by Emmy Eugene
The Cowboy Billionaire’s Mistletoe Kiss
Chestnut Ranch Romance, Book 2
Emmy Eugene
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Leave a Review
Sneak Peek! Chapter One of The Cowboy Billionaire’s Christmas Crush
Sneak Peek! Chapter Two of The Cowboy Billionaire’s Christmas Crush
Sneak Peek! Chapter One of The Cowboy Billionaire’s Secret Baby
Sneak Peek! Chapter Two of The Cowboy Billionaire’s Secret Baby
About Emmy Eugene
Chapter One
Travis Johnson pulled at the tightness of his tie around his neck. He didn’t attend church all that often, and so didn’t wear a white shirt and tie much. And since it was his older brother who’d gotten married tonight, he not only wore a white shirt and tie, but a fancy suit coat to match the slick, pressed slacks he currently wore.
At least Seth had allowed cowboy hats and cowboy boots as part of the wedding-approved attire. If he hadn’t, there might have been a brotherly mutiny on his hands.
As it was, Travis felt stuffed into a monkey suit, sipping punch, and wishing he could leave early.
But the dinner had just started, and then there was dancing. And cake-cutting. And then the big sparkler send-off as Seth and Jenna went blissfully on their honeymoon for the next two weeks.
Travis was already dreading trying to do the work of three men where there were only two of them at the homestead now. Seth had moved almost everything he owned into Jenna’s house next door yesterday after they’d all shared Thanksgiving together at their parents’ house.
Seth had still slept at the homestead, but it already felt too empty without him there. Travis got along great with Russ; that wasn’t a problem. Taking on Seth’s dog operation was, as it had swelled to astronomical numbers since the article in the Texas Hill Country magazine had hit virtual shelves.
Not only that, but Gertrude Wisehouse had run a piece in the town’s newsletter, and it felt like a new dog got dropped off at Chestnut Ranch every single day. Seth, Travis, and Russ had talked a lot about putting a system in place for drop-offs, but nothing much had come of it yet. Seth really didn’t want to turn away dogs in need, and truth be told, Travis couldn’t stomach the idea of that either.
A waiter arrived at his table, and plates of food got served. He waited until everyone at the table had food, and then he picked up his knife and fork.
“At least the food is delicious,” Russ said from beside him.
“Yeah.” He cut into his steak, which was perfectly cooked. Rex and Griffin sat at the table with them, as did their parents and Jenna’s brother, Isaac. That completed the family table, though Travis had cousins seated at a nearby table, and he knew almost everyone else in the banquet hall as well.
“The wedding was beautiful,” his mother said for the third time in the twenty minutes since the ceremony had ended. She sniffed and reached for her glass of sweet tea. “It sure would be nice if some more of you boys could get married.”
“Momma,” Griffin said. “Talk to Russ. He’s the one with the serious girlfriend.”
“Uh,” Russ said, his face coloring.
Travis instantly felt bad for his brother, because he knew what the others at the table didn’t.
“Uh, what?” Rex asked, not about to let that slide.
Russ looked at Travis, a pleading expression on his face. “He broke up with Janelle,” he said.
“No,” Russ barked. “She broke up with me.”
Which was worse, Travis knew. “Sorry,” he said at the same time Griffin said, “What? How is that possible?”
Rex added, “You guys were like, awesome together.”
Surprisingly, their mother didn’t say anything, and Travis looked across the table to where Jenna’s brother sat. He seemed enthralled by the Johnson family drama, and Travis smiled at him.
“We’re not usually crazy,” he said.
“Oh, I know how you guys are,” Isaac said with a laugh. “And this is mild.”
Travis couldn’t deny it, so he just shrugged. Russ kept his head down and his hat low, blocking anyone from seeing his face. Travis knew just how he felt. Rex had been going out with women like he was trying on a new pair of boots. Griffin had been out a few times, but nothing was sticking, and he wouldn’t go out with anyone Rex had already taken to dinner.
Travis had met two women at the speed dating event during Octoberfest that had caught his interest. He’d gone out with Flora Thompson three times before she’d told him there was no spark for her.
That had kept the second number he’d gotten stuffed away in his wallet. There, but not forgotten. Not used either.
Millie Hepworth was a gorgeous blonde he’d actually been out with once before. Maybe twice. Fine, at least half a dozen times. Then she’d moved for a job, and Travis had thought he’d never see her again.
But there she’d been, at the speed dating event, only a resident of Chestnut Springs for a week. He’d gotten her number, but he wasn’t blind. Several other men there had liked Millie too, and Travis was nothing if not great at Internet spying.
So he’d seen Millie’s pictures of her and her new boyfriend, a man named Mitchell Anders. And Mitch was a good guy. Maybe a little stuffy, in Travis’s opinion, but he supposed people could classify him as standoffish.
