My One and Only (Ardent Springs Book 3) (15 page)

“Oh, hey,” Lorelei said. “Has Cooper introduced you to his ladies?”

“Um . . .” Haleigh mumbled. “His
what
?”

“Cooper!” she hollered across the expansive back yard. “You need to show Haleigh where you keep your girls.”

As if this wasn’t the most bizarre request ever, Cooper saluted with his beer bottle, excused himself from the men, and headed their way.

“Okay,” Haleigh said, dragging the word out. “This should be interesting.”

“It’s quite posh, actually,” Snow assured her as Cooper took Haleigh’s hand.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s take a walk.”

Too stunned and confused to argue, Haleigh allowed Cooper to lead her into a copse of trees. The daunting thought occurred that this was exactly how teenage girls ended up murdered in all those horror movies. Lured by the cute guy to find a secluded spot where they could get frisky, and then
bam
, out jumped the serial killer.

“Whoever these girls are, they’re alive, right?”

“From saint to murderer,” he said, navigating them along a stone pathway. “You really need to make up your mind about me.”

“Just keep walking, smart-ass,” she murmured. “And don’t get any funny ideas.”

Heaven knew she was having enough for the both of them.

Chapter 16

“I’m not sure if they’re outside or not, but they make an appearance when I turn on the light.” Cooper flipped two switches on the side of the shed and waited.

“You have to be kidding me,” Haleigh said. “Is that a chicken coop?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are there chickens in it?”

“Nope,” he teased. “Rhinos.”

That earned him a smack on the arm. “Don’t be a jerk. I can’t believe you have chickens.” When she noticed the sign over the door, she said, “Coop’s Coop? Really?”

He gave a half shrug. “That’s what it is.”

As Haleigh inspected his latest project, Cooper took the opportunity to study her. In the moonlight, her hair glowed like braided reeds of wheat, while her lashes created tiny shadows on her cheeks. The face almost always etched with skepticism softened to resemble the girl who’d teased him over his cereal bowl and helped him pass geometry.

When they were kids, Haleigh had been fearless. The first to jump in the pool or flip on the trampoline. In their teen years, she’d pulled back. Preferred studying over skateboards. The library over loud parties on the river bank. Cooper couldn’t help but believe the gutsy young girl remained buried in there somewhere. Based on the look that crossed her face as the girls popped out of the coop, his suspicions were confirmed.

“Oh my gosh,” she said. “There they are. I haven’t seen chickens up close like this since elementary school when they took us out to Silvestri’s farm and called it a field trip.”

“I loved those trips,” Cooper said, remembering how Haleigh had shrieked as they chased the pigs. “You would have caught that piglet if the other one hadn’t tripped you up.”

Haleigh grinned. “I had the taste of mud in my mouth for a week.” Wrapping her fingers around the chicken wire, she said, “I can’t remember the last time I thought about those trips. Feels like a lifetime ago.”

“A couple decades,” he said. “Not so long.”

“Leave it to you to put a positive spin on us getting twenty years older.” Moving toward the entrance to the run, she said, “Can we go in?”

“Sure,” he said. “I don’t normally feed them this late, but you can throw down some scratch. First, I need to tell you a little about them, so you’re prepared.”

She stared at him as if he’d offered to explain why water is wet. “They’re chickens, Cooper. What else is there to know?”

“The pecking order is very important,” he pointed out.

“Is that supposed to be a pun?” she asked.

Cooper had half a notion to send her in uninformed and let her find out for herself. “Do you want to get closer or not?”

Haleigh sobered, but struggled to keep the smile from her face. “Yes. Of course. Teach me, old wise chicken-tamer.”

“You’ll thank me for this.” Pointing through the chicken wire, he said, “You see that darker one there? That’s Mabel. She rules the roost.”

A snort escaped through her smirk. “You’re doing that on purpose.”

Ignoring her, he continued. “The other two with lighter feathers around their necks are Trixie and Dixie. They try to ruffle Mabel’s feathers now and then, but she rules with an iron beak, so they pretty much stay in line.”

“You really need to get out more,” Haleigh drawled. “You’ve been cooped up way too much.” She found her own joke hysterical, but Cooper kept a straight face. Barely. “So you’re the only one who gets to play with puns?” she asked. “Fine. Where’s this scratch stuff?”

“I’ll get you a bucket.” After retrieving the treat from behind the coop, he said, “Toss it on the ground in front of you and they’ll come get it.”

