Champion (Studs in Spurs) (4 page)

It would be safer that way for everyone involved. That didn’t mean Cooper wasn’t running that dinner scene in his head. Him, Hannah and the kid, all sitting around a table in a kitchen he imagined being painted a bright, sunny yellow and smelling of the fresh flowers on the table and the hot food on the stove.

Usually when Cooper fantasized about women they were naked. But in this particular daydream, Hannah was in an apron and looking like a happy homemaker from the 1950s. That in itself set off warning bells in his head. It was even more dangerous than picturing her perched on the edge of that kitchen table while he took her hard and fast to slake this need she caused in him.

“Hey, what is the kid’s favorite dinner anyway?” He asked the question to help fill in the details of this extremely ill-advised little fantasy of his. Yeah, he was a glutton for punishment, but as long as this shit remained in his head and he didn’t act on it, he’d be fine.

“Spaghetti and meatballs.” She wrinkled her nose and looked adorable while she lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “Nothing fancy, I know, but it’s what he loves best.”

He laughed. “That sounds about right. Skeeter does like to stick to the basics. Keep things simple.”

So did Cooper. Buckle bunnies and beer. Couldn’t go wrong with both of those after a competition was done. Start throwing in things like a woman who probably cooked as good as she looked, and her son who worshipped the ground he walked on and things would no doubt start to get real complicated, real fast.

Cooper didn’t like complicated. It was about time he remembered that. With that thought in mind, he tipped his hat to Hannah. “Well, if you’ll excuse me. I got somebody I need to talk to.”

“Sure.” Hannah’s sweet smile stuck with him while he walked away.

He imagined he felt her eyes on him as he made a beeline for the girl in the stands. Hannah needed a reality check. This was who he was—a man who enjoyed the moment with no thought for the future. It was about time she saw it for herself and got over that damned hero worship she and her son shared for him.

“Hey, darlin’.” He leaned his forearms on the rail when he’d reached his goal—the sweet thing showing more skin than was proper. He saw the girl react when she realized he was talking to her.

She smiled like the devil was inside her and sashayed a few steps closer to him until she was pressed up against the rail. “Hey yourself, cowboy.”

Cooper wouldn’t let himself glance back at Hannah. He knew she’d seen him, just like he knew him walking away from her to flirt with this stranger would cut her deep. But beneath it all was his certainty that sometimes doing the right thing could hurt a person.

In the long run, this right here would save Hannah the whole truckload of pain that falling for him would surely bring her. He wasn’t the settling-down kind and his upbringing sure as hell hadn’t equipped him to know how to be a father to her kid.

He focused his full attention back on the girl who would hopefully be his future companion for any post-ride activities of the sexual nature. “So, darlin’, tell me you have no plans for after the event and you’ll make me the happiest man in the world.”

If only that were true…

“Cooper’s up to ride. Watch, Mom, or you’ll miss him.”

Skeeter needn’t have worried. For better or worse, Hannah’s gaze had barely left him. She’d watched him strap on the chaps that made him look so damn sexy her palms had started to sweat. She’d seen him clamp his cowboy hat lower onto his head before he climbed into that metal chute that looked too much like a death trap for her liking. And she’d seen the attention the cute young woman in the stands paid to him and the attention he paid her back.

Yup. Hannah hadn’t missed any of it, and all it had done was make her more agitated. She hated her attraction to him as much as she hated the knowledge it wasn’t reciprocal on his part.

The bull bounced in the chute as Cooper lowered himself onto the beast’s back and Hannah hated even more how she worried about his safety when he clearly wasn’t hers to worry about.

She laid her hand on Skeeter’s shoulder and pulled him closer to her in a hug, grateful he, at least, was done riding for today. “How come Cooper doesn’t ride with a helmet like you do?”

“He says it’s because he didn’t learn to ride with one when he was my age. The weight of it could throw his riding off. But he says it’s real important to wear one so that’s why he makes me practice with it on, even if we’re just on the barrel, so I’m used to it. He says he never wants to hear I’ve ever ridden without a helmet on or he’ll give me a whoopin’.” Her son grinned at her. “I don’t think he’d really do it though.”

The chattering had Hannah smiling even as her heart clenched at hearing how much Cooper worried about her son. How he took care of him for her. “I don’t know, sweetie. I wouldn’t take a chance if I were you.”

No matter what he claimed, Cooper was a better dad to Skeeter than her son’s biological father ever had been. It was no wonder she nearly melted whenever Cooper was near. Her poor heart didn’t stand a chance…and he’d be taking that groupie from the stands home with him by the looks of things. That alone should squelch her attraction to this man.

