Billionaire Husband Test (Billionaire Online Dating Service) (9 page)

Cooper ducked his head. He didn’t want her to know he’d been chatting with her brother. She wouldn’t be too happy they’d been discussing her. When she reached the front door, she cast one last glance their way then slipped out.

“Does she like to dance?” Cooper asked as he stood, plunking his cowboy hat on his head.

“Yes, but she hasn’t since Marcus died. And she prefers the waltz to two-stepping. Or at least she did with Marcus.” Ace patted his back, giving him a little shove. “Go. She’ll be taking my truck since she rode with me. It’s a black four-by-four parked beneath the lamp post near the rear. You can beat her to it, if you go out the back.”

“Thanks.” Cooper wove through the crowd, slipped behind the bar and through the doorway leading to the back of the saloon.

A large women, dressed in black jeans, a black shirt and a stern expression stepped in his path. “This area is off limits.”

Cooper ground to a halt, stopping short of plowing into the battleaxe. “I need to get to my girl before she leaves.” He made a move to go around the woman.

She blocked him. “Sorry. You’ll have to leave through the front door.”

The big woman refused to budge, and short of manhandling her, Cooper had to follow her advice.

“Greta Sue, it’s okay, let the man pass.”

Cooper spun to face a pretty, petite strawberry-blonde.

The younger woman smiled and waved the bouncer aside. “Ace says you’re in a hurry to catch his sister. Don’t let us stand in the way of love.”

Cooper tipped his hat. “Thanks. I owe you.” He frowned as he stepped past Greta Sue. “By the way, who are you?” he asked as he sprinted for the exit.

“Audrey Anderson,” she called out. “I own the Ugly Stick Saloon.”

“Thanks again, ma’am.” He pushed through the back door and out into the gravel parking lot, making a note to himself to return and thank the woman properly.

Not until he found the truck beneath the lamp post did Audrey’s uttered words hit him.
She didn’t want to stand in the way of love
…

Cooper stood for a moment, digesting the meaning. Love? Him? Hell, he’d only met the woman once. Love was something you grew into. Or at least, that’s what he’d been told. He’d yet to fall in love, and the foster homes he’d lived in hadn’t shown him a single example of what love should be. The only reference he had was the kind of love he’d seen in movies. Based on the tabloids, even movie stars fell in and out of love in the length of time a cold took to run its course.

What was he doing, standing outside in the dark…okay under a dingy yellow light…waiting for a woman who loved a dead man? He was supposed to be a smart man. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be a billionaire. Then why was he mooning over a woman he couldn’t have?

Was he compelled because he couldn’t have her? Everything else came easy to him lately, now that he had money. Women who knew he was rich threw themselves at him. He could have any one of them without going to all this effort.

Could the truth be that he liked the challenge of Emma Jacobs? What would happen when he captured her attention, maybe even her love? Would he grow bored and leave her?

Holy hell
. What was he thinking? All these thoughts took only seconds to whip through his brain. He stepped out, ready to go back to the bar or leave.

A woman, not Emma, rounded the corner of the building. Or rather staggered around the corner and fell to her knees.

“Ruth, wait.” Emma emerged immediately behind her. “You’re too drunk. You can’t drive.”

“Have to get away.” The woman named Ruth sat back on her haunches, her head hanging down, hair covering her face. “That jerk.”

“Honey, let me help you.” Emma soothed her with a hand stroking her back while the other hooked the woman’s arm and tried to lift her. Her voice was soft, gentle, caring.

Cooper’s heart swelled. Emma was one of those women who’d do anything for a friend, even take her car keys to keep her from doing something stupid.

“No.” Ruth shoved Emma’s hands away. “I got this.” She staggered to her feet, dug in her pocket for her keys and half-walked, half-fell toward a tiny, bright red Mazda Miata with a rag top.

Emma chased after Ruth and snatched the keys from her hand. “I’m not letting you drive like this.”

Cooper stepped away from Ace’s truck. “Need a hand?”

Emma jumped and spun to face him, dropping into a ready stance.

Cooper suspected she was ready to kick butt to protect herself and her friend. He grinned and raised his hands. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. You look like you could use a hand.”