“I’ve got this,” she said, a look of determination on her moonlit face. In a moment of sanity, she said, “You’re coming in with me, right? In case they attack me.”

“What am I supposed to do if they attack you?” he asked. He knew exactly what to do, but Haleigh didn’t need to know that.

“They’re your cockamamie birds, Cooper. I don’t know. Yell and wave your arms.”

“They’re chickens, Haleigh, not grizzly bears.”

“Whatever.” As if sneaking up on a sleeping tiger, she tiptoed to the latched door. “Here we go.”

Cooper let Haleigh enter before sliding in behind her. The girls were used to him coming in during the day, but a night visit was unusual. He wasn’t sure how they’d react. “No sudden moves. Start scattering.”

“Wouldn’t scattering be a sudden move?” she asked, backing up against him as the chickens approached. “They don’t look happy to see me.”

“They always look like that.” Though they didn’t usually crowd him into a corner. “Toss the scratch already.”

“I’m tossing,” she said, throwing handfuls of corn and oats on the ground. “They’re getting closer.”

“You dropped the scratch at your feet,” he reminded her. “I told you they’d come and get it.”

Dropping the bucket to the ground, she said, “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

As he reached for the bucket, Mabel pecked his hand hard enough to draw blood. “Dammit,” Cooper hollered. “Get over to the door.”

The minute Haleigh stepped right, Mabel came off the ground like a raging demon bird. Cooper used his arm to protect Haleigh’s face, careful not to swing at the hen, and prodded the panicking woman along until he could reach the latch. Trixie and Dixie raised a racket, as if cheering Mabel on, while Haleigh’s screeching nearly drowned them out.

The old bird landed another bruising peck on Cooper’s thigh before he swung Haleigh out and latched the door behind them. They stood face-to-face with Haleigh’s back against the run, both struggling for breath, until an unexpected cackle split the night air. For a second, Cooper feared Mabel had gotten out during their escape, only to realize that the sound wasn’t coming from the chickens at all.

It was coming from Haleigh.

Peals of laughter echoed through the trees as breathing turned to wheezing. When her forehead hit Cooper’s chest, the scent of strawberries filled his senses, and he grasped the chicken wire as she pushed against him.

Being attacked by his chickens didn’t strike Cooper as all that funny, but her snickering, punctuated by the occasional snort, proved contagious. Before he knew it, Cooper was chuckling right along with her.

“You’re insane, you know that?” he said. “She could have taken your eye out.”

Haleigh’s hands flapped in the air. “We just got attacked by a freaking chicken,” she said, before succumbing to the hilarity once more. With dancing eyes, she added in a loud whisper, “I thought I was going to pee myself.”

“That’s attractive,” he replied, enjoying the more carefree doctor smiling up at him. “Mabel probably would have taken that as a challenge.”

She squealed at the comment. “I can see the headline now,” she sputtered. “Woman’s death suspected to be
fowl
play.”

Cooper groaned. “I can’t believe you went there.”

“Oh, come on,” she said, tugging on the front of his shirt. “That’s funny and you know it.”

Sliding the hair off her face, he said, “I like when you laugh. You should do it more often.”

Her shoulders fell with a deep sigh. “I do feel better. Maybe laughter really is the best medicine.”

“It isn’t a cure-all, but it’s a start.” Cooper straightened to bring his body closer to hers. “I’m really glad you came tonight.”

“I am too. But I don’t think—”

“Shhh . . .” he said, dropping a finger over her glossy lips. “For once in your life, Haleigh Rae, don’t think. Just feel.”

When he leaned down, she brushed her nose against his. “Feeling isn’t my forte.”

As their breaths mingled, the tang of barbeque sauce mixed with hops and sweet tea. “Just follow my lead, darling.”

The moment their lips met, Cooper felt as if he’d come home. He tugged at her bottom lip as she pressed against him, her hands sliding up his chest before shoving into his hair. Gripping her hips, he trailed gentle kisses down the column of her neck.

“How does that feel?” he asked, giving her earlobe a quick bite.

Haleigh nodded her head. “Good. Yeah.” On the verge of panting, she mumbled, “Real good.”

“Then let’s make it even better.” Cooper shifted Haleigh to the right until she stood flat against the shed. She protested at the break in contact, tugging hard on the collar of his flannel. To the unspoken plea, he said, “You’ve got it, doc,” before covering her mouth with his.