It didn’t.

The clang of the gate had her gaze snapping to the action in the chute. The bull charged into the arena with the man who so often occupied her thoughts astride its back.

It had been heart-stopping to watch her son strapped by a rope around his hand to the back of a bucking animal, no matter what size it had been. Seeing Cooper in the same position, but on a bull twice the size of the one Skeeter had ridden, was nearly as hard for her to witness.

Watching Cooper on TV in the comfort of her living room was easy compared to this. She’d felt so much more detached before seeing a competition live.

Maybe it was harder to judge size and distance on the small television screen. Here, so close, she could see exactly how tight and confining that chute he crawled into was. Exactly how big and powerful these bulls were. How hard these men hit the ground when they fell. How close those deadly hooves came to striking flesh and bone while the fallen riders lay helpless on the ground.

Just feet away, on the other side of the metal rail that separated the people from the action in the arena, the bull bucked and spun. Cooper matched the moves with countermoves of his own. When the bull dipped forward, the man angled backward. As the animal pushed off the dirt into a high jump, he bent at the hips and absorbed the force of it. The moves amazed her. It was as if he defied the laws of nature and gravity.

Over the noise of the crowd, Skeeter chief among those cheering, she could hear her pulse pounding in her ears.

It was an amazing dance, the give and take, action and reaction between man and beast. Even more mind-boggling was that the entire thing lasted only eight seconds. Before she knew it, the buzzer sounded and Cooper was reaching down with his free hand to grab the tail of the rope binding him to the animal.

The bull rope released from around Cooper’s gloved hand and he leapt to the ground. He hit his knees but scrambled immediately to his feet and ran for the rail to dodge the bull still in the arena with him.

The bull fighters did their job and distracted the animal while Cooper ran for the perimeter fencing. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until it all came out in one big whoosh when he finally reached safety.

Skeeter spun to face her, grinning wide. “Did you see that? Isn’t he amazing?”

She let out a short laugh that her son had voiced the exact thing she’d thought while watching Cooper. “Yeah. He is.”

Amazing…and not interested in her. Hannah watched the girl in the stands lean over the rail and wave to get Cooper’s attention. Smiling, he exited the arena, bull rope in hand, and moved closer. Acid ate at Hannah’s stomach as she watched him bask in the glow of the girl’s attention.

“Come on. We have to go congratulate him.” Skeeter took a step in Cooper’s direction.

“No.” Hannah clamped her hand down on her son’s shoulder just before he moved out of reach. “Not right now.”

Frowning, he spun back to face her. “But—”

“Skeeter, give the man some space after his ride. He’ll come see us when he’s ready.”

The scowl told her she’d lost some points with her son over that decree. That couldn’t be helped. No more than she could help Cooper’s preferences as far as which females he’d rather spend his time with. She was his student’s mother and that was all she’d ever be to him. All the wishing in the world wouldn’t change that. It wouldn’t make her eighteen again with her tight pre-baby stomach and perky boobs either. Too bad, since that seemed to be just Cooper’s type.

Chapter Four

A few hours later, Cooper was a little tired, kind of hungry and a bit dustier than he had been at the start of the afternoon, but things were good. He’d scored high and had an envelope filled with that day’s first-place winnings stuffed into the back pocket of his jeans—the jeans that hung open and low on his hips.

Grabbing the envelope before it fell out, he shoved it beneath the dashboard so he could better enjoy the girl he’d also scored at the event.

The dim light of dusk covered the action inside the cab of his truck parked on the edge of the lot. He rocked his hips and plunged into that day’s conquest beneath him on the bench seat. But in spite of that, rather than lose himself in the moment, he couldn’t keep from thinking about how hungry he was. Starving actually, and dammit, the only thing he could think of was spaghetti and meatballs.

Cooper thrust deep and held there, finishing the perfunctory fuck with a groan. His wandering thoughts hadn’t messed with a satisfactory completion to the encounter. He didn’t need to concentrate to get off. Luckily, fucking came as naturally as breathing to him, especially after an event as he rode out the adrenaline highs and lows.

The girl hadn’t come, but he wasn’t feeling all that bad about it. After he’d worked her with his hand for longer than he usually took to get a woman off, he gave in to his knowledge that not all females were created equal in the orgasm department. He’d tried. What more could he do?

It was getting late and Cooper was tired and hungry and done. Reaching down and feeling around on the floorboards, he found an old fast-food paper bag and ditched the used condom inside.

