Then she shut it all down, because she and Lee weren’t the ones who were only minutes away from tying the knot. They still had a long way to go before they’d be standing at the altar together, if they ever made it that far.

  First, she had to survive meeting his parents and the rest of his siblings.

  12

  Cherry Cooper cringed every time that silly German shepherd made a single yip. Since Thunder was a puppy, he made plenty of noise, and Charlie seemed like a proud papa every time he did.

  Disgust coated her throat, and Cherry couldn’t believe she’d made such a huge mistake. She should’ve never invited him to be her date for this wedding. Literally anyone else would’ve been better. Attending alone would’ve been better.

  “Is there a fire?” the Sheriff’s Deputy asked, jogging to catch her.

  “You brought your puppy to my brother’s wedding,” Cherry said dryly. “The last thing I need is to call more negative attention to myself.” Cherry didn’t come home very often, and while Lee and Will had received her with smiles and hugs and plenty of questions about her life, Travis had been somewhat distant.

  She told herself it was because he was getting married today, and he was a little stressed about making sure everything went exactly right. That was what Rissa had said, and Cherry believed her. No one in the Cooper family sugar-coated much, and Cherry could count on her siblings to give things to her straight.

  Charlie caught her hand on her next step, and Cherry’s skin crawled. She didn’t want to cause a scene with this man, but she didn’t want to encourage a relationship with him. She wasn’t sure if gently sliding her hand away would be worse than holding on, and she stepped a couple of times while she tried to decide.

  In the end, she wasn’t going to get back together with Charlie, and she tugged her hand free from his. The weight of his eyes on the side of her face landed heavily, and Cherry gave him a side-eyed glare.

  “You don’t want to hold my hand?” he asked.

  Cherry kept walking, wondering why they’d parked at the farmhouse and walked out to Lee’s. Oh, right, because Deputy Hooper had said his dog needed a walk. Then he’d tied the puppy in the back yard at Lee’s house, which was as far from the wedding tents as he could get.

  At least when the German shepherd barked now, the nuptials wouldn’t be interrupted.

  “Not particularly,” Cherry said. “I thought you understood this was just so I didn’t have to attend this wedding alone.” She’d told him that in explicit words. Via text, so it was in writing. She’d had a hard time breaking up with Charlie in the past, and she’d gone back to him three times already.

  Not again, she vowed.

  “Yeah, but…” Charlie trailed off, and Cherry didn’t even want to know what he might finish that sentence with.

  “Let’s just get back to the farmhouse for the family gathering,” Cherry said. The sun had already heated the day, and while May in Texas wasn’t usually too oppressive, it felt like summer had arrived early. Or maybe that was the laser-gaze of the cop beside her.

  “Are you seeing anyone in San Antonio?” he asked.

  “I don’t see how that’s your business.”

  “I’m guessing not,” Charlie said, his voice low and gruff. She’d probably hurt his feelings by removing her hand from his, but Cherry couldn’t bring herself to care. She didn’t have to make sure Charlie Hooper felt good about himself. Not anymore. She’d spent six years of her life buoying him up, supporting him, celebrating his career promotions and throwing him parties as he moved up through the ranks. He hadn’t even come to her graduation party when she’d earned her master’s degree in educational counseling.

  “Or he’d have come with you,” Charlie said.

  “Or I decided our relationship wasn’t ready to deal with my family,” Cherry said. She wasn’t dating anyone in San Antonio right now, nor had she for quite a few months. She owned three cats, and she worked with dozens of adults and young adults, so she talked to plenty of people every single day. In fact, by the weekend, all she wanted was peace and quiet—and someone to show up with dinner so she didn’t have to cook.

  In her quietest moments, she could admit she was lonely. It was then that she texted Lee or Will, Rissa or one of her friends in the city. She knew how and when to surround herself with people so she could feel connected to her roots and herself, and she didn’t need Charlie Hooper to point out that she was single and unmarried.

  As if she didn’t know.

  “Yeah, your daddy is intense,” Charlie said.

