Chasing Dreams (Devil's Bend) by Nicole Edwards Read Free Book Online Page B

touch
him.
    “Why
would I want to do that, ma’am? I just got here.” Considering he had nothing
else to do, he figured he might as well indulge her for a few minutes. After
all, he didn’t want to be rude. He just wasn’t interested.
    It
wasn’t that the woman wasn’t pretty. She was. But, based on her wandering hand,
he could tell there was another man who thought so too if her wedding band was
anything to go by.
    She
giggled, and Cooper fought the urge to roll his eyes.
    “But,
I think I could find us a place a little more private if you know what I mean.”
    What?
No dinner and drinks? No candlelight and romance? A night out at the movies?
Shit, Cooper knew chivalry wasn’t dead, but based on some of the come on lines
he got he was beginning to wonder whether courting a woman was even necessary
anymore.
    “I’m
not sure I do,” he told her.
    The
crease in her forehead told him that she wasn’t used to rejection, but Cooper
had no intention of going home with any woman he met. Not tonight or otherwise.
He’d spent the better part of the last decade doing exactly that and look where
it’d gotten him. Right here on this barstool with another random woman looking
for a quick hookup.
    “Lacey,
you know your husband’s gonna be here soon. He ain’t gonna be too happy that
you’re on the prowl, and I’m not looking for another altercation tonight.”
    Saved
by the bartender.
    Cooper
noticed Eric watching the woman with the wandering hand carefully from across
the bar top. The look on his face said he wasn’t at all impressed with whatever
she was up to. It didn’t take long for her to get the hint and Cooper watched
as she marched away, putting a little sway in her backside as she did.
    “Thanks.”
Cooper turned back to face the bar, grabbing the beer Eric placed there.
    “No
problem. You’ll want to watch out for that one.”
    Cooper
didn’t need the warning, but he tipped his hat at Eric anyway.
    “So,
I figured there’d be paparazzi chasing you down by now,” Eric said, leaning his
forearms on the bar.
    “Let’s
just say, I’m MIA at the moment.” Cooper hadn’t even told his manager where he
was going when he disappeared. His phone was currently turned off for the
simple reason that he didn’t feel like explaining himself. And because he was
pretty sure Marcus had outfitted it with GPS.
    When
he woke up that morning, shortly after he told Adam he’d meet him at the café
in half an hour, he had made a half ass attempt at checking his voicemails, but
Marcus’ messages quickly became repetitive – he was ruining his career, he was
walking away from fame and fortune, he couldn’t be serious – so he had deleted
them all and hadn’t thought about them again until now.
    “Well,
considering the word is out that you were here last night, I figure it won’t be
long before the country is aware of where you are. I can only assume it ain’t
gonna be pretty.”
    No,
it probably wasn’t, but for the time being, no one would know that he was
staying in Devil’s Bend, just that he had been seen there. Not that he actually
gave a shit. The only thing he wanted to do was sit right on his bar stool and
look at the cute bartender who was doing her damnedest to avoid him at all
costs. Cooper found it amusing that she barely spoke to him, although he was
almost certain he had caught her sneaking a peak a time or two.
    “You’re
not being hounded by the locals either?” Eric asked, obviously trying to make
conversation.
    Grinning,
Cooper glanced over at Tessa, then back at Eric. “Not much, no. I signed a
couple of autographs this morning at the café down the road, but for the most
part, they kept their distance.”
    “Interesting,”
Eric said as though contemplating what that meant.
    Cooper
knew it meant that either people didn’t recognize him, or being this was a
small town, they were just used to keeping to themselves. He let his gaze stray
down the bar to land on Tessa who was watching