“I get it,” Cooper said softly. “It still makes me crazy. When we were in college, getting information from him was like pulling teeth. Kinda like with you.”

Cooper laughed, and the sound eased some of her tension, causing her to laugh too. She knew he was right about Adam because she had thought the same thing in the past. Not that she felt it was a bad thing that they didn’t share their life stories with everyone. Tessa knew how easy it was for someone to hurt you if they knew you. Trust didn’t come easy and, unfortunately, she and Adam had learned that early on with their father.

“I’m sorry. I’m sure it’s easy for you because you’re in the spotlight all the time so you’re used to sharing your deepest, darkest secrets, but I’m not.”

“See, that’s where you’re wrong,” Cooper said gruffly, the warmth of his hand disappearing from her arm and leaving her chilled all of a sudden. The look in his eyes matched the temperature as it plummeted due to the cold chill that ran down her spine.

“Being in the spotlight makes it difficult to keep anything private. The things people learn about me don’t usually come from me or from anyone who knows me.”

Tessa suddenly wanted to do anything to erase the anger off of Cooper’s face. She didn’t want to see him upset or mad, and she knew that her own defensiveness had resulted in this night going so terribly wrong. With a small smile, she reached over and touched his arm. “This not-really-a-date isn’t going all that well, is it?”

For long seconds, Cooper just stared at her. Long enough that Tessa’s stomach started to churn. Just when she pulled her hand back, Cooper’s deep, rumbling laugh echoed through the entire restaurant and Tessa responded with a laugh of her own.

“I’m just glad this isn’t really a date,” Cooper said when he settled.

“Why’s that?”

“Because you still owe me one date,” he replied smoothly.

Well, damn. Now he got her on a technicality.

Sneaky bastard.

Chapter Eleven

By the time Tuesday evening rolled around, Cooper was giddier than a teenage boy on prom night hoping to get laid for the first time. And despite his body’s desperate ache, he found he longed to spend some uninterrupted time with Tessa. Maybe a chance to talk like they had at breakfast, although he would certainly ensure he didn’t pick the wrong topics this time.

Suffice it to say, he was more interested in talking as opposed to just the possibility of sex. He wanted to say that as far as the sex was concerned, he could take it or leave it. However, if it were actually a multiple choice question, he would absolutely pick sex. No questions asked.

Either way, he just wanted to see Tessa again.

He hadn’t bothered to tell her anything about where they were going, so when she called him at three o’clock to ask about what she should wear, his anxiety level had ratcheted up at least one hundred notches. Luckily, he managed to keep a firm grip on his man card by not running straight to her house, and he’d gone over to his new house – new to him, which was certainly the only thing new about it – to take care of a few things.

With electricity and water on, he had opted to head back to the motel and pack up his things, followed by a trip to the big box department store just outside of town. He wouldn’t have any furniture until the movers delivered his things on Thursday, but it wasn’t like he didn’t know how to rough it for a night or two.

Now that he was pulling up to Tessa’s house, the rest of his concerns and priorities flew right out the window. The only thing he could focus on was seeing her.

He was greeted in her front yard by her two dogs. The ones he’d seen the last time he was there, but neither of them seemed any more worried that he was walking up to the house this time than they had last time, so he took that as a good sign. Figuring it couldn’t hurt to butter them up a little, he squatted down on his haunches and gave them each a rub when they sauntered his way.

The front door was only a few steps away, but for him, it seemed like a mile. In all honesty, aside from their impromptu breakfast at IHOP last Friday, Cooper hadn’t been on a real date in longer than he could remember. He’d had his fair share of women over the years, but much to his dismay, he never had to work for it. They were generally waiting for him, some of them even managing to sneak on his tour bus a time or two. And weren’t those just fun times waiting to happen. No challenge whatsoever.

But with Tessa, he didn’t have to worry. The woman was undoubtedly a challenge, and he loved that about her.

As he watched the stunning woman through the screen door as she made her way toward him, all of the women from his past faded away, and he felt like a damn virgin standing naked – even though he was fully dressed – in front of a woman for the first time. Then she smiled at him, and he thought he was going to have to sit down.

“Hey,” he greeted, realizing he didn’t sound all that sure of himself, but shit, he could barely form coherent thoughts, much less words.

The cowgirl was standing not three feet in front of him in a white cotton sundress, her sexy, tan legs beneath the hem that rested just above her knees. Her pink toenails peeked out from her sandals, and all of a sudden, his entire body went hard. Lord have mercy, he wanted to know what she had on under that damn dress.

“You ready?”

Tessa nodded, but her smile didn’t fade, so Cooper accepted that she was still speechless after their phone call earlier. Not only had he told her what she should wear, he also told her what he'd like for her to be wearing – which had consisted of absolutely nothing. Needless to say, the conversation after that was laced with enough sexual innuendos that he worried he wouldn’t be able to sit down for a couple of hours.

He pulled open the screen door and waited while she locked up the house and then he followed her with his hand pressed firmly on her lower back. When they reached his truck, Cooper opened her door and then waited while she climbed inside, shutting the door behind her. He took his time walking around the truck, trying not to seem too excited, but if the smile on his face was anything to go by, then Tessa clearly knew he was anxious for this night.

“Where’re we going?” she asked as they were backing out of her driveway a minute later.

“Well, if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?”