Texas Outlaws: Cole

by Kimberly Raye

  And so she wasn’t running from anything. She was following her dreams, just as Cole was about to follow his straight to Vegas, to buckle number six and a win that would put him in the record book and turn him from a rodeo star to a bona fide legend.

  He had his dreams, and she had hers, and they should just call it quits.

  She knew that, but she pressed anyway because she couldn’t stifle the hope that he would prove her wrong. “Why should I trust you? Because we’re ‘married’?” She shook her head, determined to ignore the feelings pushing and pulling inside of her. She wasn’t taking a chance and putting herself out there unless she knew for certain that he felt the same way. Unless he said the words. “It’s not real,” she rushed on. “I’m not your wife and you’re not my husband. We’re not even friends.”

  Say something.

  Tell me I’m wrong.

  Delusional.

  Crazy.

  “You’re right,” he said after a tense, silent moment, killing any hope that she had that things could actually work between them. “We’re not friends.”

  “Exactly.” She blinked back the hotness prickling behind her eyes. “I don’t even like you.”

  He gave her a dark look. “And I sure as hell don’t like you.”

  “And my mom’s gone now, so I don’t need you to help me keep her away.”

  “And the money’s gone, so I don’t need to stick around here and ward off a bunch of marriage-minded women.”

  “So it’s over,” she murmured, forcing the words past the sudden lump in her throat.

  “Over.” It seemed as if he said the word more to convince himself than her.

  “Good luck in Vegas,” she murmured. “I know you’ll do great.” And then she fought down the crazy urge to throw herself into his arms and hold on for dear life, and walked away.

  * * *

  HE WASN’T GOING after her.

  Cole steeled himself against the near-overwhelming urge and watched as she topped the stairs and disappeared inside the apartment.

  The door shut and the lights flicked on inside and still, he didn’t move.

  It’s over, buddy. She said so. You said so. Get over it and get moving.

  He wanted to.

  He wanted to turn and walk away the way he would have with any other woman.

  That’s all she was.

  Even as he tried to convince himself of that, he knew deep down inside that it was just a bunch of B.S.

  Nikki was different. Special.

  A liar.

  He reminded himself of that all-important fact, but damned if he actually believed it. She might have withheld information, but she hadn’t done it because she was untrustworthy or unreliable. And certainly not because it had been second nature to her.

  She’d simply wanted to protect her mother.

  She loved Raylene in spite of everything.

  Just as he loved his father.

  The truth rumbled from down deep, stirring a rush of denial as fierce as the emotion himself. Because Silas didn’t deserve his love. Not then, and certainly not now.

  Not ever.

  Maybe not, but as Nikki had said, this wasn’t about Silas. It was about Cole. About what he felt deep inside.

  What he’d tried to deny for so long because he hadn’t wanted to feel anything where the man was concerned.

  He hadn’t wanted to feel anything now. Because it made things easier. Safer. He could come and go as he pleased and not worry about hurting anyone, or being hurt the way he’d been so many times in the past.

  Most of all, he didn’t have to worry about loving someone who didn’t love him back.

  Like now.

  He fought the truth and turned on his heel. He didn’t love her and she didn’t love him, and that was good.

  Great.

  He held tight to the thought, climbed into the RV, steered the monstrous beast back onto the road, and headed toward Jesse’s place. After a quick stop to explain the situation to his brother, he’d be on his way to Vegas.

  Finally.

  If only he could shake the feeling that he was about to make the biggest mistake of his life.

  22

  NIKKI SPENT THE night tossing and turning and replaying her last conversation with Cole, and wishing with all of her heart that it had gone differently.

  Because she did love him.

  She’d finally admitted as much to herself early that morning as she’d stared at the ceiling and tried to forget the way it had felt to fall asleep in his arms and the overwhelming knowledge that she would never, ever feel that way again.

  No falling asleep in his arms. No waking up to him the next morning. No laughing over a midnight snack or stargazing from the top of his RV.

  The thoughts haunted her as she made her way downstairs early the next morning and rounded the building toward the bar’s front entrance. She’d left the place in Colby’s hands over the past week while she’d trekked across the state, but she was back now.

  At least for the next few days until she took her finals.

  Just because she loved him, she wasn’t abandoning her plans to stay home in Lost Gun and waste away at the Giddyup while Cole went on about his business. She had to keep going, to move forward.

  To stop looking back.

  All the more reason to get inside and get to work.

  She unlocked the door and headed through the dim interior. The place was quiet. Peaceful. Perfect for an entire day spent working in the kitchen. Uninterrupted. Focused.

  Talk about nirvana.

  Even so, she couldn’t manage to summon the usual excitement when she walked into the kitchen. No, all she could think about was Cole and how he’d stood downstairs long after she’d gone into her apartment.

  As if he’d been waiting for her to change her mind.

  As if he’d wanted her to.

  As if.

  He could have said something if he’d felt differently, but he hadn’t. He’d let her walk away, run away, and he hadn’t said a word to the contrary.

