Page 16 of One-of-a-Kind Bride (Home to Texas #1)

T aylor went out of her way to keep busy, to keep from thinking about Coop and the way he’d kissed her earlier. It was a swift kiss, but no less passionate than when they’d been teens. Familiar and new all at the same time, he still had the ability to stop her heart with one brush of the lips.

She sighed and continued working on Julie’s dress.

The entire living room area was littered with her patterns and materials.

The delicate work she was doing now required hand-stitching, so she turned up the radio and sat down on the sofa to apply sequins and individual pearls to Julie’s dress.

The pearls tied into the strand she was using for the shoulder strap and brought the entire look together.

It was intricate work and as her eyes tired, she moved on to sewing Cassie’s dress.

By midafternoon, she heard the guys outside packing up their gear.

She’d glanced out the window a few times to see the progress they were making, she told herself.

And there she’d find Coop, working alongside his crew, laboring as hard as they were.

The skeletal frame of the shed now had wooden walls.

It was starting to take shape and wouldn’t Julie be thrilled when she came home today to see that?

There was a knock on the back door and she rose from the sewing machine to answer it. She had a suspicion who it was and she braced herself. As she opened the door, she found Coop there, hard hat in hand, a serious expression on his face.

“Hi,” she said.

She hadn’t been wrong.

“Hi, uh…Taylor. Do you have a minute?”

She opened the door wider. “Sure, come in.”

He looked away for a second as if struggling with something. “It’s a beautiful day. Take a walk with me. Please?”

Please? Of course she couldn’t refuse him, not after the look on his face, the plea in his voice.

“Okay. Give me a sec.”

“I’ll meet you out front.”

She closed the door and tidied up the living room, putting away most of her materials and closing up her sewing box.

She put the gown on a satin hanger meant just for wedding gowns and took it up to her room, on the off chance that Miguel would come over in the next few minutes and see Julie’s gown.

After that, she took a brush to her hair, put on her tennis shoes, gave herself one glance in the mirror and then dashed downstairs.

She peeked into the living room to make sure Muffy, who’d been sound asleep on a sunny patch of floor by the living room window, hadn’t woken up.

The coast was clear. She stepped out the front door and found Coop waiting with his thumbs tucked into his front pockets, trading his hard hat in for a tan Stetson, leaning against the house like some authentic cowboy.

It was so Coop, so Texan, like a scene out of a Western movie.

One didn’t see too many cowboy carpenters in New York.

She grinned at the absurd thought and met Coop with a big smile on her face.

He began walking down the street. Each parcel in this part of town was on large lots with good-sized ranch homes. He walked in the opposite direction of his home, which was around the corner and then some, and she fell in step next to him.

“You’re smiling,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d be happy to see me again.”

“Maybe I’m smiling about something else.”

“Are you?”

“In a way. I was thinking about how there aren’t any cowboy carpenters in New York.”

“So, you took one look at me and thought that?”

“If the shoe fits, Coop.”

He ran a hand down his face and smiled too. “I guess so.”

They strolled quietly for a while and then he cleared his throat and turned toward her. “Taylor, I want to apologize about before.”

“You mean, when you kissed me?”

“Yeah, that too. But I shouldn’t have spoken to you that way.

I guess the kiss threw me, and I didn’t know what to do about it.

I mean, I haven’t had to deal with those kinds of feelings…

” He stopped and put his head down. “I haven’t so much as kissed a woman since my wife passed.

And then you come back to town. You’re not even here a week, after years of separation and…

” he said, shrugging, his eyes filled with turmoil. “It kinda got to me, you know?”

“I get it. We have history.”

“Yeah, we do,” he said softly.

“It was a long time ago.”

“It was, and we’re grown-ups now.”

“That is the rumor,” she said.

He shot her a smile and sighed. “It’s just that…”

“You feel guilty.”

Self-imposed blame reached his eyes, the grief he still felt for his wife.

He must’ve loved her a lot. Since leaving Last Stand, she’d never experienced anything close to that sort of love.

She had no one to blame but herself for the lack of romance in her life.

She had a vision and a promise to keep, which meant staying focused and not letting anyone in.

She’d pushed men away, nice men who’d offered her a relationship.

But she’d never wanted that. Her ambition was sharp, focused on building her career and building great walls around her heart.

