This Time
Around by Stacey Lynn
A Love in the Heartland Novel
Release Date: April 10th, 2018
Genre: Contemporary Romance
A Love in the Heartland Novel
Release Date: April 10th, 2018
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cooper Hawke was everything I didn’t need.
Rich and famous, and a high-profile actor, he lived a life of luxury while my
life had always been much more simple.
Yet when he showed up at my cattle ranch in
Kansas, he gave me everything I didn’t think I wanted again.
His marriage was over and he was lost.
I was still barely surviving in my grief
after my husband’s sudden death.
As hard as I tried to keep him out, he
slipped past my defenses, and slowly, a connection grew between us I could no
longer deny.
But this time around, we were on borrowed
time. Because Cooper still had his real life waiting for him back in Hollywood.
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Excerpt:
“What are you
doing here?” I wrapped the robe around my waist, tightened the knot.
Goddamn it! He
wasn’t supposed to see this.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
That was what he
asked. The urge to scream at him, to unleash holy terror for putting the idea
into my head and making me feel,
clawed at my throat. “No. Why are you in my room?”
“Because I
couldn’t sleep on the couch thinking of you and then I started hearing all this
racket like the ceiling was going to cave in on my head and thought I should
come check on you.”
My brain must have
malfunctioned. I must have skipped some words, rearranged them in the wrong
order. He didn’t say what it sounded like.
“What?”
He pinned me with
a look. It stole the breath from my lungs. “You heard me.”
Shit.
“Yeah, shit.”
I slammed my mouth
closed. If words were slipping out, when I didn’t mean them to, it was best to
be quiet.
“Come out of the
closet, Rebecca.”
He held out his
hand. I ignored it.
I couldn’t breathe
or move or focus.
He was standing
outside my closet, and he was naked.
Not naked, naked. Mostly naked. He’d taken
off the pants and shirt I’d given him and all he had on was a pair of black
boxer briefs.
Skin-tight boxer
briefs.
That showed every outline of him. And there was a
lot of him to see.
My eyes darted to
the side of the closet I’d swiped clean. Tomorrow, I’d bleach my eyes to erase
that visual.
“Rebecca.”
“I’m fine here.”
He laughed low and
slow, beautiful and over too quickly. I was not moving.
“You don’t come
out, I’m coming in there to get you.”
No way in hell was
he touching me. Not dressed like that.
I stepped over the
bucket of shoes at my feet and stepped into the room. He moved back, giving me
space and crossed his arms over his chest.
It hid nothing. I
couldn’t find a place to focus on.
I was losing my
mind. It had to be sleep deprivation. I looked to my bed and ruffled covers
which made me think of…
Nope. Not going
there. I stared at the wall. It was cream and void of any decorations or
photos. It was safe.
Finally, I
breathed. He stood there, watching me, I felt it like I felt my skin crawling
from his inspection.
“Want to talk
about this?” he asked.
Nope. I didn’t. I
didn’t want to say a single word to Cooper Hawke. The man in underwear in my
bedroom.
I crossed my arms
over my stomach. Uncrossed them. “No.” My hands went to my hair and I untangled
my hair tie, shoving my hands back into my hair and re-fixing the messy knot.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I might be able
to help, you know. It’s not like I haven’t stood in a closet, wanting to do the
exact same thing you’ve just done.”
“You can’t help
me.”
He stepped closer.
I shuffled back. He moved again. I retreated. He was getting closer when he
needed to move back.
“Cooper,” I said,
“Please. I need to be alone.”
“I thought we were
friends.”
“What?” My gaze jumped
to him, fell. Tight, tanned skin and black boxer briefs. A trail of hair from
his bellybutton that disappeared beneath those briefs burned into my retinas. I
squeezed my eyes closed. A futile attempt to erase that pretty, pretty sight.
“I thought we were
friends,” he repeated.
I forced my eyes
open and choked out, “We are.”
His full lips
quirked into a grin. I knew that look. He had it downstairs. I did not like
that look. Not one little bit. “Friends help each other, don’t they?”
“Friends respect
what the other person wants and needs.”
I scooted away
from him again and bumped into the wall next to my closet.
He took one more
step toward me. Slowly. Like he’d done downstairs, allowing me time to move
away, allowing me time to see his intention. My head screamed to move out of
the way while my body shouted stay right
where you are.
My body sucked.
He was in front of
me, not touching me. Far enough away where he was in no danger of touching me.
I still wanted him
to touch me.
His hand raised
and he settled it on the wall above my shoulder. And I could smell him.
“Cooper. Why are
you here?”
He didn’t even
blink. “Because I want to help you.”
“You can’t.”
“I can try.”
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