Cooper’s lips were on hers in an instant, and Tessa couldn’t resist him. Her entire body was trembling from the mountain of emotions crumbling inward, threatening to bury her alive.

And for the first time in a week, she wasn’t willing to let it all come tumbling down on her. She wanted to dig herself out.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Cooper had no idea where everything went wrong, but with Tessa in his arms, he felt like he could right everything again. He’d spent the last week wishing that he could hold her, wanting nothing more than to feel her in his arms and to inhale her sweet, fresh scent. And now she was here.

He couldn’t help but wonder how long that would last though. She sounded just as optimistic as he felt, but they both needed the reassurance that they would stick it out.

As hard as it was to tell her his feelings, he needed to know that she wasn’t going to run. How he managed to stay away from her for this long was beyond him. It could’ve been his desperate attempt to give her some semblance of peace after he came in like a whirlwind and toppled everything in her path, leaving her to clean up the mess.

Only her peace didn’t come, and he hadn’t been the white knight to come in and save her. At least she wouldn’t think he had. Because he had a secret that he’d yet to share with her.

Releasing her mouth, Cooper stood in front of her, his hands still cupping her jaw as he watched the passion and lust recede from her gaze.

“What do we do now?” she asked, her voice muffled.

“In the past week, have you heard from Marcus?” he asked because he needed to know.

She seemed stunned by his abrupt change of subject, which made sense. He’d easily gone off on another path, only this one actually led right back to where they were.

“Not…” Tessa closed her mouth, opened it again, but she didn’t say anything more.

“Tell me.”

“Not since the first day after we broke up.”

Cooper hated the fact that they broke up, but he loved the sound of it when Tessa said it. Only because for them to break up, they would’ve had to be a couple in the first place. As much as he wanted to believe they were, he still wondered how far away she was keeping herself. Now he knew.

She’d been right there with him, but probably too scared to admit it. After everything she had lost, he couldn’t necessarily blame her.

“Why?”

“Did he come see you?” he asked, taking a step back and pulling his Stetson off of his head so he could run his hands through his hair. He was sweaty, and he needed a damn shower, but this was more important.

“Yes,” she said slowly. “He came to see me that next Monday at the bar. The night you didn’t come in to work,” she explained. “He didn’t stay for long, but he told me he was there to meet with Chad.”

Her frown made his hands ball into fists. The memory of what she’d looked like that night after that bastard hit her… He could hardly stand to think about it for fear he’d lose his temper.

“He came to see me that night too,” Cooper admitted, pacing slowly in front of her. “He said he spoke to you, but he didn’t tell me what y’all talked about. He did tell me that he had met with Chad earlier that day, and he had something that might be of interest to me.”

“What could he possibly have?” she asked, just as bewildered as Cooper had been that night. He hadn’t understood what Marcus’ angle was, but he knew it wasn’t good.

Cooper swallowed hard and turned to face her. “Pictures.”

All of the color drained out of Tessa’s face right there in front of his eyes. Figuring he had better give her the whole scoop, he continued, “He told me that I had two choices. He was going to leak the photos to the press, or I was going to hire him back and head back to Nashville immediately.”

“Oh, God.” Tessa’s words were but a whisper. “Oh, God. Oh, God. You’re still here. That means…”

“No, that’s not what it means, Tessa. There aren’t any pictures.”

“But,” she argued.

“I had to placate Marcus for a while. I told him I didn’t give a shit about the pictures and gave him the story of how we broke up. I knew it was a risk, but I’ve known him for a long time. Most of what he says is bullshit, and I was banking on this being bullshit too.

“As soon as the opportunity arose, I went to talk to Chad. We had a nice long chat and yes, Dalton was there to supervise so I didn’t kill him. He confirmed that there weren’t any pictures. Marcus had told Chad he’d be working on a record deal for him if he could produce something. Luckily, I was able to intervene when I did. Or rather my father was.

“I had to stay away from you. I needed Marcus to believe that there was no chance of us getting back together. I was banking on the press keeping the story hot, although I had no idea they were hounding you. So, for the first couple of days, I kept an eye on Chad and my father kept an eye on Marcus. Once we had enough on Marcus, my father had planned to confront him. My father coming here means it has all been taken care of.

“Marcus won’t be working in Nashville any longer, and you don’t have to worry about Chad. Now that he’s out of the way, the press will likely leave on their own or at least drop the story.”

“So there weren’t any pictures?”

“No, darlin’. No pictures.” Cooper tilted his head, studying her for a minute. He had no idea about the relationship she’d had with Chad, but he didn’t like her reaction. “Should there be pictures, Tessa?”

She glared up at him, but just as quickly as the defenses went up, they came down. “Not that I know of. None that I would’ve allowed willingly,” she admitted. “I swear, Cooper. I’m not like that.”

“Tessa, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. I know how you are. I know who you are. I know you’re a very passionate woman, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s his loss that he was too stupid to know what to do with that.”

Tessa looked down at the ground for a long time. Cooper wanted to give her some time to process what he was telling her. He hadn’t stayed away because he wanted to. And he was just waiting for his father to give him the go ahead. The fact that his dad was back in Devil’s Bend told him everything he needed to know. Everything was taken care of. And not a minute too soon.