Nicole Edwards - Chasing Dreams

It wasn’t hard to imagine why he was a country music sensation either. That voice.

Oh, and did she mention he was tall. So very tall. At least compared to her.

Tessa didn’t inherit her height from her mother or father the way her brothers had. She was roughly five-foot-four while both of her brothers towered over her. The same could be said for the dark haired stranger from the night before. Cooper was taller than she imagined him being, not that she had actually imagined him at all. From his perch on the stage, he hadn’t appeared unusually tall, but if she had to guess, the attractive cowboy was at least a couple of inches over six feet. However, it was possible that her brain was only making him seem larger than life because of the way her body had responded to the innocent hold he had on her the night before. Yep, that had to be it.

Since the moment she walked through her front door in the wee hours of the morning, Tessa had battled the urge to Google him just to see what kind of dirt she could dig up on the man. Thankfully, she’d thought better of it. It wasn’t like she was ever going to see him again.

He was a passing fancy, every woman’s fantasy and probably a fly by night lover at that. Who knew what he had done when he left her bar a few hours before dawn. Although he hadn’t been with anyone when he finally called it a night just a few minutes after closing time, that didn’t mean there wasn’t a flock of women who had offered to make sure he was tucked in safe and sound when his head finally did hit the pillow.

Tessa tried to shake off the thought of the good looking cowboy. Finding a man wasn’t on her priority list. And yes, that list was actually long.

Not that the list was going according to plan, but she refused to deviate from it. For so long, it was all she had. After Richie had died, she went back, added more to the list and made up her mind that the only thing that mattered was accomplishing the dream she’d had since she was younger. And if she had any intention of getting to that goal, she didn’t have room for one night stands, especially with overnight sensations the likes of Cooper Krenshaw.

Tessa’s cell phone rang from somewhere inside the house and knowing that her little brother Jack would be checking on her as he did every day, she hopped up from the steps and hurried inside. Havoc and Harmony were by her side instantly, pushing their large, wet noses into the house before she could stumble in after them.

The phone stopped ringing mere seconds before she reached it, but Tessa looked to see who it was anyway. Adam. Odd. She rarely heard from him so early in the day, especially after the kind of eventful evening they had the night before.

Her brother was known to sleep away most of the day, but that was usually thanks to his extracurricular activities that typically took up most of his early morning hours. Unlike Tessa, Adam didn’t avoid the opposite sex. Nor did he have a problem with the love ’em and leave ‘em code of ethics that he had apparently inherited from their absent father.

Before she could dial her brother back, her phone chirped, signaling an incoming voicemail. As she attempted to fill the dogs’ food bowls, Tessa juggled the phone in one hand and tried to fend off her eager animals at the same time.

“Cool it, Havoc. I’m working on it,” she informed the ninety pound Husky insistent on nudging her with his powerful body. It was well past their lunchtime, which meant he was overly ornery at the moment.

“Hey, sis. I hope you’re awake. I’m on my way over. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll have coffee ready when I get there.”

Tessa smiled as she dropped her phone onto the counter, putting the final scoop of kibble into Harmony’s bowl as she did. She couldn’t imagine what could possibly bring Adam over at this time of day. He should’ve been passed out for at least another couple of hours.

Although he sounded fairly reasonable in his message, Tessa rushed to the kitchen and put on a fresh pot of coffee just in case. Adam could be awfully demanding when he wanted to be, and, considering he wasn’t a frequent visitor to her humble abode, Tessa wanted to be prepared for the worst.

Ten minutes later, she heard the sound of tires crunching on gravel out front. With a fresh cup of coffee for herself and one for Adam, she moved toward the front door just in time to see none other than Cooper Krenshaw climbing out of the passenger side of Adam’s pickup.

“What the hell?” she muttered to herself as she watched the handsome cowboy move easily up her driveway just a few steps behind Adam.

Harmony and Havoc realized they had company about that time and went barreling through the screen door, their tails wagging with excitement. Neither of them barked like she anticipated, but then again, they were familiar with her brother.

It wasn’t Adam she was worried about though. If they knew what was best for them, they would keep their distance from the cowboy that was now leaning over to pat them both on the head.

Again… What the hell?

“That’s Havoc, and that’s Harmony,” Adam stated as two oversized dogs rushed out the front door and right up to his legs as Cooper followed Adam up the path to the house.

The way their hind ends wagged furiously, Cooper didn’t think he had anything to worry about, but he moved with caution anyway. They were some big animals.

Two seconds later, he was trying to balance on his haunches while the dogs licked at him furiously, both eager for him to put his hands on them. Cooper obliged them as he looked up at the old farmhouse in front of him.

He still didn’t know why he was here, – wherever here was – but after Adam had shown up at his motel room out of the blue, banging on the door and rousing him from an intensely erotic dream, Cooper figured he had nothing better to do.

After a quick breakfast at the congested café in town, and a brief, rather uninformative conversation with Adam, Cooper wasn’t sure what to expect. He’d felt as though he were being interrogated while he forced eggs and bacon down his throat, answering question after question from his buddy.

Do you plan to stay in Devil’s Bend? Will you continue to tour? Are you looking for something else to do? Would you be interested in helping out at the bar? What do you think of managing musical talent?

Those were just a few of the questions Adam had thrown his way, and he wasn’t sure whether they were trick questions or not, but apparently Adam seemed satisfied with his answers. That still didn’t explain why they were here though.

Pushing back to his full height when Adam summoned the dogs with a whistle, Cooper looked up on the porch, and that was when he saw her.

The angel in blue jeans. Only she wasn’t wearing jeans at the moment. Holy hell.

And he was pretty sure he liked her with fewer clothes on anyway. With a strained effort, he tried not to ogle her. And he had to focus to keep his mouth from hanging open.

He couldn’t help but watch as Adam embraced the woman in a hug that said they knew each other. From the looks of it, they were fond of one another based on the way the woman stared up at him lovingly. Considering he hadn’t talked much with Adam, aside from the barrage of questions that morning, Cooper’s first assumption was they were more than mere friends.

“Cooper meet Tessa. Tessa meet Cooper. Blah, blah, blah. I need more coffee,” Adam introduced in a rush as Cooper made his way up the front steps.

Tessa, as Adam referred to her, laughed sweetly, and Cooper couldn’t help but smile. Removing his hat from his head, he held out his hand to the woman he’d dreamed about the night before and steeled himself to touch her again. Their hands met, her small, smooth fingers sliding into the palm of his hand, and Cooper had to clamp his teeth shut to keep from groaning.