Page 18 of Cooper

Bean comes back from riding and the ear-to-ear smile is telling. “Did you enjoy riding?” I ask, as if it needs to be asked. It’s so evident that she loved it.

“Oh, yes! It was great!” She beams, as Colton helps her off the horse.

“You come back anytime.” Colton says.

“Thank you so much for that.” I say to Colton.

“Oh, you’re quite welcome. Anytime. These horses love to be ridden.” He smiles.

Cooper interjects. “Nate is coming by after to watch Bean here while we work tonight.”

“Oh yeah? Well, he’s got a key. He can come on over and the two of them can go riding again.” Colton nods.

I look at Bean. “Nate is my friend Liz’s son. He’s coming by since Becky isn’t able to watch you anymore.” I state carefully.

“Nate’s a cool kid.” Cooper says. “You’re going to love him. Way better than any babysitter you’ve ever had.”

“Can he make cookies?” Bean asks.

“Only Christmas ones.” Colton adds with a playful smile. God, being in the presence of all these gorgeous men…I don’t know. Cooper, hell, he’s hotter than any man I’ve ever had. I can’t seem to keep my hands off him. Truly, I don’t know what came over me back there in the house. I just…lost all control. Sex with him is mind blowing, too, which doesn’t help quell my urges. He’s a tiger in bed, and I’ve never had that before. James, well, he was a good lover, but not that good. The first few years of our relationship were very good, but after we got married and had Bean, well, things fizzled.

“Are you on tonight?” Cooper asks Colton.

He nods. “Same as you. Wade told me about what happened last night. Is there anything I can do?” He asks, addressing both me and Cooper.

“No, thank you. I appreciate the offer, but, us staying with Cooper is helpful enough.” I tell him.

Cooper gives him a strange look and looks down, kicking at an imaginary pebble on the ground. “Yeah, thanks. We’ve got it handled.”

I look at Cooper but he isn’t looking at me. He diverts his attention to Bean. “What do you think? Did you work up an appetite for lunch?”

“I’m starving.” She says.

Cooper looks at me. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to go for a ride. There’s plenty of food in the house, if you want to head back and make something for her. I won’t be long.” He says.

“Sure.” I nod, taking Bean’s hand. “Let’s head back.” Then I address Colton. “Thanks again. I appreciate it.”

“Any time. It was nice meeting you, Bean.” He winks at her.

“Nice meeting you, too.”

As we walk away, I look back at the boys once.

…and I don’t see Cooper mounting the horse.

Cooper

“She’s a great kid.” Colton says when they’re out of earshot.

“Yeah. Stella’s great, too.” I say with effort, hating the sound of her fake name on my tongue. I look over and see the two girls out of sight, back in the house, and I turn back to him. “Listen, she’ll hate me for this some day, or she’ll love me for it, I don’t know which, but I need help here, Colton. And you know that I’ve never asked for a thing.”

He sets his hands on his waist, concern registered on his face. “Anything, man. What can I do?”

“Her real name’s London. Not Stella. She’s running or hiding from something or someone and something tells me that that gunshot might have been for her last night. She’s got her stuff in storage, and she’s barely got two cents to rub together. The woman is in trouble but either too proud or too scared to tell me what’s going on.”

“What are you thinking? Private investigator?” Colton guesses.

“Yeah, and you know that I haven’t got that kind of dough, but more important, I don’t have the resources to find someone that can pull that off.”

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