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Emma Leigh bumped her elbow into Jo Ellen’s. “Don’t you love it when you know two handsome men are checking us out?”
“Em, I’m only pushing a C cup over here. Trust me, it’s not me they’re ogling right now. It’s all you.” But as she glanced at the men again, she found Cooper’s stare nowhere near her sister.
Emma chuckled knowingly. “You were saying?”
Jo Ellen couldn’t seem to drop her gaze from him, her body stirring with more tense energy. This was exactly why she needed to stay away from him. His effect on her was too powerful. He could hu
rt her so easily, in so many different ways.
“Ready to fish?” Branson called.
“As long as you bait your own hook like you promised,” Emma Leigh sassed back.
Turned out, Bran couldn’t bait his own hook. When his wife wasn’t looking, Cooper slid the live worm in place for him. Jo Ellen grinned and shook her head when the Reno city boy gagged but thanked his new guy pal with a conspiring wink when Cooper handed him his pole.
“I think we’ll start over there across the lake,” Emma Leigh decided as she returned from scouting the area. “You two okay here?”
Jo Ellen gulped, wanting to kick her sister when she saw the mischievous, matchmaking glitter in Emma’s eyes. But from somewhere behind her, Cooper innocently answered, “Yep. We’re fine.”
Well.
If he was fine, then she could be fine. She nodded and waved her sister off. Focusing her attention on her task, she baited her hook, brushed the excess dirt and slime off her fingers onto her shorts and found a nice spot from which to cast her line. After deciding this was as good a place as any, she settled herself on a patch of ground littered with clumps of drying grass dotting the rocky, clay banks of the lake.
She ignored Cooper, though she heard him fiddling around behind her slightly to her right. Then he grew silent. When she couldn’t stand it a second longer, she peeked over her shoulder to find him about twenty feet away, his legs stretched out in front of him as he rested back on his elbows and watched his bobber lazily float through the water. He’d tipped his cowboy hat so low the rim shaded his face from the setting sun.
Her attention shifted to his long legs. This was the third time in the past twenty-four hours she’d seen him sprawl them out like so. The man obviously enjoyed his space, probably detested tight, cramped places, and crowded hordes, like a big city. He’d hate living in Dallas. No matter where you turned, someone was always there.
He could never comfortably squeeze into the life she led, even if she could open herself to him long enough to give him the chance to try, which she couldn’t.
A sad sigh later, she returned her gaze to her own bobber and wiped at the perspiration on her brow. The hopelessness of the situation depressed her. Swallowing, she realized how dry her throat had grown.
“Is there anything to drink in that cooler you brought?” she asked before she could stop herself.
Cooper tilted his chin up so his light brown eyes could meet her gaze from under the brim of his hat. “I’ve got some beer. You can help yourself to it.”
“Beer?” She glanced toward the cooler where the live bait was also being stored in a small Styrofoam container and winkled her nose.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he harrumphed. “But I’m fresh out of white wine and spritzer.”
At the acid in his tone, Jo Ellen glared, upset he’d totally misread her hesitation. She lifted her chin and sniffed. “Actually, I was thinking water sounded good.”
“Well, I don’t have any of that either,” he muttered, snapping his attention from her to scowl at his bobber.
Instantly, her ire died. Dang it, she hadn’t come here to irritate him; she only wanted to set things right between them. But no matter what she did, he seemed to grow more agitated around her. And here, she’d assumed his wink at the house meant things were okay between them.
Obviously, she’d been wrong.
With a relenting groan, she pushed to her feet, and fetched herself a beer. He didn’t notice what she’d done until she popped the tab, then his gaze jerked her way. She held his stare almost defiantly as she took her first small sip. His gaze fell to her mouth, and her stomach tightened with anxiety. Then his jaw went hard and he turned his stare back to the lake.
She breathed out the breath she’d been holding. “Cooper, I’m sorry.”
His lips twitched with sudden amusement. “Apologizing seems to be an obsession with you, doesn’t it? And here, I’m the one who was rude.”
“I’m serious. I behaved horribly last night, ditching out on you without saying anything after you opened up to me like that and—”
He lifted a hand, stopping her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m the one who should’ve stayed quiet and not put you on the spot like that.”
“But you were explaining to me reasons why you had done things I’ve been curious about for ten years. You didn’t—”
