Slow Ride (8 page)

Cooper spoke up, unfazed by it all. “Don’t even try to understand it, man. It’s never
a good thing to try to figure out what women communicate about, especially when they’re
doing it without words. Whatever it is, at least they aren’t talking about clothes,
shoes, or sex. And trust me, given the amount of clothes Kyla had in her bag when
she rolled into town, Maggie and Kyla could talk for hours about that subject. Right?”

“Sure, because women are so shallow those are the only subjects we talk about.” She
rolled her eyes and shook her head. “‘Course when we talk about sex, just so you’re
aware, it often involves us talking about performance issues and what, uh, improvements
that can be made in that regard.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Rose muttered from a nearby chair. Kyla and Maggie met each
other’s gaze, then looked to Rose, the three of them collapsing into gales of laughter.

Kyla was wiping at her eyes and felt Cooper dig his fingers into her hip. She looked
down to find her own hand, the one she wasn’t using to eat, was resting on his thigh.
How the hell had that happened?

Cooper’s head ducked down to her ear and he whispered, “Don’t have any negative performance
issues to talk about, babe. As for improvements, if you let me in, you’ll like how
creative I can be.”

Kyla lifted her gaze to his and saw an intensity radiating from his eyes, directed
right at her. She felt her body warm from his heat. All of which made her snappy comeback
come out breathier than she’d intended. “Sure of yourself much?”

“I was sure about you the minute I walked up to your car and heard you singing. The
header you nearly took off the trunk was an added bonus.” He winked, clearly amused
at her stellar performance the day they’d met.

Kyla’s mouth dropped open. She pushed her plate away. Maggie and Rose watched her
with knowing looks. They’d heard what he’d said. Suddenly her stomach was doing gymnastics.

Steve thankfully started gabbing, talking to the guys and dragging Maggie and Rose
into the conversation. “So, Kyla, what are you going to do about your car?”

Steve’s question snapped her out of the thoughts churning in her head. She glanced
at Cooper, then back at Steve. “Um, Cooper said the Mustang is in pretty bad shape
and since I don’t have that kind of cash laying around, he offered me a job at the
shop.”

“Are you taking me up on my offer?” Cooper asked.

Kyla nodded. “We still have to talk details but yeah, I think that could be a good
thing. I need to get Lola fixed, so the sooner that can get started, the better.”

There was dead silence at the table before Steve finally spoke. “You named the ‘stang
Lola?”

She felt Cooper’s body vibrating with laughter and she shot him a glare. “I hate you.”

He ducked his head and whispered into her ear. “No you don’t.”

“Cooper!” An annoyed voice came from somewhere behind them. A bleach-blonde, sickly-thin
woman was standing behind them in a skirt that showed her ass and a top that nearly
showed her nipples. She couldn’t have been more obvious unless she wore a neon sign
that flashed the words “open for business.” “Derek said you’re DD, can you give me
a ride home? ‘Fraid I had too much to drink, baby. You know what that means. . . .”

Kyla felt Cooper tense next to her, his jaw clenched tight. He turned to catch Derek’s
eyes and communicated something that could only be described as a promise of an early
death. He gripped Kyla’s hip tightly one more time and turned to the group at the
table. “I’ll be back later. Food was great as usual. Rose, we need to talk about dates
for the Halloween gig. Maybe convince Kyla to sing at it. She’s got an amazing voice.”
With that declaration he stood and ground out to the stranger, “Let’s go, Marla.”
He disappeared around the corner of the motel with the woman struggling to keep up
with his long strides.

“Skank,” Maggie muttered, letting out a huff. “I don’t know why Cooper hangs around
that.”

“Maggie,” Rose chastised softly. “They’ve known each other a long time. Leave it be.”

Kyla fidgeted, uncomfortable that she’d been practically cuddled with a man who apparently
had something going with another woman. She sighed, picking at the fruit salad on
her plate.

“So, Kyla, you’re into music, huh?” She would be grateful for Steve’s change in the
subject until the day she breathed her last breath. She pushed thoughts of Cooper
and Marla out of her head and focused on getting to know her new friends and letting
them get to know her.

• • •

Marla stood in the doorway of her apartment and watched Cooper pull out of the spot
in front and head back the way he came. He barely spoke as he drove her home, no matter
how much she tried to get him to engage. When she had lifted herself into the truck
she slid to the center seat, but he gently pushed her over to the passenger side.
His silence and distance bothered her. She’d been hanging around Cooper and his friends
forever, even when her brother was alive.

