Page 37 of The Cowboy Complication

A set of huge nostrils came close, sniffing at her hair and face, checking her over. Then their interrupter nosed at her hands.

“Looks like it’s not my attention he was wanting.” Cooper chuckled as he tried to push the horse away. “Give her some space, Percy.”

“He’s okay.” Isla reached out to smooth over the horse’s cheek. “You’re just excited to meet a new person, huh?” She’d been around Grady’s horses here and there, but hadn’t been this up close and personal with any of them, so their size hadn’t really registered. Not like it was right now with Percy’s face so close to hers. “You’re a big boy, aren’t you?”

“Don’t tell him that.” Cooper gave the horse a swat on his rump. “He’ll never shut up about it, just like every other man.”

Percy made a sneezing sort of sound and stomped one of his feet, like he was talking back to Cooper, and it had her laughing, head tipping back. Percy took advantage of her distraction and tried to move in closer, crowding her to the point she went down, losing her balance and falling backwards with a squeak of surprise.

“Hell.” Cooper shoved his weight into Percy’s front half, managing to get him to step aside. He reached for Isla, hauling her back upright. “You okay?”

She was fine. Sitting on the table hadn’t given her far to go, but his concern warmed her insides just as much as his embrace had before. “I’m good, but I should probably get on my feet.”

She barely had the words out of her mouth before Cooper was scooping her up and carrying her away from the nosy horse. He set her down, but kept his hands on her hips, eyes moving over her as she found her footing. “Good?”

“I’m good.”Mostly.

The emotions she’d been hoping to leave in the house were coming back fast and furiously, threatening to ruin yet another thing she’d been looking forward to.

Fucking assholes.

And fucking asshole. Why was Eric still managing to pee all over her parade? Why was she even comparing the way he’d treated her to the way Cooper did?

Therewasno comparison. At all. Cooper took better care of her as a friend than Eric had as her boyfriend of almost a decade. As her almost fiancé.

“You sure?” Cooper’s expression filled with concern. “You seem a little off this morning.”

And there it was again. That pang of emotion. Was it regret? Embarrassment? Anger?

All three?

“I think maybe I’m just a little tired.” It wasn’t totally incorrect. She was tired of the cloud that was Eric raining on every sunny spot she found. It was time for him to take his misery elsewhere and ruin someone else’s bright spots.

“Then let’s finish up here so you can go home and get some rest.” Cooper reached down to collect his coat from where it had fallen on the floor when he set her on her feet. His lips lifted in a lopsided grin. “Maybe you can get some for me too since I picked up a shift for Leland tonight.”

Of course he did. The man would do anything for anyone. One of the many reasons she needed to stop holding him up next to Eric. Her poor ex kept looking worse and worse. At some point it was just mean to even put them in the same thought.

Cooper quickly put the horses into their stalls, showing her how to dry them off since the misting rain was clinging to their bodies. Then they gave everyone fresh water and hay, passing out a few treats before leaving for the truck. This time, Cooper led her to the passenger’s seat, loading her in then getting behind the wheel.

As he took her home, Cooper offered to come get her the next day to take her shopping for a heavier coat and she—of course—jumped at the opportunity. It made the slightly depressing revelations of the day a little easier to swallow, but she was still disappointed when he pulled away, leaving her to spend the afternoon and evening ‘relaxing’ while he picked up another shift.

He deserved a day to relax too, but figuring out how to make that happen would be tricky. She couldn’t just demand he take a day off. She was only his friend—not that she would demand that even if they were more.

Her belly did a little flip, her hand pressing against it as she stopped to grab her mail. She’d worked so hard not to think of Cooper as anything more—sometimes more successfully than others—but it was becoming more and more difficult to keep him in the friend zone in her brain.

Opening up her mailbox, her belly did another flip. Not over Cooper, but over the plastic bag inside. She’d been so distracted by Cooper’s house and his horses and his chicks—and him—she’d forgotten about the order she’d placed the night before.

Clutching the bag to her chest, she raced up the steps, feeling a little excited and a little naughty. After letting herself inside, she peeled through the plastic and pulled out the scrap of black laciness.

It was not quite as… much as she expected.

Unfolding it, she held the teeny tiny garment up to her body, frowning down at it. There was no freaking way that thing was going to fit. It barely dangled to her belly button, let alone made it to her crotch.

Sighing, she tossed it onto the table and went to take a shower. After scrubbing off the scent of horse and hay, she frowned at her reflection in the mirror. Remembering the glamorous curls she’d painstakingly crafted the night before, seeing it wet and stuck to her head sent her bruised and tender self-esteem plummeting back toward the ground.

And tried to convince her she was the reason Eric couldn’t be bothered to wipe down a counter, let alone renovate an entire home for her.

“Fucking Eric.” She whipped open the drawer and pulled out her dryer, angrily plugging it in as she flailed around in search of her round brush. “I’m done with his stupid ass.”

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