by Emmy Eugene
“Yeah?” He had no idea what someone would do at the community center, and his face must’ve shown it.
“They do some sitting aerobics for the elderly,” she said.
“Oh, you’re not elderly,” he said, though he honestly had no idea how old Millie’s mom was. He knew she had older brothers, three of ‘em.
“Oh, you.” Mrs. Hepworth gave a light laugh, and thankfully, Millie emerged from the kitchen. She stole Travis’s attention from her mother, and he found his mouth dry and his mind blank as she approached him.
She wore a pretty pink dress with black heels that brought her closer to his height. She’d put something sparkly on her eyelids and her lips, and she slipped her arm through his as effortlessly as if she’d done it a thousand times before.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said, promptly clearing his throat. “Yes, I’m ready.” He nodded at her mother. “Ma’am.”
Mrs. Hepworth twittered again, and Millie stepped over to the couch, where she picked up a black jacket and handed it to him. Travis managed to help her put it on, and they headed out.
Once the front door closed, Millie let out a breath. “You made her whole night.”
“Did I?”
“She’s been talking about you for hours,” Millie said with a smile. “I think she’s expecting a report when you drop me off.”
Travis laughed, because he really didn’t want to be thinking about her mom when he dropped Millie off later. “I think you pass.”
“Do I?” She twirled at the bottom of the steps, sending her skirt into a flare.
“Definitely.” He took her hand in his, remembering that kiss from last week. Four days ago. Had it really only been four days? Time had a way of lengthening into much longer segments.
He helped Millie into his truck and got behind the wheel. “Wow, Travis,” she said. “This thing is really nice.”
“Thanks.”
“Chestnut Ranch must be doing really well.”
Travis cut her a glance out of the corner of his eye. He hadn’t anticipated telling her about his bank account that night. He’d never told Flora, and he didn’t know how a woman would react to the word billionaire.
She watched him as he backed out of her driveway. “It’s okay,” she said. “That was a pretty rude thing to ask anyway.”
“What did you ask?”
“How much you make.” She shook her head and glanced down at her folded hands. “I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. I mean, I wouldn’t like it if you asked me that.”
“Noted,” he said. “How was your conference call?”
“Uh, it went okay,” she said, her voice pitching up. Which meant it hadn’t gone as well as she would’ve liked. Travis had learned a lot about humans from observing them for so long.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Maybe they just need to think about it?”
“Maybe,” she said. “Gillian doesn’t even know when the engagement will happen.”
“Makes it hard to plan, then,” he said. “And even harder to hire an event planner.”
Millie giggled, and Travis smiled, glad she wasn’t too upset about the job she hadn’t gotten. “Right?”
Travis searched his brain for something else to talk about. He didn’t want their relationship to be about work. “So we’ve been out before,” he said. “But I imagine ten years changes a woman. Tell me one thing that’s the same about you and one thing that’s different.”
“Oh, I like this game. Will you do it too?”
“Sure,” he said, navigating them toward downtown Chestnut Springs.
“Okay, let’s see.” Millie exhaled as if he’d asked her something really hard. “I still love pistachio ice cream.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, smiling. “I remember that. It’s not good, by the way. The ice cream.”
“Bite your tongue,” she teased, and Travis reached over and took her hand in his again. This was easier than he’d thought it would be. And he liked easy.
“One thing that’s different…I’m a cat person now.”
“Ouch,” he said. “That’s a hard one to swallow.”
“You’re a dog person.” She wasn’t asking.
“Guilty,” he said. “We only have cats at the ranch to keep the mice under control.”
“See? They’re useful. What do the dogs do for you?”
“They love you unconditionally,” he said, realizing too late that he’d given away much more than he’d wanted to. He cleared his throat and looked at Millie again. She gaped openly at him now.
“Travis…have you been hurt?”
“Hurt?” he repeated. Memories from the past ten years flashed through his mind, one image after the other, quick as lightning. He pulled into The Cauldron and parked before looking at Millie.
“I’m going to tell you this anyway,” he said. “Maybe I wasn’t planning on doing it tonight, but…” He cleared his throat again, telling himself to stop doing that.
Millie didn’t pressure him or demand he tell her. He really liked that. He really liked her, and he wanted to learn to trust women again.
He opened his mouth and said, “Yes, Millie. I’ve had a string of girlfriends—one who was a fiancée—who’ve taught me that having a good dog who’s always happy to see you is really important.”
Chapter Six
“Wow.” Millie said the first thing that came to her mind. “A fiancée.”
“Ex-fiancée,” he said. “At least she broke it off before I was standing at the altar.”
Shock moved through Millie. “I’m sorry, Trav.” His nickname simply came out of her mouth, and she flinched. Travis didn’t seem to care at all. His dark eyes burned with an intensity he’d always possessed. That look made him hot and mysterious to Millie, and she wanted to unravel every piece of this man, lay them out, and examine them individually.
“It’s okay,” he said. “But you’re the first—okay, second—woman I’ve been out with in a while.”
“How long?”
