in Devil’s Bend. Something she fully intended to do.

  This was her home.

  “What if we go talk to Luanne together? See what happens when we play her game?”

  “Together?” Tessa wasn’t sure that was a good idea. What if Luanne decided not to sell to either of them?

  “Or, I’ll go talk to her. See if I can persuade her to my original price.”

  The disappointment swamped her. She knew she shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up. She doubted from the beginning that he would be willing to take a step back and take his money elsewhere. The selfish part of her hated that he was coming in and stealing her dreams out from under her. Not that she’d gotten very far. Not yet.

  “Ok, so I take it you don’t like that idea either,” he said before she could answer. “How about this? We go about our business, I let my Realtor know that I’m still thinking it over, and we give her a couple of weeks. See if she comes back to me and agrees to my original price.”

  Tessa knew it honestly didn’t matter one way or the other. Even though she wanted the land for herself, she knew the next best thing was for Cooper to get it. There was nothing to say she could even get an equestrian center up and running anytime in the next decade. It wasn’t like it was a cheap endeavor. Not in the least. Cooper would certainly have the means to do it much sooner than she would.

  “I think that’s a smart decision. If she is playing us, then she’ll surely get back to you. However, if there is another buyer,” she told him, “which I seriously don’t think there is, but it’s still a possibility, you might lose the land.”

  “I’m not going to lose it,” he countered. “I’ll top the price if I have to, but I think you’re right. I think she’s trying to see what she can get out of me.”

  Tessa genuinely wanted to believe that. Not because she wanted Cooper to get taken by the likes of Luanne, but it seemed way too coincidental.

  “Now, I’ve only got one stipulation,” Cooper added, and Tessa met his eyes once again.

  “What’s that?”

  “A date.”

  Tessa cocked an eyebrow. “Luanne’s married. I’m not sure she’ll date you. Then again, I don’t know her all that well.”

  Cooper laughed, but she had expected him to. Tessa knew what he was getting at, but she truly didn’t want him asking her out. She liked him. Despite the fact that he was interrupting her entire life in more ways than one, she still liked him.

  Too much.

  “With you.”

  Damn. How was she going to get out of this one?

  “How about this? We give Luanne two weeks. If she calls you about your original price, I’ll go out with you. If not, we’ll leave it at that.”

  “Hmmm,” Cooper said, looking as though he were pondering her suggestion. Tessa could only hope that no matter what, Luanne would realize the error of her ways because Tessa was almost positive that she wouldn’t survive even one date with Cooper.

  “Deal.” Cooper held out his hand for her to shake and Tessa stared down at it.

  Her brain took a second to realize what she’d just done and then she lifted her hand and met his, enjoying the firm grip of his touch much more than she should have.

  Yep, she had evidently just jumped in over her head.

  Chapter Eight

  It was hard to believe, but two weeks had passed since Tessa and Cooper had their conversation at Charlie’s Restaurant and just as many days since she had hired him on at the bar. There were no other encounters of the kissing kind during that time, which was both a relief and a disappointment. Tessa knew she shouldn’t want him, but the more time they spent together, the more he was growing on her.

  On top of that, The Rusty Nail was running seamlessly. There were new faces last Friday and Saturday night, all of them drawing enormous crowds, sometimes more than her bar could handle. Cooper didn’t seem to have a problem with it. In fact, he had already told her that next week, the acts would be even bigger.

  And, as if that wasn’t enough, she had managed to get through her first phone call with Cooper’s infamous manager who, honestly, was an asshole. She’d had the pleasure of talking to him on Monday night when he called the bar direct
ly. According to him, Cooper wasn’t answering the phone and it was urgent. At least they weren’t busy because Manager Marcus had refused to let her got off of the phone with him.

  Much to their dismay – her and Eric – they didn’t get to hear the showdown between the two men because once Cooper was informed that Marcus had called her, he’d gone outside to call him back. Tessa had no idea what Cooper told the man, but they had yet to hear any more from Marcus the Manager.

  No love lost there.

  Cooper was a little more relaxed, although she wasn’t sure that was even possible. It seemed as the days went by, he became more and more comfortable in Devil’s Bend, and he was still just as anxious to get the land as he had been in the beginning. As far as she knew, he hadn’t heard from Luanne though.

  Every night they were open, Cooper was right there beside her, working his magic and making the crowds go crazy. If he didn’t have someone on the stage, he would sometimes jump up there for the hell of it. Tessa enjoyed those moments, especially when Cooper let himself go. The man was a sight to see up on that stage.

  The fans were still bombarding him, but they were at least trying to be polite about it. Tessa wasn’t sure that would ever slow down; after all, he was famous, so it did make sense that people would want to meet him. So far, they’d been able to manage them easily.

  “Hey! Can I get a beer over here?” Tessa looked up to see Cooper walking toward her, a huge grin on his face. For some strange reason, she felt the urge to smile back.

  It could’ve been because the man was sinfully attractive with his dark hair and glowing golden eyes. Or possibly, that body that looked good enough to eat in those damn dark Wranglers that showcased one of the finest asses she’d ever seen. Not that she was attracted to him or anything. She’d gotten over that about thirteen days ago.

  Ok, so she was in denial too.

  She was still doing a damn impressive job of pretending though. They had managed to work side by side each night and had even shared a few casual conversations, which gave her a glimpse into his life a little bit.

  He was looking for something, obviously, which was why he ended up in Devil’s Bend. Tessa just wasn’t sure he was going to find it. He seemed to be running from his own life. The problem with running is that you generally didn’t end up where you wanted to be either. She kept waiting for Cooper to announce to them all that his tour bus was waiting outside and he was riding off into the sunset.