“Don’t scream at me!”
“Then start making sense!”
“You’re an asshole,” I tell him, then stick my tongue out for good measure.
“Don’t stick that tongue out at me unless you’re willing to use it.”
“In case you missed it, I’m rolling my eyes at you too.”
“Why are you really here, Cooper?”
I swallow, rubbing my arms nervously. “I got mad.”
“Why? You are the one who broke up with me.”
“I didn’t break up with you. I just didn’t want to meet your family!”
“What’s wrong with us?” I hear a woman ask.
“Yeah, we’re pretty damn good people,” White answers.
“White, watch that mouth of yours,” Ida Sue grumbles. From the sound of all their voices, you can tell they’re pushed up against the kitchen door, listening.
“You’re great! I just didn’t want to meet you! I wasn’t ready for that!”
“Why not?” Ida Sue asks.
“Mom,” Gray growls.
“It’s a legitimate question, Grayson,” she chides.
I hold my head down wondering what in the hell I’m doing. “Because,” I groan.
“That’s not a good reason, dear. Whenever my kids gave that kind of reasoning, it usually ended up with my spanking their asses,” Ida Sue says through the still-closed but useless door.
“Hey, that’s it, Gray. Spank her ass.”
“I’ve got to say, that helps iron out Ida when she gets a knot up her ass.”
“Eww. Damn it, Janson,” White growls.
“Spanking can help iron out difficulties,” Ida Sue says, and moans can be heard echoing for miles.
“Jesus. I belong to a nut-house,” Gray grumbles, grabbing my arm and pulling me outside. The kitchen door slams behind us and I can barely keep up as Gray pulls me towards an old painted red barn. I want to argue with him, but honestly I’d rather his family didn’t hear everything we say, so I go with him.
I just wish I knew what I could say to get out of this without looking like the jealous freak I am.
I pull CC into the barn with me and don’t stop until we’re in the far corner where the fresh hay has been piled up. I push her against the wall with my body and trap her there with my arms. I look down at her, pinning her with my eyes.
“Okay, Cooper. It’s just you and me now.” I watch the line of her throat as she swallows. God, everything about her is appealing. I want to move my tongue along the lines of her throat and taste her skin.
“Did you kiss Cammie?” she asks, and whatever I expected, for some reason that’s not it. Because I take too long to respond, she punches me in the stomach. “You fucking asshole!” She does her best to push me out of the way. When my woman gets mad, she packs a punch. I grab her fists and push them up against the wall. Her breath is coming in hard gasps and she’s pushing against my hold, but I don’t let her go.
“She kissed me!”
“Oh my God. You did not just say that to me!”
“Are you jealous? I swear, it was nothing!”
“Are you an idiot?”
“I’m serious. I didn’t expect it, and I did nothing to encourage it.”
“Fine! Then I’ll go out there and kiss White and we’ll be even!”
“I love my brother, but if you kiss him, I may have to kill him.”
“Are you jealous?” she throws back in my face, and I have to say I am.
“Damn straight. Now that I’ve had your lips, they’re mine.”
“Gray…”
“Now that I’ve had you, CC, you are mine. You need to understand that.”
I see the moment fear hits her face, and I know I’m pushing her way too hard, but I can’t seem to stop myself. The last thing I expected was to have her follow me here. Now that she’s here, I’m going to make damn sure she understands what her being here means.
“You broke up with me.”
“I left, but I was coming back, Cooper. You’re not getting away from me.”
“We were a one-night stand, Gray.”
“That’s just it, CC. We were. What we are now, what we could be, is so much more.”
“Gray, I don’t do relationships real well.”
“Do you want what we have to end, sweetheart?”
“No…”
“Then take a chance. I don’t do relationships either, but I do not want to let go of what we have here.”
“We’re completely different,” she says, but I see a little of the fear on her face fade and I know I’m starting to get through to her.
“Opposites attract.”