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He shakes his head. “Right, sorry. Real food now, different later.” He winks, lust lacing his voice. This man is insatiable.
I stand up, and he follows. “You mind if we swing by my parents’ house, and I can jump in the shower and change?” he asks.
“Of course.” I grab my purse, slip on my shoes, and meet Cooper by the door. “Hey, Austin, we’re heading out for food. You want anything?” I shout up the stairs.
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks, though. I might swing by my parents’ later and snag some leftovers and deliver their key back,” he yells back.
I turn to find Cooper’s shoulders tense at the mention of Lulu and Foster. I wonder if he’s talked to them yet? They hadn’t stayed long last night at Hootenanny, but maybe he’s stopped by to see them.
Cooper drives us the short distance to his house. His parents are out at the moment, and after his failed attempt at trying to get me to shower with him, I shoved him up the stairs and told him I’d wait down here in the kitchen.
Which is exactly where I am, sitting on a barstool at the island, when the back door opens and in walks Shannon and Wade Graham. They both silence when they see me. Wade looks like he’s ready to have a heart attack, not expecting me, while a smile lights Shannon’s face up all the way to her eyes.
She drops her bags down on the counter and rushes to me, wrapping her arms around me in a big bear hug. I huff out a breath at the force of her embrace before wrapping my arms around her, too.
Footsteps come running down the stairs, sounding more like a herd of elephants than one man. “Babe, I wish you would have—”
I squeeze my eyes shut, praying that Cooper realizes we aren’t alone before he can finish that statement.
“—taken me up on my offer. I think you would really like—Mom, Dad.” His voice raises an octave higher in shock. “I didn’t realize you guys were home.”
Shannon releases me from her grasp, and Cooper steps up beside me, wrapping me in his arms. Being in his arms, I feel safe, loved, protected, and happy. A happiness that I’ve only felt with this man.
“And what was it exactly that you think Riley would like, son?” Wade asks, leaning against the counter with a brow raised and a knowing look.Oh my God, could this be any more embarrassing?
“Nothing, Pops,” he says sheepishly. Thank fuck he wasn’t honest. If he was, I might just die right here in their kitchen.
Cooper wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me tightly against him, and I wrap my arms around his waist.
Shannon places one hand over her heart and one hand over her mouth, and I hear an “aww” under her breath. I’m pretty sure she made the same expression and sounds when she took our pre-prom photos out front with Tanner and his date.
“Now, there’s no need to thank me. I was just doing my motherly duty.”
Cooper scoffs. “You think you’re responsible for us getting back together, Ma?”
“I most certainly am. Did you forget about my dancing plan last night? You are very welcome. Now.” She claps her hands together, and Cooper and I both try to hide our laughter. I’ll let her believe anything she wants. I’m not dumb enough to go against Shannon Graham. “Please let me make y’all dinner. I’m thinking of throwing a roast in the oven, or I can make chicken and dumplings. You tell me.”
“Actually, Ma, I’m planning to take my girl out.”My girl.I love those two words and how perfectly they sound on Cooper’s lips.
Shannon huffs, but I slip out of Cooper’s arms and step up beside her. “I promise I will come by this week for dinner because just the thought of your chicken and dumplings has my mouth watering.”
“Wonderful, dear. We look forward to it.”
Once back in the truck, Cooper spends most of the drive to Main Street apologizing for his mother’s antics.
“Will you just relax?” I say as he puts his truck in park. “It’s fine. She has an enormous heart and means well. She’s just happy for us. Are you?”
“Happy for us?” He twists his body, scooting closer over the bench seat after taking his seat belt off. Cooper threads his fingers in my hair and pulls my face closer to him. “Abso-fucking-lutely.”
When his tongue licks the seam of my lips, begging—no,demanding—entrance, I let him. After a few moments of losing ourselves in each other, I press my hand against his chest before I do something crazy like climb into his lap in the middle of the day in the middle of Main Street.Who even am I?
Cooper and I cross the street hand in hand. Such a Southern gentleman, he opens the door for me. I smile up at him as I walk through. “And they say chivalry is dead.”
He chuckles, walking into Vincenzo’s behind me, and rests both of his hands on my shoulders. His front presses against my back.
“I think you’ll find that I’m quite chivalrous, sweetheart.” He then lowers his mouth to my ear. “Inandout of the bedroom.” His voice takes a husky tone before he buries his face in my neck.
I squirm out of his touch when his beard tickles my neck. “Oh my God, will you behave?” I scold as we step up to the hostess.
