Champion (Studs in Spurs) (2 page)

Whatever the reason for it, the style made Cooper want to set her confined tresses free. Watch her hair cascade down her back so he could run his hands through the silky strands. Bury his nose in it and see what she smelled like up close.

“I had the late shift at the diner. Good tips on a Saturday night, so I don’t mind too much.”

“And Skeeter? Where’s he while you’re working?”

“He’s home. Hopefully in bed sleeping, though more likely he’s up watching television. When his grandfather was alive, they’d be home together while I worked, but my father’s no longer with us.”

“Yeah. Skeeter mentioned that. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. Anyway, Skeeter refuses to stay with a sitter anymore. He’s eleven now. I was babysitting other people’s kids at his age, so I guess I can’t argue. And I’ve known our neighbors forever so he could always go to them if he got scared.” She drew in a breath and let it out before continuing. “I suppose compared to letting him ride those damn bulls he loves so much, leaving him home alone for a few hours is nothing.”

She sounded weary. It made Cooper want to wrap his arms around her and hug her. The urge was so unlike him that it set his head spinning. But hell, maybe it wasn’t such a strange impulse after all, because he wanted to do far more than just hug her. At least that urge was familiar territory.

“Here we are. Home, sweet home.” She’d already pulled into his driveway, but until she’d said something, he hadn’t realized it. He’d been so enthralled by this woman and the unnecessarily hard life she lived that he hadn’t noticed they’d already covered the short distance to his place.

He wanted to say something before he got out and let her drive away. “He’s a great kid, Hannah. God knows, I’m no expert, but I think you’re doing a really good job with him.”

“Thanks.” She let out a sigh. “It just doesn’t feel like enough. If you didn’t let him come here to work and ride, he’d have no man in his life at all. That’s no way for a boy to grow up.”

Unable to deal with the enormity of the reality that he was the only male influence in this impressionable kid’s life, Cooper shook his head. “Having no father in his life is far better than having a bad one. Believe me, I know.” He’d learned that from his own childhood.

Still, a question remained. Why this woman was alone was beyond him. Were men nowadays so stupid they couldn’t recognize a keeper when they saw one? Cooper could see clearly Hannah was just that, but he wasn’t in the market for a wife or a kid.

The outdoor light on his front porch filtered into the car so he could see her as she shook her head. “I just want more for him, you know?”

“You deserve more too. So much more. One day, you’re gonna get it.” Just because Cooper couldn’t have a future with her, didn’t mean he shouldn’t make her feel better about herself.

She raised her eyes to meet his. “You think so? I’m not so sure.”

“I know so.” Cooper found himself leaning toward her as she leaned in toward him. When had they gotten so close? He could hear every breath she took even over the sound of the motor running.

“Thanks. I hope you’re right.” Her gaze dropped to his lips before she raised it back to his eyes.

Crap. He could think of nothing else but closing that distance and kissing this woman, even though she was the last person on earth he should be kissing. “Hannah.”

“Yeah?” She latched onto her lower lip with her teeth.

He tracked the movement with his eyes. “I can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

He swallowed but his throat still felt dry. “Kiss you.”

“But you’re not kissing me.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“No, but I want to.”

Her eyes narrowed. “And I want you to.”

“Christ.” Sanity lost, he crashed his mouth against hers.

She responded with an enthusiasm to match his own, reaching up and grabbing the back of his head with both hands. She slid her tongue between his lips and he groaned. After being with girls who were too young to know what the hell they wanted, it felt good being with a woman who not only knew, but was ready to take what she needed from him.

Hannah sat facing him in the seat with one knee bent. When Cooper reached out, he connected with the bare skin of her leg.

Her skirt and the position made it too damn easy for him. He slid his hand up the inside of her thigh. She dragged in a ragged breath through her nose. That only encouraged him to go where he knew he shouldn’t, all the way to the crotch of her underwear. She responded by leaning in and kissing him harder, tangling her tongue with his.

He rubbed a thumb over her clit through the soft cotton and a visible shudder ran through her. Christ almighty, she was sensitive. He repeated the action, and Hannah rewarded him with a tiny sound so raw and full of need it sent a shiver down his spine.

What he could do with some time, a little more space and her naked. Or hell, even if he just slid that finger beneath those underwear and into her. What would she do when he spread her wide and worked her clit in earnest?

His mind boggled at the thought—before the image of Skeeter’s goofy grin careened into his brain.

Cooper remembered how excited the kid had been when he’d agreed to take him on for lessons. How Skeeter had run to tell his mother, smiling from ear to ear. How concerned she’d looked when she’d no doubt began to calculate the many costs of having a son who wanted to learn to be a bull rider.