Still, Coop had found someone, he’d found love again, and he had a wonderful daughter to show for it.

Taylor didn’t even have a job.

Coop’s head tilted to the left as he explained further. “It’s Cassie too. I have to watch out for her.”

Taylor put her hand on his arm. He was solid there, from years of physical labor. He was solid all the way around, a good, decent man who’d been dealt a bad hand and was struggling to make the best of it. “Always, that’s a given, Coop. You’re a wonderful father.”

“Sometimes I wonder.”

“No need to wonder. Anyone who sees the two of you together can see your bond.”

“Thanks. She’s a special kid.”

“She is.”

They began walking again, taking the direction leading to a giant oak tree off the shoulder of the road. A wooden rope swing hung from one thick branch. “Hey, would you look at that? The swing’s still up. I can’t believe it,” she said. “How many times did we race to see who’d get to swing first?”

“Dozens.”

“Yeah, you used to beat me all of the time. Until I got older, and then I’d outrace you.”

Coop threw his head back and laughed. “Okay, if you say so.”

“What? I did beat you, Ryan Cooper! Are you saying I didn’t?”

His brows rose skeptically. “I’m not saying a word.”

Taylor sucked in a breath. “You’re not implying you let me beat you, are you?”

“Maybe, only one way to find out.”

She pointed at his chest. “You wanna race now?”

“I’ll give you a head start.”

“For goodness’ sake, we’re living in the twenty-first century. I don’t need a head start.”

“Have it your way.”

“On your mark, get set, go!” Taylor took off in a rush, leaving Coop a bit stunned. She was a New Yorker where she seized the moment. She didn’t hesitate. She had to be on her toes to keep pace with fast city living.

“You want to be that way about it,” he called to her, his footsteps just behind her.

She’d always been fast, and her morning jogs gave her the endurance she needed to pull off a win. She’d show Coop up and wipe the smug look off his face. He wasn’t going to best her.

Her hair flew in her face, blinding her for a second, and then she glanced sideways and there was Coop, running right next to her, a big, silly grin on his face, as if he was playing her, as if he could beat her by five lengths if he wanted to.

The swing was mere yards away, her strides eating the ground.

She was in high gear now, her heart beating, her legs burning as she pulled away from Coop, leaving him half a length behind.

She turned to see him slowing, his eyes on her, as he deliberately put on the brakes. She reached the swing first, grabbing the rope and twirling the swing around. Coop was a second behind her and as their eyes met, the truth dawned on her.

She pushed at his chest and inertia had him backing up a step. “You did let me win.”

“Always,” Coop admitted.

“Why?”

He gave her a you-must-be-kidding look. “Why?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I was crazy about you, Taylor.”

She kinda melted then, all her exasperation spent. She’d been crazy about him too. But neither of them had acted upon it until her last summer here. She sat her butt down on the swing and Coop took a place at the oak’s trunk, leaning back watching her swing back and forth.

“I have good memories of this place.”

“So do I,” he admitted.

“So why’d you leave?”

“Same reason you did. Only I went to college on the west coast. And after I met Francine, I decided to stay and try my hand at the business end of building. I worked at a large construction company and was on my way up. We were happy, Taye. We had a good life and after Cassie came along, I didn’t think my life could get any better. But then…”

She stopped swinging to stare at him.

He squinted, as if remembering painful memories. “Things don’t always work out the way you think…you know?”

She nodded. “I do know. I didn’t expect my mom to die so young. I never knew my heart could hurt so very much. And Dad hasn’t been the same since.”

Coop inhaled. “I’m sorry about your mom.”

“And I’m sorry about your wife. Truly, Coop.”

“I know you are. We could always talk, you and me.”

She smiled. “That’s true. And remember those promises we would always make to each other?

I think the hardest one for me was when I promised you I’d learn how to ride a horse.

In New York? I think I was about twelve and I drove my mom crazy until she finally took me to the country.

I had a two-hour private lesson and, you know, I did learn.

I can saddle up a horse if I had to and ride Western, single rein.

But the truth is I never got the chance to ride a horse again. ”

“Well, you’re in horse country now. You could always refresh your memory.”

“I don’t know,” she said, hesitating. “Maybe one day.” Her gifts were with a needle and thread, not in a saddle. “What was the hardest promise you made to me? Or don’t you remember?”