Double Plush Velvet BBW Romance (Velvet Series) (6 page)

“Look, I’ve rushed into things before…” He let go of her and stepped back.

“Before?” she asked.
Before what?

“And I always got the wrong idea or the wrong woman.”

Dammit, how can I prove I’m the right woman with the right idea?
Her insides were shaking. “You mean like---?”

“Never mind what I meant. It isn’t fair for you to just be thrown into a kitchen you’ve never been in, and with no help.” He sighed. “I will go and get somebody, okay?”

All she could do was nod.
Thrown into a whirling hot tornado, you mean! Not fair—is right. Dammit, and he almost kissed me that time.

He left through a side door.

Releasing a shaky breath, she thought about what he’d said—the wrong woman, the wrong idea? Then, she wondered who in the hell fucked with this awesome man. She just wanted to find them and punch them in the face!

“Hello there!”

Looking over, she saw him in the doorway. Only, she knew it was the wrong
him
. Travis, and he was probably the one who needed to be punched. Something about these hot twins just wasn’t right. “Hello,” she responded.

His raven hair was ruffled and he looked like he’d tucked his shirt a little too hastily into his jeans. He grinned and wandered in. “You’re gonna be the new cook?”

Bren stared at him.
Why is it I never noticed how smug he always looked, like a fat cat who just hogged up all the cream in the bowl and was busy looking satisfied?
She turned to the fridge and removed the large pack of chicken.
I never thought I’d say it, but he isn’t getting any cream from this bowl!
“Yep, and I’d better get started if I’m gonna make dinner in time.”

He sauntered over. “Need any help?”

Bren opened her mouth to reject his smug offer.

“She has help, Trav,” Trevor piped in from the doorway.

Travis glanced over. “I was only trying to---”

Kanda appeared from the doorway behind Trevor. “Okay, boys, beat it now!”

Trevor stood in the hall doorway and watched his brother with eagle-like blue eyes.

Travis shrugged as if he could care less and walked out through the side door.

Trevor looked over at Bren and raised a brow, before he turned and left.

 
Oh no, I think I’m getting the picture here. Could it be that Travis was just now interested in me, because he thinks his brother is? Then, Trevor believes I might be interested in Travis and so he’s jealous too
? Bren’s mind just hit overload with what all might be going on here at the Triple K.
Man, when I wished for excitement, I sure as hell got it!

“Okay, so you are gonna have to make enough for twenty hungry men,” Kanda spoke up and put a halt to her world of twin confusion.

Attempting to shift her focus on the daunting job at hand, she swiveled her gaze back to Kanda. “Can I fry up the chicken?” She fully intended on doing this job, despite all the male cowboy candy coming in and going out, along with the
Dallas-
like soap opera thing that seemed to be going on.

Kanda shrugged. “Hell, you can cook whatever you want! Eggs are in the fridge and the flour along with the oil is in the pantry. I’ll go and get it.

Bren looked through the fridge and took out corn on the cob and some milk.
“There’s more than one way to…
She had to think real hard on what might fit this wild situation
…to skin a mule? Pluck a chicken? No, I got it! There’s more than one way to dig a hole you may not be able to climb out of!
She shook her head and thought of that tight butt, those twinkling blue eyes and that drool worthy pair of yummy lips.
Nope, I’ll stick with more than one way to lasso a cowboy’s heart.
She chuckled.

*
   
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The afternoon in the big kitchen had almost overwhelmed her. She rushed all over and was covered in flour. Tucking a strand of her runaway red hair away from her face, she knew she must look a mess. Bren couldn’t care though. She wanted this first meal to impress the cowboys. But mainly one in particular, of course. She moved over to check on the corn on the cob which was boiling away in a huge pot.
Almost done.

Turning toward the ovens, she bumped right into what felt like a brick wall.

Hands rose up to steady her. “Whoa there, girl.”

His mesmerizing blue eyes were glued to her face. “You just get yummier, every time I see you.” He lowered his voice to a sexy tone.

Staring at his smile, she raised her eyes up to his.

He was staring at her boobs. “Yeah, very yummy,” he added.

An odd feeling came over her and it wasn’t a good feeling like she’d expected when Trevor finally made a play for her. She looked down at his smooth, soft looking hands and froze when she realized that this wasn’t Trevor. She’d known almost instantly, because this man had a different scent and now that she’d talked for all that time with his twin, she recognized that his voice was different too. Pushing away, she tried to smile but failed. “I’m awful busy.”