While fixing his jeans, he wished he could ditch the girl as easily. She smiled up at him now, expectation clear in her eyes. He hated seeing that expression on a girl’s face. He could feel the hope radiating off her. She was waiting for him to invite her out, for a meal or a drink. Or maybe she was looking to come back to his place, thinking they’d snuggle all night and wake up in his bed together.

Didn’t these girls think at all before they offered up their pussy on a silver platter to a total stranger? If a date or a future had been his intention, why the hell would he have fucked her in his truck in the parking lot? If he’d wanted to take her back to his home, he would have. And before the sex. Not after.

He’d had no intention of her coming back to his place, which is why he’d had to keep his head bent until his neck ached to avoid hitting the ceiling the whole time he’d been screwing her. It was worth the neck ache though. Always easier to get rid of them at the arena with some bullshit excuse, than it was to get them out of his house later that night or, worst case scenario, the next morning.

“So, you wanna go get a drink or something?” she asked as she straightened her clothes.

“I’d love to, darlin’, but I can’t. I got someone waiting on me at home. I need to get going.” He didn’t mention that someone was Glen, who with any luck would have saved him some of whatever he’d cooked for dinner.

That got the expected reaction. Her eyes grew wide before she frowned and narrowed them at him. She’d made the assumption he’d hoped, that he had a wife or girlfriend at home. That he was a rotten, cheating bastard.

Good. That meant he wouldn’t be seeing this one again. If he did happen to come across her, and if he was inclined toward a repeat, he was sure he could sweet-talk his way around her mad. No problem.

“Can you get back to your car okay?” he asked, giving her one final verbal push out of the truck.

“Yeah. Fine.”

It was a dismissal and she knew it. She barely looked at him as she opened the door and slid to the ground.

He called after her, “Have a good night.”

Her response was more snort than anything else. He couldn’t blame her for being angry. Then again, what did she expect? A ring and a happily ever after for spreading her legs for a man she’d met two hours ago? Shaking his head at the ridiculousness of it all, he fired up the engine. He waited, watching her get safely into her car and start the engine before he backed out of the space.

Pulling the truck onto the highway and heading toward home felt much too good. Most nights after an event, he’d head for a bar to wind down for a bit. Grab a drink and a bite.

Tonight, he had no desire to go out. He wrote that off to the fact he’d already scratched one itch with the girl. A cold beer and a hot meal he could get, and enjoy better, at home. He didn’t need the crowd or noise of a bar for that.

Cooper arrived at the ranch and found Glen in the kitchen. “We got any food? I’m starving.”

Glen glanced up from the sink where he looked way too domestic while scrubbing some dishes. It was a good thing at least one of them didn’t mind doing shit like washing dirty dishes or this place would be a real pigsty.

“Yeah. There’s steak and a baked potato I saved for ya.” He tipped his head toward the counter.

Cooper wrinkled his nose at the meat and potato. He’d had spaghetti on his mind all night, but unless he cooked some, that wasn’t going to happen. He wandered to the fridge for a beer. At least that was one thing he craved he could actually have.

“How’d you do?” Glen asked.

“First place.” Cooper leaned against the counter. “Now ask me how the kid did.”

Glancing over, Glen caught sight of the smug expression on Cooper’s face. His eyes widened. “He didn’t. Did he?”

Cooper grinned wide. “Yup. First place in the junior bull riding for his age group.”

“Hot damn. He must have been bouncing off the rails.”

He laughed at the truth of that. “Yeah, pretty much.”

That kind of energy and happiness was infectious, and Cooper could use some himself right about now. Maybe he should have taken the risk. Accepted Hannah’s invitation and gone to dinner at their house. The kid would have loved that. Hell, Cooper wouldn’t have minded too much either.

By this hour, Skeeter had probably reviewed every second of his winning ride three times over and his poor mother would have had to listen to it each and every time. He knew she would have done it with the same enthusiasm every time too. As if each repetition was the first time. That’s the kind of mother Hannah was.

Cooper opened the drawer and grabbed utensils. He took the plate of leftovers from the counter and slid it onto the kitchen table. He wasn’t kidding when he’d told Glen how hungry he was. He hadn’t taken time to eat before he rode because he’d been too busy—first with the kid and then with ensuring his after-ride activities with the piece of ass. But instead of picking up his knife and fork and digging in to his dinner now, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and hit the number for the kid’s house.

“Hello?” Skeeter greeted Cooper, just as he’d braced himself to hear Hannah speaking into his ear. It was probably better this way. That woman’s gentle voice got to him as much as her damn lip biting did.

He let out the breath he’d been holding. “Hey, kid.”

