Taking a Chance

by April Zyon

  “Oh God, are you for real?” At the looks on the brothers’ faces, she howled in her laughter. “Oh lord, you are too freaking funny. Trying to get your brother in trouble like that. Seriously?”

  “What?” Travis asked. He was chuckling for a moment before letting out a sigh. “He always managed to get me into shit for stuff I hadn’t even done. Some of it, yes, I will admit I’d done, but some of it wasn’t my fault in the least. Hell, he got me into shit for stuff he or Frank were doing for fuck’s sake.”

  “Are you serious?” Cass turned her gaze to Brant. “You did that to him? You are a very bad man, you know that? Well, bad when you were a teen. Then again, I guess that all teens go through that, don’t they?” She frowned. “Well hell. I can’t really be angry with you, can I?”

  “Nope, you can’t,” Brant said. “Besides, I deny all of the allegations he’s attempting to lay on my doorstep. He has no proof to the contrary and, therefore, they are nothing but falsehoods made up by a delusional mind. I tried to get him to get some therapy, but…” He trailed off. Shrugging, he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

  “Bull-fucking-shit!” Travis said. “God, how the fuck can you do that with a straight face?”

  “Years and years of training.”

  Cassidy held her stomach she was laughing so hard. “Oh lord. You two.” She shook her head. “I thought that Travis and Joshua were bad, but the two of you are a like a couple of old ladies bickering at each other.”

  “That’s because they are closer in age than me and him,” Joshua piped up. He was grinning like an idiot. “While I love my big brothers, they can get to be a bit much. There was that whole one-up-manship thing. It’s great they’re back, but honestly, it’s so much better when they are in separate rooms. Thank God Frank isn’t here or there would really be fur flying.”

  “Oh sweet merciful heavens. Hopefully, I won’t have to be there when all of you get together. Otherwise, I’m so going to borrow your mom’s cast iron skillet so that I can hit you all upside the head like Mrs. Hollister did Ali’s stalker.”

  “Mrs. H did what?” Brant asked.

  Travis and Joshua were both looking anywhere but at her, or their brother.

  “Mom cracked Ali’s stalker upside the head when he broke in here to get at Ali,” Rhys said. “Kicked him in the nuts for a good measure as well. Then your mom took a bunch of pictures with my mother like it was some sort of big game kill.”

  “It was epic, the way that those women took care of Ali’s stalker. The re-telling of that story is the only good part of going over and being part of the chaos that is Genny Baker’s wedding plans right now. I mean, crazy insane, but the look of pride on their faces. Just remind me never to do anything that will upset those ladies,” Joshua said while snickering.

  “I doubt that you could. You are practically glued to one of Mama C’s babies after all,” Rhys told Cassidy. “In her books, that makes you one of the family. While she may threaten to brain or even kill one of her kids, she still hasn’t actually killed one. Yet.”

  “For some reason, I have a feeling that the woman has the patience of Job and is a saint. I mean, raising you hellions, she had to have had that, right?” Cassidy teased.

  “You’ve obviously never heard Mama swear,” Joshua said. He was staring at her like she’d gone off her rocker. “Cass, darling soon-to-be-sister of mine, Mama has a mouth on her that would make a sailor blush. Fuck, she’s made a whole platoon blush a time or two with some of the shit that comes out of her. She might have you fooled that she’s this sweet, gently aging lady. Don’t buy it!”

  Cass looked at Travis, all teasing gone. “Soon-to-be-sister?”

  Travis glared at his younger brother. Joshua, when she checked, was looking smug. “What?” Josh asked. “Dude, you are totally dragging this out. I know why, I get it, but come on, for the love of all that is holy, put the woman out of her misery already.”

  “I hate you. I actually completely and fully hate you right now,” Travis growled at him. He rubbed a hand down his face as he looked to her, then at all the very attentive faces around them. “I am not doing this here with all you bozos looking on.” There were a number of protests to that, but Travis just shook his head. “No, this is between me and the lady. You fuckers are not invited to the party.”

