Nicole Edwards - Chasing Dreams

He could get used to this. Get used to this woman. Although he hadn’t known her all that long, Tessa was the type of woman he’d been looking for. Sweet, honest, maybe a bit too apprehensive though. She had all of the characteristics of a woman who could withstand a long term relationship if she’d give herself another chance. Something he was looking for, more so now than in previous years.

Ever since he hit thirty, Cooper had been looking for long term. Maybe not actively pursuing women for a happily ever after, but he had kept the thought in mind when entertaining the women he came in contact with.

From the minute he stepped off of the stage in Chicago, Illinois, Cooper had known he was ready to slow down. To settle down. And as he walked out of the concert arena, he decided there was never a better time than right then. He found himself heading south soon after that.

A year ago, he had wanted to believe he had found his happily ever after, although the circumstances hadn’t been within his control, he figured fate had been dealing him a surprise hand. Unfortunately, he’d learned soon enough that his life had just taken an off-road detour, and he was forced to find his way back to his original path.

Now that he was in Devil’s Bend, he felt like he had finally found the place he was meant to end up and no matter how much Marcus threatened him, Cooper wasn’t going anywhere. Was it possible that he had found everything he was looking for? Could Tessa be the woman?

“Have you considered a petting zoo?” Tessa’s sweet voice drifted over the sound of cicadas chirping in the towering oak trees.

Cooper laughed, and this time Tessa did pull away. Completely. She pushed up off the swing, sending it rocking wildly until he managed to still it, moving to the edge.

“Where’re you going?” he asked, looking up at her as she paced away. “Come here, Tessa.”

When she stopped abruptly, Cooper held his breath, waiting to see what she would say.

“Why’d you laugh?” she asked, her voice suddenly sad.

Choosing not to spook her, Cooper remained where he was, placing his empty beer bottle on the porch beneath his feet.

“Come here, Tessa,” he repeated more firmly, his eyes never leaving her. Ok, so she was definitely skittish, even more than he thought. They needed to work on that knee-jerk reaction of hers.

He wasn’t sure whether she won whatever internal struggle she was having or not, but Tessa finally turned to face him and he locked his gaze on hers. There wasn’t an ounce of the sadness he had detected in her tone written on her face. No, she looked more pissed than upset, but he was ready to remedy that.

He tilted his head slightly, lifting one eyebrow as he waited for her to give him a piece of her mind, or worse, turn and run. Cooper might be laidback, he might be easing into the slow life, but he wasn’t a patient man for the most part. With Tessa, he realized he wasn’t going to have much of a choice but to adapt.

She took a few steps closer, putting her beer bottle on the table. When he lifted his eyebrow once more, she moved even closer. Once she was within feet of him, he put his hands on her hips and pulled her closer, causing her to stumble. She righted herself by placing her hands on his shoulders as he looked up into her face.

“I wasn’t laughing at you, Tessa.” He kept his voice firm, making sure she understood that he preferred talking to running. “I was laughing because of how perfect you are. Or rather how ironic it is that we have so much in common, yet we’re so different.”

Tessa’s expression didn’t change, but she wasn’t trying to pull away from him, so Cooper considered that a win.

“I’m sorry if you thought I was laughing at you. I promise, I wasn’t. I’m not surprised that you’ve come up with a million ways to make this place into something only dreams are made of. You’ve managed to consider all of the possibilities.”

Tessa didn’t say anything as they stared at each other, the defining moment upon them. If she was going to put up a wall every time he did something she didn’t like, they weren’t going to get anywhere.

“I don’t want you to run,” he admitted openly, his hands involuntarily gripping her hips more firmly. Being this close to her made his body hum and his brain buzz. “I’m going to say and do stupid things from time to time. Bear with me.”

“I don’t want to run, but…” Tessa left the sentence hanging between them.

“Then stay. Right here with me.” Cooper allowed his voice to drop, brown eyes locked with green as he willed her to understand what he was feeling.

“I could ask the same from you,” Tessa whispered.

His brow furrowed as he tried to understand what she was telling him. Apparently she realized his confusion because she continued.

“It seems to me that you’re the one running. From your career, from your fans. Who’s to say you’ll stay here? Why would I even want to believe you would?”

Cooper let go of her hips, forcing himself to his feet as he moved away from her. Was Tessa right? Was he running? The thought pissed him off because that was the last thing he wanted to do. He didn’t run. When things got tough, he wanted to believe that he would stick it out, but maybe Tessa was right. Shit. Maybe he was just being selfish again.

“This isn’t easy for me,” Tessa stated from behind him, but Cooper didn’t turn to face her.

He wanted her to keep going. To explain herself. Based on what he knew about Tessa Donovan, she was a strong woman. She ran a bar practically by herself, and she had made her way in life. She had big dreams, but something had gotten in the way of them. Was it just money? Or was there something else holding her back? Those were the questions that he pondered at night when he thought about her. She intrigued him, unlike any woman before her. He wanted to know everything about her, and not just the feel of her silky skin beneath his hands.

Although there was that.

“Maybe I should go,” Tessa said, sounding even farther away, although he could still feel her standing behind him.

Unwilling to let her walk away, Cooper turned. The woman stole his breath when he looked at her. That simple, white sundress highlighted the smooth, tan skin of her arms, even in the darkness. The soft yellow glow from inside the house backlit her, making her look like an angel. He wanted this angel. He wanted to believe he’d found her for a reason.

