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She dropped her head back against the headrest. “I’m so tired all of a sudden.”
“We’ve still got a bit of a drive. Feel free to doze off if you want.”
As if weighted, her eyelids fluttered closed. “You sure? I don’t want to be bad company.”
“You could never be bad company.” He wasn’t even sure she heard him. Her face relaxed and her lips parted as her breathing deepened.
Silly, but it made him a little heady to think she was comfortable enough to fall asleep with him. She trusted him. She’d trusted him with more than her safety this weekend. She’d trusted him with private things she hadn’t yet shared with anyone else, not even Gavin.
Twenty minutes later Cooper pulled into Kate’s drive. She must’ve been sleeping deeply because the popping gravel didn’t wake her and neither did the sudden quiet when he turned off the ignition.
Poor thing was tuckered. He hated to wake her. Instead he allowed his gaze to roam over her face.
She’d knocked her ball cap crooked, exposing one delicate eyebrow. Her arresting eyes closed, her other features cried out for notice. Her long eyelashes swept the tops of her cheeks. Her pert nose was perfectly proportioned atop lush, pink lips.
Despite the cap, she’d gotten a bit of sun on her nose and cheeks. Her arms, folded over her chest, were golden brown against the white sleeves of her shirt. Her bare knees were shifted toward him and covered with chill bumps. She had a little scar on the side of her kneecap.
His fingers tingled with the need to touch the old injury. But instead he touched her arm. “Katelyn.”
She didn’t stir.
“Kate, we’re here. Wake up, Skittles.”
She shifted, her eyelids fluttering open. She looked around, adorably lost until her gaze landed on him. Then she straightened and ran a hand over her face. “Oh man. I really conked out. Are we already home?”
“I think you’re officially beat.”
Gravel popped on the drive behind them. Cooper checked his rearview mirror. His stomach sank at the sight of the familiar truck. They were alone no longer. “Gavin’s here.”
“I told him we were on our way.”
He wished she hadn’t. Cooper and Kate got out of the car, and she met Gavin as he hopped from his truck.
Behind his open door Gavin pulled her close and lowered his head until his lips met Kate’s.
Cooper’s breath froze in his lungs. His jaw clenched. The kiss probably lasted only a couple seconds, yet they seemed to drag on like the final minute of an agonizing workout. His hands twitchedwith the urge to shove Gavin away from her, but what right did Cooper have to do that?
He removed his pack from the back seat and grabbed the empty water bottles from the cup holders. By the time he finished, Gavin was at his side wearing a grateful smile and extending a hand. “Hey, Bro. I can’t thank you enough. Really.”
Cooper clasped his hand and allowed his brother to draw him in for a shoulder bump. “Not a problem.”
When they parted Gavin gave Cooper’s shoulder a light shove. “You’re a good brother—I don’t care what Avery says.”
But a few minutes later when Cooper pulled from Kate’s drive, leaving the two of them inside her house, he didn’t feel like a good brother. Because he wanted to be the one Katelyn was winding down with. He wanted to be the soft shoulder she cried on, the rock she depended on.
And what kind of brother did that really make him?
19
Katie anticipated this evening so much she wasn’t even going home first to shower and change. She turned out of the clinic parking lot and toward Lisa and Jeff’s place.
The Robinsons would soon gather for supper. Lisa had asked her to come early to help with the food and brainstorm ideas for Trail Days. She’d already gotten council approval and a bit of funding from local businesses. Katie was eager to spend time with the woman. And, if she was honest, eager to see Cooper again.
She’d thought of him a lot since their return Sunday, had revisited the more poignant moments many times. The enigmatic looks he’d sometimes given her. The smile that seemed just for her. That comment he made after setting her cap on her head. “I like the woman wearing it.”
That one really resonated.
She’d tried telling herself she felt connected to Cooper because they’d covered a lot of emotional ground together: the harrowingcar accident, then the poignant scattering of her brother’s ashes. Significant experiences.