  “You don’t get to say anything about my daddy,” Cherry said. No, Daddy didn’t like Charlie, because of the way he’d treated Cherry over the years. Mama didn’t either—no one in the Cooper family liked him. Cherry had lost her mind when she’d asked him to accompany her to this wedding.

  They walked in front of the cowboy cabins, the farmhouse up ahead another quarter-mile. The big, white tents where the wedding and following dinner would take place entered her field of vision, and Cherry couldn’t wait to disappear among the crowd who’d already started arriving.

  A couple of the cowboys who worked for the farm directed traffic, and Cherry’s exhaustion pounded behind her eyes.

  “He didn’t seem less intense to me,” Charlie said.

  “He is,” Cherry said. Daddy had changed a lot, especially in the past year. Charlie would have no way of knowing, and Cherry didn’t have to explain it to him.

  He was far less intense. He spoke quieter. He’d given control of the farm to Lee, Will, and Travis, and it was like all of the stress of that had melted away. So he could hug harder and love deeper, and Cherry had realized that over the past few months.

  Her father hadn’t driven her from Sweet Water Falls, but he hadn’t been a reason to stay either. Lee had said Cherry had left because of Charlie, and Cherry had denied that too, saying there were other reasons.

  And there were. Reasons she hadn’t told anyone. She had wanted a fresh start away from anyone she knew, and she absolutely couldn’t risk running into the man currently walking beside her.

  They crossed the T-junction and walked along the side of the dirt road, the farmhouse getting closer and closer now.

  “Do we have a minute?” Charlie asked, his hand clasping around hers again. Before she could answer, he towed her toward the east tent, where dinner would be served.

  Everyone else streamed into the west tent, where the wedding ceremony would take place, and Cherry glanced toward them, wondering if she should call out for help. She didn’t see anyone she knew, and she knew in that moment that she’d been out of town for a long time.

  “Charlie,” she protested.

  “I just want to talk for another second,” he said.

  Cherry suspected he wanted something else, but she wasn’t sure what. She wasn’t afraid of him, but he was far bigger and stronger than she was. She did yoga three times a week and had taken a self-defense class a few years ago after the college where she worked mandated it for the employees who worked on campus.

  “Charlie,” she said again as he flipped back the closed flap of the tent and entered it. Round tables had been set up and clothed with beautiful cream-colored linens, deep purple napkins, and gorgeous vases of flowers that rose like pillars from the center of each one. Cherry realized she would like to get married one day, though she was too old to have children now. She’d come to terms with that, but that didn’t mean she had to spend the rest of her life with only felines and friends.

  She managed to get her hand away from Charlie, and she glared at him. “What?”

  “I don’t think you’re dating anyone.” He glowered at her, and Cherry folded her arms.

  “I don’t care what you think,” she said. “This was a mistake. You should go get your dog and get on home.”

  “No way,” Charlie said, shaking his head. “Dinner smells delicious.”

  Cherry rolled her eyes, and in that moment where she wasn’t watching Charlie, he lunged at her. He grabbed her by the shoulders and leaned toward her, his mouth seeking hers.

  “Stop it,” she said just before he kissed her. She struggled against his strength, knowing her advantage existed in her legs. She brought her knee up, and that got the man to back away a single step.

  “Cherry,” he barked at her.

  “I’ll bite you if you kiss me again,” she said, wiping her mouth. “And you’re lucky I didn’t have enough room to kick you properly.” She glared at him, and Charlie’s eyes—which she’d once found so dreamy—stared back at her.

  “You wouldn’t have asked me to this wedding if you didn’t want to get back together.”

  “You’re delusional,” she said.

  And perhaps he was, because he came at her again. This time, Cherry braced herself for a blow that didn’t come, as someone had stepped into the tent and grabbed onto Charlie’s upper arm.

  “I think the lady said no,” a man said. Cherry blinked at him at the same time Charlie did.