What kind of a man was he, taking advantage of a woman like Hannah?

The girl he’d picked up at the bar was inside, and he was just yards away with his hand up the dress of the mother of one of his students. He was one sick motherfucker. The accuracy of that particular term in this situation would have made him laugh, if he hadn’t been so disgusted with himself.

Cooper pulled his hand away and broke the kiss. “Hannah, I can’t do this.”

“I know. I’m not the kind of woman you’re used to. I’m not all doe-eyed and just out of school. I don’t own pretty clothes. I’m just plain and old and tired.” Pulling away, she dropped her arms from around his neck and let out a breath. “It’s okay. I understand. You’re not interested.”

“You shut the hell up.” He grabbed her face in his hands to force her to look at him. “You’re not any of that. You’re amazing. Any man would respect and admire you. Any woman should want to be like you.” Cooper dropped his hold on her. “And that’s why you need to steer as far away from me as you can. You deserve a man far better than me, Hannah. You and Skeeter both.”

“What do you mean?” A crease marred her brow as she shook her head. “Cooper, you’re the best man I know.”

“No, I’m not.” He let out a snort. How could she be so grounded in some respects and so naïve in others?

“You are. You took on teaching my son for free when you knew I couldn’t afford to pay you.”

He waved her gratitude away. “So what? That’s nothing but some time I would have wasted doing something else otherwise.”

“It’s not nothing. It’s absolutely everything to Skeeter.”

Cooper was in no position to be everything to anyone. Not to the kid or to her. “Let me tell you about me. I’m drunk most days. I spend far too much money. I don’t give a shit about anybody but myself and I’ll fuck any woman who’ll spread her legs for me.”

He’d been deliberately harsh. He had to be, because she was looking at him with hero worship he didn’t deserve and wasn’t sure he could resist.

Hannah shook her head. “Even if that’s all true, I don’t care about any of it.”

He let out a laugh. “You should care.”

“Maybe I’m tired of doing what I should.” Her tone told him he could have her right here, right now, if he wanted. This woman had been so trodden upon by life, and probably by Skeeter’s father too. Cooper could unzip his jeans, shove those plain cotton drawers of hers to one side and plunge his cock into her, no questions asked.

It would be very tempting to do exactly that. But for once in his life, he was going to do the right thing. Unlike the girl inside, who he had no intention of ever running across again, Hannah was someone he’d have to see. Soon too. The next time this sweet, hardworking, caring woman brought her son around.

Cooper knew exactly where his soul would be going when the time came to put him in the ground, and it wasn’t where this woman would end up when her time came. He wouldn’t be the one to tarnish her goodness.

“Go home, Hannah. It’s late.” He opened the door, grabbed the bag with the beer inside from the floorboard and climbed out of the car. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Wait. Should I still bring Skeeter over to work next week…or not?” Her question, as well as the hesitation he heard in it, stopped Cooper dead in his tracks. When he turned back, he saw the uncertainty in her expression. All it did was make him angry. At her for not being stronger and threatening to kick his ass if he did back out of their deal over something like this. At himself for acting like a horny prick with his hand up her skirt in the front seat of her car.

“Of course, you bring him. Dammit, Hannah, don’t you see? Skeeter’s what’s keeping me from burying myself in you so deep neither one of us would come up for air for hours. Yes, I’ll still work with him, I’ll teach him, but you need a good man to be a father to him and a husband to you. That man sure as fuck ain’t me.” Cooper remembered the other thing that had yanked him away from Hannah’s tempting lips. “Now, ’scuse me. I need to get back inside because there’s a girl I barely know waiting on me to fuck her. And I’m gonna, then say goodbye and hope I never see her again. That’s the kind of guy I am, Hannah. You need to remember that.”

She pursed her lips and shook her head. “No. That’s the kind you think you are, but you’re not. Not really.”

Cooper let out a breath. “Woman, you need to believe a man when he tells you the truth.”

“When you do, I will.”

Now, she decides to grow a backbone.

Shaking his head, Cooper slammed the door of the car and took a step back. God help Hannah and her misplaced blind faith. It was bound to get her hurt. The one thing he could take solace in was that he’d come to his senses in time. He wouldn’t be the one to hurt her.

He turned and headed for the house, afraid if he waited and watched her drive away, he’d regret his decision. Bad enough that he regretted not being the kind of man she needed in her life, because damn, he’d sure enjoy having her in his for a little while.

