Page 7 of The Cowboy Complication

“Great job.” Cooper watched as she finished with the last of the herd, trimming the slight overgrowth before nipping any excess off the front edge. “You’re a natural.”

She tried not to preen under his praise, but gosh it was hard not to let it go to her head. Eric hadn’t been one to dish out compliments. She’d always chalked it up to how stressed and exhausted he was from the pressures of medical school. Now she knew it was because he simply didn’t think she was that great.

That discovery knocked her self-esteem down a few pegs, so having a man like Cooper—someone grown and gorgeous—offering up positive reinforcement was pretty darn affecting.

In lots of ways.

“Thanks.” Isla kept her eyes on her task, hoping he attributed her flushed cheeks to the work they were doing instead of his proximity and approval.

She chewed her lower lip, trying to think of something to say to him. She’d never been one to flirt. It was one of many skills she—obviously—lacked.

Not that she was planning to flirt with Cooper. That would be ridiculous. Men like him—with careers and dimples and adult lives—wouldn’t have any interest in someone like her. Heck, the man probably had a wife and children at home.

Her eyes went to his left hand, lingering a second on his bare ring finger.

So maybe not a wife, but a girlfriend. Someone surely locked him down long ago. Grabbed on and held tight with both hands.

Someone educated. Someone driven. Someone sexy.

Someone the opposite of her.

“Well done.” Cooper gave her shoulder a gentle slap as she finished—the kind he’d give Grady—then he went to work lowering the last of the goats. “And no one tried to bite you.”

Her eyes widened. “Do they normally bite when you do this?”

“I guess it depends on the goat.” He opened the gate on the enclosure, letting the last victim out to join the rest of the herd. “And who’s doing the trimming.” He gave her a wink that made her belly flip. “I bet I would have ended up with a few teeth marks I’d have a hard time explaining.”

Her already warm cheeks flamed. Because she was a dirty, dirty girl with more pent up sexual frustration than she knew what to do with. “I can see how that could be a problem.”

It was sure a problem for her right now.

Cooper laughed, the sound deep and rich as he collected the sharps container and empty vials and exited the small enclosure. “To be fair, in my line of work I get bit a little more regularly than most people.”

She followed behind him, bringing along the trimmers. “What is it you do?”

“I work with Grady.” He led her back the way they’d come, going into the main portion of the barn where the horse stalls and tack room were. “Keeping the troublemakers of Moss Creek in line.” His gray eyes came her way, sparking with humor. “I’m a little surprised our paths haven’t crossed before.”

She couldn’t help laughing. Even though he was teasing, it was still hilarious. “I’ve never been in trouble in my life.”

It wasn’t an exaggeration. In school she’d never so much as had detention. She’d never been written up at a job. Never been lectured by her parents. She wasn’t a rebel or a risk taker, and she didn’t buck authority or rock the boat. She just did what she was supposed to. Made plans and schedules and did her best to color within the lines.

“I wasn’t talking about you.” He tucked the red container of used syringes into a large black tote bag then turned to face her. “I figured by now you’d been conned into driving around the Bridge Bitches for their weekly girls’ night at The Creekery.”

Her cheeks flushed again, eyes dropping to the dirt floor. “Umm.” She shouldn’t care what Cooper thought of her. It’s not like it mattered. But admitting one of her many lacks to him was almost painful. “I actually can’t drive.”

She braced, expecting him to laugh at her. Maybe make a thinly-veiled jab at her failure to claim a right of passage most people couldn’t wait to reach.

But Cooper didn’t seem fazed by her admission. “Makes sense considering where you lived before coming here. Probably didn’t need to drive.”

She blinked, just as confused by his reaction as she was the reason for it. “How do you know where I lived before coming here?”

Cooper stilled for a second before going back to the task of packing his bag of tools. “Grady mentioned it.”

“Oh.” That made sense. They were friends and worked together. No doubt they talked about lots of irrelevant things. “Yeah. I pretty much lived in either a college town or the city, so I could normally walk wherever I wanted to go.”

Or Eric would drive her.

For some reason she didn’t want to mention her ex-almost-fiancé to Cooper. Didn’t want him to know how stupid she’d been. How clueless she was about the man she thought would be in her life forever.

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