  Jed Forrester, a cowboy who lived on the farm to the west of Sweet Water Falls Farm, flicked his dark navy blue eyes in Cherry’s direction and then re-focused on Charlie. “I’m gonna let go of you now, and you should probably get.”

  “I’m not gonna get,” Charlie spat. “She invited me to the wedding.”

  “I just uninvited you,” Cherry said, reaching up to smooth down her hair. She felt shattered in pieces, and she hated that. She always made sure she had everything sitting in precisely the right place before she left her house and entered the public arena.

  Her heart beat like a drum in her chest, and her adrenaline kept spiking and sending it into a frenzy again. She met Jed’s eyes, and her pulse dang near exploded from her body. She wasn’t sure what that meant, if anything, but she was grateful she didn’t have to deal with Charlie alone.

  “I have to go,” she said, speaking to Jed now. Her memories flooded her mind, because he was the same age as Lee, and they’d been friends stemming all the way back to junior high. “My family is having a little meeting right before the wedding.”

  “Go,” Jed said. “I’ll save you a seat in the other tent, okay? I’m with my brother Chris and his wife. We’ve got an extra seat.”

  Cherry swallowed and nodded. She threw one last glare in Charlie’s direction, and put one hand on Jed’s shoulder as she started to pass him.

  “Thank you,” she murmured. Electricity flowed from his body and into hers, and she pulled her hand away and stepped out of the tent in the same motion.

  Outside, she could breathe easier, and she quickly crossed the road to the farmhouse, arriving on the porch as the rumble of Lee’s truck met her ears.

  At least she wasn’t the last one to arrive, and since Lee was the golden child, Cherry wouldn’t be in trouble either. She glanced across the lane and caught Jed walking from one tent to the other, no sign of Charlie anywhere.

  She might be in trouble with the handsome Jed Forrester, but she couldn’t know for sure yet. He’d probably felt nothing for her. He was just doing his Texas gentleman duty by rescuing her from her terrible choices and a pig-headed man.

  Her fingers still tingled as she twisted the knob and entered the farmhouse. Rissa turned from the arched entryway that led into the kitchen and living room. She smiled and then turned back to everyone else Cherry could hear in the other room.

  “It’s Cherry,” she called.

  “Where the devil is Lee?” Will asked. “I swear, that man needs another watch to be where he needs to be on time.”

  “He’s coming,” Cherry said, moving to stand beside Rissa. “Calm down.” It was a family wedding on their farm. Everyone would be perfectly fine if the ceremony started a few minutes late, for crying out loud.

  Will glared at Cherry, and she frowned on back at him. “I’m going to check on Daddy and Trav. Send Lee this way when he decides to show up.”

  Cherry didn’t respond and instead went in the opposite direction to go sit beside Mama for a few minutes before she’d have to be on public display again. Her mom didn’t say anything, but she offered Cherry a smile, and she slipped her papery, dry fingers into Cherry’s.

  Peace and comfort accompanied this gesture, and Cherry exhaled out the tension and awkwardness of the exchange between her, Charlie, and Jed.

  You’re not going to date him, she told herself. She’d sit by him at the wedding, if only to keep Charlie at bay. She wasn’t sure if the Sheriff’s Deputy would leave or not, and she could let Jed be her buffer today. That didn’t mean anything was going to happen between them, and Cherry vowed it wouldn’t. She didn’t live here, and she wasn’t looking for a cowboy in any way, shape, or form.

  Not even one with a heroic streak, a thrumming deep voice, and broad, sexy shoulders.

  13

  Jed Forrester couldn’t help watching the entrance to the wedding tent, which was marked with tied-back flaps. Flowers adorned the twine, and he could see all the details that had gone into making this wedding beautiful.

  He wasn’t incredibly close with Travis Cooper, the man getting married today, but he knew Will and Lee better. Especially Lee, as they were the same age and had graduated from high school in the same year.

  They’d been friends for decades, and the Forresters and the Coopers had neighboring farms and shared holiday customs on this lonely stretch of highway thirty minutes outside of the town of Sweet Water Falls.