Laurie, or Lauralee, or whatever the hell her name was, was sound asleep on the sofa when he walked through the living room. He continued on to the kitchen and slid the beer onto the shelf of the fridge before he went back out to her. She could sleep more later. Right now, he was frustrated and hard as a rock after the encounter in the car with Hannah.

“Wake up, darlin’. Time for bed.” He nudged her foot with the toe of his boot.

“Mmm?” She wrinkled her nose and cracked her eyes open. “What time is it?”

“Time to get out of those clothes and underneath me, that’s what time it is. I’ve got a hankering for some of that sweet loving of yours.” He bent down and flung the girl over his shoulder.

Yup, just as he’d figured. She didn’t weigh a whole lot more than a sack of feed.

She squealed as he carried her toward his room. He only hoped she fucked as well as she sucked, because he had a pretty big need to slake, and she was the only one who was around to handle it. He was in the mood for some good hard pounding. Maybe that would drive the memory of Hannah’s sweet kisses out of his head.

Hannah. The one woman on earth he’d never be able to have. Of course, that made her the one woman he wanted. He was sure fucked up, but he was too damn old to go changing now.

Chapter Two

“Mom, what took you so long? I have to get to Cooper’s or he’ll have done all the afternoon chores before I get there.”

“What took me so long?” Hannah leveled her gaze at her son. “Hmm, well, let’s see. I had to go home, change from my scrubs into my waitress uniform, make you a sandwich for your dinner and drive here.”

She didn’t mention she’d taken the time to fix her makeup as well. She’d done that each and every time she’d dropped off or picked up Skeeter over the past two weeks. Though why she bothered, she didn’t know. She envisioned Cooper, grocery-store bag in hand, heading toward his house and the pretty young thing he said had been waiting for him in his bed…all after he’d kissed Hannah silly, woken parts of her she’d have rather left sleeping, and then rejected her.

Crazy. A woman her age, a mother of an eleven-year-old, should know better. Yet she still glanced at her reflection in the rearview mirror to make sure she looked okay while Skeeter tossed his school bag into the backseat and reached for the seat belt.

Once her son was safely buckled in, Hannah threw the car into gear. She felt that all too familiar flutter in her belly as she turned out of the school lot and headed toward Cooper’s place. How long was that going to happen before her body finally got the message her mind knew so well—Cooper wasn’t interested in her that way. If he had been, he wouldn’t have walked away from her that night, no matter what.

The ranch came into view and the beating of Hannah’s heart picked up speed. It was all she could do not to press harder on the accelerator to reach her destination faster. That would have been fine with Skeeter. He looked ready to leap from the car before she even came to a stop.

She parked between the house and the barn, disappointed to see Cooper wasn’t outside or anywhere in view.

“Thanks, Mom.” Skeeter swung the passenger door wide.

“Wait. You forgot your sandwich.”

“Aw, Mom. I’m not hungry.” It seemed eleven-year-old boys had whining down pat.

“You will be before I come pick you up after I’m done with the dinner shift.”

“Listen to your mother, kid.” Cooper’s deep voice had Hannah’s heart clenching.

She hadn’t heard him walking up to the driver’s window since all her attention had been on Skeeter as he tried to escape out the passenger door without taking his dinner.

“Grab your sandwich and go put it in the kitchen fridge,” he continued, unaware of how just hearing his voice sent a shiver through her. “We’ll get the chores done and then we’ll break for some eats.”

“You think I can get on some bulls today?” Skeeter asked Cooper over the roof of the car.

“Yeah, you can get on some bulls, if you do everything I tell you, like eating the sandwich your mother went to the trouble of making you.” The tenor of his voice shot straight to Hannah’s core, making her insides clench with need. It heated her in spite of the amusement she heard in his tone at her son’s question.

“Yes, sir.” Skeeter leaned back into the car. “Where is it, Mom?”

Trying not to feel bad that her own son did what Cooper asked without question while all he did was argue with her, she lifted the brown paper bag from between the seats. He grabbed it and slammed the car door with a quick thanks and sprinted for the house.

Swallowing hard from the nerves that had her pulse racing whenever she was near this man, Hannah turned in her seat to face Cooper as he stood next to the car, looking as good as ever. He was all long legs and hard muscles and she couldn’t help but imagine running her hands—or her tongue—over all of him. She realized she probably should say something or else run the risk that he might leave.

She wanted nothing more than for him to stay, even if all she could do was look at him. “Thanks for that.”

