“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.
Cooper scrubbed his hand over his face, and it occurred to her that she rarely saw him tired. No, not just tired—weary.
“I have to check on Jeremy’s horses,” he grumbled.
She nearly mentioned that Noah had already done that before he’d left to go do stupid things like driving without a license, but Cooper looked as if he could use some fresh air. So could she, and that’s why Lila went with him when he motioned for her to follow him.
“How’d your sister take the news of cutting her honeymoon short?” Cooper asked as they went out the back door and started across the yard toward the barn.
“Well enough. She’s a mom, so she knows things don’t always work out as planned.” She shook her head. “I wish this hadn’t happened.”
Cooper stepped in the barn just ahead of her. “Feeling guilty, huh? So am I.”
Lila made a sound of agreement and glanced around. There were no horses, but she spotted several in the pasture that was behind the barn. She hoped that was where they were supposed to be, and she looked at Cooper to verify that. He had his hands on his hips, his gaze fixed on the horses, and his expression was one of weary frustration.
Something she totally understood.
Lila went closer and pulled him into her arms for a hug. Except she knew it wouldn’t just be a simple hug. Not between Cooper and her. They had this lightning-fast heat between them, and just as she’d expected, it hit fast. Still, she forced herself to step away. This wasn’t the time to bring sexual attraction into the mix.
Or maybe it was.
Lila amended that notion when Cooper took hold of her arms, yanked her back to him and kissed her. It wasn’t a “nice” kiss. Like his expression, it was filled with all the emotions of what they’d just gone through with Noah. Maybe some frustration, too, over the fact that she’d been fighting this.
Well, she didn’t fight it now.
Maybe it was because her own defenses were down, but Lila thought it had a whole lot more to do with the fact that she was tired of wanting Cooper and not having him. This had nothing to do with Noah, Evelyn or even the fact that she could become another notch on his bedpost. It had to do with the aching need that she was certain he could fill. Even if that “fill” was only temporary.
Cooper kissed her as if she were the cure for what ailed him, too. So maybe this was a right kind of wrong. Yes, she’d have to pay for it, but for now he would soothe and pleasure.
Emphasis on the pleasure.
The man could kiss, no doubt about that. And touch. Yes, he was really good at that, too.
“This is a really bad place for this,” he muttered when he trailed his mouth down to her neck.
It was. There was nothing especially romantic about a barn, and it lacked a bed, but the house—where there were beds—suddenly seemed miles away. Plus, Noah was in there. He was shut in his room, where he’d no doubt stay, but it didn’t seem right for hanky or panky to go on with him just up the hall.
“Tack room,” Cooper insisted.
While he continued to torture her neck, he backed her into the small room and shut the rickety wooden door. The place smelled of saddle leather, hay and liniment. Not exactly sensual smells, and it was way too warm, but Lila figured after a few more moments of Cooper’s kisses she wouldn’t even notice the heat.
She didn’t.
Lila pretty much lost her mind when Cooper shoved up her loose dress, pulling it off over her head. He sent it flying over his shoulder, and in the same motion, he took his clever mouth to the tops of her breasts. Her breath vanished. The heat soared. And Lila could only hang on and let him do whatever he wanted.
Thankfully, she wanted it, too, and she didn’t put up even a token protest when he rid her of her bra, which basically left her nearly naked. However, she wanted to hide herself when he stepped back and had a long look at her body.
She squeezed her eyes shut, knowing she wasn’t his usual sort. Nope. Evelyn’s body was his norm. And that’s why it surprised her when he gave her a very naughty smile.
“Lila, you’re my fantasy,” he said.
She blinked and would have asked if he was joking, but he came at her with another assault from his mouth. He kissed her breasts. Then went lower. Kissed her stomach. Then went lower. Until he shimmied down her panties and kissed her in a spot that had her cursing him and fisting her hands in his hair to anchor herself.
Now, this pleasure. Soaring, hot, needy pleasure. It flooded her from head to toe and was especially strong in the area he was kissing. He lingered there awhile until she was ready to beg for surrender.
But Cooper didn’t finish her off. No. He took her right to the brink of release and then snapped away from her, making his way back up her naked body.
He wasn’t naked, though.