Marla turned and shut the door, her mind spinning at the memories of her brother.
She missed him. The day she found out he died, when she opened the door to two men
in Army dress uniforms, her world had shattered into a million pieces.

But she knew everything would be okay, because eventually Cooper would remember the
magic of their time together. He would come to her when he realized he couldn’t live
without her and beg for her forgiveness. She wouldn’t hesitate and the two would get
married and have babies and live happily ever after. That was the way life was supposed
to be.

It wasn’t supposed to be about funerals with military honors or men who used you for
one night and left the next morning. It wasn’t supposed to be about needing to sell
yourself for the best things in life.

She just had to be patient.

Marla knew Cooper was going to that party to see the new woman in town, Kyla. Her
nose wrinkled. The new girl wasn’t his type. She was all hips, and her ass was big.
Her hair was dark and long and everyone knew Cooper liked petite, thin blondes with
big boobs. Women like her. Not women like Kyla.

But clearly Cooper wasn’t ready to settle down yet. She would have to give him more
time. He needed time to get this dark-haired whore out his system. Then he’d come
to her again. Marla could give him that. She’d let him have his fun one last time
and then. . . and then they would start their forever.

• • •

Cooper had gone back to the motel after dropping Marla off at home, intent on finding
Kyla. Maggie told him she’d gone off to the pier. He could not believe she had just
walked off, at nightfall, to the pier. It wasn’t in the best part of town, and at
this hour, who knew what kind of trouble she could get into. Scratch that, he knew
just what kind of trouble she could get into and to say it freaked him out would be
an understatement. He walked quickly and hit what constituted the boardwalk in town.

As his eyes adjusted to the coming dark, he saw Kyla at the end of the pier. He spoke
only when was close behind her. “It’s nice out here in the early morning and just
at sunset, watching the boats coming in from their day. Wondering what they got in
their hold for the market. That curiosity hasn’t gone away, not since I was a kid
and stood here watching ‘em.”

His eyes flicked down to her face. “Sorry about having to leave—I was on duty, getting
the girls home who need rides. And Marla always needs a ride.” Cooper moved his hand
around her waist. “I didn’t want to leave though.”

Kyla relaxed and raised her eyes to his face. “Apology accepted, though you don’t
really have to apologize to me for being a good guy and making sure people get home
safe.” She paused and then asked, “Is she your girlfriend?”

He grinned. “Nope. And if I had one, I am not the type of guy who would have his arm
around another woman in front of her. If you ask around, that’ll be confirmed.”

He dropped his eyes to her mouth as her teeth nibbled at her lower lip.

Kyla seemed to hesitate again before he felt some of the tension ease from her, though
she kept her eyes on the water. “I don’t need to ask around; it’s not something I
need to be concerned with. She likes you, that much I could tell.” Her tone was slightly
aloof, uninterested, and it pissed him off.

Cooper pressed his fingers into her hip and turned her so her chest was pressed against
his. He dipped his head, a breath away from those pouty lips of hers. “If you could
tell she liked me, then I’m guessing you can tell the difference in how I act with
someone I’m interested in and someone I’m not.”

Kyla shrugged and tried to push away. “Cooper, this is . . . fast. You, the way you
are. . .” She looked down at his hands that were on each hip now, “and I don’t know
if I can. . .”

He cut her off. “I’m not asking for anything other than a chance to get to know you
better, Kyla, and see where this goes. Unless you got a man at home or something.
‘Cause if you do, I’ll step aside. I’m not the kind of man to horn in on someone else’s
woman.”

Cooper watched the emotions on her face: shock, fear, pain, then anger.

“I’m not anyone’s woman,” she bit out as her body went ramrod straight in his arms.

“Hey, Kyla, it’s okay. Just didn’t want to mess with your head if you were tangled
up with someone else.” His words seemed to soothe her as he felt the tension ebb away
from her again.

“I’m not tangled up with someone else. It’s just . . . complicated. My ex is not a
good man. He never was. I don’t make good choices and I have a tendency to screw things
up.”

