A Real Cowboy Never Says No (16 page)

Travis stared at Chase's arm for a long moment, and when he looked up, his expression had changed. He looked cold and hard, as if he were ready to strike out at the first person who looked at him the wrong way. She wondered where
his
scars were. "I'm in," he said, his voice hard. "It doesn't get to happen again."

His voice was so unrelenting, that she knew he wouldn't change his mind. Suddenly tears filled her eyes, and she didn't even know what to say.

Travis looked at her, and his eyes narrowed. "You have a phone?"

She lifted her chin, refusing to let him see that she was almost ready to cry just because the two of them were willing to stand by her. "Yes, why?"

"Get it."

She pulled it out of her back pocket. "I have it. Why?"

"Put my number in it. If you can't reach Chase, you call me. Just put it under Travis Stockton, not Turner, just in case anyone sees your phone." He rattled off his phone number, but she was so surprised she forgot to type it in.

He frowned at her. "What?"

"You're Travis
Turner?
The famous country music star?" She'd heard of Travis Turner many times, and some of his songs were on her play list. "No wonder you looked familiar." She actually felt a little bit fan-girl for a moment.

Chase plunked a plate with part of an omelet down in front of her. "He's Travis Stockton," he said firmly. "Travis Turner is a stage name because we're a bunch of anti-social hermits who don't want the public in our business." He gave Travis another plate, and then filled the last one for himself.

Travis nodded at her phone. "Put the number in your phone, Ms. Cabot. I want it in there before I leave."

She quickly typed his number in her phone. Travis
Turner's
mobile number was in her phone? How insane was that? "I won't share it."

"I know." He took a sip of his coffee. "That's why I gave it to you." He picked up his coffee and omelet. "Front porch," he announced. "It's a damn fine day." He headed out the door. She grabbed her plate to follow him, but Chase stopped her with a hand to her arm.

Her belly clenched at his touch, and all thoughts of Travis-the-superstar fled until all that remained was Chase. She swallowed and forced herself to look up at him. With Travis in the room, she'd been able to avoid intimacy with Chase, but now that it was just them, the night of lovemaking with him flooded her mind and senses. Heat radiated from her skin, and she felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment and more than a little desire. "What is it?"

He slid his hand through her hair, and cupped the back of her neck. "I haven't given you a proper good morning, yet," he said.

She swallowed. "Good morning—"

He bent his head and kissed her. It wasn't a platonic, "hey, we're roommates now," kind of kiss. It was a kiss intended to shred every last one of her defenses, and to plunge straight to her core and ignite the same firestorm of passion that he'd unleashed last night. She had no defenses against him, and she sank into him as he kissed her. His mouth just tasted so good, and the strength of his body as he pulled her into his arms was irresistible.

She sighed in capitulation, and kissed him back.

The kiss turned carnal within seconds, and she felt his hands on her hips, drawing her against him as he backed her against the counter. God, not in the kitchen! She pushed at his chest, and was surprised when he stopped.

He broke the kiss and pulled back just enough so he could look at her. Without his cowboy hat, he looked younger. His dark brown hair was disheveled from a night of lovemaking, and his jaw was dark with whiskers. "Nine months," he said. "I have nine months."

"Nine months to do what?" Make love to her until she died of ecstasy? Because right now, she felt like that might be an okay way to meet her demise.

"To figure this out." He kissed her once more, breaking the kiss before she had time to respond. "Travis is waiting. Let's eat." He gave her a wink that made her belly flip over, then he grabbed both their plates, forks, and napkins, and headed out the door. "Grab our coffee, will you?"

He didn't wait for an answer. He just walked, leaving her with a body that was still tingling from his assault.

What? She was so not okay with those terms. "Chase!"

He paused at the door, turning back to look at her. "Yeah?"

"Don't kiss me again."

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully, as he turned back toward her. She stiffened as he walked back over to her, still holding the plates. "Why not?"

She raised her chin. "Because I can't do that. I can't be sleeping with you and trying to establish my life. You're just too…overpowering."