“Don’t need a man,” Ruth slurred and fell against the car. “Nothin’ but trouble…” The woman’s eyes rolled to the back of her head and she slid toward the ground.

Before Emma could catch Ruth, Cooper leaped forward and scooped her up. The alcohol on her breath made him reel. “She’s not driving.”

“I can take her home,” Emma said.

“No.” Ruth’s head lolled. “Call my brother.”

Emma touched a hand to the woman’s cheek. “It’s not a problem, really.”

“Brother.” Ruth passed out again.

Emma shrugged, tugged her cell phone from her purse and scrolled through her contact list before punching one. She pressed the phone to her ear and stared at Cooper over the inert drunk woman. “Pete? Emma Jacobs. Ruth asked me to call you. Yeah, she’s sort of okay. She needs a ride home from the Ugly Stick. Yeah, a little too much. Five minutes? Great. We’ll be waiting in the back parking lot.”

Emma’s gaze never left Cooper’s as she spoke to Pete on the phone.

The heat her gaze generated made holding a drunk well worth the effort.

When she hung up, Emma tipped her head sideways. “When Pete gets here, we need to talk.”

Cooper tipped his head.

He could tell she wasn’t happy about seeing him. But something about the way Emma carried herself—self-assured, determined, yet vulnerable—made Cooper keep coming back. Maybe he had some masochistic tendencies, given the pain of her consistent rejection. Perhaps he saw something behind the wall she’d erected around her heart.

All he knew was he had to find a way through that wall. He suspected that beneath the rubble piled over her heart, he’d find a treasure. Cooper hoped she’d give him enough time to mine for the truth.

Chapter Seven

Five minutes of semi-silence, laced with the thrum of muted music radiating through the walls of the saloon, and with Ruth’s occasional rise to consciousness and incoherent slurs slid by like molasses in the winter.

The entire time Emma alternated between anger at Cooper’s appearance and a strange joy she found more disturbing than she could have imagined.

Pete pulled up in a rusty pickup and settled his sister in the front seat. “Thanks, Emma.”

Emma sighed. “She’d do the same for me.”

Pete shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that drunk. Ever.” He hugged Emma. “Thanks for keeping Ruth off the road.”

When the truck pulled away, Emma chose anger over joy and faced Cooper, hands jammed on her hips. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Cooper grinned. “Nice to see you, too.”

Guilt forced Emma to soften her voice. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight.”

“I know.”

“So, why are you here? Don’t you live in Dallas?”

“I have a place not far from here. Felt like having a beer, so I dropped in.”

“Just happened to drop in?” Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Cooper. She didn’t believe him. Had he come to see her? Butterflies stirred the beer in her gut. “Funny, I’ve never seen you at the Ugly Stick.”

“Probably because most of my business keeps me busy and running to Dallas. I haven’t taken much time to go out lately. Something I vow to change.”

Emma rummaged in her pockets for the keys. “Well, I hope you enjoy it. I’m headed home.”

“Look, since you’re here, do you think you could spare a single dance?”

Her heart fluttered, heat pooled low in her belly, and her breath came in tight, shallow pants. “No.” She hadn’t danced with a man since Marcus left for the war. “No.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve done a two-step. If I’m to give Leslie’s program another shot, I could use a few lessons.” He smiled, an eyebrow lifted. “I promise not to step on your toes too often.”

The reference to Leslie did the trick. “You do realize you’re using emotional blackmail, don’t you?”

Cooper’s grin broadened. “Yes, ma’am. Whatever it takes. I have two left feet and I couldn’t possibly jump back into the dating scene without a little help.”

Emma hesitated. Her mind told her to run as fast as she could, but her body leaned toward Cooper. An errant thought pushing its way into her subconscious. What would it be like to be held by the tall dark cowboy? To have his arms close around her and guide her to the rhythm of the music? A long time had passed since she’d had a man’s arms around her…arms that didn’t belong to one of her brothers.

“Just one dance. That’s all I’m asking. Then we can both go our separate ways.” He lifted her hand, his fingers closing around hers, sending electric shocks skittering along her nerve endings. “Please.”

She snatched away her hand.  Emma’s head told her this was a bad idea. But when she opened her mouth… “Fine. But only one. Then I’m headed home to bed.”