“It sounds like you blame yourself for shit.” He cut her off as she opened her mouth
to say something. “You don’t have to tell me about this guy right now. I already can
tell he did you wrong. And really, there isn’t a need to rush this, Kyla. I’m a patient
guy. Kind of. Why don’t we just get to know each other better and see what happens?

He watched her nod but could see the topic of the two of them getting to know each
other made her nervous. So he changed the subject. For now. “Are you comfortable in
Ashten Falls? It seems like you’re making friends: Maggie, Steve, Rose. . .”

“I met them at the bookstore a few days ago. Steve introduced me. They were all so
nice, they invited me to the party. Maggie invited me to her shop.”

“You might want to head over there then. She sells a lot of that underwear you had
stuffed in your bag,” Cooper quipped.

Kyla’s cheeks turned pink. “You’re obsessed with underwear,” she muttered. “Let’s
talk about something else, like why you stopped to help me.”

Cooper chuckled. “Because I own a garage and it’s my job?”

Kyla rolled her eyes. “Phil was working that night. You didn’t have to stop.”

Cooper lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “I offered to help Phil and then as I drove
up I saw this hot chick on the back of the car. That pissed me off and got me interested,
in that order. The rest, as they say, is history.” He leaned in and kissed the tip
of her nose quickly, and then gave her a light squeeze before turning his head to
observe a fishing boat coming in for the night.

“But why me? You don’t even know me, and I’m not from here, and you want to get to
know me? Why?”

Cooper didn’t answer right away, taking his time to form a response. “I don’t know
for sure, Kyla. I saw you, heard you singing, and something clicked. I have no idea
where it’s going but I know we both feel an attraction to each other. And since you’re
going to be in town for a while, why not you? You’re beautiful, intelligent, funny,
and have an attitude that I like. What more could a guy ask for?”

“Thanks.” Kyla’s voice was soft as Cooper pushed her back against the railing. “You’re
not trying to save me, are you? You don’t see me as some challenge to conquer or anything?”

“No. Kyla, listen to me.” He lifted his hands to her cheeks. “I don’t let a lot of
people in. I just do what I do, for me, for my business, for my friends and family.
But I don’t look for challenges or take on causes. At least not more than one at a
time. The problem is because I don’t always communicate every fuckin’ move I make
to people in this town, they get it in their heads that I’ve got ulterior motives.
I don’t play games, or try to hide my motives.” Cooper glanced down and was struck
by how close Kyla was listening to him, her lips parted. She seemed almost interested
in what he was saying. That certainly was a change of pace from the women he usually
dated.

“Okay, so what is this cause you say you’ve broken your rules to take on?”

Cooper sighed and dropped his forehead to rest it on her shoulder. “I got a friend,
his name is Roger. He had to get out of town recently, but you’ll likely meet him
someday—anyway, he had a girl. Beautiful, sweet, heart of gold. But when he joined
the army after 9/11, which he did so he could provide a future for them, she lost
it. Turned to drugs, got hooked bad, and started turning tricks to pay for her habit.
It was killing her dad. No one could pull her back from her vices, and we all tried.”

Kyla must have sensed his difficulty with talking about this. She reached up and her
fingers wrapped around his arm as she pressed herself against him.

“Roger was in Special Forces. There wasn’t much he could do. When he could get home,
he did, and she’d live straight for a while, but then he’d leave and Cheryl would
lose it again. It was awful. Finally, about two years ago, Roger had enough with the
war games and decided to come home for good. He set up his construction company, got
Cheryl cleaned up as best he could, and they were ready to get back to good. But they
never got that chance.”

Kyla burrowed into Cooper, shivering from the cold and, no doubt from what he was
telling her.

“I watched my best friend’s girl self-destruct and I never thought she’d get clean.
And after everything she’d done, I never thought she and Roger would make it. But
they were determined and so fucking in love. Cheryl had decided to give some information
she had about the Ashten Falls police chief to the feds that would have cleared him
out of this town for good, and then she and Roger were putting the past behind them.
But instead of having a future together, someone killed her. Coroner said it was a
drowning, but it wasn’t. That jerk did something to Cheryl. Roger was, and I think
still is, broken. Sam and I, we had to do something. I’ll be damned if I let Marty
Saybrook and his goons get away with shit. It’s why I’m trying to stop his reign of
terror, by collecting information and passing it on to the feds. They aren’t doing
much with it, yet, but I’m still doing it. That man has already taken too much goodness
from this town.”