by Emmy Eugene
“Oh, look,” Millie said, lifting her arm straight up above them. “Mistletoe.” She held a sprig of the holiday weed pinched in her fingers, and Travis could not believe it.
“Where did you get that?” he asked.
“I slipped it in your glove box while you were showering,” she whispered.
He reached up and took it from her, turning onto his side so he was above her. He didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything.
Leaning down, he cradled her face in his free hand and kissed her, his nerves settling the moment their lips touched.
He wasn’t sure if this kiss was as good as the last, because for him, it was so much better. He and Millie breathed together, and he pulled away briefly before kissing her again. She moved with him, letting him control the pace, and he deepened the kiss, his emotions pouring out of him with every stroke.
Pulling back slightly, she whispered,” Trav?”
“Yeah, baby?” He ran the tip of his nose down the side of her face, the scent and feel of her so amazing.
She didn’t say anything either. She just guided his mouth back to hers and kissed him again.
Chapter Fourteen
Millie had never been kissed the way Travis was kissing her. He seemed to be in no hurry and yet urgent at the same time. She felt cherished, like he wanted to take his time and truly experience her.
She had time to run her fingers through his hair, along his neck, and across his shoulders. She couldn’t get close enough to him, and by the time he pulled away, Millie wasn’t even sure where she was.
She kept her eyes closed, the cool air flowing past her overheated skin. Travis’s breath cascaded over her neck, making her shiver.
“Cold?” he asked.
“A little,” she whispered.
Travis settled back down and pulled her against his side, bringing the edge of the blanket up over her arms. She opened her eyes and saw those glorious stars again.
“That was worth the wait,” he whispered.
Millie smiled, because this man was darn near perfect in what he said and did, and Millie couldn’t believe she’d caught his attention. She also couldn’t believe she liked him as much as she did. Or that she trusted him.
But he was nothing like her father. She couldn’t imagine Travis walking out on his wife and children, moving hundreds of miles away, and barely remembering to send cards for special occasions.
She swallowed back the bitter feelings and told herself again that Travis wasn’t like her dad. He was here, and he wasn’t going to abandon her.
“I don’t want to leave,” he said, his voice barely reaching her ears. “But I have to get up early and get some stuff ready for this beautiful woman who’s coming out to the ranch in the morning.”
She laughed quietly into his chest and then pulled away and looked up at him. He had a smile on his face and his eyes closed, and he was utter perfection in that moment. “Thank you,” she said. “You’re not bad yourself.”
“Oh, not bad, huh?” He chuckled, opened his eyes, and started to get up. She went with him, letting him fold the blanket. The mistletoe she’d stowed in the truck got tossed somewhere, and she didn’t try to find it. They didn’t need it anymore.
Back at Chestnut Ranch, Travis walked with her over to her sedan, and said, “I hate that you have to drive home alone.”
“I’m okay, Trav.”
He gathered her into his arms again and bent down to kiss her. This kiss didn’t last as long, but it still stole her breath and made her giddy. “’Night, Mills.” He fell back a step and then two, tucking his hands in his front pockets. With that head ducked, and that cowboy hat back in place, she couldn’t see his face, but she sure heard the smile in his voice.
“See you in the morning,” she said, getting in her car. She drew in a deep breath and pushed it out, holding back the squeal until she reached the gate and there would be no way for Travis to hear her.
She made it home and practically bounced up the front steps. One step inside the house, and she realized she didn’t live alone anymore.
“There you are,” her mother said. “Where have you been? I was just about to send your brothers out to find you.”
“Momma.” Millie entered the house quickly and shut the door behind her. Guilt hit her hard. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve called. I went out with Travis.”
“I know,” she said. “I called out to Chestnut Ranch.”
Horror replaced the guilt as quickly as it had filled her. “You did?”
“Russ and I had a very nice conversation.”
“Momma, I’m not seventeen years old anymore.”
“No, you’re not.” Her mom pierced her with a glare that said she was still Millie’s mother. “Which is why I expected you to call me so I wouldn’t be sitting here alone all night.”
“I’m sorry, Momma,” she said. “It was bingo night at the community center. Didn’t you go?”
“Of course I went,” she said, as if not going would’ve been a travesty. “I simply just expected to see you when the van dropped me off.”
“Sorry.” Millie couldn’t believe she was apologizing. She was thirty-four-years-old. And she really needed her own place.
The ranch emanated beauty in the morning light, and Millie smiled though it wasn’t terribly warm. She kept her hands in her pockets while Travis took her over to the chicken coops.
“Okay, so I have a confession,” he said, turning toward her.
“Ooh, I can’t wait to hear it.” She grinned up at him. “Wait. Do I have to give a confession too?”
He shook his head and chuckled. “Nope.” He lifted his cowboy hat and rubbed his hand through his hair. “So I have a special…fondness for chickens.” He looked down at the birds, the clucking starting to fill the air.
“They seem to like you too.” Millie reached over and took his hand in hers. His gaze moved from the chickens to where their hands were joined.
