Page 80 of The Cowboy Complication

“That’s what happens when I come home to you looking so irresistible.” Cooper pulled her as close as she could get without ending up in his lap. “We end up staying up way too late.”

She snorted out a laugh. “I was in sweatpants and a ratty T-shirt with unwashed hair.”

“Like I said.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Irresistible.”

It was almost wild to remember a time when she felt less than desirable. Unsexy and unappealing. In the six months they’d been together, there wasn’t a single day that she wondered if Cooper found her attractive. Wasn’t a single moment she could think of when he wouldn’t take any opportunity to ask her the age-old question…

Hands or mouth?

She’d become a fan of both.

“I know that look.” Cooper’s voice was a deep rumble as he leaned into her ear, one hand sliding along her thigh, creeping higher. “Should we sneak out to my truck for a few minutes? I’m sure the girls will survive alone while I?—”

“Don’t you think we don’t know who you are.” Gertrude was the one glaring at the cowboy from earlier now. “You’ve got some balls showing your face in this town again.”

Cooper sighed, his shoulders dropping a little as he stood. “I got it.”

Rounding the table, he put himself between Gertrude and the ranch hand, backing the younger man away as the girls continued hurling insults at him. With all of them going, they managed to simultaneously question the size of his manhood, infer he couldn’t identify female anatomy, suggest he lacked the skill set to tell the difference between a hole in the ground and his anus, and offer to stick a barstool up his butt.

Not that he’d see it coming since they claimed he didn’t know where it was anyway.

Cooper turned as he ushered the man away, giving them a stern look.

Muriel slouched down in her seat, a frowning pout pinching her mouth. “Shoulda hit him when I had the chance.” She pointed at Isla. “I’m not making you promises any more.”

She sighed, taking a drink of her cola as she watched the man walk away. The girls seemed to think they knew who he was, but she’d never seen him before. He wasn’t bad looking. He was no Cooper, but lots of women probably found him appealing. Especially in Wranglers and a hat. “Who is that guy?”

The girls exchanged a look. Eventually Betty piped up. “He screwed over a friend of ours.”

“Literally.” Helen looked down at her empty glass. “How much trouble do you think I’d get in with Paige if I threw this at him?”

“You’d get in trouble with me if you missed him and hit Cooper.” Isla’s voice was sharp. A little threatening.

And it had all the eyes at the table swinging her way.

“Damn.” Helen lifted her brows. “I was just asking.”

“Then keep it just asking.” Isla loved the girls—that’s the only reason she was there—but no one fucked with Cooper. He’d been through so much. Still struggled with everything that happened that night she could have lost him. No way would she let anyone hurt him.

That’s part of why she was keeping her eyes on him and that cowboy. She might not know who he was, but the girls’ dislike of him had her feeling uneasy. “I’m going to go make sure everything’s okay.”

Sliding off her stool, Isla cut through the crowd, watching Cooper so intently she didn’t notice someone else was working their way to the same spot.

She was closing in on where her husband stood, when someone cut her off. Someone tall.

Someone loud.

“You motherfucking piece of shit.” Janie Peters screamed at the top of her lungs as she went at the ranch hand, catching him fully off-guard.

He wasn’t the only one surprised. Cooper’s expression was filled with shock as his friend’s wife swung on the cowboy he’d been trying to coax out of the bar. Her fist wasn’t big, but the woman packed one hell of a punch. When it connected, the ranch hand’s face snapped to the side. He went down like a sack of potatoes, hitting the sticky floor with a heavy thump that seemed to echo through the suddenly quiet bar.

Janie stood over him, a smug look of satisfaction on her face. “That’s for Mariah, you dick.”

Who in the world was Mariah and how was she connected to this guy?

“Yeah,” Murial butted in, joining Janie in taunting the man as he groaned on the ground. “Shoulda kept that needle dick in your jeans.” She lifted her head and her voice, announcing to the crowd, “I have on good authority he has a tiny dick, ladies.”

Betty bumped in beside her, yelling at the top of her lungs, “And he doesn’t know where the clit is.”

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