“For what?” He cocked a brow above those golden-brown eyes flecked with green. Eyes she could stare into for hours and never get bored of…especially if he was braced over her in bed at the time. It was images such as those that had her throat closing, making it hard to speak or even think around him.

“For keeping him in line. I could have talked until I was blue in the face and he wouldn’t have listened. Meanwhile, one word from you and he does whatever you say.” Talking about Skeeter with Cooper helped wrest her mind back from her pointless romantic fantasies about this man.

“Eh, he listens to me because I have something he wants. He knows if he doesn’t do what I say, he doesn’t get on any bulls later.” His crooked grin tipped up one corner of his mouth, drawing her attention to his lips and the memories of that kiss.

Cooper had something Hannah wanted too, but it had nothing to do with his animals.

She forced her gaze up to his eyes, in shadow beneath the brim of his cowboy hat. “Maybe I should get a bucking bull or two of my own. Keep ’em over at my place to use as leverage over my son when he won’t eat his broccoli.”

He laughed, the action reaching all the way to his eyes as they crinkled in the corners. “That I’d like to see.”

If Cooper would come over and help her tend the animals, she might consider it—if she had more than a postage-stamp-sized yard. The lawn at her house couldn’t sustain any animal much larger than a cat or maybe a small dog. Definitely nothing of the bovine variety.

“Thanks for taking him today.” She didn’t want to leave. How long could she keep making small talk just so she didn’t have to part with this man? How long before he saw her for what she really was—a silly woman with a huge schoolgirl crush?

He dipped his head. “My pleasure. As always. Heading to work now?” His focus dropped to her uniform.

Remembering the feel of his hand on her bare skin that night, if only for a few seconds, had Hannah glancing down at her required work wear and wishing it was more flattering. “Yeah. Dinner shift at the diner, but I don’t have to close so I can leave right after the rush. I should be able to get here to pick him up a little after seven, maybe seven thirty. Is that too late?”

“It’s fine.”

“Okay. Good. Thanks.” God almighty, she needed to work on her flirting skills. Though in her own defense, she had sat in this very seat a couple of short weeks ago and kissed Cooper. That she was still able to speak to him at all was pretty amazing. “Um, so I’ll see you later then.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He tipped his hat. “Have a good night, Hannah.”

“Thanks. You too.”

It wasn’t until he stepped around the car and headed up the stairs to the porch of the house that she felt she could breathe again.

She backed the car up and maneuvered around so she could pull out of the drive. A four-hour shift at the diner and then she’d be back here, holding her breath and hoping to see him again. Only then, her less-than-attractive uniform would be stained and she’d smell like food. She let out a sigh. Her only hope was that the scent of greasy fries acted as an aphrodisiac on him. Otherwise, the possibility of her attracting Cooper Holbrook looked pretty bleak.

A few hours later, Cooper reached into the fridge and grabbed a cold bottle of beer. The kid’s mother would be there to get him soon. He didn’t see any reason why he couldn’t kick back with a brew now that his workday was done.

The stock was all fed and watered and so was the kid. Skeeter was eating his sandwich and drinking his sweet tea. He’d insisted on riding before he’d eat, so it was late for dinner, but better late than never, he figured.

Time to relax and wind down. Cooper pried the cap off his bottle and tossed the opener onto the counter. He leaned back against the edge of the sink and took a sip. As the cold liquid slid down his throat, chasing away the dryness, he watched the kid dig into the sandwich his mama had made him.

Skeeter was like a ball of contained energy. He vibrated with it, even after chores, a hard workout on the bucking barrel and then a few buck-offs in the practice ring that had knocked the wind right out him.

A man had to appreciate a boy like that. Cooper decided to tell him so. “You did good today, kid.”

His wide-eyed gaze whipped up. “Really?”

“Yeah, really.” Cooper smiled and then took another pull from the bottle. “Hey, so I was thinking. There’s this competition coming up. It’s a pro rodeo I’m riding in not far from here—”

“Can I come and watch you ride?”

“Yeah, you can come and watch, but if you’d let me finish, I was gonna say there’s a junior division—”

Skeeter’s eyes widened. “Can I enter? How old do I have to be?”

If this kid would let Cooper complete a sentence, he’d have all the answers he wanted.

“As I was saying.” Cooper raised a brow and waited a beat. When the boy didn’t interrupt him again, he continued, “The juniors ride before the main competition starts. You’re old enough to compete—”

The boy’s mouth opened, as if he was about to launch into more questions. Cooper held up his hand to stop him. Skeeter clamped his mouth shut, drawing his lips in like he was trying to lock them to keep from talking.

