Free Storm Warning by Caisey Quinn, Elizabeth Lee Page A

rake made it clear that he didn’t know the meaning of hard work. Ella Jane wasn’t actually into this tool, was she? That was not the type of guy that could take care of her. He couldn’t handle a girl like Ella Jane Mason.
    “Don’t be like that, Ellie May,” Coop said.
    “Like what?” she asked, slamming the lid of her laptop down and shooting him a challenging look. “You know what? Don’t answer that. I’m not in the mood to get into this with you right now. I’ve got about a hundred work things to do.”
    He stared at her intently, trying to figure out a way to break through the wall she’d put up since he’d been a jackass.
    He needed a game plan. Knowing nothing he could say at that moment would make Ella Jane happy, Coop considered dropping down to his knees right then and there and begging her to forgive him. But his brothers were staring at him, probably wondering what in the hell was going on, and he didn’t want to cause a scene in front of them. Or the douchebag he could feel staring holes through him.
    It would have been embarrassing enough to bare his soul to her in front of a live audience, but to make matters worse, he was pretty sure she was going to tell him to go straight to hell. Which his brothers would never let him live down.
    “Okay,” he conceded. She was still pissed at him and he knew it was going to take more than an I’m sorry text message. On top of that, now he had to deal with whatever was going on between EJ and the Masons’ new employee.
    Ella Jane ignored him as she put his brothers to work on the fence. He got the message loud and clear. Dis-missed.
    As he was driving down the lane, watching EJ fade in his rearview, rich boy made sure to lock eyes with him as he drove by. Looks like I’ve got a little competition. That cocky bastard is actually staring me down.
    Coop decided that he was done sitting on the sidelines. He was going to tell her exactly how he felt, and he knew the perfect time and place to do it. With his sudden burst of confidence, he wasted no time flipping the bird to the Masons’ new Bitch Boy.
    Keep raking, dick. And stay the hell away from my girl.

“I ’LL be fine, Soph,” she reassured the housekeeper, practically shoving her out the front door. “Go enjoy your week off with your real kids.”
    “Why don’t you come with me?” Sophie asked her. Again. “You need to get out of this house.”
    Cami shook her head. “Everything will be okay. I promise.” Even though she knew that she’d be beyond bored without Sophie to talk to all week, she was hoping that the social interaction she had planned that afternoon would be enough to tide her over. Cami didn’t want to tell Sophie, who was standing there generously offering to take her with her, that she had big plans. Plans that involved one extremely attractive landscaper who was due to arrive within the hour. Cami had every intention of making it more about her and less about the grass this week.
    This would be the third week in a row that he had come over. The first week was interesting to say the least. The second week, he’d been so busy that they didn’t have much time to talk. Instead, she’d spent the afternoon watching him sweat over her mom’s rosebushes. This week she was going to make damn sure he paid attention to her. She’d even pulled a couple weeds she’d seen sneaking out the flowerbeds the day before to make sure he had plenty of time to talk to her.
    “Okay. If you insist.” Sophie leaned in and placed a kiss on Cami’s cheek. It wasn’t the first time she’d done this. In fact, Sophie had probably kissed and hugged Cami more than anyone else. Sophie’s sincere gesture only reminded Cami of the times her parents faked admiration for their only daughter.
    When her dad had been campaigning for school board president, he kept her pressed firmly to his side as he convinced voters that his platform was “taking care of our children.” Cami wasn’t stupid. She