  He looked into her eyes again and smiled. “After you eat, meet me in the main barn.” Getting to his feet, he leaned in to kiss her. “Ditch the nosey assholes too,” he whispered in her ear before leaving her to her meal.

  Cassidy watched Travis then turned to glare at the men. “You so shouldn’t have let that one slip. I knew he had a question to ask, but I wanted it to be him that asked.” She took a deep breath and nodded. “Now, get out. I want to eat quickly and then I’m going to go hunt down the love of my life.”

  The majority of them left. Brant remained, though, watching her closely. “You’re good for him, Cass. Just don’t break his heart, ‘cause if you do, you’ll be dealing with me, and I’m apparently an asshole when I’m in a mood. Got it?”

  “Don’t you worry, big brother. The last thing that I intend to do is hurt him. I love the big guy far too much to do anything that might cause him hurt.” Which was the total truth. “Now, get out of here,” she said with an easy grin.

  Nodding, he walked toward her and leaned in to press a kiss to her hair. “Welcome to the family, Cass,” he said softly. Squeezing her shoulder, he walked out of the room, leaving her to think over his words, and whatever Travis might have going on in the barn.

  Chapter Twelve

  After feeding herself, Cassidy cleaned up her dishes and walked out to the barn. Leaning against the doorframe, she looked inside, the darkness shadowing most of the interior. “Travis?” she called. She didn’t want to just walk in and ruin a surprise if he had one waiting.

  A hand settled on her arm, nearly sending her into the rafters. His soft chuckle had her whipping around. “I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said. He gave her a gentle push into the barn and slid the doors shut. It was dark inside, small shafts of light the only thing breaking up the gloom. Travis caught her hand in his, tugging her along on his heels at a slow pace.

  “So what are we doing in here, Travis?” she asked, and moved in just a bit closer to him. “You know that horses and I don’t quite like each other that much.” It was a sad but true fact. The horses only tolerated her when Travis was around.

  “They like you fine. They just know you are nervous and sense it. Even when you are afraid of them, you have to act like you own the world. They are smart beasts, but you can outsmart them, sweetheart. As to why we’re here.” He shot her a grin over his shoulder, leading her deeper into the barn. They came to a door to one of the stalls that he pushed open. Inside, he’d created a whole different world. Soft fabric floated on the small breeze moving through the barn. Candles were lit everywhere and a small table sat in the middle with two chairs around it. In the center of the table was a small, dark-colored ring box.

  Cassidy looked at Travis and then the box. “Really?” she asked with a smile. Reaching out, she touched the fabric and bit her lower lip. “This is utterly amazing. How did you get this done so fast? I know that I didn’t take that long in eating, so how?”

  “I’ve been working on it off and on for the last few days. Since I know how you feel about wandering in here without me…” He shrugged, grinning down at her. “Come, sit down so I can do this right. It’s not exactly as I had it envisioned, but it was as close as I could get while still keeping you safe.”

  “Thank you.” She moved to him and wrapped her arms around him. She hugged him tightly and then looked up at him. “For going out of your way like this for me. You can beat your brother for ruining your surprise later.”

  “Trust me, I plan on it,” he muttered. With a hand under her arm, he led her to the chair, waving her into the seat. Once she was sitting down, he moved around in front of her, wiping his hands down his thighs repeatedly.
“Okay, here goes nothing.”

  Picking up the box, he got down on one knee in front of her, looking really nervous. “Cassidy Milner,” he started. “Since the day we met, I’ve known nothing but pleasure in your company. I’ve laughed more than I thought possible. You have enriched my life in ways I couldn’t have ever imagined possible. You’ve given me your love and accepted mine in return. So, with very sweaty palms, and a stampede in my gut, I have to ask you the biggest of big questions. Will you accept my ring, my promise, and be my wife?” Flipping open the little box, he held it up so she could see the ring settled in the dark velvet.

  Cassidy fanned herself and looked at him then at the perfect ring. The platinum and titanium metals were perfect for the clear and shimmering diamond that looked to be about two carats, at least. “Mercy,” she whispered. Looking back at him, she grinned. “Yes. Yes, I will.”