  Which was fine. Really. She didn’t need Cole Chisholm anyway. She had her entire future stretched out in front of her. A new apartment waiting in Houston courtesy of the money she’d saved over the past few years. An internship at the infamous Savoy because she was surely going to ace her finals.

  If she didn’t drop dead of a heart attack first.

  She clutched her chest and stared at the young man who’d just walked into the kitchen.

  “Colby?” She eyed the thick gold chain that he wore with what looked like a brand-new shirt and stiff, starched denim. “What are you doing here so early?”

  “I saw your light on last night when I was on my way home from Bingo, so I knew you were back. I wanted to show you my new look.” He indicated the new belt clinging to his slim waist. “Pretty cool, huh?”

  “It’s nice.”

  “It’s more than nice. When April gets back, she’ll realize what a mistake she made by marrying that guy and she’ll give me a chance. I’ll take her to a fancy restaurant in Austin and buy her something expensive and she’ll see that I can give her even more than that rodeo star she married. She’ll divorce him and we’ll live happily ever after.”

  “Colby, I know you really like April, but that’s not going to happen. It doesn’t matter how much money you have...” Her words trailed off before she even finished her sentence as several all-important things registered. New look. Fancy restaurant. Something expensive.

  Which wouldn’t have been a big deal, except this was Colby who made minimum wage. He couldn’t afford any of the above. Unless...

  “You found the duffel bag, didn’t you?”

  Guilt washed over his expression and she knew even
before he said, “If you mean a black duffel bag with a red zipper, no.” He shook his head profusely. “I didn’t find it.”

  “Yes, you did. You just described it.”

  “That was just a lucky guess.”

  “And the money for the new clothes?”

  “I saved it up.” She gave him an unflinching stare and he buckled in a few seconds. “Okay, I found it.” He shrugged. “I know I shouldn’t have taken it, but I thought maybe God was trying to make up for the fact that he let April marry that Jimmy Barber. I thought this was my chance to impress her and maybe get her back.”

  Because he loved her and he was more than willing to lay it all on the line to show her.

  Even though he knew the odds were against him and April might not love him back.

  He didn’t care. He was going to give it a shot anyway. Consequences be damned.

  Her heartbeat kicked into high gear and she knew in a startling instant that she wasn’t just going to sit by and do nothing.

  “Where’s the rest of the money?” she asked Colby.

  “You’re going to make me give it back, aren’t you?”

  “You can keep the clothes, but yes, you’ve got to give the rest of it back.” When he didn’t look convinced, she added, “It’s the right thing to do.” Even more, it was going to give her one more chance to see Cole Chisholm and tell him that she loved him and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

  She did.

  And if he doesn’t feel the same way?

  She was going to tell him anyway.

  If he hadn’t already left, that is.

  “Get the money,” she told Colby, “and meet me in the parking lot.” And then she headed for the door.

  * * *

  HE WAS LEAVING.

  That’s what Cole told himself as he headed out to the training facility to meet with his new driver. Eli had dropped the bomb just last night that he wouldn’t be heading out to Vegas with him. After Cole had dropped the bomb about the money to Jesse last night.

  “I’m sorry, bud,” he told his brother, but he needn’t have said the words. Jesse hadn’t blamed him for anything. They’d tried to do the right thing and they’d almost succeeded.

  Almost.

  Not that it would have changed anything anyhow.

  That’s what Cole told himself, he just wasn’t so sure he believed it anymore. Because he’d changed.

  He didn’t feel so indifferent inside. So contained. So suppressed.

  He felt, period. And that was good. Useless, but good.

  It had helped him offer up a genuine congratulations when Eli had called to tell Cole that he’d asked his sweetie to marry him and she’d said yes.

  “I hate to bail on you, son, but you’ll have to find another driver. ’Sides, I’m too old anyhow. I’m liable to wrap that big ole bus around a telephone pole or something. You need to find someone young to take my place. Someone who can stick with you for a while.”

  Married?

  Eli?

  The man had been single for as long as Cole could remember. Sure, he’d gotten up close and comfortable with the ladies over the years, but he’d never gotten serious with one.

  Until he’d met the right one.

  Cole shook away the thought, pulled into the parking lot and walked into the office area to meet the new guy that Jesse had found for him at the last minute. That very morning to be exact.

  At least that’s what Jesse had said when he’d left a voice mail a half hour ago.

  “I found the right person for you.”

  But there was no one waiting in the small office area. Just an empty duffel bag.

  The duffel bag.

  He grabbed the familiar black canvas and yanked open the red zipper. Sure enough, it was his. The same bag he’d used to stash the money.

  “Colby found it the day after we left when he was taking out the trash and pulled it out of the Dumpster.” The soft voice sounded directly behind him and he turned to see Nikki standing in the doorway.

  She wore a Giddyup T-shirt tucked into a fitted black miniskirt that hugged her in all the right places. But it wasn’t the outfit that stalled the air in his lungs. It was the gleam in her eyes.

