Whatever Happens in Texas

by Delores Fossen

  Her head whipped up, and her gaze flew to his. “Well, you should regret it. It shouldn’t have happened. I used you to get back at a woman who—”

  She stopped, gathered her breath, and it appeared she was trying to steady herself. “When Evelyn and I were in third grade, she flicked gum in my hair. In middle school, she called me The Zipper because I was skinny and had no boobs. At the prom, she smeared French onion dip on my chair so I’d sit on it and ruin my dress.”

  Cooper cursed under his breath. He knew that Evelyn wasn’t especially sweet, but he hadn’t known about the bullying. Hell. If he hadn’t already ended things with Evelyn, that would have done it. Instead, he assisted Lila in doing some lasagna squishing. Surprisingly, it helped tamp down his anger.

  “Well, you’ve got boobs now,” he assured her. “And you’re a better kisser than she is.”

  Lila gave him what could only be interpreted as a skeptical look. “You’re just saying that so I’ll kiss you again.”

  “Nope.” He paused, pretended to think about it. “But maybe I should have another sample to see if I got that right.”

  She laughed, just as he’d intended. He savored the moment, almost as much as he’d savored the kiss she’d just laid on him. Almost. The laughter stopped, though, when she glanced down at her gooey flip-flops. Except it wasn’t just on her shoes. The sauce had gotten on her toes, as well.

  “Next time I have to stomp on lasagna, I’ll wear boots,” she muttered. The lightness was gone when she lifted her gaze to him again. “Being with you really would be a bad idea.”

  He wanted to reassure her that it wouldn’t be. But instead he found himself leaning in to kiss her again so he could prove just what a good idea it would be.

  She didn’t make a silky sound of pleasure this time. It was more of a protesting groan, but Lila didn’t pull back from him. Just the opposite. She melted against him, giving him her mouth.

  Cooper took it.

  He went for long and deep, just the way he liked his kisses. Clearly, Lila did, too, because the protest was gone from her next groan. Only the pleasure remained. Not just for her but for him, as well. They stood out in the scalding sun and kissed each other as if their lives depended on it.

  Because of that sun and because someone might come driving up, Cooper began to back her toward the house. No need for anyone to see them and start gossip about them not doing their babysitting duties. Of course, since the kids weren’t around, the only thing that actually needed tending was this unfinished business between Lila and him.

  It wasn’t easy to walk through the yard, but that was because neither of them stopped kissing long enough to see where they were going. He felt some flowers crush beneath his boots and figured he was going to need to fix whatever damage he was doing before Jeremy and Crystal got back. But it was damage that would be worth it since every step took them closer to having some privacy.

  They stumbled going up the porch steps. There’d be bruises, but Lila didn’t seem to care about that. Neither did he, but they finally had to break from the scorcher of a kiss just so they could each take a breath. They did that, dragging in some much-needed air, but went right back for more as they finally made it through the door—which Cooper kicked shut. He decided not to go much farther, though, because he didn’t want them to crash into any furniture or get lasagna all over the floor. Instead, he pressed Lila against the wall so he could put them body to body.

  All in all, that was a very good place to be.

  Her breasts pressed to his chest, and the rest of them had a nice fit, too. One that allowed him to touch and kiss her at the same time.

  Cooper wasn’t done with her mouth, but he took a quick detour to drop some kisses on her neck. Apparently, that was the right move on his part, because she gripped fistfuls of his shirt and dragged him even closer. That kicked up the heat even more.

  Using the grip she had on him, she shifted, switching their positions and putting him against the wall. Somehow she managed all of that without breaking the intimate contact. In fact, she upped that by unbuttoning his shirt so that her hand could move against his bare chest. Cooper very much intended to do the same to her, but he had more kissing to do first. He went lower, kissing her breasts through the front of her dress.

  Cooper thought the sound he heard was his ears ringing, and it took him a couple of moments to realize it was his phone. He cursed and considered just ignoring it, but it could be important. Hell, it could be his brother checking on the kids.