Cooper had to smile at the effort as he went on, “But you need your mom to sign the waiver and you need to pay the entry fee.”

“How much is it?” That question was asked with far less enthusiasm than the others had been.

He had his suspicions, but Cooper had to wonder exactly how tight the finances were at the Anderson household. “Forty dollars.”

Skeeter’s relief was visible. “Okay. I can pay that. I’ve been saving my money from cutting lawns.”

“A’ight. Sounds like a plan.” Cooper nodded. “You can come in the truck with me if your mom is working. I’m riding, so I’ll be going anyway.”

“Wait.” It was as if a lightbulb went off in the kid’s head. His eyes opened wide. “You’re riding there too?”

“Yup.” Cooper cocked a brow. “That’s what I told you before, while you were too busy asking all your questions to really listen to me.”

Skeeter drew in a breath so big it visibly expanded his chest inside his T-shirt. “I’d be riding in the same competition that you are?”

Cooper let out a laugh as the kid’s eyes got comically wide and it looked as if his eyeballs were in danger of popping out and rolling across the floor. “We’ll be riding at the same event, yes, but it’s not the same competition. The junior division will be scored separately.”

“But we’ll be riding in the same arena on the same day?”

“Yeah, we will.” Cooper nodded.

The kid’s face grew impossibly brighter at that information. “I can’t wait to tell Mom. And the guys at school.”

Smiling, Cooper shook his head, amazed at how it didn’t take all that much to make this kid happy. Hell, more than happy. Ecstatic. He was grinning so wide he could barely eat his sandwich. It warmed Cooper’s heart to know he had even a small part in that.

“So what day is it? The competition, I mean,” Skeeter asked.

“Next Sunday afternoon.”

“Sunday!” The kid’s excitement reached another level. “Mom usually doesn’t have to work on Sundays. Only once in a while at the hospital, but she worked last weekend so that means she won’t have to work this weekend. She’ll be able to come and see me.”

“Yeah. She’ll love that, I’m sure.” Luckily, the kid didn’t pick up on the sarcasm in Cooper’s tone.

The image of Skeeter flat on his back in the arena today, gasping for breath after a hard fall came to mind. That had been the ride after he’d windmilled off the back of another bull and landed face down and sputtering in the dirt

The kid was fine, of course. That he was sitting there devouring a sandwich while chattering was proof of that, but Cooper was sure no mother could watch her son in the arena without feeling every hit herself.

For his age and level of experience, Skeeter was good. He was a natural. Cooper and Glen had both said it and meant it. That he was good was no bullshit, but injuries happened. While riding bulls, it wasn’t a matter of if, but rather a question of when the kid would get hurt. Cooper wasn’t sure Hannah would be able to handle seeing Skeeter hurt, or hell, even be able to watch him have a bad buck-off without an injury.

Nurse or not, Hannah treating injured strangers at the hospital would be a very different experience from witnessing her son get hurt.

That was one thing his own mother had never had to deal with—watching him wreck live in the arena. Cooper’s mother had never seen him ride that he knew of, unless she watched him on television. He wouldn’t know if she did or not, not having seen or talked to her since she’d left. He’d been just about Skeeter’s age at the time.

What kind of mother walked out on her kid, even if things were bad?

A sound outside drew his attention. The car pulling into the gravel drive was a welcome interruption to Cooper’s train of thought. Some memories were better off left buried.

“It sounds like your mother’s here. Finish up your—”

Skeeter jumped up from his seat and streaked out the doorway, leaving the remains of the sandwich behind and Cooper knew he’d lost him. There’d be no more eating. The kid was too excited.

By the time Cooper deposited his beer on the counter and reached the front porch, Skeeter was already leaning into his mother’s window and talking her ear off.

He grinned. The kid had obviously been so anxious to tell her his news he couldn’t even wait to get into the car.

As he ambled closer, Cooper caught the concerned expression on her face and realized he’d most likely fucked up. He should have discussed the competition with her first. Gotten her permission before he got the kid all excited about the idea.

Crap. Dealing with kids was unknown territory for him, riddled with minefields Cooper hadn’t considered.

He strode down the stairs toward the car. He’d better fix this between the kid and his mother before one or the other of them blew up. “Hey, kid. Go on inside and finish eating.”

The boy looked at him with blue eyes so like his mother’s there was no missing the family resemblance. “But I’m done eating.”

“No, you’re not, but after you are, make sure to put your plate and glass in the sink. Take your time about it all too. I’m gonna stay here and talk to your mother about some things. Okay?”

“Okay.” Skeeter scowled a bit but nodded.