  He looked down the row at his brother and his wife, then his parents. He’d reserved the chair on the end of the row for Cherry, though he wasn’t entirely sure she’d take it. She probably had to walk in the wedding party with that oaf who’d tried to kiss her when she hadn’t wanted him to.

  Jed could relate to the man, because one look at the gorgeous Cherry Cooper, and any man would start to think about kissing her. She was a flawless woman, and while Jed had never considered her as a potential date, he’d certainly reacted to her touch in a way he hadn’t to anyone else. At least anyone in a while.

  The cowboys who lived and worked out on these farms knew how hard it was to meet women, but Jed told himself that all of the Cooper men had done it now. Chris had found Deb, and they’d driven their twins into her mother’s so they could attend the wedding without incident.

  Jed should probably try a little harder to meet someone. Get Cherry’s number, he thought, though he had no idea how to do that. He didn’t know where she lived or what she did, other than he didn’t think it was around here.

  The light chatter quieted and ceased, and Jed whipped his attention back to the entrance. Travis Cooper ducked into the tent first, paused, and waited for his parents to join him. He linked his arm through his mother’s, and anyone with eyes could see that Chrissy Cooper wasn’t the healthiest human being. She’d been fighting cancer for five years at least, and Jed admired her greatly.

  He got to his feet along with everyone else, and something tender and somber touched him as Travis linked his hand in his father’s too.

  Wayne Cooper was a tough old man, and Jed had plenty of experience with him too. He respected Wayne as well, and he swept his cowboy hat off his head as the trio started down the aisle to the altar. Travis beamed like the stars in heaven, and Chrissy stopped to say hello and kiss several women’s cheeks.

  Jed, as close to the aisle as he was, shook Wayne’s hand on behalf of the Forrester’s, and once the groom stood at the altar, his parents took the front two seats on the right-hand side of the aisle.

  The rest of the family started to file in then, and to Jed’s surprise, there was no wedding party procession. He shook Will’s hand, then Lee’s, the two of them grinning and man-hugging before Lee went to the front row with a pretty dark-haired woman Jed hadn’t met yet.

  Cherry Cooper stole his breath the moment she entered the tent with her younger sister and Rissa’s husband. Jed had been out of town for that wedding, and he wondered if his body, mind, and hormones would’ve reacted to Cherry then.

  She wore a flowing, pretty purple dress that fit in with what the other women in the family were wearing. Her shoes added a couple of inches to her height, but they weren’t extravagant. She’d put on makeup that accented her dark eyes, and they pulled at him and pulled at him until he couldn’t look anywhere but at her, even when he tried.

  She nodded at him, and he barely dropped his chin to the end seat. They didn’t have the front row but only sat a few back, and she’d have the aisle seat for a good view.

  She let Rissa and her husband continue forward, and Cherry detoured to Jed’s side. Relief punched him in the chest, and he wasn’t even sure why. He wanted to take her hand in his and lean toward her, whisper in her ear that he’d make sure she didn’t have to deal with a Sheriff’s troll today, and ask her to dinner for tomorrow night.

  He did none of the above. He wanted to sling his arm around the back of her chair and see if she’d snuggle into his chest. He didn’t dare move at all. He held his cowboy hat in one hand and watched the back of the aisle, barely breathing so he wouldn’t get too much of Cherry’s perfume.

  He’d already been intoxicated by the peach and vanilla scent as she’d passed him while leaving the other tent earlier. His shoulder burned as hotly now as it had then, and he cleared his throat for a reason he couldn’t name. It wasn’t like he was going to speak to her mere moments before her brother’s bride appeared for the wedding.

  She faced away from him too, giving him a few moments to drink in the darkness of her hair, which had threads of the fiery red that all of her siblings possessed in some form or another. Lee was the darkest of the redheads—except for Cherry. He wondered if she dyed her hair, and he leaned forward to ask her.

  She glanced at him, and Jed grinned at her. “Do you dye your hair?” he asked.