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“That is not true,” Cooper growled his objection.
Still, a maudlin depression enveloped her. Her shoulders collapsed. “So much changed after that.”
He studied her, looking conflicted and worried as if he wanted to say something to brighten her mood. But just as she hadn’t known what to say about his dad, he remained mute about this.
She opened her mouth to apologize for making him uncomfortable but rustling from behind her made her jump. With a squeak of alarm, she whirled to squint into the dark shadows.
She saw nothing.
“What do you suppose that was?” Her hushed voice quivered, remembering the rope on the ground circling their blanket and praying it did its job.
“Probably just a jackrabbit. They run as thick as thieves in this orchard.”
Jo Ellen nodded but couldn’t take her gaze from the darkness. A shiver passed up her spine. Snakes weren’t the only thing to worry about. Wild boar seemed to multiply by the year in Tommy Creek. What if a pack of feral hogs were out there, watching, waiting—
She gasped when Cooper nudged her arm. “Your turn.”
“What?” she jerked around to gape at him.
He grinned and pointed at the tic-tac-toe game. “It’s your turn. Princess.”
“Oh.” She looked down though her mind was still occupied with visions of slithering creatures, their forked tongue flickering as they approached the edge of the rope to watch her from diamond-slitted eyes. After picking up a grape, she began to plant it in a distracted manner when she realized one of the grapes she’d already put in a pretzel square was missing.
“My grape—” She pointed to the empty space as she lifted her head, but promptly frowned when her gaze focused on Cooper’s mouth. When she found his cheek pooched out as he chewed, a mischievous glimmer twinkling from his pale whiskey eyes, she gasped. “Are you eating my tic-tac-toe grape?”
He boldly picked up another grape from the game. “Yep,” he confessed and promptly popped the second ball of fruit into his mouth to join the first.
Jo Ellen’s mouth fell open. “Cooper Thaddeus Gerhardt, how dare you?”
He chuckled as he chewed. “What? I was hungry.”
“There is a container full of grapes right there. Sake’s alive. You didn’t have to steal mine. Besides, why didn’t you eat your own strawberries off the board?”
“Because…your grapes taste better.” He caught her wrist to lift her hand still holding a grape between her fingers. He carried her digits to his lips and plucked the grape from her grasp with his teeth. “Mmm. Delicious.”
Mesmerized, she watched his mouth work, her tummy going tight and fluttery. When oxygen caught in her throat, she swallowed, unable to take her entranced gaze off him.
He smiled a slow, devastating kind of smile spreading to his full, sensual lips. “Is your attention successfully diverted yet?”
“Diverted?” She repeated as if she had no idea what the word meant. “Diverted from what?”
“Whatever that spooky little noise was that scared the bejesus out of you.”
Her insides melted. So, he’d been trying to take her mind off her sudden fear, huh? How sweet.
In that moment, Jo Ellen fell irreversibly and completely in love with the man sitting cross-legged on the ground beside her. Consequences be damned. He was hers.
“Consider my attention successfully diverted.” Unable to help herself, she dived at him, kissing him hard and fast, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding him as close to her heart as she could get him.
He groaned and caught her solidly to his chest. His arms banded around her, as his hands smoothed up the backs of her legs. When he came to the hem of her shorts, he paused. “I see you’ve changed out of that sinfully delightful skirt you were wearing earlier.”
She kissed the side of his neck, fascinated by the taste of his salty skin. “Mmm. I wanted you to have to work a little this time before making it into my pants.”
He chuckled and immediately began to pull the shorts down. “Challenge accepted.”
Once she kicked off the garment and it landed half in the open picnic basket, half out, he tugged her back into his lap. Then he fell backward onto his spine, taking her with him so she tumbled across his chest. She landed on top of him, her thighs naturally straddling his lap.
When she gasped her surprise, he froze, his expression tightening with worry. “God, I’m sorry. Do you not like this position?”