  Cursing some more because he had to stop kissing Lila and untangle himself from her, Cooper got enough wiggle room to take his phone from his pocket. He frowned when he saw Noah’s name on the screen. He loved his nephew a whole lot, but he sure as hell didn’t want to talk to him right now.

  “Yeah?” Cooper answered, and he kept his tone clipped and tight. Easy to do because that’s exactly how he felt.

  There was a long silence, and it put Cooper on full alert. “Noah?” he snapped. “Are you okay?”

  That got Lila’s attention, and she stepped back, tuning in to that silence, as well.

  “Uh, Uncle Cooper,” the boy finally said, but Cooper didn’t feel much relief at hearing his nephew’s somber voice.

  “What’s wrong?” Cooper snapped. “What happened?” And just like that, his mind started spinning a dozen worst-case scenarios.

  “Uh, I’m in trouble. Don’t get mad,” Noah quickly added. “Please don’t get mad.”

  Cooper wasn’t mad, not yet, but he got the feeling he soon would be. After all, he’d once been a teenage boy, so he knew what kind of trouble one could get into. “What happened?” he repeated.

  “I need you to come and get me,” Noah finally said after more of that snail-crawling silence. “I’m at the police station. I’ve been arrested.”

  Cooper heard each word, but it took a few seconds for them to sink in. It obviously sank in a little faster for Lila, because she gasped and took the phone from him. She hit the speaker button.

  “Arrested?” Lila repeated. “You only left the house a half hour ago. Why were you arrested?” she demanded.

  Noah didn’t answer, but there was a shuffling sound, and several moments later, Cooper heard another voice.

  “I arrested him because he was driving without a license,” Sheriff Leyton Jameson said. “Noah ran Sandy Kellerman’s van into the Crocketts’ mailbox and then their fence. At the time, he had both of Sandy’s boys in the vehicle with him.”

  Like those worst-case scenarios, plenty of emotions and thoughts flooded Cooper’s mind, but he quickly picked through them and came up with his biggest concern.

  “Are Noah or the other boys hurt?” Cooper asked.

  “No,” Leyton quickly answered. “Thankfully, they were wearing their seat belts, but there’s damage to both the van and the Crocketts’ property. They’re pissed and are filing charges.”

  Of course they were. The Crocketts were a crotchety couple in their eighties who didn’t get along with anyone—including each other.

  “Sandy’s on her way here,” Leyton continued, “but I need you to come in and deal with Noah.” He paused. “Noah asked me not to call his dad, and we’ll discuss that when you get here.”

  Cooper waited for Leyton to end the call before he cursed a blue streak and yanked his truck keys from his pocket.

  “I’m going with you,” Lila insisted, grabbing her purse.

  There was no trace of the heat between them now. No, that phone call had managed to chill them down fast.

  Hell’s bells.

  What was the boy thinking? And what the devil was Jeremy going to say about this, especially if he had to be called back from his honeymoon?

  After they cleaned up and Lila changed her shoes, they hurried to his truck. As he drove toward town, Cooper forced himself to settle down. It wouldn’t do anyone an
y good if he lost his temper and yelled at Noah. Even if yelling was exactly what he wanted to do.

  Thankfully, it didn’t take long to get to the police station. That was the advantage of living in a small town. Everything was close. The disadvantage was that soon, very soon, everyone would know what’d happened. Word might have already gotten back to Jeremy.

  Cooper parked next to Sandy’s minivan, and he had no trouble seeing the damage to the front end. The bumper was crumpled, and one of the headlights had been broken. It wasn’t much more than a fender bender, but that wasn’t the big issue here. Noah had been the one behind the wheel, and he damn well shouldn’t have been.

  Lila and he practically ran from the parking lot and into the police station, and Cooper immediately spotted Noah. He was sitting in a chair in Leyton’s office. Standing next to him was Sandy Kellerman and her two sons, Jace and Beckett. No one was shouting. In fact, no one was saying anything, but Noah groaned and lowered his head when he saw Cooper.