"Mira—"

She held up her hand to silence him. "What were you going to say when I walked in? If I hadn't announced I wasn't going to marry you, what would you have said? Were you going to risk the ranch and your brothers to marry me?" Whoops. She hadn't meant to ask that. She didn't want to hear him say it. "Never mind." She grabbed the coffee mugs and brushed past him, heading out to the porch, ignoring his shocked look at her bold question.

She waited for him to call her back and answer her question.

He didn't.

He could have stopped her if he'd wanted to answer.

He hadn't, which means she knew what he would have said.

He had been planning to choose his brothers, which was exactly why she simply could not kiss him again.

Taylor was right.

She did like him, far too much.

A week later, Chase was tired, sweaty, and his hip hurt like hell from being tossed from his newest horse too many times. He raked the back of his hand across his brow, reining in his mount as dust kicked up at the end of his driveway. He shaded his eyes, watching the approaching vehicle. The moment he saw his red pickup, the tension that had been caked on him all day eased from his tired muscles.

Mira was back.

She hadn't left him
.

He knew that she'd committed to staying at the ranch until the baby was born, but every day that she left in search of a job, he found himself on edge until she reappeared. Tonight, she was late, and his tension had been mounting with each passing hour of her absence.

Needing to connect with her, he reached down to unhook the corral gate, then slipped Red through the opening. He urged the horse into a lope, arriving at his front door just as Mira stopped the truck. She'd left the house while he'd been feeding the horses breakfast, and it was almost seven o'clock now. It was the fourth day in a row that she'd been gone all day, and he was getting cranky about it.

Ever since the morning when she'd announced she wasn't going to marry him and had laid down the law of no more kissing, she'd been as elusive as a hare, sidestepping him every time he tried to talk to her about anything significant. She was cordial, but there was a distance that he didn't like.

Yeah, he understood why she'd pulled back. He knew he'd failed the test when she'd asked him whether he would have married her over Travis's concerns. He should have said yes, but he didn't lie, no matter what. He had no idea what his answer would have been if she hadn't taken control, but he knew that he liked coming in from the barn at night and seeing her curled up by the fire reading. In the short time she'd been living with him, he'd gotten used to making dinner for two people. He even enjoyed testing recipes he thought she might like. It hadn't been so bad having a woman in his house, but the truth was, it wasn't enough to simply have her there. He wanted her to be
his.

He wanted her accessible to him like she'd been when he'd first met her at that church, when she'd jumped up and hugged him, and let every emotion she felt show on her face. He needed her to look at him as if he mattered, and he craved the freedom to touch her whenever he wanted, even if it was simply to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear when her hands were full. Cohabitation wasn't enough, not by a long shot.

Today had been the longest day yet. She'd been gone for twelve hours, and he'd been getting worried. He'd dialed her cell phone three times to check on her, but had never pressed "Send." He didn't know if she would be okay with him checking up on her, and he was skittish as hell about driving her further away. All he knew was that he wanted her home, where he could keep an eye on her and make sure she was okay.

And now she was back.

He reached down from his saddle and opened her door, swinging it open with an agile move from his mount. "Hi." He couldn't keep the smile off his face, he was so relieved to see her.

She beamed up at him, and for a split second, he was stunned by how beautiful she was. He'd never seen her smile like that before, and it was as if the sun itself had poured itself into her. "I got a job!" she announced.

He blinked. "You did?" Tension locked around his gut. Yeah, he wanted her to get her life going, but a job gave her independence from him. "What kind of job?"

"Managing O'Doul's hardware store. Apparently Howard, who was running it, fell into a canyon after drinking too much."

He frowned. "Howard's a lush."

