“What are you doing?” he asked. This time, he was the one to step back.
“You look a little hot,” she said, repeating his words. Then she unleashed the cold spray right against his chest.
His smoldering eyes weren’t so hot anymore as he yelped and lunged backward. When she saw him glance toward the bucket of sudsy water, she decided it was a good time for retreat.
“See ya later,” she hollered, dropping the hose and spinning around.
It was too late, though. She didn’t make it three steps before icy-cold water launched over her head and soaked her white dress, plastering her clothes to her suddenly freezing body.
She stopped and spun back toward him, glaring at his head, which was lowered to the ground. He was bent over laughing. She moved up to him and tried to push him over, but that backfired on her.
He was far too fast for her, and suddenly she found herself being lifted and then both of them were tumbling on the grass on his perfect front lawn.
Gasping for breath, Stormy was disoriented as the world spun around her. Then, she lost her air when he pinned her beneath him, his solid body on top of hers. She was pretty sure it wasn’t the hose pressing against her thigh.
“I’ve wanted to do this from the moment I saw you in that coffee shop. I feel like I’ve known you forever and it’s haunting me.” No more warning than that was given before his head descended and his lips were fastened on hers.
The kiss was exactly what she remembered, and she sighed into his mouth, forgetting for a moment what a bad, bad idea this was. Within a second, she was lost in his embrace.
The kiss ended far too quickly, though, when Cooper pulled back, confusion in his eyes as he gazed down at her.
“I know you,” he said, making her heart race.
“Of course you do. I worked at the coffee shop,” she said, out of breath.
His finger came up and traced her lips as his eyes narrowed.
“No. I’ve kissed you before, tasted you.”
It wasn’t a question. He was certain of it.
Her heart stopped in her chest as she gazed up at him. This would be the time for her to tell him that indeed he did know her. She tried to get her mouth to form the words. Instead, what came out wasn’t what should have.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now get off me,” she said, wishing the words would have come out a bit more firmly.
“What are you hiding from me?” he said, still not releasing her.
“Nothing. I just can’t breathe with you on top of me,” she told him.
With what seemed like reluctance, he rolled off her. That’s when Stormy realized they were on his front lawn making out like a couple of teenagers who couldn’t care less what the neighbors thought. Sure, she couldn’t see his neighbors, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t see them.
No more words were exchanged as she rose to her feet and walked away, her arms folded across her chest. She couldn’t shake the idea that countless onlookers could see through her wet dress. She cast her eyes to the ground, not willing to see if that were true or not.
What Stormy knew for sure was that she couldn’t stay in Cooper’s house. There was no way. If she did, she was sure she’d end up in the man’s bed again. And that was a road she wasn’t willing to go down.
Stormy wasn’t too far into the house when she heard Cooper following her. Dang it. He could be a man and give her a bit of space, couldn’t he? That would be the nice thing to do.
“Stormy, we need to talk,” he called. He was too close.
She froze for a second trying to figure out which way to go. She knew for sure that she couldn’t face him again right now. No way. So, doing the only thing she could think of, she decided to hide.
Rounding the base of the stairs, she shot into the hallway and opened a door, deciding the bathroom was the best place to duck into. She shut the door too hard behind her, and then sought a light switch.
There wasn’t one to be found. After a moment, her eyes adjusted to the bit of light coming in from the bottom of the door. That was when she realized she wasn’t in a bathroom at all—she was in a closet.
She could hear Cooper’s approaching footsteps on the hardwood floor as her back slid down the wall and her arms tucked her legs up into her chest. Feeling extremely foolish and very trapped, her heart raced as Cooper stopped on the other side of the door.
“Stormy, are you all right?” Cooper asked as he knocked on the door.
Utterly humiliated, Stormy knew she was going to have to answer. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”
Everything was fine except for the fact that she was sitting on the floor in a closet feeling like a total fool. Now her new housemate had to think she was crazy and was wondering how quickly he could evict her.