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Goose bumps climbed up her arms. “Itistoo much. Do I have time to change?”

The doorbell rang.

Julie grinned. “Nope.” She kissed her cheek and then vamoosed, as they said in Texas.

Taylor gave herself a talking to. This was no big deal. A friendly meal and an early night. That would be it. With that in mind, she opened the door to find Coop standing at the threshold. He swept his gaze over her, raised his brows as approval lit on his expression. In that moment, she was totally grateful she hadn’t changed out of this dress.

Coop stood tall and handsome as ever, clean shaven but for the shadowy scruff along his jaw that was just enough to make him look dashing. His smiling sea blue eyes didn’t hurt the look either. Add in a pair of black slacks, a snap-down tan shirt under a dark sports jacket, topped off with a felt hat, and she had one rather mesmerizing Ryan Cooper, cowboy style. Coop may be a contractor, but he was pure Texan through and through.

“You look very nice,” he said.

“Thanks, so do you.”

“Are you ready?”

She grabbed a black clutch purse from the hallway table. “Now I am.”

Coop pressed his hand to the small of her back and guided her to his car. Every time he touched her, warmth traveled through her veins and a sense of longing she’d shoved to the back of her mind emerged. “Where’s your truck?”

“Not here, that’s for sure. I figured you’d be more comfortable in Dad’s SUV.”

“That was thoughtful, but I’m okay in a truck.”

Coop smiled as he opened the door for her. “Not in that dress, you’re not.”

The compliment was in his tone, rather than his choice of words, and it felt really nice hearing it. Maybe she really did need a night out.

He got in the car and started the engine. “The last time I picked you up in a dress, you were wearing a frilly wedding gown. Looked like a fish out of water. With all the flopping around you were doing.”

So much for his compliments. “Gee, thanks. What a visual.”

He grinned like the devil he was and pulled away from the curb. “You know what I mean.”

“Sorry, next time maybe I should let Muffy get completely lost.”

“I had no trouble getting her to mind.”

Darn if he wasn’t right. Muffy was a cuddle muffin and a sweetheart, but she never listened to her. The darn pup had a mind of her own when it came to obeying.

“So far, there’ve been no more escapes, so it’s all good.”

Her cell phone rang and she dug into her purse to look at the screen. Coop glanced down at the same time, noting the name. It was Blake. Good manners let the call go to voice mail. She wasn’t one to ignore a friend to speak to someone on the phone. Unless it was urgent.

“Blake again?” Coop said matter-of-factly. “That guy’s persistent.”

“He is not persistent about anything personal. It’s business, sort of.”

“Oh yeah? What’s business, sort of?”

“It means his baby sister is getting married and he’s buying her wedding gown. He wants it to be something special and asked if I could show them some of my designs. Give them some tips.”

“A likely story.” Coop wasn’t buying it at all, but he was good-natured about it and why shouldn’t he be? Just because he was taking her to dinner didn’t mean she couldn’t spend time with other friends in Last Stand. “What guy goes wedding gown shopping?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised. Fathers, cousins, besties and, yes, brothers. For some, the wedding is a family affair. After all, a girl only gets married once.” Then she added, “For the first time, that is.”

Coop’s mouth turned down for a second in a move of disapproval or…? No, she wasn’t going to go there.

“Is that so?”