Love on the Line (Beaumont Legacy #2)

32. Cooper

Chapter thirty-two

Cooper

M aya had been absolutely correct when she'd told Cooper that if she ever wore jeans and cowboy boots for him, he’d be unable to take his eyes off her. The jeans she’d chosen for the night were a very snug fit, and the boots she’d purchased only a few hours ago on King Street looked like they needed to be seriously broken in.

She’d even worn a small cow-print top that made her stand out as an outsider, but she didn’t seem to mind that no one else was dressed like a caricature of a cowgirl.

Cooper snapped his eyes away. He and Colton had worked through their issues this afternoon, but Cooper didn’t want to test his luck by publicly lusting after his best friend’s sister.

A crowd of people had lined up ahead of them, ready to go .

“Alright, any of you know how to line dance?” Cooper asked.

Maya, Colton, and Lucia all shook their heads. Colton looked ridiculous with a cowboy hat pulled low, trying to keep a low profile in a bar full of people who would probably recognize them in a heartbeat. Cooper did the same, but he knew he looked far more natural with it.

Cooper inclined his head toward where the line of people began kicking their feet to Copperhead Road. “Watch them.”

They did as he said, and he added commentary. “See, it’s kick, kick, kick, kick, then kick the foot up, kick the other foot up, then kick, kick, kick, kick,” he said along with the music. Everyone in the line stomped, moving to face the left wall. “Stomp twice and start it again. Pretty simple.”

“Elucidating, thank you.” Maya rolled her eyes, a smile on her lips.

Cooper grabbed Maya by the hand and pulled her to the far end of the floor. She threw her head back and laughed as she stuck her feet out off beat, running into Cooper when she tried to stomp with the group. His hand landed on her waist to right her before he showed her again.

“I’m not the best dancer, as you can see.” She laughed again as she tripped over her feet trying to hop and kick.

Cooper grabbed both her hands in his, and he instructed her quietly until she was finally on beat, even if she’d almost kicked him thrice. The smile she gave him was heart-stopping.

“You’re perfect, sweetheart.”

Her cheeks were red, either from the compliment or her body heating up.

A new song started, and a couple of lines in, the group of people yelled, “Honky Tonk!” with Brooks & Dunn, the name of the bar they were in. It took until the end of the song, but Maya finally had the basics down.

“You want to join the line?”

“You think I’m ready? Not gonna embarrass or insult you and your Southern roots?”

Cooper scoffed, pulling her into his side, glaring at a couple of men who’d been watching her a bit too closely. “You could never.”

They hopped into line with the rest of the people, clapping their hands and stomping and kicking their feet, laughing together as they bumped into each other. Cooper stole a kiss between songs, and right before Watermelon Crawl started, Lucia joined them.

“Alright, I’ve been studying everyone the whole time, and I think I got this now.”

“Hell yeah, let’s go. Where’s Colt?”

She pointed to where he stood, beer in hand and a frown on his face like he felt left out, even though it was his choice not to join them. Cooper chuckled as the line began moving.

Maya had started to get the hang of it, even if the rest of the line had changed up what they were doing. Her hair flew as she whipped her head each time they switched to a new direction, and as always, she was simply radiant, with a bright smile and an eager look in her eyes.

That feeling that’d begun to unfurl in his chest continued as he watched her while she danced, knowing how close he was to falling, teetering on the edge of the cliff.

He didn’t care. Bring it on .

After a few more, the girls had to go to the bathroom, so Cooper grabbed a beer at the bar and joined Colton. When Maya and Lucia walked out, they were joined by a gaggle of other women, most of them circling Maya, who’d clearly made friends with them in the bathroom. She still had that brilliant smile on her face, and she turned it to him, stopping his heart again. Then she jumped into learning how to square dance.

Cooper watched her for a couple more minutes, trying to hold back a laugh at how she kept tripping over her feet and knocking into the girls who were too nice to say anything.

His girl was clumsy, that was for sure. At least on the dance floor. He’d spent hours the last couple of months watching her old matches, all of which proved that was nowhere near true on a tennis court.

Turning to Colton, he noted how his friend kept his eyes on Lucia, and even though he was still frowning, Cooper knew how happy Colton was.

“So, how long until you make her your wife? You waiting for someone else to sweep in and steal her?”