“Feeding them is pretty easy,” he said, squeezing her hand but not like he had when he was frustrated. This was a loving grip, and he led her over to a small shed that looked barely big enough for one person to enter. “The feed is in here. You just scoop it into this bucket, and then each feeder has a line on it.”
He scooped the feed into a bucket. “There are gloves right there, if you want them. Then you just go in and fill up the feeders. If anything looks moldy, you’ve got to clean it out.”
“Do I have to go into the corral with them?”
“Corral?” He burst out laughing. “Corrals are for horses, baby. These are pens.”
Millie rolled her eyes, but she only felt sparks inside her body. “Okay, fine. Do I have to go inside the pen, cowboy?”
“Yes, baby, you do.” He indicated another container. “We add one scoop of grit. Mix, mix, mix.” He did it without gloves, but Millie wouldn’t. She hadn’t spent fifty dollars on a manicure to mix chicken feed with grit with her bare hands.
“And there’s two feeders inside the coop too. Those need to be checked too, because we have some alpha chickens, and we want everyone to eat.”
“Alpha chickens?” For some reason, that tickled Millie’s funny bone, and she giggled, pressing in closer to Travis.
He gazed down at her, that handsome smile on his face. He must’ve been practicing it for years, because he had the sexy grin down pat. He leaned down and kissed her, and Millie didn’t mind one bit.
He backed up sooner than she would’ve liked. He repositioned his hat, that awesome flush staining his cheeks. “You’ll have to make a few trips, probably,” he said, his voice a bit husky. “And you can give them corn if you’re feeling generous. They love corn.”
“Does that go in the feeder too?”
“The corn you can scatter on the ground in the pen. I usually put it over on the grass, so they have to hunt for it more.” He indicated the grassy area off to the left side of the pens. With all the directions, Millie was wondering if she was in over her h
ead. Who knew feeding chickens was so complicated?
“Then you check their water,” he said. “Again, anything that looks dirty or anything gets cleaned. Fresh water added. There’s a pump in the middle of the pen, and it has a hose. The water bowls detach from the fences, and you can walk them over, rinse and clean them, fill them, and reattach them to the fence.”
He made it sound like she could do this, so Millie just nodded. “All right.” She took the bucket of feed and grit from him and set it on the ground. She gloved her hands as he took a few steps away. “I have to head over to the dog enclosure for a bit,” he said. “I’ll come check on you in an hour or so, okay?”
“Will it take me an hour to feed the chickens?”
“Maybe?” He shrugged. “If you finish early, you can go right next door to the goats. They need fresh water too, and it’s the same process.”
“What do the goats eat?”
“Grass, brush, weeds, whatever they can forage,” he said. “And we give them half a bale of hay in the morning and a whole one in the afternoon, just to make sure they have enough to eat.”
“Hay.” She looked around like a big, strong cowboy would deposit the hay she needed right where she needed it. Having been raised in Texas, she knew enough to know hay bales came in a many sizes, and she wondered what a bale meant on Chestnut Ranch.
“And they like raisins as treats,” he said. He pointed to a huge bag in the tiny shed. “One scoop for all of them. You can toss those in too.”
“Do I have to go in with the goats?” She looked down the row of fencing to where the goat pasture was. “How many do you have?”
“Thirteen,” he said. “They’re for meat, and you can feed them without going inside. Their water is on the other side of that hay manger, and if the buckets look nasty, take them out and clean them. Then fill them up.”
“Buckets,” Millie said, wondering if the hundred bucks she’d get for this day was worth it. But she was spending time with Travis, and she knew that was. “Okay, chickens and goats. And you’ll be back in an hour.”
He smiled at her, leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her lips again, and said, “Yep. Call me if you need me, and Griffin should be out here to help with the hay in about twenty minutes.”
“Sounds good,” Millie said in a falsely cheery voice, and she bent to pick up the bucket full of chicken feed. Mentally, she knew she could kick a chicken should one of the alpha birds come too close to her. But she still felt a bit trembly inside as Travis left her alone with all the birds.
She opened the gate and stepped inside, the warbling of the birds actually sending a pulse of joy through her. The chickens didn’t lunge at her and try to peck out her eyes, and she walked among them easily. The fences that held their feeders sported bright blue, plastic containers, and she checked to make sure everything was clean and dry in the feeders before filling them to a hand-drawn line.
Travis was right; it did take a few trips back and forth to make sure all the feeders were filled, and then she faced the coop. She’d been inside a chicken coop exactly once before, and it had not been a pleasant experience for her nose. She did like seeing the birds roosting, but the smell…
After drawing in a deep breath, she steeled herself and went inside. The feeder here looked great too, and she poured in the pellets and grit. Only a few chickens were inside, and they were definitely not the alpha birds. She took the water bin out with her so she’d only have to go back in once, and moved over to the pump.
Intellectually, she knew how to pump water. Momma had a hand pump like this in her backyard, but she hadn’t used it in years. Millie wasn’t even sure it was still connected to a well. But this one was, and Millie cranked the handle a couple of times before water came out.
