Book 1 in Hot Texas Nights

We were curled up on his sofa after watching the latest Terminator movie. Ally wiggled her toes against my leg and I glanced over to see her starting at her phone with intense focus.

“What are you doing over there?”

She rolled her eyes. “The girls talked me into trying a new app.”

“Like a new game?” I ask.

She bites down on her lip and I fight a groan. Damn, but I hate it when she does that. Ally is my best friend. That means there is no place between us for thoughts about how fucking sexy she is when she bites down on that plump bottom lip.

Her wide blue eyes look up at me. “No, it’s more like a dating app.”

“Like to hook-up?” my voice actually cracks on the last word and cough to try to cover it up. Ally does not hook up. Never has. As far as I know she’s only ever had sex with two guys. Brandon – our former joint best friend and Ted, her former fiancé.  

“Dating, not one-night stands, Coop. You know I can’t do that.” She stabs at her phone some more. “But these questions are dumb. Like why don’t they have a drop down menu for hair color, there really aren’t that many options.”

“Except for all the rainbow colored ones. Yours is espresso, by the way.”

“What?” A little ‘v’ forms between her eyes.

“The color of your hair. It’s too dark to be brown, but not dark enough to be black, therefore espresso.”

She stares at me and I’m struck again by how damn gorgeous she is and the funny thing is, she has no clue. She sees herself as this goofy girl who wears her hair in braids, dresses in pop-culture t-shirts and denim overalls and bakes cookies all day. But with her fair complexion, dark wavy hair and enormous blue eyes, she’s heart-stoppingly beautiful. At least she stops my heart. Every time I look at her.

“I’m not putting espresso. That sounds pretentious. I’ll just put brown.”

“What picture are you going to use?”

“I hadn’t thought about it.” She taps on her screen a few times, then crawls closer to me on the sofa. Her legs curl up in a cross-legged position and she leans over with her phone. Instantly the scent of cinnamon and sugar punctuate the air around me. God, she smells good. Always. Totally distracting.

She nudges me. “Coop.”

And I realize she’s shoving her phone in front of me and swiping through pictures of herself on the phone.

“Jilly took some at the bakery today.”

All of the pictures are fucking adorable. “I don’t know, Allycat, I’m not sure these will work.”

A bite down on that lip, then a frown. “Why the hell not?”

“Well, you look adorable in all of these, but you want to give the impression that you’re real, not polished all the time. You should have some candid shots. These look more like you’re advertising the bakery.”

Her blue eyes narrow and she leans further into me so close we’re practically nose to nose. Then she swipes my phone off the side table and sits back.

“Let’s just see how candid your shots are.” She pokes around on my phone a few times, never once pausing to inquire a password—she knows me that well. Then she pauses. “Damn, Cooper!”

“What?” Self-consciously I’m already rubbing the back of my neck while she stares at my phone.

She turns the screen to face me revealing she’s opened my 2night app. “Damn son, how are you not getting laid several times a day with your mug out there like this?” She looks back at the screen. “Seriously, you are ridiculously hot.”

“That app is not for dating, Ally. It’s different. The kind of men you want to attract will want you for more than your beauty. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

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