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“What?” Caine asked, all innocence and confusion. “You don’t like him either.”
“Well, don’t go spreading family opinion around in front of outsiders.”
Coop knew it shouldn’t sting to be labeled an outsider. He was an outsider. But to be so openly separated from the Rawlings plainly told him where he belonged; on the outside. Forever out of Jo Ellen’s treasured reach.
“But it’s just Coop,” Caine argued with his brother, making Cooper feel marginally better. “As much as he hangs around Em, he might as well be family.”
“Coop’s not a gossip,” Emma Leigh added, coming to his defense. “Besides, he doesn’t care what we think of Travis.”
Cooper sent Em a grateful glance.
“Whatever,” Grady said, dismissing his younger siblings with a roll of his eyes before he sent Coop a reluctant grumble. “No offense meant.”
When Coop waved off his apology, Grady nudged Caine with his elbow. “Let’s get a move on it. We need to have this sample at the office by noon so Dad can show it to the investors coming to lunch.”
As the two Rawlings brothers piled into the truck, Emma Leigh sidled next to Coop and waved them off. The front door of the house opened again. Jo Ellen exited with Untermeyer toting a hulking picnic basket, and the two strolled hand in hand to his Miata.
Coop couldn’t help but watch, his chest a raw, shredded mess.
Jo Ellen had been so into him last night. No girl had ever made him feel that good, that needed. He wanted to hate her for breaking his heart. But all he could feel was bitter jealously as Untermeyer paused to kiss her again before opening the passenger-side door and helping her into her seat.
“Well, holy shit.” Emma Leigh set her hands on her hips. “How long has this been going on?”
Coop pulled his gaze from the departing Miata to focus on Jo Ellen’s twin. “What?”
Em pushed at his elbow. “You’ve got a thing for the princess. It’s written all over your face.”
He let out a snort and frowned. “No.”
Emma Leigh lifted her eyebrows. “Wow. It’s that serious, huh?”
Busying himself with his already-soaked rag, Cooper ignored her and wiped an oil smear off his forearm.
She set a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Coop. Buddy. You know she’s never going to leave Travis, don’t you?” Her voice took on a grave tone. “She’s committed to him. And when Joey commits to something, that’s that for her. She’s in for life.”
His heart strained in his chest as he wished she had committed herself to him. He lifted his face to study Em. She looked exactly like Jo Ellen. And it wasn’t like she turned him off. She just didn’t turn him on.
Wondering why he couldn’t have fallen for her instead, he blew out a deflated breath and let his shoulders sag. “I know.”
“Aww, Coop. You poor thing.” Her eyes squinted sympathetically as she slipped an arm around him and squeezed. “What in the world happened last night when you brought her home?”
Staring off in the direction Untermeyer’s Miata had disappeared, Coop wondered the same thing. “I guess nothing happened.”
* * * *
In the passenger seat of Travis’s car, Jo Ellen repositioned the air conditioner vent to blow away from her. Travis always turned the fans on full blast and froze her to the bone. Sometimes, she swore he did it on purpose to show her that despite how much wealthier her family was than his, he by no means was the subordinate member of their relationship.
“What was Gerhardt doing at your place?” He turned his car off the beaten path and down an abandoned road with a strip of grass growing through the center of the gravel, showing how often it wasn’t used.
“Cooper?” She shrugged. “I have no idea. He probably stopped by to see Emma Leigh.”
But now that Travis mentioned it, Cooper had looked particularly troubled. Maybe he’d come over to unload some personal problem on Emma Leigh. Cooper and her twin were terribly close. Em had loads of close acquaintances. If Jo Ellen didn’t love her sister so dearly, she’d be insanely jealous of Em’s ability to make friends. She was so fun and uninhibited; people simply flocked to her.
Jo Ellen only wished she could be so sure of herself, so confident. She tended to stick to the sidelines; afraid she’d do something or say something embarrassing if she ever truly let herself go. But what would people think of her if she slipped up and did something awful?
“I bet he’s trying to get into her panties,” Travis mused aloud. “Dumb idiot. Like a Rawlings would ever have anything to do with him…well, unless your sister just wants to have a bit of temporary fun in the slums.”
Jo Ellen gasped. “Travis Marianne Untermeyer,” she scolded, knowing full well how much he loathed his middle name. “That is an awful thing to say. About both Cooper and my sister. Emma Leigh would never—”