And then the water just kept coming and coming and coming. She yelped as it flowed over her shoes, groaning when she realized she’d have to work the rest of the day with wet feet. She jumped back and pushed the handle back down, bending over to rinse out the water container that went inside the coop. She filled it with water before the stream faded, and she turned to return to the coop.
“Everything okay?” a man called, and Millie slopped water over the edge of the container as she spun back to the fence.
Griffin Johnson stood there, leaning against the fence like he was on vacation. He grinned at her like he’d seen her take a bath in the cold well water.
“Fine,” she called back. “Is that pump always so gushy?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “One pump and fill all the buckets.”
“Okay,” she said, thinking that was vital information Travis should’ve given her. She returned to the coop, exploding back out so she could breathe properly.
The rest of the watering went fine, especially now that she knew the trick with the single pump. She had trouble with the reattachment of one water trough, but thankfully, no one was around to witness it.
She stepped outside of the gate and looked at all the chickens, happily eating and drinking, bobbing around and clucking. They seemed so happy, and Millie smiled at them too. “There you go, guys,” she said.
Then she faced the goats and took a deep breath. “All right. Time for the goatherd.” At least she didn’t have to go inside the pen with them, but she also had no idea how she was supposed to lift a bale of hay.
Chapter Fifteen
Travis grinned at the little girl holding the nails for her mother. Russ had brought out Janelle and her two daughters for a day on the ranch, and the mood was completely different than anything Travis had experienced before.
There were high-pitched voices, and laughter, and hammering. Work was getting done, and his brother looked so happy. Travis had always known he wanted a family, and working with Janelle, Kelly, and Kadence soothed the ragged edges in his soul.
No wonder Russ wanted to get back together with Janelle, and it certainly seemed like that was happening, if the eyes Janelle kept making at Russ were any indication.
“Hey, stranger,” Millie said, and Travis turned toward her.
Panic skipped through him. “How long—what time is it?”
She wore those farm gloves, she had dirt on her face, and wisps of hair had escaped from her ponytail. She was incredibly beautiful, and Travis’s stomach swooped. He couldn’t really believe she was here with him.
Him.
“I have no idea,” she said, shading her eyes as she surveyed the build site. “I got the chickens and goats fed and watered. Where do you need me next?”
“Right here.” He swept his arm around her and pulled her into his side. “Well, not really, but this is nice too.”
“Janelle Stokes,” she said, watching the activity in front of them. “And she brought her kids. She must really like Russ.”
“I think it’s the first time he’s met them,” Travis said. “We haven’t talked about it much.”
“Yeah, you Johnson boys are kind of private.” Millie grinned up at him.
“Yeah, well, sometimes…” Travis wasn’t sure how to say was what on his mind. “Sometimes there’s not much to say.”
“I know.” She turned into him. “Should I try hammering again? I mean, these kids are showing me up.” Her eyes glittered at him, and Travis started laughing.
“No, we’ve got a date with a well,” he said. He stepped away from her and approached Russ. “I’m going to head out to the east-two well.”
“Good luck,” his brother said, his gaze sliding past Travis to Millie. “How’d she do with the chickens?”
“Griffin didn’t say anything, so I’m assuming good.” Travis shrugged and turned back to Millie. She’d moved over to talk to one of Janelle’s girls, and he twisted back to Russ. “I think I’m going to tell her about Dani.”
“Oh, boy,” Russ said, looking away from his work. “You’re really opening yourself up to this girl.”
“She’s…special,” Travis said.
Russ looked at Janelle, whose dark hair fell over her s
houlder as she bent to put something in place. “I know what you mean.”
“We’ll talk later,” Travis said, hoping his heart was still intact when he met up with Russ again that night. He walked back over to Millie, ready for the next step in their relationship. At least he hoped he was.
“So we’ll take an ATV out to the well,” he said. “Have you ridden one before?”
“I’m from Texas,” she said with plenty of flirt in her voice. “And I have three older brothers. I’ve been on four-wheelers.”
“When was the last time?” he asked, flirting right back. “I’m guessing you used something more luxurious around the golf course for transportation.”
When Millie didn’t respond immediately, Travis knew he was right. He slipped his hand into hers and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things today,” he said.
“I know, I know,” she said. “The party. I brought my intake forms, but they’re in my car.”
Travis cleared his throat and ignored the barking dogs in the range. “It’s not about the party.”
“Oh,” she said. “What’s it about then?”
Travis realized in that moment that Thunder, Winner, and Cloudy had come with him, and he paused. “Y’all aren’t comin’,” he said. “Go back to Russ.”
Winner cocked her head at him, and Thunder actually sat down. Cloudy looked up at him, eagerness in her eyes. But they couldn’t ride the ATV, and he wasn’t taking the side-by-side.
“Russ,” he called back the way he’d come. “Whistle for the dogs.”
He did, and they immediately turned and trotted back to him. Travis smiled at Millie, and she wore interest on her face. “My ex-fiancée’s name was Danielle Foster,” he said. “She left me because, well, I’m not a hundred percent sure the exact reason. I couldn’t really believe anything she said by the end of our relationship.”
“Okay,” Millie said.