“Uh, let’s see. Probably four years or so.”
He’d been caged at Chestnut Ranch for four years. No wonder her mother didn’t know much gossip about him. “Who else did you go out with?”
“Flora Thompson.” He whisked off his cowboy hat and ran his hand up the back of his head before reseating his hat. “She said there were no sparks.”
Millie didn’t see how that was even possible. Travis emitted electricity as if he was made of only charged particles. His own personal electrical storm. “Wow,” she said, shaking her head.
Travis had started to get out of the truck, and he said, “I’ll come around.”
She watched him round the hood and come open her door. Smiling down at him, Millie slipped her hand into his and dropped to the ground, her skirt fluttering around her knees.
“What does wow mean?” he asked, not giving her a single inch to breathe air that wasn’t scented with his woodsy cologne.
“What does wow mean?” she repeated.
“Yeah, I said there were no sparks between me and Flora, and you said wow.”
“Oh, it was like wow, I don’t see how that’s possible.” She reached up and cupped her hand around Travis’s bearded jaw. Flutters started in her stomach and a shower of sparks moved down her spine. “Yep, plenty of sparks.”
Travis held her gaze easily, and Millie could melt under the heat in those eyes. “For me too,” he whispered, and for one insanely wonderful moment, Millie thought he’d kiss her again.
Instead, he backed up a step, cleared his throat again, and said, “I’m starving,” in a voice that also gave away how nervous he was.
Millie ducked her head and tucked her wavy hair behind one ear. “Me too,” she said.
“I just lied,” he said with a shaky laugh. “My brothers brought out pizza for dinner tonight, and I didn’t tell them about our date until after I’d eaten.” He looked at her again, and he looked half-angry and half-apologetic.
“Oh, no, they know,” he said. “I couldn’t get out of the house in a button-up shirt without them knowing.” He chuckled, and Millie added her laughter to his. “I just…I’m trying not to screw up too badly here.”
“You’re doin’ fine,” she said, squeezing his hand. “More than fine.” They entered the restaurant, and Travis stepped over to the hostess station.
The woman there grabbed two menus and said, “Follow me, please.”
Millie and Travis’s conversation stalled while they walked through the restaurant and settled into a booth with a globe above the table that cast romantic light onto them.
“Okay,” Millie said as she picked up her menu. “Your turn.”
“For what?”
“One thing that’s the same, and one that’s different.”
Travis grinned at her. “Okay, that’s easy. I still love horses and dogs and ranching. And as for what’s different…I actually like salad.”
Millie burst out laughing, and Travis grinned at her with a new sparkle in his eyes. She reasoned that the other woman he’d been out with must’ve been braindead, because the attraction between her and Travis was off the charts—and she couldn’t wait to kiss him again.
“Do y’all know what you’d like?”
Millie glanced up at the waitress, but the woman only looked at Travis. He didn’t seem to notice as he ordered a kale and rice barbecue bowl. He looked over at her, and still Little Miss didn’t look at Millie.
She popped her gum and stared at Travis with a goofy little smile on her face.
“I’ll have the corn chowder,” Millie almost yelled. The woman flinched and finally looked at her. “And the large Cobb salad.”
“Be right back,” she chirped.
“Can we get drinks?” Travis asked, and she came flouncing back. Millie ducked her head and looked toward the condiments against the wall. Her smile couldn’t be contained, and Travis said, “We want sweet tea, right, baby?”
“Mm hm,” she said, trying not to laugh.
“Two sweet teas,” he said, and the woman walked away again. Millie started giggling, and she couldn’t stop.
“Baby,” she said, really drawing out the word. “I think she thought you were handsome.” She grinned at him, enjoying the flush as it crawled up his neck and into his face. “I mean, she couldn’t even look at me.” She really wished she had a cold iced tea in front of her, as she needed something to cool down her internal temperature as well.
“I don’t mean anything by the pet names,” he said. “My momma calls everyone she meets baby or sugar or sweetie.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said, though a pinch started behind her lungs. “I grew up in Texas too.”
“Small town Texas,” he said, smiling at her. “I do love Chestnut Springs. That’s something that hasn’t changed.”
“But you did leave town,” she said.
“Yes, I did.”
Millie leaned into her elbows on the table. “You’re really going to make me work for it, aren’t you?”
“You want to know what I did when I left town.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Goes both ways?”
“Sure.”
“I became a master carpenter,” he said. “I mean, that’s just a coined term, but I went to work as an apprentice under Josiah Forton, and I learned how to make cabinets as well as scaffolding, trim, and framing.”
“I like a man who’s good with his hands.”
The waitress arrived and set down the two glasses of sweet tea, and Millie immediately reached for hers. “How long did it take to learn all of that?”
“Years,” he said. “Six or seven. I worked at the cabinetry for the longest. Worked for a builder for a year or so. Came back to the ranch.”
Millie liked the sound of his voice, and she hoped they’d be able to see a lot of each other in the future. “Why’d you come back to the ranch?”