Colton turned that frown on him. “I need to find the right time. It hasn’t really presented itself yet,” he grumbled .

“Oh, shit. I was almost kidding. Y’all ready for that?”

“Hell yeah we are. But she doesn’t want a long engagement.” An almost smirk appeared on Colton’s face. “Something about a guy she knew.”

Cooper laughed. “Right. Can’t imagine what that’s about. Well, I’m excited for y’all. That’ll be…”

“Different?” Colton offered.

“Not really. I don’t think much will change. Y’all are already practically there.”

“Yeah, I already got the ring actually, but…” He trailed off. His eyes were back on the dance floor, and he’d gone rigid, anger clear on his face. Cooper turned to look at what had upset him, and he saw a man standing over Maya, talking to her far too closely. Worse, the man had a hand on her arm, like he was trying to pull her into the line when she very clearly did not want the contact.

Lucia looked back at them with her eyebrows drawn, too far outside the group of people to do anything, though Maya’s new friends were giving the guy an earful.

“Ah, hell,” Cooper muttered, handing his beer to Colton, who seemed thankful to Cooper for what he was about to do.

He’d made it through the group of women who Maya had befriended in record time and placed his hat on top of Maya’s long, black hair. It felt a lot like he was claiming her in front of everyone in that bar .

She looked up at him, relief clear in her face, and he hated that she was even in a position where she needed him to save her.

Cooper wrapped his hand around the man’s arm the way he was to her. “That’s enough of that.”

The man glared at him. “Back off, man. We’re just dancing.”

Cooper turned to Maya. “You wanna dance with him, sunflower?”

She shook her head, still trying to yank herself from the guy’s grasp.

“I think that there’s answer enough, don’t you? You’d better let go now.” Cooper clenched his jaw when the guy didn’t listen, moving his fingers to physically pry him off her. He shoved the guy for good measure, trying to create some space between them.

Cooper watched the guy ball his fist, readying for a fight. Cooper pushed Maya behind him, and right as the man came at him, the man dropped his fist, face slack.

“Holy sh—” The guy laughed. “You’re Cooper Hayes. Holy shit .” He turned to yell over the music. “Y’all, Cooper Hayes is here!”

The people around them turned to look at him in awe, and Cooper almost wished he could take his hat back, pull it low over his head, and walk out. But he nodded, smiling and waving as people began taking out their phones, disrupting the line. More and more people realized who he was, asking for pictures .

Colton was lucky. Cooper saw him against the wall, hat pulled low, Lucia at his side.

On his own then.

After a few minutes of waving at people for their pictures, he turned to Maya, who was smiling softly at him.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“You okay?”

Maya nodded. “I’m good.”

“Good.” He didn’t reach out to grab her, not knowing how she felt about going public now. Just because they’d gotten through the conversation with Colton didn’t mean she was ready to be in the limelight like this.

People continued chattering about the Sabertooths tight end loudly behind him, though the line was beginning to form again.

Maya looked up at him, her soft smile turning to a grin. She hooked her pointer finger through his belt loop and pulled him into her before setting one hand on the hat on her head.

And then she got up on her tiptoes and kissed him right there, for everyone to see.

It was so small. A kiss they’d shared plenty of times since they’d started dating. But the meaning was clear: she was his and he was hers, and she was claiming him as he’d claimed her.

Maybe he hadn’t proved to himself that he was worthy of her yet, but at least she seemed to think he was .

Any lingering fears he had about this spiraling out of control or being anything like his relationship with Gabi disappeared, and he cupped her jaw and kissed her hard.

When they’d pulled away, Colton and Lucia were at their side.

“Local paps are gonna be here soon. We better go if we don’t want to deal with that,” Colton said quietly.

Cooper didn’t take his eyes off Maya as he asked, “You ready to go home, sunflower?”

She nodded, taking his hat back and adjusting it on her head. “Hell yeah. Take me home, cowboy.”

Colton made a noise like he was very uncomfortable, and Lucia laughed at him. Cooper looped an arm around Maya’s waist, and they tried their best to shuffle out without attracting any more attention. It was moot, people following them out, but all Cooper could focus on were Maya’s last words.

Home , she’d said, knowing they were going back to his house.

Damn it if that little critter in his chest didn’t let out a cry and stretch its legs a little more. Maybe it was too late to talk about teetering on the edge.

Maybe he’d already fallen.