Page 57 of Enticed

She scoffs and then plates the wings and potato skins with some tongs. “If those girls are the friends I know them to be, Liv will be happy for you both if this is truly what you want. And shame on her for trying to dictate your lives. When this all blows over, I’m gonna have a nice talking to with my daughter.”

My mother makes me laugh with how serious she is about being a mom. I could see Clara being the same way one day, seeing as how my mother has been more of a model to her than her own. I could see Clara and I having kids, me coaching a soccer team or Clara being a dance mom. I could see her using her humor and quick wit as a parent, but also providing that caring side that she hides, but I know is there. I want that future with her—I just need to make her see that it’s okay to want thatandthat we can have it.

My mom hugs me one more time before I make my way back into the garage, holding a tray full of food.

“Oh, bless your mother,” my dad salivates as he reaches for a wing and practically eats the thing whole, bone and all.

“Yeah, she’s a good woman,” Cash agrees as he retrieves a few wings and balances them on a napkin in his hands. “I wish I had a woman to cook for me like this. I may never leave here, Coop, if your mom keeps this up.”

“Oh, you’re leaving just like the rest of us, Cash. Don’t try to poach my mom.”

“Maybe your mom can teach you-know-who a thing or two in the kitchen?” He cocks an eyebrow at me while he cleans the meat off the bone.

“Maybe you can shut your fucking mouth before I make you choke on that wing, Cash,” I grit out through my teeth as he laughs beside me. Luckily, everyone else is so entranced in the game that they aren’t listening to us bicker.

“You gotta come clean eventually, Walsh. She’s a good woman too, especially if she puts up with your ass.”

“I’m working on it,” I say, turning my attention back to the game while simultaneously plotting how to woo Clara out of the relationship closet this coming weekend.

Chapter 20

Cooper

“Are you sure I don’t need to pack anything else?”

I take turns looking at both of Clara’s suitcases open on the bed, stuffed with every imaginable outfit needed for a weekend in the mountains.

“I don’t know. Do you own any more clothes you haven’t packed yet? Because if so, then I definitely think you’re going to need every article you own.”

Clara swats me playfully in the chest before I pull her back to my front and wrap my arms around her waist, burying my nose in her strawberry scented hair.

“I just want to be prepared.”

“I don’t know why you’re even bothering packing clothes since we’ll probably be naked most of the time anyway,” I whisper in her ear as her entire body shudders from my touch. I love seeing her react to me because every time I’m around her, I can’t fight the natural reaction my body has to her either. This woman is my weakness—the only person who has me wrapped around their finger, and she doesn’t even know it yet.

“Well, I just know that the weather can be unpredictable up there, so I am ready for an inferno, a hurricane, or a violent winter tornado,” she turns to look at me before granting me with a quick peck on the lips. I want to go back in for more, but if I start that, then we won’t make it up the mountain before dark.

“We’ll be fine. Come on, we need to get on the road. Traffic out of town will be bad once we hit the highway.” I help Clara zip up both of her bags and then roll them down the hall and out the door to my truck. Clara locks up her house and then we take off, making sure we left before most of her neighbors returned home. Penny knows about us from what Clara has told me, so that I’m not concerned about. And quite frankly, I don’t care if anyone else finds out either. But Clara does, and I still am wavering on the side of caution with upsetting her.

I feel like I’m walking on eggshells, fearful that one wrong move or word will send her running for the hills, panicking and racing to get away from me. So my mission this weekend is to help her see that she doesn’t need to be afraid—that we can have it all, and I need to make her see how much I truly care for her.

As soon as I hit the highway, the brake lights commence, so we decide to play a game while we wait for traffic to subside. Interstate 66 is the only highway that leads to the mountains near Hyatt Lake, and since school is officially out and families are travelling more, the volume of cars on the road has increased as well.

Emerson Falls sits in a valley below a large mountain range, just far enough to make you feel like you’re in a small city, but the woods and various lakes are all within driving distance.

“Okay, let’s play Kiss, Marry, Kill,” I suggest as we coast along at five miles per hour.

“What is that?” Clara turns to me, raising a brow at my suggestion.

“It’s easy. I’m going to name three people you know and you have to decide between those three who you would kiss, who you would marry, and who you would kill.”

“This does not sound like this will end well for anyone, but okay Coop. Do your worst,” she eggs me on.

I clear my throat for dramatic effect before I speak. “Alright, out of Perry, Amy, and Liv… who would you kiss, marry, and kill?”

Clara chuckles. “How did I know that you would pick those girls,” she sits up taller and then looks back over at me. “Okay, for the record, this answer has to stay in this car.”

“Well, no one knows we’re together right now anyway, so how could I tell them?” I say a little too harshly and I can sense Clara cower a bit in her seat.

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