Moving closer, Cooper kept his gaze pinned on hers, not allowing his eyes to roam over the gentle swell of her breasts, or the subtle curve of her waist. When she licked her lips, his gaze faltered, and he glanced down, wanting to suck on her bottom lip, to taste her the way he had before. He wanted to get carried away.

“I assure you, I’m not running. Not from my career or anything else. I came here for a reason. I’m just not sure what that reason was anymore.” Cooper was beginning to think he’d been lured to Devil’s Bend for this woman.

“Come here,” he whispered, standing just a few feet away from her. He wasn’t going to push her, but he wasn’t sure he could keep his hands off of her a minute longer.

She moved closer, causing him to hold his breath, the eager anticipation running amuck in his bloodstream. When she was within touching distance, Cooper forced his hands to remain at his side, refusing to touch her. Not yet.

“I’m not interested in casual, Tessa. I haven’t been interested in casual for a long time. I’m old enough to know what I want, and playing games ain’t it.” His honesty surprised even him. The way her eyes widened said he’d stunned her as well.

“What do you want?” she asked, sounding unsure of herself.

“Right now? I want you.” He wanted to pick up where they left off the other night.

“Tell me,” she whispered, obviously reading his mind.

“I want to peel that damned dress off of you and run my lips over every inch of your perfect skin. I want to sink to my knees and bury my tongue between your legs, to lap your sweetness until you scream my name. I want to risk getting splinters in my ass while you ride my cock right here on the back porch.”

Tessa’s breath hitched, she bit her bottom lip, but she didn’t run from him this time. Cooper could see the pebbled tips of her nipples through that soft fabric of her dress, and he wanted to untie the thin straps that kept her hidden from him and suck her into his mouth. What he wanted from her was intense. It had been since the moment he laid eyes on her. He wanted to learn every inch of her body by taste and touch. But he wasn’t willing to get anything less in return. He needed her to know his intentions.

“Do you understand me, Tessa?”

She nodded her head as though she did, but Cooper wasn’t so sure. Taking another step closer, he closed the gap between them, tilting her chin up so she had to maintain eye contact.

“Then I want to wake up in the morning with you in my arms. I want to feel your body pressed against me, the heat of your skin as I roll you over and slide inside of you.” He swallowed. “I’m not looking for one night, Tessa.”

“I’m not looking for forever, cowboy,” Tessa stated, her tone laced with what sounded like fear.

“No? And how do you know that?”

Cooper wasn’t necessarily looking for forever, but if it found him, he wasn’t going to walk away. He had never found forever, not in all of his thirty-one years, and by God, he wanted something of his own. He wanted a house, a wife, babies. He wanted the whole nine yards, and he would be damned if he was going to let his career hinder him anymore.

“I just know. I’ve been down that road.”

She’d been married, he knew that. Based on the stories he had heard, the man she married had been the love of her life. He had died and left her all by herself.

Cooper understood that he would never be able to replace that man, nor did he want to. But he knew for a fact that there was a passionate, intense woman hiding behind those walls, and he had a sudden desire to tear down every one of them.

He planned to start tonight.

Tessa refused to listen to the naïve heart that was pounding like a bass drum in her chest. This was a man who made his living writing songs that made people fall in love.

She wasn’t looking for love, but she was quickly warming to the idea of all of the tantalizing things he was offering when it came to physical gratification. However, when she told him she’d been down this road before, she wasn’t lying. Both the heart melting love which she’d had with Richie and then the erotic moments stolen between two lovers, which she’d experienced with another man a couple of years after Richie died.

And, aside from the love she had shared with Richie, Tessa had sadly learned that nothing was sacred.

Sex, even with astronomical, top of the Richter scale rated orgasms usually came with a price. As much as she wanted to let loose and go wild with Cooper – something she’d done more when she was a foolish young woman than any time in the last few years – she felt her self-preservation kick in.

She had learned the hard way that she couldn’t give in to that reckless side of herself anymore because once her passion ran high, she did stupid things… like fall in love. That possibility had been stolen from her when Richie was killed by a strung out drug addict. She didn’t have it in her to risk forsaking herself for another man. Even a man like Cooper.

“But you haven’t been down that road with me,” Cooper said, making her skin prickle with goose bumps.

Just the rich rumble of his voice sent chills racing down her spine. That and the way the night cloaked them in darkness, adding another degree of mystery to the man who was quickly getting under her skin.

 She had to remind herself that she hardly knew this man. Just because he walked into her bar, singing sweet country love songs did not mean he meant them for her. And even though she did know some things about him, she still wondered what he was running from. Was it his career? Did he really get burned out? Or was there something more that he wasn’t telling people? Based on the pieces of the one-sided conversations she had heard, Tessa wasn’t so sure he hadn’t disappeared off the country music map for a reason other than the one he was giving her. And he was keeping those reasons to himself.

“Same road,” she muttered. Different guy.

When Cooper’s fingers grazed the bare skin of her shoulder, she couldn’t repress the shudder that rippled through her. Still staring into his mesmerizing brown eyes, she watched as they darkened, a compelling hunger reflected there. Oh the things this man could do to her body. She didn’t doubt his ability to make her body scream and beg for more, she just got the impression that he might want more from her than she was willing to give. And it had nothing to do with naked, writhing bodies.