And Lila tried to do something about that. Hard to go after his shirt, though, when he was giving her more neck kisses. After she cursed, he stopped to help her, and she finally got her hands on his naked chest. It was toned and perfect, covered with a fine mat of hair that she ran her fingers through.
Despite the rising ache inside her, she took the time to look at him. She did more looking when she unzipped him and shoved his jeans and boxers down over his hips.
The man took her breath away.
“Cooper, you’re my fantasy,” she managed to say. Unlike his comment, there was no chance hers had a trace of BS in it. “Except you’re better than a fantasy because you’re real.”
The corner of his mouth hitched in a grin that made her even hotter. But she frowned when he didn’t dive back in to finish this. Instead, he fished around in his back pocket to take a condom from his wallet. Thank goodness one of them had thought of safe sex, because Lila had only been able to manage the “sex” part.
Once he had on the condom, Cooper managed the “sex,” too. He lifted her, pressing her back to the door, and Lila hooked her legs around his waist. He pushed into her with one hard thrust.
A thrust that nearly pushed her right over the edge. But she forced herself to hang on. She wanted to savor this. Wanted to keep him close to her like this just a little longer.
Cooper paused, too, clearly regrouping, and he met her eye to eye when he started the strokes inside her. All the heat and need poured out in those strokes. Harder and deeper.
Faster.
Lila lost her breath again and didn’t care. The only thing that mattered now was Cooper. She needed him to sate this searing heat, to release the powder keg of need. And he did. While watching her, he took her.
And Cooper finished her.
CHAPTER FIVE
COOPER STOOD IN his brother’s kitchen, sipping a beer and waiting. Across from him, Lila was doing the same, except she’d opted for a glass of wine. A big one. If there’d been a picture in the dictionary of waiting for the other shoe to drop, it would have been of them.
The mood in the house was definitely in suck mode.
He was reasonably sure he now knew what it was like to be a human yo-yo. Up and down, at times spinning. All accompanied by the realization that he didn’t have control over squat right now.
Especially anything involving Lila.
The sex with her had been great, as he’d known it would be, but it’d been more than just sex for him. Much more. But he sure as heck couldn’t say it was the same for Lila.
She hadn’t given him any signals that she intended to have sex with him again or that she’d reconsider having an actual relationship with him. Then again, maybe she was doing her own yo-yoing, since only minutes after they’d gotten their clothes back on, Lila had gotten a call from her sister. Crystal and Jeremy had managed to get a flight out and had immediately headed to the Vegas airport. It wasn’t easy to think about relationships, sex and such when a parental shitstorm was heading their way.
/> Well, maybe the sex part.
It was always easy to think about sex when it came to Lila.
Since Jeremy had left his truck in the parking lot at the airport, Cooper hadn’t gone to pick them up, but his brother had texted well over a half hour ago to say they’d landed and would start the drive home. That meant they’d be arriving any minute now to deal with Noah.
Yeah, a parental shitstorm, all right.
The boy was still in his room, where he’d been ever since they’d gotten back from the police station, but Cooper had checked on him a couple of times. So had Lila. Cooper might feel like a yo-yo, but Noah probably felt as if he were about to face a firing squad.
“According to Sophia,” Lila said, reading from her phone, “digital grounding is thirty percent more effective than actual grounding. Digital grounding is limiting phone privileges and the internet.”
Cooper glanced at her from over the top of his beer, but he didn’t respond verbally. That’s because for the past four hours Sophia had been sending one text of advice after the other. Obviously, the girl was concerned about her stepbrother and had even offered to come home, but Crystal had talked her into staying put at her friend’s.
“Wonder what the stats are on hickeys?” Lila muttered.
That got his attention. “Hickeys?”
“Love bites,” she said, as if he’d asked for a clarification. And in a way, he supposed he had.
“Do you want me to give you one?” he asked, hoping to make her smile.
She didn’t. She frowned instead and motioned toward the general vicinity of his neck. “I gave you one. I’m sorry about that. I guess I got a little carried away.”
Now Cooper frowned. He set his beer aside and went into the powder room just off the kitchen so he could take a look in the mirror. Yeah, that was a hickey, all right, on the left side of his neck. It was his first in, well, at least a decade and a half.
“I’m really sorry,” Lila repeated, coming up behind him.
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