  It was a tight fit when Lila and he went into Leyton’s office, and the sheriff shut the door even though there were no other deputies around. However, there was a dispatcher/receptionist, and Leyton probably wanted to try to keep this as private as he could.

  “They’re okay,” Sandy assured Lila and him. The woman didn’t seem angry, just worried.

  Cooper knew how she felt. He was worried as well, and it relieved his mind a little when he didn’t see a mark on any of the boys.

  “Please don’t call Dad,” Noah said, still looking at anything but Cooper.

  “He’ll have to know,” Cooper fired back.

  “Yeah, but wait until he’s home. Then I can tell him face-to-face.” Since Noah had a “firing squad” tone, it was obvious that the boy knew that wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation.

  “I’ve got insurance, so that’ll pay for most of the repairs.” Sandy spoke up. “But the bigger issue here is my sons allowed a friend to drive when they didn’t have my permission and when the friend didn’t even have a license.”

  “Noah’s the one who wrecked,” one of the boys protested.

  Sandy stopped him with a withering stare. “My sons will be punished,” she said. “I’m thinking they’ll be grounded all summer.” That caused loud groans and grumbled protests from the boys. “I’m sure whatever punishment Jeremy doles out to Noah will be just fine.”

  The woman was certainly making this easier. Well, for Cooper, anyway. He was betting Sandy would stick to the grounding punishment.

  “I’ll pay for whatever your insurance doesn’t cover,” Cooper volunteered.

  Sandy nodded, brushed a reassuring hand on both Lila’s and his arms before the woman turned back to Leyton. “Can I take these two home now, or will you be filing charges against them?”

  “No charges against them,” Leyton answered, but he, too, gave the boys a glare. It was a formidable one, and it even silenced the boys’ grumbles as Sandy led them out of the office.

  All attention turned to Noah.

  “We can work this two ways,” Leyton started. “I can arrest you, which will give you a juvie record. It could mean time in detention or community service. It could pretty much screw up your summer and maybe the rest of your life.”

  The color drained from Noah’s face.

  Good. Cooper wanted the boy scared spit-less, because what he’d done was a thousand gallons of wrong. He could have been hurt. Or worse. Along with hurting his friends or, hell, even the Crocketts.

  “Or since it’s your one and only brush with the law, I can appease the Crocketts by convincing them you’ve learned your lesson and that you’ll make sure their damaged property gets fixed. Then I can give you a warning and agree to let your dad and Cooper handle this,” Leyton went on after he let Noah suffer a little longer.

  Noah’s suddenly hopeful gaze flew to Cooper. “Please handle this.”

  Of course, Cooper had already decided to do just that, but like Leyton, he paused as well so that Noah could stew a few more seconds.

  “This is serious crap,” Cooper told the boy. “Swear to me you’ll never do anything like this again.”

  Noah answered fast. “I swear.”

  Cooper nodded but continued to glare at the boy. “You’re grounded until your dad gets back, and then he can dole out whatever he wants to add to it.” He suspected it would be more grounding and that the sentence would be for the rest of the summer like Sandy’s boys.

  Noah nodded. “Do you have to call Dad right now?” he asked Cooper.

  Cooper looked at Leyton for guidance on that, and the sheriff sighed. “Sandy will have to give a copy of this police report to her insurance company, and it’s possible they’ll contact Jeremy.”

  He definitely didn’t want Jeremy learning about this fiasco from someone at the insurance company. Or even from someone in town who might text him about it.

  Hell.

  As soon as he got Noah home, Cooper knew he would have to call his brother.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  LILA SHARED THE “crap” duty with Cooper. After they’d arrived back at the house with Noah, Cooper had immediately gone into the guest room to have a chat with Jeremy. Lila went into her room to call Crystal. Noah had fled to his room, too, to wait for what would almost certainly be a follow-up conversation with his father.

  “What’s wrong?” Crystal said the moment she answered Lila’s call.

  Lila tried not to hesitate because she knew any kind of pause would only make her sister’s fears skyrocket. “The kids are fine,” she quickly assured her. “But Noah got in some trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble? Is that why Cooper’s talking to Jeremy right now?” Crystal asked, her worried words running together.

