“—like a mountain of snow, Dad! Twenty feet, I bet. Frank couldn’t even open the garage door.”
Cooper’s jaw tightened imperceptibly, his gaze fixed on the fresh white blanket covering the landscape. “Twenty feet, huh?”
“Mom thinks school will be closed for the rest of the week.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“I hope so. Jack and Zoe are coming over today. I’m so glad they live close to Mom and Frank. Chase can play video games with someone else for a while and…”
Her voice petered out as Cooper paced into the kitchen, humming and grunting an occasional response.
After a similar conversation with his son, he tossed his phone onto the counter and leaned heavily against the island, his back turned away. He radiated palpable tension, which seemed odd. The kids had sounded bright and cheerful as far as I could tell. They were safe and being well cared for in the midst of a freakish storm. He probably wished he were with them.
That made sense. Cooper the lumberjack was a good man.
I stacked our plates and brought them to the sink. “Everything all right?”
He nodded, his head bent as he moved to the coffee machine to refill his mug. “How do you feel about shoveling the driveway?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Not great. And honestly, what’s the point? It’s still coming down out there.”
“Nah, it’s not too bad.”
That was a damn lie. The winds had calmed, but the snow was still falling.
“Really?”
Cooper grunted. “Yep. Your jeans are dry, and you can borrow a sweater and one of my jackets. I’ve got extra hats and gloves too. And don’t worry…I won’t let you overdo it.”
My first instinct was to tell Cooper to shove his shovel up his very fine ass, but I sensed he needed some mindless physical activity. And yeah, the comment about “overdoing it” got my competitive juices going. My brush with extreme elements was yesterday’s news.
Plus, I owed the guy. Shoveling snow was the least I could do.
We worked silently for a while, Cooper sidling close every so often to show me a more efficient way to go about clearing some ground. I could have been irritated at the “lessons,” but I was too distracted by the barrage of new sensations.
I’d slept with this man…naked. I’d worn his clothes, drunk his wine, and had shared things I’d never told my therapist. I’d fucking come out to him.I’m bi.I’d never said those words to anyone. For all I knew, he could have taken a compromising pic of me for extortion purposes. Pay up or your legacy is fucked and forget about those postretirement prospects.
No…I might not know much about Cooper, but I trusted him. And for someone who could count trusted friends on one hand, that meant something.
So I worked till my fingers tingled in my gloves, sneaking glances at the lumberjack bent over his shovel because I could. I was free to admire his rosy cheeks, his sexy beard, his floppy hair covered by a navy beanie, the blue plaid shirt collar under his heavy winter coat. I could stare at his ass and contemplate how funny it was that his shirt matched his eyes without judgment.
Honestly, it was a nice way to pass the morning.
I instigated a snowball fight for the hell of it, smacking Cooper in the chest with a rocket from across the partially cleared driveway. His pointed death glare had me howling withlaughter. And then he beaned my biceps and officially started a war.
The problem with me was that my off switch went wonky in the face of competition. I didn’t always know how to rein in the urge to conquer at all costs. I formed snow into wickedly packed orbs, cradled as many as possible in the crook of my left arm, and shot them at Cooper, playing target practice with his head. After a few too many blows landed, he held his arms up in surrender only to mash a fistful of snow in my face at his next opportunity.
I tried to dodge him, but tripped and fell into the nearest snowbank, and you’re damn right I took him with me. We wrestled like a couple of idiots until Cooper pinned me down, hovering with his nose against mine, his breath ghosting my lips.
“Cool it.”
“What? You givin’ up, old man?” I taunted.
Cooper’s lips curled in a lopsided manner that was far too feral to be labeled a smile. No, it was borderline scary. “Don’t be ridiculous. I never give up. But something tells me you get off on pushing limits, and I’m not about to let you risk frostbite again just to prove you’re a tough guy. So get up, brush yourself off, and get inside to warm up.”
It was such a dad-like command that I almost rolled my eyes. But I’d heard him speak to his kids a dozen times in the past twenty-four hours, and this was different. The edge in his voice was seductive yet borderline threatening at the same time. No lie…it gave me a boner.
I pulled him close and nipped his bottom lip. “Or what?”
