My One and Only(67)
“I am not afraid of commitment,” he corrected.
“Of course you aren’t,” she said with a pat on his arm. “Now,” she said, turning in her seat. “Where are we going?”
Following her lead on the change of subject, he said, “You’ll see when we get there.”
“You really aren’t going to tell me?” she said as he pulled onto the highway.
“Nope,” he said. “But you’ll see soon enough.”
Refusing to give up, she said, “Are we going to eat? Because after having two pieces of apple pie at Mom’s, I couldn’t eat another bite.”
Cooper checked his mirror. “This place serves food, but you don’t have to eat if you don’t want to.”
They traveled half a mile in silence before Haleigh’s hand drifted onto his thigh. The move was so unexpected, he revved the engine.
“You okay over there?” she asked, false innocence in her tone.
“I’m good.” Cooper kept his eyes on the road, but every nerve in his body was focused on her touch. “Perfectly fine.”
The tip of her finger drew circles on the inside of his thigh. “You sure you don’t want to tell me?”
“You are devious,” he said, taking her hand in his and holding it captive near his knee. “Keep that up and we’ll be in a ditch before we get anywhere.”
She shrugged. “It was worth a shot. I suppose blowing in your ear is out of the question?”
“Darling, you can blow on anything you want once I stop this truck.”
“Hmmm . . .” she mumbled. “Good to know.”
Resisting the urge to pull over in the next parking lot, Cooper couldn’t help but grin at his good fortune. At this rate, he was in for one hell of a night.
Haleigh spotted the sign dead ahead and the truth dawned. Pink, gaudy, and covered in neon hearts, the place hadn’t changed a bit in more than a decade.
“Lovers’ Lanes?” she said in awe. “Are you kidding me?”
“Now you know why you needed the socks.” Cooper hopped out and trotted around to Haleigh’s side, while she continued to stare at the long flat building ahead.
Even the tilted pins painted on the front wall were the same.
As Cooper helped her down, she said, “I thought for sure this place would have been flattened and replaced with a strip mall by now.”
“You should know better than that. Nothing changes in Ardent Springs. And we definitely don’t do strip malls.”
Looking up into Cooper’s green eyes, she said, “I’m glad I came back.”
His contented smile tugged at her heart. “So am I.”
They lingered beside the truck, lost in their own little world of newfound happiness, until a car raced by, tossing gravel in its wake. Haleigh felt as if she’d been jerked from a dream.
“Are you ready for a butt-whupping?” he asked her.
Haleigh’s competitive side sparked to life. “Bring it on, sweet cheeks.” She dragged him toward the entrance. “And try not to cry when I shatter that giant ego of yours.”
“You’re talking to the league high-scorer three years in a row,” he claimed.
Stopping short, Haleigh spun. “You bowl in a league?”
“Not for a couple years, but Spencer and I ruled these lanes. Bowlers feared us.”
She tried to keep a straight face, but failed. “You’re a total dork. A muscle-bound, tattooed dork.”
With narrowed eyes, he said, “Is that good or bad?”
Tapping the dimple in his chin, she replied, “Oddly enough, I find it quite charming.”
“Then dork it is,” he said, sweeping her off her feet and charging toward the entrance.
Chapter 21
As they changed from the bowling shoes back to their own, Haleigh said, “The location is where you come in.”
For more than an hour, his date had deployed every distraction tactic known to womankind, including actually blowing in Cooper’s ear, which made it very hard to follow the current conversation. Especially while she was bent over to slip on her flats, giving him a clear view of the pink lace covering her perfect breasts.
“Are you listening?” she asked, snapping her fingers in front of his nose.
“The shelter,” he said, forcing his eyes down to his boots. “Sounds good.”
Haleigh laughed. “You didn’t hear anything I said for the last two minutes.”
“I’m a man, okay.” Cooper finished tying his shoe and sat up. “The sight of perfect, lace-covered breasts shuts down ancillary systems like hearing and intelligent speech.”
Gripping her shirt collar closed, she said, “Is this better?”