  “Oh thank God,” he breathed out. Grinning, he took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger. Pressing a kiss to her fingers, he stood and tugged her up into his arms. “I love you, Cassidy.” He slid his arms around her and hugged her close, rocking her back and forth energetically.

  Cassidy hugged him back. “Could you ever have doubted that I would have said yes?” she teased. “With as much as I love you? Seriously? Silly man.”

  “I was terrified you wouldn’t,” he said. Drawing back from her, he looked down into her face. “I love you so much, Cass. The thought you might not be ready for this step has had me freaking out. Fuck, I actually had to have Josh talk me down from one of the freak-outs.”

  “Travis. You are the only man that I’ve ever said I love you to. You are the only man that I’ve ever wanted to have a forever with and been happy about what could happen in our futures. You are it for me, mister, and I plan on keeping you for forever.”

  “Good, because I would have tied you up, tossed you over my shoulder, and used sexual means to ensure you thought that if you hadn’t already. Yeah,” he said. He was frowning and looking confused as he shook his head. “Whatever. I was nervous, I freely admit it. When you’re planning something this huge, you have the right to be nervous, sweetheart. Especially when your mind likes to play the what-if game and just fucking torture you.”

  “Good point. Well, you now know the answer to your question and you know that there is not another man in the world for me, so life is going to be good for us, dammit. I won’t accept anything else. I am going to demand that we have a good life.”

  “We will,” he said softly. His lips met hers in a slow kiss. She could feel him smiling against her mouth as his one hand dropped to cup her ass, the other moving up to her hair. The kiss got deeper, more heat, more tongue, more everything as they tasted one another.

  Cassidy kissed Travis back with every ounce of need and desire that she had been holding back. “Mercy,” she whispered when she pulled back. “I’m so glad that you made this room special for us, darling. I think we should make use of the blankets and pillows you have out here.”

  “Dang, you spotted those, did you?” He was trying—failing miserably, of course—to look innocent. “I may or may not have had an ulterior motive to bringing those out here. Actually, who am I kidding? I damn well did have an ulterior motive.”

  “That’s a damn good thing because I want you to have an ulterior motive. I look forward to trying those out, so let’s do this, shall we?” She tugged on his hand, looking down at hers, which now held the massive diamond. “Love it.”

  He gave a laugh as she stood gawking at her ring. “Should I get you a pair of sunglasses to help alleviate the glare?” he teased. “Would hate for you to walk into anything because you were too busy staring at your own hand. Seriously, though, if it’s too much, Cass, just say the word and we can get you something else.”

  “Nope. I think that you should just keep me on the straight and narrow,” she teased with a smile. “That should be good with me.” She moved in closer to him and bit her lower lip. “I love you, Travis. Now I get to buy you an amazing wedding band for when we do get married. Which, by the way, I so do not want a big deal wedding. Please?”

  “Good, that’s very good. I don’t want the big thing either. Small and intimate, that’s all I want. If I thought Mama would go for it, I’d take us over to the justice of the peace and do it that way. But if we do, she’ll likely castrate me.” A shudder ripped through him.

  “Good point. Okay, so we won’t do the J of P, but we will maybe just do a small gathering at the house and then maybe a big party another time? I’m good with that. Thoughts?” That way, they could simply enjoy getting married and then the party after.

  “Works for me,” he said with a smile. “Mama can plan it all, which will make her happy, and we can keep her reined in so we’re happy. Now, enough chatting, I want to get my brand new fiancée naked so I can do all sorts of fun things with her fine body. Less talk, more naked.” Letting her go, he moved to roll out the blanket, tossing the pillows down on it before turning. “Oh I love the way that my brand new fiancé thinks. More naked.” She watched him as he began to undo his shirt and bit her lower lip as she, too, began to peel out of her clothes, her eyes never leaving him as she did so.

  He was grinning as he hopped around pulling off his boots. When his hands went to his belt, they both heard the yelling. Really loud, really annoying yelling. Frowning, he gave her a shrug as he moved closer to the door of the stall. “Stay put,” he said softly. “I’m going to take a look and see who’s all up in arms. Finish getting naked. I fully plan on compromising you a couple times this afternoon, Ms. Milner.”

