Cooper pulled into the parking lot of The Rusty Nail, his mind still on Tessa. After her shower, she’d been closed off and entirely too quiet. He could tell she had been crying, but no matter what he tried, she wouldn’t tell him why. He managed to get her to take a nap, or rather she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion an hour ago.

Knowing he had to meet Marcus, Cooper had left her a note and then went home to shower and change. Now that he was back in front of the bar, he dreaded what was to come.

When he pulled into the parking lot, Cooper noticed Eric’s fire engine red muscle car was already there, so he shut off the engine and slipped in through the back door. He would prefer to be the one to approach Marcus, rather than the other way around. Since The Rusty Nail hadn’t opened just yet, he knew his soon to be ex-manager wasn’t there yet.

“Hey, Coop. What’s going on?” Eric asked when Cooper approached the bar.

“Not much. I’ve got to talk to my manager, so I figured I’d come in early.”

“Oh, that guy.” Eric’s exasperated tone put Cooper on edge.

“What’s wrong?”

“Not a damn thing.” Eric glanced at the front door and then back to Cooper. “Now anyway. The asshole was waiting out front when I got here. Once I got inside, he started pounding on the door. The man’s kinda dense.”

Cooper would agree with that assessment, but he didn’t say anything.

“Anyway, I told him we weren’t open, and he tried to invite himself in. When I refused, he got snippy. Don’t be surprised if his nose is off center when you see him. I slammed the door in his face, and he finally left.”

Well, shit. That would mean Marcus was already primed for a bad mood. And what Cooper had to tell him wasn’t going to make him happy anytime soon. Which, Cooper knew from experience, meant Marcus was going to retaliate. In probably one of the worst ways.

“Hey, didn’t you say you had some big name playing tonight?” Eric asked as Cooper was setting up his laptop on the bar.

“Son of a fucking bitch!” Cooper had completely forgotten about that.

Nearly an hour later, Cooper watched as Tessa walked in through the back door. He had cued up some music after he updated the sign out front to display the live music talent he was expecting to show up at any minute. Now, as he watched her move across the floor, his heartbeat rivaled the thud of the music. The one thing he noticed was that she looked like she had put on a solid layer of armor.

Gone was the sweet girl he’d seen the night before in her short jean skirt and soft sweater. In her place, was the no nonsense woman who had caught his eye in the very beginning. She wore a form fitting black t-shirt, jeans that accentuated her luscious ass, boots, and her cowboy hat that shielded her eyes. Her blonde hair curled down her back and over her shoulder, making Cooper want to reach for her and pull her close by wrapping his fists in the silky strands.

Not that he would. She looked like a woman on a mission. He felt better when she returned a smile as she passed by, but he decided to leave her be for a bit. The front door opened, and in walked just the man he had been waiting for. Before anyone could notice him, Cooper intercepted him in his path to the bar.

“Hey, man. Glad you could make it,” Cooper greeted Dalton Calhoun with a hand held out to shake, but that was quickly thwarted by the infamous guy-hug that was little more than a couple of thumps on the back.

“So glad you invited me. Shit, man. This is cool,” Dalton said as he checked out the interior of The Rusty Nail. “How the hell’d you land your ass all the way down here?”

Cooper tilted his head, a silent gesture for Dalton to follow him toward the stage. As he passed the bar, he held up two fingers for Eric and received a nod of understanding. “It’s somethin’, ain’t it?” Cooper asked.

“So this is what’s got Nashville all in an uproar. Your ass disappeared off the map to come down to BFE and sing in a little bar. Man, I don’t know if I’m pissed off or jealous.”

“Well, I’m glad you came down. You can give it a shot, see what you think.” Cooper and Dalton had become close friends over the last few years, both of them living in Nashville, chasing their country music dream. Dalton had hit the big time a year or two before Cooper, so he had learned a lot from the man, although they were roughly the same age.

“That for me?” Dalton asked, tilting his head toward the stage.

“It’s all yours tonight.”

“Hot damn!” Dalton exclaimed, glancing up at the stage.

Eric walked up, two Bud Lights in his hand and a gigantic grin on his face. Cooper introduced the two men briefly. Before Eric sauntered off, he turned around and said in a mock whisper, “Just a warning. My wife’s here tonight.” And with that, he was gone.

Cooper laughed while Dalton looked back confused. “What the hell does that mean? I swear, I don’t know his wife.”

Cooper let out another roar of laughter before he slapped Dalton on the back. “I promise, when you meet her, you’ll understand the warning. Hold up a minute, would ya?”

“Lemme run out to my truck and get my guitar. I’ll be right back.”

Cooper nodded and then headed across the bar to get Tessa. She was pouring a beer for a customer, and when she finished, he got her attention.

“What’s up?” she asked, sounding more upbeat than she had when he left her house earlier in the day.

Leaning over the bar, he gave her an expectant look and waited until she leaned forward so he could kiss her. He didn’t linger, and the smile that tipped her lips when she pulled back made him feel better.

“You got a minute? There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

Tessa got Eric’s attention and let him know she would be back. The bar was quickly filling up which meant there wouldn’t be much downtime from here on out. Thankfully, although Cooper forgot his buddy was coming in, he’d had the good sense to tell Tessa a week ago that she might want to bring in her cousins to help man the doors and fill in as bouncers. Based on the folks already coming in, he’d been smart in doing so.