“I wanted to,” he said. “And my dad wanted me to build a new stable, and I fell in love with the ranch and the land all over again.” He smiled over the top of his glass of sweet tea. “So I came back. I was only working over in Concan, so it wasn’t a huge drive.” He shrugged. “But I came back here, because…well, the fiancée became an ex, and it seemed like a good time to move.”
He set his glass down and lifted his eyebrows, clearly cowboy code for your turn, baby.
“I went to college,” she said. “UTSA. I graduated with a degree in hospitality management, emphasis on outdoor events. I came home for a month or two—that’s when we dated a little—and then I started working for Fox Hill Golf Course and Country Club, where I’ve been for the last ten years.”
“Did you like your job?” he asked.
“Yes,” Millie said, smiling despite herself. “Yes, I sure did.”
“And you came back to help your momma.”
Her smile slipped, because Travis looked so serious, and her momma’s illness was serious too. “Yes.” She ground her voice through her throat. “Yes, I did.”
Travis reached across the table and covered both of her hands with his. “How’s she doing?”
Millie felt braver in his presence, and her heart skipped every other beat with his skin touching hers. “You know what? It’s not great most days.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “She hasn’t lost her manners.”
“Oh, my momma will die with the word please on her lips.” Millie gave a light laugh and noticed the waitress coming with their food. Sure enough, their salads and soups got set down, and Millie admired her colorful salad. They ate in silence for a few minutes, and Millie knew Travis was a man of few words. Sometimes the silence made her uncomfortable, but this one didn’t.
“Millie, I wanted to ask you something,” he said, and he looked and sounded serious. Gone was the playful, teasing Travis, and she liked both sides of him.
She took a big bite of salad and watched him. “It’s about…a party. A Christmas party. A family Christmas party. At the ranch.” He kept his head down, and whether he was embarrassed or not, Millie wasn’t sure.
“You want me to plan a family Christmas party for the Johnsons at Chestnut Ranch?” The very idea had every cell in her body vibrating.
“Yes, that’s it,” he said.
He was a man of more questions than answers, but Millie rather liked that about him. “I find it hard to believe your family doesn’t have a dozen traditions.”
“My mother does,” he said. “Those of us at the ranch don’t. Not really.” He pushed his fork around his bowl, not really eating. “I’d like to do a couple of things this year.”
“Do you have a tree set up already?” she asked.
“No,” he said.
Excitement built inside her. “There’s almost nothing I like more than decorating a Christmas tree.”
“That’s just crazy talk,” Travis said, those eyes dancing again.
“Yeah?” She leaned forward. “You want to see my brand of crazy tomorrow night?”
“Does it involve a full moon?”
Millie tipped her head back and laughed. She hadn’t had such a great first date in a long, long time. “Not even a little bit,” she said. “Just a great big star.”
“Oh, well, stars I can handle,” he said. “We might even be able to dance under the stars.”
Millie took a spoonful of soup, watching him. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, cowboy.”
“I can keep it.”
“Can you? Don’t you live with your brothers?” She cocked her right eyebrow and watched his face light up.
“I’ll make sure Russ is scarce tomorrow night,” he said.
“Will there be mistletoe?” Millie asked, feeling a little bit wild.
Travis coughed and put his fork down. “We currently don’t have any mistletoe on the ranch.”
“Hmm.” Millie stirred her soup, but she didn’t take another bite. “I’ll bri
ng some.”
Travis shook his head and chuckled. “You know, I’m not even sure what I just agreed to.”
“You just booked the best event planner in the Texas Hill Country.” She grinned at him, and enjoyed the deep-throated chuckle that made a flush fill her whole body.
Now she just had to figure out where to buy mistletoe with less than twenty-four hours notice.
Chapter Seven
Travis finished his coffee as Russ stood up and reached for his cowboy hat. “Russ, I need to talk to you.”
“Let’s talk while we feed dogs,” his brother said. “And… I have something to tell you too.”
Travis put his plate in the sink. “You go first.”
“After you left last night, someone stopped by with another dog.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Travis said, his day getting worse and it wasn’t even dawn yet.
Russ stepped out the back door and held it for Travis. Their eyes met as he passed Russ, and he sensed something big was about to happen. “What?” Travis asked.
“It was Janelle.”
“Oh…wow.” Travis didn’t know what else to say. Russ and Janelle had been seeing each other for a couple of months before she’d mysteriously broken up with him. “Did she…? Well, what did she want?”
They started walking across the lawn to the shed with the ranch trucks. “She took the dog home with her, and she offered to take six more.”
“That’s interesting,” Travis said. “Does she have room for six abandoned dogs at her place? Because let’s face it. Six dogs is a lot to feed. A lot to exercise. A lot to house. And these aren’t the calmest canines on the planet.” Travis loved dogs, and he thought he could charm even the most rabid one.
But the real dog whisperer was Seth, and he could actually get the excitable dogs to behave. He trained them to sit and lay down, shake and come when he called them. He spoke to them in Italian and German, and they followed him around like he was a god. To them, he was.