  “I don’t understand,” he managed, despite a suddenly dry throat.

  “Colby found the money, and spent exactly one hundred and forty-seven dollars. He was going to spend more, but luckily he’s conscientious. He didn’t have time to go car shopping because he was filling in for me at the bar. Otherwise, you would have been missing a lot more.”

  “But there’s nothing here.”

  “I stopped by Jesse’s when I was looking for you this morning. I told him about the money, handed it over and he sent me out here. He said you needed a driver.” A grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. “I’d like to apply for the job.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I’m trying to tell you that I love you. That I’ve always loved you. And that I’m willing to follow you to the ends of the Earth or, in this case, Vegas.”

  “What about Houston?”

  “Who needs a new apartment and a fancy internship?” She shrugged. “I’m giving my stash to my mom. She can use it to fix up the old house and finally have her dream bar right on the beach.”

  “What about your finals?”

  “Oh, I intend to take those. I want my degree, even if I don’t think it’ll come in very handy out at the bar.”

  “You’re going to stay on?”

  “I’m going to turn it into an old-fashioned diner where the locals can get a good grilled cheese sandwich and a decadent piece of Dr. Pepper cake. I was hoping you might help me out, maybe wait a few tables. After Vegas, that is.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Because you don’t love me,” she stated. “That’s it, isn’t it? I convinced myself on the drive over here that you didn’t say the words because maybe, just maybe you were as scared as I was, but that’s not it, is it? You don’t feel the same.”

  Doubt rushed through him, followed by a sense of joy so profound that he knew he could never turn and walk away from her. Not now. Not twenty years from now. Not never.

  What’s more, he didn’t want to walk away. To run. To keep running the way he’d been doing for so many years.

  It was time to stop. To love someone. To trust someone enough to let them love him.

  A strange sense of peace stole through him, and for the first time he didn’t feel the itch to get going.

  There was no more chasing his freedom.

  Because he’d already found it.

  Real freedom was loving and being loved, and it was right here, right now, right at his fingertips.

  It was Nikki.

  “I do love you.” He said the words he’d felt for so long but refused to admit. “More than anything.”

  Her panic faded into a look of pure delight. “Does that mean I get the job?”

  “’Til death do us part.”

  “That sounds like a proposal more than job offer.”

  His grin faded as he stared deep into her eyes. “Will you marry me, Nikki, and make me the happiest man alive?”

  “I will,” she murmured. “I do.” And then she kissed him and left no doubt in his mind that she meant it.

  Epilogue

  IT WAS THE biggest wedding the small town of Lost Gun, Texas, had ever seen.

  Nikki Barbie stood at the door of a makeshift tent and peeked past the drapes at the scene spread before her. Banquet tables draped in crisp white linen filled the massive tents that had been set up on an empty stretch of land just twenty miles outside of town. The property was located just a few miles down the road from Pete Gunner’s massive spread, overlooking a
winding creek and a massive waterfall. A crescent moon hung in the clear sky, surrounded by twinkling stars. Candles floated in giant crystal bowls at the center of each table, giving the entire place a surreal-like quality that made for a picturesque backdrop as all three of the infamous Chisholm brothers tied the knot in a triple ceremony that had taken Nikki and the other two brides over six months to plan.

  A spring ceremony with lots of flowers and a crispness in the evening air.

  There was a tent set up to house the food and a giant array of homemade desserts that had been trucked in from the Giddyup diner, formerly the town’s most notorious honky-tonk.

  It now served up the best homemade dishes for a fifty-mile radius and had been an obvious choice for the massive event.

  It was Nikki’s wedding, after all, and she’d wanted all of her grammy Ruth’s favorites in attendance. Luckily Gracie and Sabrina had fallen in love with the entire menu and had been more than eager to have Nikki provide the food.

  Not personally, of course. She’d had way too much to do to pull that off. Rather, she’d handed over her recipe box to a group of well-trained cooks who’d done the recipes proud. The delicious smells floating through the air proved as much and reminded her of Grammy Ruth.

  Which explained why Raylene Barbie sat on the front row of the ceremony area, looking as if she wanted to throw up.

  While Nikki had stopped burying the past, Raylene was still in full denial. But at least she was here to see her youngest daughter tie the knot for the second time—or so she and everyone in town thought.

  Nikki and Cole had never told anyone that the first time had been a fake. She glanced down at the monstrous ring he’d given her during their road trip. A fake, or so she’d thought. But the ring, like the relationship, had turned out to be the real deal, and so they’d spent the past months living happily ever after.

  But it was time to make it official. Particularly since Nikki had a special wedding present for Cole.

  She touched her still-flat stomach and gave in to a small smile. A present for them both.

  Her gaze went to her mother. While she looked as hard and unyielding as ever, Raylene had actually softened some since Nikki had handed over her nest egg to fund Raylene’s dream. She’d been so stunned that she’d actually stopped pushing her daughters so hard and started to focus on her own life.