Page 37 of One-of-a-Kind Bride

She rose in spite of his command. “Coop? Exactly who are you mad at? Me or yourself?”

He opened his mouth ready to let her have it, but then he clamped it shut and appeared thrown off a bit, as if he was confused. He shut his eyes for a second, shook his head and then walked off, leaving her standing there, stung by his kiss and his parting words.

She’d broken his heart, and he still resented her. And to add insult to injury, he probably felt terrible pangs of guilt about his wife.

Maybe he was mad at both of them.

And maybe, just maybe, she was mad at herself as well.

For enjoying that kiss a little too much.

Chapter Six

Taylor went outof her way to keep busy, to keep from thinking about Coop and the way he’d kissed her earlier. It was a swift kiss, but no less passionate than when they’d been teens. Familiar and new all at the same time, he still had the ability to stop her heart with one brush of the lips.

She sighed and continued working on Julie’s dress. The entire living room area was littered with her patterns and materials. The delicate work she was doing now required hand-stitching, so she turned up the radio and sat down on the sofa to apply sequins and individual pearls to Julie’s dress. The pearls tied into the strand she was using for the shoulder strap and brought the entire look together. It was intricate work and as her eyes tired, she moved on to sewing Cassie’s dress.

By midafternoon, she heard the guys outside packing up their gear. She’d glanced out the window a few times to see the progress they were making, she told herself. And there she’d find Coop, working alongside his crew, laboring as hard as they were. The skeletal frame of the shed now had wooden walls. It was starting to take shape and wouldn’t Julie be thrilled when she came home today to see that?

There was a knock on the back door and she rose from the sewing machine to answer it. She had a suspicion who it was and she braced herself. As she opened the door, she found Coop there, hard hat in hand, a serious expression on his face.

“Hi,” she said.

She hadn’t been wrong.

“Hi, uh…Taylor. Do you have a minute?”

She opened the door wider. “Sure, come in.”

He looked away for a second as if struggling with something. “It’s a beautiful day. Take a walk with me. Please?”

Please? Of course she couldn’t refuse him, not after the look on his face, the plea in his voice.

“Okay. Give me a sec.”

“I’ll meet you out front.”

She closed the door and tidied up the living room, putting away most of her materials and closing up her sewing box. She put the gown on a satin hanger meant just for wedding gowns and took it up to her room, on the off chance that Miguel would come over in the next few minutes and see Julie’s gown. After that, she took a brush to her hair, put on her tennis shoes, gave herself one glance in the mirror and then dashed downstairs. She peeked into the living room to make sure Muffy, who’d been sound asleep on a sunny patch of floor by the living room window, hadn’t woken up.

The coast was clear. She stepped out the front door and found Coop waiting with his thumbs tucked into his front pockets, trading his hard hat in for a tan Stetson, leaning against the house like some authentic cowboy. It was so Coop, so Texan, like a scene out of a Western movie. One didn’t see too many cowboy carpenters in New York. She grinned at the absurd thought and met Coop with a big smile on her face.

He began walking down the street. Each parcel in this part of town was on large lots with good-sized ranch homes. He walked in the opposite direction of his home, which was around the corner and then some, and she fell in step next to him.

“You’re smiling,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d be happy to see me again.”

“Maybe I’m smiling about something else.”

“Are you?”

“In a way. I was thinking about how there aren’t any cowboy carpenters in New York.”

“So, you took one look at me and thought that?”

“If the shoe fits, Coop.”

He ran a hand down his face and smiled too. “I guess so.”

They strolled quietly for a while and then he cleared his throat and turned toward her. “Taylor, I want to apologize about before.”

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