Now it was just time to introduce Tessa to the guy who was going to help Cooper get his farm up and running. Sooner rather than later.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Tessa had just gotten into a rhythm that helped take her mind off of her emotional morning. Truth be told, she’d been hoping for a huge crowd at the bar so she wouldn’t have to do much thinking at all. Based on the sheer volume of people flooding in through the front doors, she was going to get her wish.

As she followed Cooper across the room toward the stage, she tried to get a decent look at the guy Cooper had booked for tonight’s entertainment. She hadn’t been able to see the sign out front when she got in because there were actually cars in the parking lot already, which had surprised her.

“Who is this?” she asked Cooper, his hands flexing over hers.

As soon as they reached the mountainous cowboy, Cooper said, “Tessa, I’d like you to meet Dalton Calhoun. Dalton meet Tessa Donovan. She’s the owner of The Rusty Nail.”

Ok, so maybe she wasn’t the biggest country music fan, but she definitely knew who that was. She’d have to be a hermit not to have seen or heard something about the guy over the last few years. She should’ve known. His name was mentioned with the likes of Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, and of course, Cooper Krenshaw.

Cooper’s arm came around her, and he kissed the top of her head gently while she shook hands with Dalton. Glancing up at Cooper briefly, she then looked back at the guy who would be gracing her stage tonight. “Sorry, I’m not usually star struck, but…”

“Damn, Calhoun, I didn’t even get that kind of reception from her.” Cooper laughed, and Tessa blushed.

“See, that’s where he’s wrong,” Tessa added, “I remember very clearly how this cowboy had his hands on me that night.”

Cooper’s roar of laughter made her heart leap. For the first time all day, she actually smiled, feeling his amusement all the way to her toes. The feeling made her feel significantly lighter than she had before.

“Should’ve known,” Dalton said with a rusty chuckle of his own. “Well, it’s a pleasure to be here.”

Dalton’s smooth, country drawl rivaled Cooper’s and that was saying something. Tessa still found she liked the guttural sound of Cooper’s voice better. But then again, she was sort of biased.

“It’s our pleasure,” Tessa said, trying to find her backbone. She wasn’t the blushing type.

“Oh! My! God!” The familiar voice sounded over the low rumble of conversation taking place in the bar. The shriek that followed had almost everyone turning to the front door.

“Yep, that’s Izzy,” Tessa mumbled, laughing at her best friend.

“If you need any help,” Tessa turned to Dalton, “that guy over there is her husband. He can’t control her much, but he might be able to protect you.”

Cooper’s and Dalton’s rumbled laughter filled the space at the same time Izzy came running over. She stopped just a few feet away from Dalton, staring up at him like he hung the moon. Lord. The woman was something else.

“You’re Dalton Calhoun! Oh. My. God,” Izzy said, barely containing her own excitement. “Eric! Did you see this! It’s Dalton Calhoun!”

“Yep, baby. I saw him already,” Eric’s rich baritone echoed from across the bar, sounding amused.

“Can I touch you?” Izzy asked seriously, her eyes sparkling like stardust as she stared at the much bigger cowboy.

“Yes, ma’am,” Dalton said after getting the go ahead nod from Eric across the bar.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Izzy was plastered against him, her arms wrapped around him as she squeezed him tightly. When Izzy finally stepped back a solid minute or two later, she was beaming brightly at Tessa.

“Did you see this?” Izzy asked in a conspiratorial whisper that the entire bar probably heard.

“I saw. It’s Dalton Calhoun,” Tessa confirmed, her head turning as she caught Katie walking past them, toward the bar.

“Hey, Katie,” Tessa called out to her. “Come over here and meet Dalton Calhoun.”

Katie looked almost as star struck as Izzy had a few minutes ago as she approached slowly, her ponytail bobbing like her energy was too much to contain and had to find an outlet.

“Go on, girl,” Izzy encouraged. “You can touch him.”

The group laughed, and Katie, with a brilliant glint in her eyes, moved up and put her arms tentatively around Dalton. The man actually put his arms around her in a very intriguing protective hug that nearly had Tessa’s mouth dropping open.

“Nice to meet you,” Katie said sweetly, her face almost as red as the glowing exit sign near the back door.

“My pleasure, darlin’,” Dalton crooned in a low voice that had Tessa glancing up to look at Cooper. He seemed just as taken by Dalton’s apparent interest in the pretty waitress.

And just like that, Katie was off toward the other side of the bar, followed by Izzy close on her heels, the two women chattering about Dalton. At one point, Katie actually glanced back, and that’s when Tessa noticed that Dalton was still staring after her.

“Man, you all right?” Cooper asked his buddy with a loud clap on the back.

Dalton turned his head, a slow grin tipping his lips. “Never better. You ready to get this show on the road?”

“Always.” Cooper turned and pressed his lips to Tessa’s, making her blush like a school girl before he sauntered back toward the stage, leaving her to stare in his wake.

Wow. The difference a few weeks could make. Tessa still couldn’t believe how Cooper Krenshaw had crash landed in her life and left such a monumental impression that she was standing here, staring at him as though she were a woman in love.

Oh, hell.

Tessa squeezed her eyes shut.

Yep, that trouble she knew she was going to be in had finally caught up to her.

Shit.

Chapter Twenty Three

Two hours later, the bar was jumping. The sound of two cowboys entertaining the rowdy crowd, singing like they’d been born on the stage, filled the room. The energy was significantly different from what Tessa was used to when they had a performer up there. These two guys had a rhythm about them that had nearly everyone moving. According to her cousin Shane, there was a line that wrapped around the building, and it looked like they’d all be turned away soon enough.