Rather than follow Claire inside the General Store, Natalie took off along the campground’s gravel drive.
“Where are you going?” Claire called from the porch.
“To finish something,” she answered.
Big puffy clouds drifted across the deep blue sky, dappling the desert with patches of shade. The birds tweeted and sang about how good life was. A cool breeze carried the fresh scent of a new year with exciting possibilities.
It was a great day not to die.
There was one other thing that would make it an even better day for Natalie.
She headed for a certain fifth wheel camper from South Dakota. The decision she’d made this morning while getting lectured in the sheriff’s office propelled her toward the guy lounging under the camper’s awning in a chair next to his uncle.
Coop had a magazine with guns on the cover in his hands. Oh, good, deadly weapons porn. That should have him firing from both barrels today. A bottle of lemonade sat on the stand next to him. He looked up as she approached, his expression guarded.
“Howdy,” Harvey said with a grin. “You look like you’ve been peein’ on electric fences.”
“Well, I should smile,” she told Harvey, giving him some of his own medicine. She thumbed behind her. “You need to skedaddle.”
“What kind of a how-ya-do is that?”
“You heard me, ol’ man.” She turned to Coop. “You, in the camper now.”
She threaded between them and opened the screen door. Stepping over the threshold, she took a moment to check out the RV, in particular the sofa at the back end that Coop was supposedly using as a bed.
Nope, that wasn’t going to cut it.
On the other side of the screen door, she heard Harvey say, “She’s got her horns out. What’d ya do now?”
“Nothing. At least nothing that I can remember.”
Oh, for the love of law dogs everywhere! Did she have to spell it out again? Some detective he was.
She pulled off her T-shirt and wadded it up, glancing down to make sure her bra covered her girls for Harvey’s sake.
Opening the screen door, she threw the T-shirt at Coop. It hit him in the chest. “Hurry up.” She let the screen door thwap shut behind her and climbed the steps into the bedroom at the front of the fifth wheel.
A queen bed greeted her. Perfect. Harvey had even made the bed. All that was missing were chocolates on the pillows.
Silence came from outside the camper.
“Well, now you should smile, boy,” Harvey said, following it with a shout of laughter. “How long am I staying gone, girlie?” he called through the screen door.
“Until I come looking for you,” she hollered back. “Now git!” She closed the blinds and took off her shoes and socks.
The sound of footfalls crunching on the gravel faded.
She heard the screen door creak and then click shut.
When she looked up, Coop stood in the bedroom doorway. “You lost something.” He held up her shirt.
“Did you lock the door?”
“Yes.” His gaze dipped to her bra. “What are you doing, Natalie?”
“Finishing what we started years ago.” She unfastened her jeans and wiggled them off her hips, stepping out of them. “Are you up for it?”
He joined her in the room, closing the door behind him and leaning against it. “What brought this on?”
Kate’s insanity.
A brush with death.
The need for something more fulfilling in her life.
The realization that she wanted what Coop had to offer.
The understanding that having sex with Coop wouldn’t destroy the work she’d done during her sabbatical rebuilding her self-esteem because she was a much stronger person now.
But mostly Kate’s insanity.
“I’ll explain later.” She reached behind her and unhooked her bra, letting it fall to the floor.
Coop’s eyes widened. His Adam’s apple bobbed. “This isn’t how I planned ‘us’ to happen,” he said, his voice thick.
“Outside of birth control, I’m not a big fan of planning.” She walked to him and began to unbutton his shirt. “How’s your back? Sore?”
He grabbed her hands, stopping her. “Are you drunk?”
“Nope. Cold sober.”
“You really want to do this here and now?”
She thought that was obvious. Apparently she needed to be more convincing. She pulled her hands free and slid her fingers up his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck. She pressed against him as she went up on her toes.
“Coop,” she whispered, her mouth hovering at his lips. “I want you to make me yours.”
“Ah, Natalie.” Her name came out sounding gravelly, sexy as hell. He palmed her hips, pulling her closer.
She framed his face and brushed her lips over his, teasing a groan out of him before she delved deeper. He tasted like lemonade—sweet yet tart, with no traces of the past’s bitterness to be found in his searing kisses. His tongue met hers, bold and hungry, but then played coy, drawing her even deeper.
He turned, pressing her back against the bedroom door. His tongue chased hers back into her mouth. His hands inched up her sides, his thumbs gliding along the skin at her ribs, hovering, so close.
Impatient after their years apart, she took his hands and lifted them higher. The pads of his thumbs were calloused, making her moan as he brushed over her tender skin. His hips moved against hers in sync with the flirting dance of his tongue, his jeans rubbing her just right.
He tore his mouth from hers, his breathing heavy, winded. His lips trailed a burning path down her neck and between her breasts. He dropped to his knees in front of her. His hands slid down her ribcage, his palms following the curves of her hips.
“Natalie,” he said her name again with that same husky voice before circling her navel with his tongue.
She leaned her head back against the door. Was this for real? She had played this scene out in her head so many times.
“You’re perfect.”
He hooked his fingers in the waistband of her panties and eased them down slowly,