"Yes, well, now he's in a body cast, and they needed someone." She jumped out of the truck, still grinning. "I know absolutely nothing about screws or types of wood, but apparently, I'm charming enough that Mick figured I might steal business from Stevens Hardware Supply, which apparently is his biggest competitor." She looked so happy that he wanted to break out the champagne and raise a toast to her…at the same time he wanted to handcuff her to him so she couldn't leave. "He said if I like the job, I can keep it even after Howard recovers. Apparently, this was Howard's last chance. How about that?" Her smile widened. "Less than a week of job hunting, and I'm employed. How awesome am I?" She held her arms over her head and did a little hip-swaying dance that was ridiculous, adorable, and sexy as hell at the same time.

"Mick's a good guy, but not easily impressed. You did good." Chase had to give her credit. O'Doul's was one of the better gigs in town. With three locations in the state, Mick could even afford to pay health insurance to his full-time employees. "Nice job."

"Thank you." She gave him a sweeping bow that made him want to reach over and haul her into his arms for the kind of kiss he'd been fantasizing about constantly ever since she'd put the brakes on their relationship.

He didn't reach for her, though, afraid of pushing her away. Apparently oblivious to how hard his cock was and how much effort it was taking not to drag her into his arms, she reached into the back of the truck and hauled out some brown paper bags. "Do you know Eva Carter, who works at the café across the street from O'Doul's? Well, she has an apartment over her garage, and the tenant is moving out at the first of the year. She's so nice. She reminded me of my friend, Taylor, from back home. I'll bet I could rent the space from her. She said she's not going to re-rent the apartment because her current tenant is a complete scumbag and she's tired of dealing with renters, but I bet she'd rent to me, don't you think?"

A cold, bitter feeling settled in his gut. "That place only has a space heater. You can't live there with a baby. Winter is brutally cold in Wyoming."

"Oh...a space heater?" She frowned. "She didn't mention that." She wrinkled her nose. "Well, still, it shows me that there are some options out there, you know? Everyone is so nice in this town." She grinned. "You have no idea what it's like to walk down the street and have people smile at me. After all those years taking care of my mom, no one here is looking at me with this great veil of sadness, and no one sees me as the daughter of the local sheriff. It feels good to be able to start a new life without any baggage following me."

He smiled, the tension in his gut easing at the genuine joy on her face. "There are good people in this town," he acknowledged. Some bastards too, but he wasn't going to bring that up. Mira made him want to stop thinking about the crap, and that felt good. He swung down off his horse to take the paper bags from her. "I'll get these. What's in them?"

"So, I also stopped at the grocery store. Apparently, I'm deficient in iron, so I need more red meat. Burgers tonight." She handed him the bags, and turned to gather more.

He frowned. "Deficient in iron? What are you talking about?"

She grabbed her purse, slung it over her shoulder, and picked up one more grocery bag. "Well, I went to see Doctor Murdoch today. I hadn't been to a doctor yet, and I wanted to set up a baseline. She's so fantastic. Anyway, I'm a little anemic, so I need to fix that. Other than that, I'm in great health. The baby is totally fine. I don't have to go back for a month, but I just wanted to establish a relationship with her, in case anything went wrong, you know?"

Something twisted in his gut, and all his amusement vanished. "You went to the doctor today? To check on your pregnancy?"

Her smile faded at his tone. "Was I not supposed to do that?"

"No, you should. It's just..." Shit. Why was he so pissed that she hadn't asked him go along with her? "If it's my baby, then I need to go to your appointments with you." Yeah, that was it. For appearance's sake, he needed to accompany her. "I didn't even know you were going."

She bit her lip, and she lifted her chin in a hint of defiance that sent waves of apprehension tumbling through him. "It's not your baby."

Her words were like a sharp hit to his gut. Yeah, he knew it was true, but he felt like she was slipping out of his fingers, and so was the child. "If my name is on that birth certificate," he said evenly, carefully selecting his words, "it's my baby to the world. Anyone who knows me is well aware that I'd be there with you at every appointment. It's how I am. In addition, I've committed to that baby's well-being, and I want to be there, because I want to make sure everything is okay."

The smile completely vanished from her face, and he saw fear flicker in her eyes. "If you can't even let me go to an appointment by myself, how would you let me move out with the baby, then? Would you do that? If that's not your style, then how are you going to do that?"