  “Sounds good.” Cassidy got naked as quickly as she could and then lay down on the bed that he had created for them. “Come on, Travis,” she shouted. “I’m getting cold in here, bub!”

  The sound of a gun going off shattered the afternoon. Absolute silence surrounded her for a moment before the horses still in the barn began to shuffle around nervously. They were neighing, and a couple sounded like they were kicking the sides of their stalls. “Fucking hate horses,” a familiar voice muttered.

  Cassidy sat up quickly, her stomach pitting and her whole being freezing in an instant. She grabbed Travis’s shirt and tugged it on, along with her pants, and shoved her feet into her shoes.

  Cass didn’t stand, but crawled toward the barn door opening. All the while her mind was on Travis and the gunshot that she had heard. In her mind, she kept praying, Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.

  She peered around the corner and then jerked back quickly. Holy shit, Scott Foreman was there and he had a look of madness on his face that couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than outright crazy.

  She heard another shot then the cry of a horse before a heavy thud. She had to hold her hands over her mouth to keep from sobbing. He was a monster! Where were the guys? Why weren’t they there? Where was Travis?

  She could hear his footsteps getting closer. “What the fuck is that stink?” he grumbled. He was making little gagging sounds as he moved. “I know you’re in here, Cassidy. That idiot hand that tried to stop me is dead. You have no one to help you. Just come out and I won’t even hurt you,” he called out. She barely caught his whispered, “Much.”

  Cassidy put her back to the wall and felt her heart pounding hard and fast. She felt the blood rushing through her veins and she bit her lower lip. Shit. This wasn’t going to work. She looked around and then noticed that the hay that was piled up high in the stall they were in was covering the fact that the stalls weren’t all the way to the ground. She had to time it just right, then slip under a stall wall and keep going until she could get out. She prayed. Damn, she prayed.

  “Cassidy, I know you’re in here. You’d fucking better be in here,” he muttered. “If I have to traipse all over this place, I’m really going to be pissed. I didn’t want to come out here. If you’d have just fucking given me everything like you were supposed to from the start, you wouldn’t even know anything about this. No,
instead you have to be a self-righteous bitch and take half, fucking half, of everything. Good God, what the fuck is that smell?”

  “Drop it.” That voice, she recognized. Brant! “Right now, Foreman. Drop the gun or I’ll put a hole through your fucking head. Cassidy, come out from wherever you are. I’ve got him. It’s all good.” There was a loud sound, like a body hitting the ground, and Scott was cursing up a blue streak. “Oh shut up, you whiny bitch,” Brant muttered.

  Cassidy squeaked when she heard the scuffle and looked around the corner. She watched Brant wrestle Scott to the ground and could have kissed the man at that moment. She waited until Brant tied his bandana around Scott’s hands and hauled him to his feet. She raced out of the stall. “Where is Travis?” she asked anxiously. “I heard a gunshot.” She was crying. Damn, she hated the weakness and tears she was letting fly.

  “He’s okay, mostly. He’s outside. A little dazed, but he took a dive to avoid getting shot,” Brant told her. “Hey, Cass, he’s fine. Travis is a bit scuffed up, will likely have a couple of bruises, but he’s fine. Winded, but fine. He took a dive over a fence and isn’t really all that graceful, honestly. It was pretty painful to see. One of the hands has a graze from the same shot. He’s fine too, but Travis was dealing with him when I came in here. Go reassure your man you’re okay.”

  Cassidy nodded and looked to Scott. Before Brant could stop her, she pulled her fist back and hit Scott with a massive punch that even a boxer would have been happy to see. “Bastard.” She spat on him when he went down hard. “Thank you,” she said, and then walked out shaking her hand.

  Brant’s laughter behind her was surprising and good to hear. Her attention, though, was focused on Travis as soon as she spotted him. He was helping one of the hands toward the main house. His head turned and he stopped. After a word to the man, he came jogging her way, his arms opening as he got close.