As soon as the last word left her mouth, she could have bit off her tongue. The mention of bed led to more lusty thoughts than she’d intended.

“Shall we go back in?” Cooper waved one hand toward the saloon.

Emma didn’t want to face her brothers. They’d consider the night a success if she danced with Cooper in front of them. And she didn’t want to add to their disappointment when she left Cooper behind. “No, the music is loud enough we can do it out here.”

Cooper’s lips curved upward. He reached for her hands and drew her into his arms.

Emma held back, keeping a distance of six inches between them, afraid of her body’s reaction. Lust was a natural instinct, one that could spike as skin touched skin and music stirred the soul. The emotion didn’t replace love, she reminded herself—the love she’d shared with Marcus.

But the heat sure muddied the waters.

“You’ve done the two-step before, right?” She stared up into Cooper’s eyes. Another mistake. He tipped his head, allowing the light from overhead to shine beneath the rim of his cowboy hat and into his face, making the blue of his irises sparkle like diamonds.

Emma caught her breath.

“I did the two-step back in my college party days, but I’m pretty rusty.” The muscles of his shoulders bunched beneath Emma’s palm as his hand slipped down low on her waist, his fingers warm and firm.

“It’s easy,” Emma squeaked, finding breathing hard with Cooper’s hand heating her back and other areas farther south. “You start out on your left foot with a step-together, then a full step and another step.”

“Like this?” His grip tightened and he stepped out with a quickstep.

Emma moved with him easily, the pattern simple and easy to follow with the music thrumming through the tin walls of the Ugly Stick. “Yes. That’s it.” They moved around the gravel parking lot, swaying to the beat, perfectly synchronized as if they’d danced together for a lifetime.

The moon shone full and bright, stars twinkled from the heavens and a soft late summer breeze lifted the hair off the back of Emma’s neck.

For a moment, she could pretend they were alone in the world, only the two of them. No brothers interfering, no past, no future, no expectations, just the present and a single dance. Emma relaxed and let the music and Cooper’s lead carry her.

As the song ended, another started—this one slow, sensuous, a song meant for belt-buckle-polishing closeness. Without missing a step, Cooper pulled Emma closer.

She melted against him, her cheek resting against his chest. The scent of soap, aftershave and male wafted through her senses as the hard ridge beneath his fly pressed into her belly.

Molten heat roiled through her body, and as if of their own volition, her hands rose to circle behind Cooper’s neck.

Both of his claimed her lower back, nudging her even tighter against him as the muffled music droned on. They swayed slower and slower until they came to a standstill.

The music flowed on around them, but Emma couldn’t move. Her gaze rose to the sparkling blue of Cooper’s, reflecting the starlight.

His mouth came down over hers, gentle at first, then with increasing pressure, his tongue pushing past her lips and teeth to stroke the length of hers.

Emma’s fingers laced through Cooper’s dark hair, knocking the hat from his head.

Something about exposing the cowboy’s head to the moonlight made Emma’s nipples tightened and rub deliciously against the lace of her bra, a leg circling behind Cooper’s.

“Hey, get a room,” a man called out.

Emma pushed away from Cooper, her eyes wide, her heart hammering against her ribs. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

Cooper reached out with both arms. “But it did.”

Her head shaking back and forth, Emma pressed a fist to her lips. “No. It can’t. I love Marcus.”

Cooper’s jaw tightened and his arms fell to his sides. “Emma, Marcus is gone.”

With pain radiating through her chest, Emma pressed a hand against her breast to ease it. “I have to go.” She spun and ran for Ace’s pickup. Once inside, she blindly jabbed the key into the ignition. She took three tries to get it in. Then she yanked the gear into reverse and spun out of the parking lot.

Despite her determination not to, Emma glanced in her rearview mirror.

Cooper scooped his hat off the ground and stood in the glow of the overhead light, watching her. Then he ran his hand through his hair.

Emma’s fingers tingled with the remembered texture of that hair. She forced her focus on the road, her hands tightening around the steering wheel, the night blurring past as she sped home.

Once inside the ranch house, she raced for her room and dragged a box from beneath the bed. One by one, she pulled out pictures, keepsakes and articles of clothing. All belonging to Marcus and their life together. Nelson trotted into the room and lay down beside her, his golden chin resting on her thigh.