He wasn’t; he was just more reserved than some of the other Johnson brothers. He preferred to hang out at the back of the crowd and only say something if he needed to.
He hadn’t called Millie, because he didn’t want to step on Mitch’s toes. In a town as small as Chestnut Springs, Travis didn’t need to cause drama.
Dinner finished, and dessert was brought out. While he ate his way through a beautiful piece of chocolate cake, the speeches started. A friend of Jenna’s from her job at the elementary school spoke, and Travis liked what Kim said. Then Seth’s best man got up, and Travis watched Russ walk up to the microphone.
“To Seth and Jenna, whose love was written in the stars from the very beginning.” He cleared his throat and glanced at the blissful couple at the head table. Travis felt bad for Russ. What a way to rub salt in his open wound. “Even if took them a little while to realize how perfect they were for each other, I’m glad they did. Love you brother, and I love you too, Jenna.” He lifted his glass of cider, and everyone in the room did the same.
Short and sweet. Exactly the kind of toast Travis appreciated.
“It’s time to dance,” a woman said from the mic, trilling out a laugh afterward. “Let’s stand and follow Mr. and Mrs. Johnson to the dance floor.”
Travis stood, steadying his father who’d broken his leg and hip in a terrible horseback riding accident a few years ago. Seth and Jenna walked by hand-in-hand, and they looked so happy that Travis coul
d feel their joy radiating from them.
He smiled, and his heart pinched, because he was happy for them—and he wanted what they had.
The music started, and Seth took Jenna in his arms and danced with her. Then he twirled her out, where Isaac received her, dancing the father’s dance in place of their father, who’d died years and years ago.
Travis clapped along with everyone else at the end of that dance, thinking he’d slip outside for a few minutes. Just to breathe and clear his head.
The dance floor was beautiful, lit with white tea lights and filled with vines and flowers. The music was low, and if there had been someone there he wanted to dance with, Travis thought it would’ve been the perfect place for a romantic connection.
Several more couples flooded the dance floor, including Rex and his flavor of the week. Griffin found a woman and took off his hat as he asked her to dance.
“You gonna dance?” Russ asked, and Travis shook his head.
“Who would I ask?”
“I dunno,” Russ said, nodding across the room. “How about that pretty blonde over there?”
Travis followed his gaze, and he stumbled backward when he caught sight of Millie Hepworth. His heartbeat played leapfrog with itself, and he searched for Mitch. His hopes fell, because she had to be here with someone. She wasn’t single.
“No,” he murmured.
“Oh, go on,” Russ said. “I know you like her.”
“She’s dating someone.”
“Is she?” Russ pulled out his phone and started swiping. “I don’t think so.” He handed his phone to Travis, who tore his eyes away from the woman he’d been thinking about for two months to look at it.
“Going to a wedding alone tonight,” he read. “Wish me luck.” He looked up at Russ. “Alone?”
“I think she broke up with Anders.”
So she was single. And beautiful. And standing next to her chair, a fake smile on her face as she watched everyone else dance.
“Now’s your chance, Trav,” Russ said, taking his phone back and nudging Travis to get moving. “Go ask her to dance.”
Somehow, Travis’s feet did what Russ said. His brain buzzed, because he wasn’t quite sure how to talk to a woman like Millie. In fact, women like Millie had shredded his heart and left him for dead more than once. And he was willingly going to walk into that trap again?
On accident, he kicked a chair at the table beside hers, drawing her attention. Their eyes met, and it was like the entire scene around them disappeared. There were still romantic, twinkling lights. Soft music. The scent of chocolate hanging in the air.
But now, there was only the two of them.
Travis lifted his hand for some reason. “Hey, Millie,” he said. “Do you want to dance?” He should’ve whisked off his cowboy hat the way Griffin had done. Offered her his hand. Something.
A smile brightened her face, and she nodded, coming toward him. He did offer her his arm then, and she slipped her hand through it as he led her onto the dance floor.
Now he just had to try to dance without stepping on her feet or saying something stupid.
Totally easy, he told himself, every nerve ending in his body feeling like he’d lit it on fire. He took her into his arms, noticing how well she fit there. He breathed in and smiled.
The very next thing he did was step on her foot, and pure humiliation streamed through him. “Sorry,” he muttered, putting another several inches of distance between them. Foolishness filled him, because now he was dancing like a freaking Frankenstein, his arms straight out.
“I’m not as good at this as my brother,” he muttered.
Millie smiled at him, and it looked less fake than before. Still a little strained. “It’s fine, Travis,” she said, and wow, he liked his name in her voice.
“So you’re back in town,” he said, instantly regretting it. He’d said almost exactly the same thing to her at the speed dating event, almost two months ago.