  “Trouble with a very minor car accident. And, yes, that’s why Cooper and Jeremy are talking. Noah’s fine, really,” Lila emphasized. “But he was driving without a license and damaged Sandy’s minivan when he hit the Crocketts’ fence and mailbox.”

  Crystal didn’t groan. She sighed, probably because she knew how much grief this was going to cause her husband. “Jeremy and I will be home as soon as we can get there.”

  “Don’t rush. Cooper and I have it under control.” She hoped that was true, anyway. “I’m so sorry,” Lila added.

  “Sophia’s okay?” Crystal went on. “She wasn’t in the van with Noah, was she?”

  “No. She’s fine. In fact, I just texted her before I called you to let her know there was a problem with Noah. I’ll call her back and give her details, unless that’s something you’d rather do.”

  “No, you go ahead and tell her. I need to get on my laptop and reschedule our flights back home. I’ll call Sophia later and make sure she’s okay.” Her sister finally paused. “It sounds as if Jeremy is talking to Noah now. I’ll keep you posted as to when we’ll be in.”

  Now it was Lila who sighed when her sister ended the call. She hadn’t done a good job with her “crap” duty, because Crystal was obviously worried and upset. Maybe, though, there’d been no way to prevent that. Verbal reassurance just wasn’t going to cut it in a situation like this.

  Lila called Sophia next, and considering the girl answered on the first ring, she must have been waiting. However, Lila didn’t get a word out before Sophia spoke.

  “It’s all over about Noah wrecking Miss Sandy’s van,” Sophia blurted out. “Is he okay?”

  Lila frowned at the lightning-fast gossip mill but nearly smiled over the girl’s concern. She’d been afraid that Sophia would be upset like Crystal. Or maybe quote stats about teenage drivers.

  “Noah’s fine but grounded,” Lila told her. “Jeremy and your mom will probably come back early from their honeymoon.”

  Sophia groaned. “But I was supposed to get to stay with Ella tomorrow night. You said it was okay, and it might not happen if Mom and Jeremy are in a bad
mood when they get home.”

  Lila doubted either Jeremy or her sister would take their anger and disapproval out on the girl, but it might be better if Sophia was out of the house to give them time to deal with Noah.

  “If it’s all right with Ella’s parents, you can stay there tonight,” Lila told her.

  “Sweet, it’s okay. Ella’s mom was going to call you to let you know the sleepover was still on,” Sophia gushed, and then she must have remembered that her new stepbrother wouldn’t be in such a gushy state. “I hope Noah’s okay.”

  “He will be,” Lila assured her before they ended the call.

  She slid her phone into the back pocket of her cotton dress and went up the hall. Noah’s bedroom door was closed, and he had Keep Out scrawled on a chalkboard mounted to the door. Lila couldn’t hear him, so maybe he was no longer on the phone with his dad. Or it could be that Jeremy was the one doing all the talking.

  Lila kept walking and stopped outside the guest room Cooper was using. She didn’t hear him, either, and pressed her ear to the door.

  Just as Cooper opened it.

  He didn’t seem amused that she’d been trying to eavesdrop, but he did look as beleaguered as she felt.

  “As babysitters, we suck large,” he grumbled.

  She nodded. It had all gotten away from them so fast, and hindsight wouldn’t make them feel better. Jeremy had given Noah permission to spend the afternoon with his friends, so it wasn’t something that Lila or Cooper would have nixed. Well, they wouldn’t have unless they’d developed ESP to know that the boy was going to screw up.

  “How mad is Jeremy?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “Not as mad as he would have been had he not had a padding of being damn happy and on his honeymoon. Of course, once it sinks in that he’s having to cut the honeymoon short because of Noah, then I figure he’ll arrive home as one unhappy camper.”

  Yeah, that was Lila’s take on things, too. Noah deserved punishment, no doubt about that, but it was going to be a miserable start to the summer with the inevitable grounding that the boy would get.