“Cooper! I forgot to say before, great ride in the short go.”

“Thanks. That’s why I called you. To tell you that you did real good today too. I mean that. You made me proud.” Cooper couldn’t help but notice Glen turn and cock one brow as he listened to the conversation.

“Really? Thanks.” Skeeter’s excitement was tangible, but Cooper wasn’t able to enjoy it with the judgmental expression on the face of the audience of one in attendance.

“You’re welcome, kid. So I gotta go, but I’ll see you next week. Okay?”

“Okay. See ya.”

He disconnected the call and concentrated on the plate in front of him rather than admit he saw the look Glen was still shooting him.

“I thought the reason you didn’t want to date the mother was because of the kid.” It appeared even Cooper ignoring him didn’t prevent Glen from commenting.

“Never said that.” Cooper shook his head.

If he remembered correctly, he’d told Glen he didn’t want to fuck Hannah because of the kid. He didn’t want to date anyone at all. Those were two different things entirely. The guy should keep his facts straight if he was going to stick his nose in things that were none of his business.

Nothing Glen said mattered anyway. He’d seen Hannah’s face today when she saw him with the girl. It was right after the end of the event. Skeeter had dragged her to say goodbye to him. She’d gotten an eyeful of Cooper with his arm around the girl from the stands. He could tell by her expression it had bothered her. Whether that was because she didn’t approve or was envious it wasn’t her, he didn’t know.

Probably a bit of both. He knew women and he knew Hannah. She was interested in him, but he also could assume a good bit about her values. Enough to think that him hooking up with a scantily clad girl who was probably ten years his junior wouldn’t sit well with her.

Either way, the intentional move had served its purpose. After the display he’d put on for her today, Hannah would never go out—or do anything else—with him even if he did break down during a moment of weakness and ask her. That was definitely for the best for all of them.

“You care about that kid.” Obviously, Glen wasn’t letting this drop.

“Yeah. So? I care about that damn stray dog you found on the highway and made us take in too. Doesn’t mean I have to take in the mutt’s mother with him.”

Even while staring at the knife as it sliced through the piece of meat, he could see out of the corner of his eye Glen shaking his head. He managed to ignore it and continue with the meal.

If nothing else, Cooper was real good at ignoring things, his emotions in particular. He had lots of practice at it.

“I figured you’d stop by at the arena today, with it being so close and all. Were you busy doing something here?” Cooper changed the subject. Time to put Glen under the microscope for a bit.

“Yeah, I was going to come over, but something came up.”

His evasiveness caught Cooper’s attention. He glanced up. “Something or someone?”

Glen scowled. “Don’t make more out of it than there is.”

“I won’t, once you tell me what it is.”

He let out a breath and looked miserable before he said, “I’m kind of dating someone.”

Frowning, Cooper put the utensils down and leaned back from the table to better scrutinize Glen. “How the hell are you dating someone? We had those two girls here all night long just a couple of days ago—” The answer hit him like lightning. “You’re dating her? The woman from the other night?”

“Sheila. Yeah, and she’s really nice. You’d know that if you ever took the time to talk to girls instead of just finishing with them and then kicking them out.”

“Excuse me for not wanting the life story of a girl I picked up in a bar and brought home to fuck.” Cooper raised his brows high.

There were women you wanted for a night, and then there were women you wanted to keep around for the long haul. For Glen, that line had apparently blurred.

It didn’t mean Cooper had to go along with him though. He decided to make that perfectly clear up front. “I hope you don’t expect me to start going out with her friend just because you want to keep seeing this Sheila. If you got any crazy ideas about some cozy double date for the four of us you can get that shit out of your mind right now.”

Glen rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because everything’s about you, Coop. I can’t date a woman without you dating her friend? Please. Sheila’s not some buckle bunny from the arena. She doesn’t know or care who you are. She actually likes me for me, and not because I happen to be friends with the mighty world champion Cooper Holbrook.”

The insult hit home. Cooper drew his brows low. “That’s not how things are and you know it.”

“Yeah, Coop. It is how things are most times. You just don’t see it.”

Losing his appetite for dinner and this conversation, Cooper stood. He shoved his plate, uncovered, onto the shelf in the fridge.

Beer in hand, he turned toward the doorway. “I’m taking a shower.”

After that, he’d have to figure out what to do next. Whatever it was he decided on, it wouldn’t be with Glen. Not tonight. Not after that crack his supposed best friend had just made.

Didn’t matter how well he thought he knew a guy, Cooper realized a man never could tell who his true friends were. He’d have to remember that in the future.