Not that he deserved her.

He knew his time was running out. His reality was going to descend on him and this sleepy little town before long. There would probably be reporters crawling out of the woodwork. He didn’t particularly care if they found him, but he knew once they did, they’d start digging around. They would want to know more about the people he was spending his time with. Namely Tessa.

As soon as word got out that he had found a woman, they would be itching for a story. And yes, he was certain they would find out about her because even if he wanted to, he would never be able to deny what he was feeling for Tessa. Hell, it was probably written all over his face.

But he didn’t want Tessa to get caught in the crossfire. Although she hadn’t told him everything about herself, it was clear she was holding something back from him. Hiding something that she didn’t want him to know about, and no matter what it was, she considered it big. Regardless what that was, he knew the tabloids would have a field day when it came to digging into her past, dredging up the pain that she had been through already just because he was with her.

And again, his selfish side was roaring to the front. As much as he wanted to shield her from all of that, Cooper didn’t want to let her go. He didn’t want to risk losing her. But he knew Marcus was going to show up soon. Even if he didn’t admit he was running, Cooper knew it appeared that way.

And they would find him. Which meant he better be prepared when that time came.

Chapter Eighteen

By the time Thursday night rolled around, Tessa was grateful to be back at the bar. She had spent a lot of time with Cooper during the day. After their rendezvous in the bed of his truck, she had asked him to take her home. He had, but rather than dropping her off and kissing her goodnight, he came in for a while, saying he wasn’t ready to let her go. His sweetness was nearly her undoing. To her surprise, Cooper went home rather than stay the night.

She wasn’t sure whether she was relieved or disappointed about the last part. Or both.

Either way, she woke up that morning to her phone ringing. When she answered, Cooper had advised her that she had half an hour to get ready because he was coming to pick her up. After a quick breakfast at a fast food restaurant just outside of town, he had taken her back to his place, and they spent most of the day supervising the movers as they unloaded a huge moving trailer. Luckily, the movers did most of the work, but after sitting idly by for about an hour, Tessa was no longer able to sit still, so she pitched in.

Helping him to get situated in his house by relocating boxes to the appropriate place was not the only way in which she was introduced to a day in the life of Cooper Krenshaw. Tessa also had the pleasure of seeing what it meant to be stalked by paparazzi.

Apparently, word was now out, and the fact that an eighteen wheeler was delivering Cooper’s personal items to Texas was big news in the country music world. And thus had brought about reporters who would do just about anything to get what Cooper referred to as a money shot.

Tessa was immediately turned off by the fact that someone would want to sit outside Cooper’s house and watch him through a telephoto lens just to see what they could capture on film. Needless to say, they’d had to stay inside in order to avoid the reporters, and after a while, Tessa began to feel claustrophobic.

Aside from that weirdness, their interaction throughout the entire ordeal was comfortable and easy, almost as though they had been spending the day together for quite some time. And true to form, Tessa found she was overthinking the whole relationship, starting at the beginning and trying to nail down where in the world she’d gotten off track. After all of the ways her brain had picked through the events of the last weeks, she still had no idea.

But now that she was back at work, she was hoping to figure out a way to put some space between them. Only because she feared she was getting too close too fast. And surprisingly, for the first time, she was more interested in not running Cooper off than she was worried about these feelings he was dredging up inside of her.

The sound of the microphone feedback had Tessa turning toward the stage. A smile snuck up on her as she watched Cooper move toward the front of the stage, grinning down at the handful of people already on the dance floor. She tried not to keep her eyes glued to him as he started to sing, but admittedly, that was easier said than done. She was enraptured by the man. It was no wonder there were people who’d pay decent money to watch him perform.

It wasn’t until a customer caught her attention that she turned away. “What can I get ya?” she asked the well-dressed man who’d found a seat at the bar.

“Crown and Coke if you don’t mind,” the man said matter-of-factly, his southern drawl distinct and obviously not from Texas.

“Sure thing,” she answered politely as she moved to grab the Crown from the shelf and a clean glass. As she poured, she discreetly scoped him out, taking in his perfectly cut blonde hair, his clean-shaven jaw. He didn’t have on a hat and the suit he sported looked totally out of place in her dimly lit bar.

Once the drink was made, she pushed the glass his way and gave him the price.

“Put it on Coop’s tab.” The brusque manner in which he replied sounded oddly familiar. When he turned his back on her again, she studied him, unable to come up with where she might know him from.

“Excuse me, what?” she asked, glancing over at Eric who had just made his way behind the bar.

“You heard me, sweetheart. Just put it on Coop’s tab.”

“And you would be?” she asked, unable to conceal the irritation in her voice.

“Oh, sorry. I just figured you’d recognize me,” the man said with an air of conceit, turning back to face her as though seeing his entire face would ring a bell.

Nope. Nothin’.

“Sweetheart, the name’s Marcus Evergreen.”

Sweetheart?

Tessa was more than familiar with being called all sorts of endearing terms, after all, she was the main one responsible for providing her customers with alcohol on a nightly basis, but something about the way this guy addressed her made her feel slimy.

Oh, hell.

Did he just say…?

Marcus the Manager.

Oh, Lord. The strange empty feeling in her stomach had nothing to do with the fact that she hadn’t had dinner, and everything to do with why Manager Marcus was sitting in her bar.

Tipping her head at Marcus, as though she actually wanted to greet him, Tessa quickly shot a glance at Eric. Not necessary it would seem because Eric was already easing his way out from behind the bar. If she were lucky, he was about to let Cooper know he had company.