Page 5 of The Road Ahead
“I haven’t,” he assured me, then paused. “Wait, when the hell have I lied aboutanything?”
A very undignified snort left my mouth. “Uh, have you totally forgotten about the time you swore black and blue you weren’t the one to eat my Halloween candy, except the blueberry chew stained your tongue blue and it was a dead giveaway?”
“I waseleven!” Cooper protested, shoving my shoulder affectionately.
I shoved him back. “It still counts!”
“Does not,” he retorted, and then the fucker tackled me to the bed and started tickling me.
“Cooper!” I shrieked, trying to get away from him, but I was laughing too hard.
“Say it doesn’t count,” he sang, even as his fingers continued to dig into my ribs. His fingers were so warm against my bare skin that my mind completely short-circuited. I wanted his hands to be all over me, but not like this. I wanted him to caress me, to draw lazy patterns on my skin, to touch me everywhere.
When I didn’t reply, Cooper paused, looking down at me from where he was pressed against my side. “Do you yield?” he asked with an impish grin.
I nodded, breathless. “I yield, I yield.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, his hazel eyes warm and full of affection for me. Then his eyes moved up to my hair, and he said, “Oh, sorry. I’ve knocked your hair clip loose. Let me just . . .” He sat up so he could use both hands, and then, leaning over me once more, he brushed my hair back from my face. He carefully repositioned my clip, but his hand didn’t return to his side. No, it dropped down and he trailed a finger lightly down my cheek.
What the fuck is going on?I thought.
“What the fuck is going on?” Teresa asked from the doorway.
We startled apart, but when I looked over at her, Teresa didn’t look shocked or disgusted, just amused. “We can hear you both giggling and carrying on like children from the living room.”
“Rio questioned my honesty,” Cooper told her. “I was duty bound to retaliate by the only recourse left to me—a tickle war.”
“Ofcourseyou did,” she said, and turned back to the short hallway. “Oh, did you fill Rio in on the plans for tonight?” she called over her shoulder.
“I was about to!” he called back.
I sat up and got to my feet, feeling awkward. It really, truly felt like Cooper and I had had amoment, but that couldn’t be, could it? We were cousins, and the chances of him returning my silly little crush were nonexistent. There was no point deluding myself. “What’s happening tonight?” I asked.
“One of the bands at the festival is playing at For Pete’s Sake Saloon,” he explained. “We figured we’d get dinner there and watch the set. It means a drive back into Stony Creek, but it’ll be fun.”
I nodded. “That sounds good. Uncle Emmett and Aunt Cee-Lee took me to Pete’s when I last visited. Their ribs were amazing.”
“They still are,” Cooper assured me.
“Is it still the only bar in town?” I asked as we made our way through to the living room to join the others.
“Yeah. The diner’s going strong, and there’s an Italian restaurant if you want something a bit fancier, but Pete’s is the only actual bar.”
I sat down in an armchair, curling my feet beneath me. My cross-country drive was catching up with me, and I couldn’t help but yawn. Cooper went to the kitchen and came back with two glasses of water, and passed me one. “Thanks,” I said with a smile. Then I turned to Teresa and Brad, who were on the couch together. Teresa also had her feet folded under her, the bright skirt she wore draping over her knees. She and Cooper looked pretty similar, with their hazel eyes and triangular jaws, but Teresa’s hair was much more auburn than Cooper’s. It was only in the sunlight when the red was highlighted that you realized he didn’t have simple brown hair. They were both tall, but where Cooper was muscular, his sister was a little softer. “So, you need to catch me up on everything I’ve missed,” I told her. “I want all the tea. Are you still working at the craft store? What was it called again? Knit Happens? Is Mr. Hansen still sleeping with half the town council? How many kids does Chastity Blake have now, and how many baby daddies are there?”
And just like nothing had changed, Teresa happily filled me in on all the gossip from Stony Creek and Pathfinders Lake.
Chapter 4
Cooper
Rio looked so damn cute and comfortable asleep in the armchair that I was hesitant to wake them. It was getting late, though, and they’d probably want a shower and some time to get ready before we headed out for the evening. I reached down and gently shook their shoulder. “Rio,” I whispered. “Time to get up.”
Their nose scrunched adorably as they came awake, and soon those gorgeous brown eyes were blinking up at me. “Wha’ time’s it?” they mumbled.
“After four,” I said. “We’ll need to leave here around sixish to get into town and eat before the band starts.”
They nodded, then reached up their arms in a stretch. I couldn’t help but watch as their cropped sweater rose up and revealed more and more of their stomach. Honestly, I’d never really paid much attention to someone’s stomach when checking them out, but for some reason I was becoming obsessed with Rio’s. I could happily spend all night tracing from their bellybutton, across to their scar, and then down over the V of their hips.