“Yeah.” She nodded and inched forward until they were dancing close again. “You took a long time to call,” she said.
“Well, you were datin’ someone else.” He looked at her, surprised that he could make eye contact. “I didn’t want to intrude.”
The song ended, and Travis fell back a step, letting his hands drop from Millie’s waist. She tucked her hair and glanced around. “Will you dance with me again?”
“Sure,” Travis said, searching his mind for something they could talk about. He wasn’t great with conversations, especially when they were with pretty women. He tucked her back into his arms, and they moved easily together. “So are you saying you’re not dating anyone right now?” he asked.
She smiled up at him, her straight, white teeth catching some of the light from the strands around the room. “No, not right now.”
“So you and Mitch…”
“Broken up,” she said. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and wow, Travis sure liked that. She made him feel sexy and strong, and he closed his eyes as the song played around them.
“Uh, Trav?”
He opened his eyes at the sound of Rex’s voice. Millie straightened too, and he reminded himself they were in public.
“Yeah?”
“You guys are under the mistletoe.” Rex pointed up, a wicked smile on his face. “Better kiss ‘er, or you’ll have bad luck for a year.”
Travis’s heart went wild, and his feet rooted to the spot. Rex spun his woman away, and Travis had nowhere else to look but at Millie.
To his great surprise, she smiled, gripped his shoulders with a bit more strength, and closed her eyes. With her face tipped up like that, all Travis had to do to kiss her was lean down.
So he did.
Chapter Two
Millie Hepworth’s pulse shout out beats like an automatic machine gun. Travis Johnson was kissing her in the middle of the dance floor at his brother’s wedding, and she was not complaining. Not one little bit.
She kissed him back, sliding her hands up his neck and into his hair. She’d been thinking about him for a couple of weeks now. Longer, if she were being honest with herself. But she had been dating Mitch until very recently, and Travis hadn’t called…
He was certainly speaking to her right now, though, without saying a word.
He finally pulled away, dancing them away from the sprig of mistletoe hung in the very center of the light strings. “Wow,” he whispered, his cheek pressed against hers.
He smelled like something musky, and something clean, and something woodsy. She liked all of it, and she couldn’t get her voice to work.
“So,” Travis said, obviously more relaxed now. “What are you doing here? I didn’t realize you were friends with Jenna.”
“Oh, I’m not,” Millie said, glad her voice had decided to work again.
“So you’re crashing the wedding?” He chuckled, the sound deep, rich, and delicious.
She giggled with him, surprised at how easy being with him was. Before she’d left Chestnut Springs, years ago, he’d been harder to talk to. “No, I’m not crashing,” she said. “I’m shadowing Paige, and she’s the wedding planner.”
“Shadowing her? Why?”
“That’s what I do now,” she said. “I mean, not the shadowing.” She sighed, because there was a very long story to how she’d come to be at this wedding, in this man’s arms. “I moved home to take care of my momma, right?” She’d mentioned that during the speed dating event.
“Yeah,” Travis said. “I remember that.”
“So, in San Antonio, I worked for a golf course and country club, doing all of their events. I have a degree in hospitality management with a specialization in outdoor events. Up here, I’ve opened my own business doing the same thing. Outdoor event planning, and I’ve been shadowing some of the established businesses who do events.”
“But this is an indoor event,” Travis said, his eyebrows furrowing.
He was devilishly good-looking when he did that, and Millie smiled at him
again. “True. I was just getting a sense of what a Texas Hill Country wedding would look like. I’m meeting with Serendipity Seeds on Monday to look at their space. I’m hoping to have my website done by Friday next week, and then…I’m taking on clients.”
Millie felt a little bit sick to her stomach just thinking about it. But she pushed past the nerves, the butterflies, and the fear. “But the event planning gives me some flexibility with Momma, and I need that right now.”
She also needed to get paid, but she kept that part buried under her tongue.
“Sounds amazing,” Travis said. “My brother does dog adoptions once a month. Does that qualify as an outdoor event one might need a planner for?”
Millie laughed again and shook her head. “I don’t think so, Travis.”
“Hmm. He might have to do them every week the way people have been bringing him dogs.”
Millie tilted her head to the side, hearing something in his voice. “You don’t sound happy about that.”
“He’s leaving for two weeks,” Travis said, glancing over to where Seth and Jenna danced, obviously hopelessly in love with one another. “And we get a few new dogs each week. We have nowhere to put them.” He met Millie’s eye again, and she had the inexplicable urge to want to help him.
“Do you need more housing for them?” she asked. “My mother has a huge backyard, and it’s just going to waste.”
“We have lots of space on the ranch,” he said. “Just not the physical facilities. Seth needs to build a much bigger place.”
“Maybe you should hire someone to come do it while he’s gone,” she suggested. “Like a wedding gift for him.”