She took everything he offered, and gave double in return. Hot, wet, and demanding, Haleigh turned kissing into a combat sport, tasting, scratching, and grinding her way to total domination. But Cooper wasn’t ready to admit defeat just yet.

Dipping his hands under her bottom, he jerked Haleigh’s feet off the ground as he lifted her high enough to meet him nose to nose. Her eyes were molten whiskey in the glow of the floodlight, her lips red and inviting as she traced a thumb over his lower lip.

As if surprised by the revelation, she whispered, “This feels right.”

He nodded as her legs tightened around his hips. “It’s about time you saw the light,” he said, leaning in to taste her again.

Cooper Ridgeway was one hell of a kisser. And damn sturdy, too. Haleigh had never been swept off her feet, literally, and enjoyed the experience immensely. Of course, the man doing the sweeping had something to do with that.

He tasted like a head rush and felt like a Mack truck. She could hold on to his broad shoulders all night, and considered doing just that. To think, she could have been taking this ride long before now.

As if trying to drive her crazy, Cooper kept slowing the tempo. Sliding from full throttle to idle with annoying control, and drawing her body tighter by the second. Desperate for skin, she tugged hard on the ends of his shirt and heard the satisfying ping of buttons popping. With the shirt open, she explored the hard body beneath the material, dragging a gratifying groan from Cooper’s lips. The sound emanated from deep in his chest, sending dizzying vibrations through her fingertips.

“You’re perfect,” she said, tasting the salt at the base of his throat.

With a tattered breath, he said, “That’s my line.”

She dismissed the inference, as Cooper’s perfection echoed inside and out. Haleigh moved through life in a pretty shell, but the ugliness was always there, close to the surface and clawing to get out.

In Cooper’s arms, she didn’t feel worthless or inadequate or disappointing, which made this exchange all the more dangerous. Haleigh could easily see herself replacing one demon-suppressant for another. Only drowning in Cooper would be way better than losing herself at the bottom of a bottle had ever been.

While that thought circled through her mind, Cooper’s powerful hands drifted up her rib cage, setting tiny fires along her nerve endings. Haleigh clung to him, wanting more but not willing to sacrifice his heat to find a better location to carry on.

When his thumbs found her nipples through thin satin, her body kicked into another gear as she sucked on his tongue, desperate for more.

“What’s going on back here?” a female voice spoke from the trees, followed by at least two gasps and an “Aw, shit.” The expletive came from a man who proceeded to take charge, saying, “Everybody back to the party.”

Cooper slammed his hands on the side of the building, presumably shielding Haleigh from the onlookers. As if he could protect her from the fallout of this colossal mistake.

This is not a mistake!
screamed a voice in Haleigh’s head. One she didn’t recognize but wanted to believe.

With his forehead pressed to hers, Cooper said, “I need less nosy friends.”

The joke broke the tension, and she couldn’t help but laugh. “That first voice was Abby’s, wasn’t it?”

“Yep.” Cooper lifted her to the ground as if setting down a priceless piece of crystal. “Afraid so. They must have heard the screaming with the chickens.” Attempting to button his shirt, he looked down in confusion. “When did you do this?”

“Somewhere around the time you slid your tongue in my ear.” Haleigh righted her clothes. “This should make for a fun ride home.”

“Hey,” he said, lifting her face with a finger beneath her chin. “We haven’t done anything wrong.”

She managed a halfhearted smile. “For once, I agree with you.”

Dark brows shot up. “Seriously?”

Cupping his face with both hands, Haleigh rose up to her toes to drop a quick kiss on his lips and said, “Seriously.” And then she gave a gentle tap with her left hand. “But that doesn’t mean this is going to happen again.” Knowing the jury was still out, she added, “Maybe.”

“Oh, this will happen again,” he said, confidence brimming. “That was too good not to repeat.”

“Repeating behaviors that make me feel good has led me into more trouble than I can tell you,” she said. “We’re still the same mismatched people we were before . . .” Haleigh waved a hand in the air. “Before whatever that was.”

“That,” Cooper said, pulling her into his arms, “was chemistry. And it’s been brewing for a long time.”

“You’re confusing chemistry with coffee,” she corrected, settling against his body. “And we aren’t the only variables in this equation. I made Abby a promise that I wouldn’t hurt you.”

His arms tightened. “Then don’t.”

As if anything in Haleigh’s life was that easy.