Fortune's Secret Baby

Cooper glanced back at Jessica. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Are you sure?” Kelsey stared at her sister over the roof of her car. “You really want to do this?”

“Are you kidding?” Jessica shot back as she shut her door and activated the automatic locks. “You have no idea how much I am going to enjoy myself.”

They walked across the parking lot toward the large building. Seconds later, automatic doors swished open and then closed behind them, locking out the Texas heat and bathing them in a cool breeze.

“With Mom and Dad watching the kids this afternoon, I’ve got three hours all to myself.”

Kelsey followed Jessica as she ventured farther into the brightly lit entrance. “So, go see a movie, get a massage, read a book … anything but this.”

“Spoken like a single woman who can be in and out of here in less than fifteen minutes and use the express checkout line.”

Jessica grabbed a large silver cart and aimed it toward the rainbow of colors that made up the produce section of the super-size grocery store. “Now, I can thump melons to my heart’s content, wrangle between cuts of meats at the butcher shop and actually make good use of my overstuffed coupon caddy.”

Kelsey rolled her eyes as Jessica’s fingers lightly danced over the vibrant array of apples, from light green to deep red, piled in front of her.

“This is nirvana,” her sister said.

They moved to the first aisle and Kelsey grabbed a bottle of wine from the end display and put it in the cart. A six-pack cellophane package of chocolate bars followed next.

She caught her sister’s disapproving glance. “Hey, you have your idea of heaven and I have mine.”

“Speaking of heaven,” Jessica paused as she looked over a selection of breakfast cereals in the next aisle, “that cowboy of yours is pretty dreamland-worthy.”

“He’s not my cowboy,” Kelsey protested. “In fact, I thought the two of you got along famously yesterday.”

“Yes, so famously that the guy could barely take his eyes off you the whole time.”

“Oh, please.”

“Besides, I told you before, I’m not in the market for a replacement for Peter.”

Her sister’s words were soft, but Kelsey heard the catch in her voice. “I’ve never suggested you replace him. That would be impossible. I just thought you’d finally turned the corner …”

“I have.” Jessica turned to Kelsey and gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “My life is filled with my children and my art. There’s no room right now for a man.”

“But you could fall in love again—”

“I h-had my shot at hap-happily ever after,” Jessica interrupted, her own words stumbling from her lips. “And it was wonderful for the short time it lasted.”

Her sister’s sudden interest in spaghetti sauce and the rapid blinking told Kelsey to change the subject.

Jessica took care of that for her as she grabbed the same brand of sauce she’d used for years and put it in the cart. “Now you, on the other hand—”

“Aren’t interested.”

Jessica looked her in the eye. “Liar.”

“Okay, so Cooper Fortune is a total hottie,” Kelsey relented, knowing it was useless to argue. She hated that her sister had always been able to tell when she was being less than honest. “But he and that adorable baby have got home and family written all over them and that’s not for me.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard you sing that tune for a long time. Ever since that jerk you dated all through college dumped you just before graduation for that former Miss Texas who could give him the proper home and proper children.” Jessica punctuated her last words with the two quick jerks of her fingers showing she was quoting Kelsey’s ex’s words.

“Well, he was right. Thomas is doing very well in his law practice and he’s eyeing a political future. He and his family made the cover of Texas Now! a few months ago.”

“Whoopee.”

“Besides, he never liked that I smelled like a barn at the end of the day.” Something he failed to mention even once during their four-year relationship after they met their freshman year at West Texas A&M University.

“An issue I don’t think Cooper would have a problem with.”

Kelsey grabbed a package of cookies from the shelf and placed them in the cart. “Been there, done that. My last two relationships were both with cowboys and neither one ended pretty.”

“Not surprising since you didn’t bring either of them home to Red Rock to meet the family.”

She’d tried, but neither cowboy had had any interest in her life back here while she was dating them, which turned out to be a good thing as both men ended up walking out on her. “Well, my only focus right now is building one of the best equine programs Red Rock has ever seen.”

“You’re kicking butt and your boss knows it, but that doesn’t mean all men—or all cowboys, for that matter—need to be off-limits. Cooper Fortune is perfect—” Jessica turned the corner and started past the next aisle, then stopped. “Hmm, it looks like perfect cowboy is having a problem at the moment.”

Kelsey didn’t know what her sister was talking about until she noticed Cooper, standing in the middle of the baby aisle, a confused look on his handsome face as he held up two different jumbo-size packages of diapers. The shopping cart in front of him was full while his son dozed in the attached car seat.

A burst of fiery attraction exploded in her gut, but she quickly put it out in hopes that Jess might just find herself drawn to the man. That thought gave Kelsey another kick in her stomach—and it wasn’t a pleasant one.

The last time the two of them took a liking to the same guy was back in junior high school when Kelsey found herself crushing on a boy who ended up taking Jessica to the eighth-grade dance. The same boy her sister dated all through high school and married at the tender age of nineteen. Peter and Jessica had always only had eyes for each other, so it’d been easy for Kelsey to let go of her silly case of puppy love.

Not that she liked Cooper Fortune.

Not like that. Yeah, he was the quintessential hunky Texas cowboy, but again, she wasn’t interested.

Remember that, girlfriend. Not interested.

“Oh, the poor guy.” Jessica turned her cart. “Come on, let’s help him.”

Kelsey silently repeated her words as she followed her sister’s lead, noticing the fine way Cooper’s shoulders filled out his faded, snap-front shirt, the sleeves rolled up to reveal strong forearms.

“You’re looking a bit lost, cowboy,” Jessica said, stopping her cart next to his. “Need any help? This is probably the most confusing aisle in the entire store.”

Her sister’s words pulled Kelsey from her thoughts in time to see the bewilderment on Cooper’s face fade into an easygoing smile.

“You’re not kidding.” He dropped his hands, the diapers bouncing off his jean-clad legs. “It took me ten minutes to figure out which baby wipes were the right ones and I haven’t even hit the food area yet.”

His dark eyes looked past her sister and latched on to her. His laid-back grin deepened as he added a hint of sexiness to it. “Hey, Kelsey.”

The image of her kissing that mouth while slowly pulling open his shirt—snap, snap, snap—filled Kelsey’s head. It took a hard blink to erase it. Her mouth was suddenly drier than a Texas summer day and she had to lick her lips before she spoke. “Hey, yourself.”

He held her gaze for a moment before dropping his eyes to her lips. She could’ve sworn he actually knew what she’d been thinking, as impossible as that might be.

“So …” Jessica cleared her throat. “Are you a bit puzzled by the diaper selection?”