He shrugged and raised his hat up a little. “I was just checking in to see if maybe you needed help.”

Nodding, she tore her eyes away from the sexy, helpful cowboy. “Thanks, but I’m almost done.”

“You know, I was wondering why you came out to get this job. I mean, you seemed happy at the diner.”

Okay, now she knew what he was getting at. “No, I wasn’t as happy as all that.” She walked over to the fridge and got out the 5 pounds of butter bricks for the corn on the cob.

“So, you gonna be stayin’ in the cottage?”

Bren busied herself with the meal making and wondered what he was aiming at with that question. “Yep, that’s what Marge said.”

He was right behind her again. “So, maybe we could have a visit there?”

Okay here it was… the come on she’d dreamed about for weeks. She turned around to look at him. “You mean like the kind you was having there today?”

With a twinkle in his eyes, he grinned at her.

Disbelief flooded her. Was she really standing here with who she thought was the man of her dreams and about to turn him down flat?

Travis chuckled and grabbed her around the waist. “Come on now, I know how you were always looking at me like you were thirstin’ for a Popsicle in the heat of the desert.”

Anger suddenly overcame any previous hesitation she’d felt. He’d known and never cared until now—and why was that, I wonder? “Oh, really?”

He nodded and gave her that self-satisfied smile she’d never noticed until she met his brother.

“Well, you know that was true,” she admitted.

Looking confident, he kept nodding and tugged her closer.

“Until I realized that certain Popsicles have different—flavors.”

He leaned back to look at her face. “What?”

Bren shrugged. “You know, my momma always told me something I never understood till just now.”

He stepped back while looking bewildered.

“She would say, ‘Quit goin’ around your ass to get to your elbow’.”

Shaking his head, he scoffed, “What the hell does that even mean?”

Bren turned away, grabbed a frying pan and she burst out laughing. “Yeah, exactly!”

Still shaking his head, he backed away. “I just don’t get you!”

Setting the pan onto the stove, she grinned over at him. Funny, how a conversation could be so confusing yet so dammed enlightening. He didn’t get her, because he never even made the effort before now. “Again, that is exactly what I’m saying.” Her laughter rose in the kitchen, as he rushed out through the back door.
Yep, one big obstacle is now out of the way. I never realized that my Momma was so stinkin’ smart!
Her laughter grew as she poured oil into the pan.

“Well, you sure seem to be having a good time.” Kanda noted from behind her. “I sure as hell never enjoyed this hot, greasy job like that!”

Still chuckling, Bren dropped some battered chicken into the hot oil. “It’s work, I’ll give ya that, but actually it was your brother’s expression just now that had me laughing.”

Kanda stepped up next to her, and handed her the tongs. “Oh yeah, and which brother might that be?”

Bren’s laughter grew out of control again. “Exactly!”

Kanda looked confused.

Bren tried to catch her breath as she looked around to make sure they were alone. “I’m gonna come clean and tell you the truth.”

Leaning in while looking around, Kanda’s expression was curious. “Yeah?”

“Well, I came out here on a quest.”

Kanda blinked her eyes at her.

“A quest to get---”

Kanda nodded. “Yeah, I saw the way you looked at him before.”

Suddenly embarrassed as the hilarity left, Bren then added more chicken to the oil. “Yes, but I don’t want Travis.”

The woman shook her head.

“I mean, they’re nothing alike… him and Trevor.”

Kanda was laughing. “Yeah, I know that, but just be careful.”

Turning the chicken over, she swung her gaze over to Kanda.

“Don’t be pullin’ a Vikki.”

Puzzled and curious, Bren turned over another drumstick. “A Vikki?”

“Yep, that happened over six months ago, but I’ve been worried about the backlash for a long time now.”

Bren turned to look at her. So, here might be part of this twin puzzle.

“I love both my brothers, so don’t get me wrong, but it’s been like this ever since they were babies. First, they fought over bottles, then toys.” She shook her head. “Then it was who would get the best horse and then who had the best truck? And now of course…it’s women!”

“So, Vikki and Trev---?”

“Yep, that was a real bad situation. It always seems to turn into a war between them two, and Vikki? Well, all I can say is that when women go wrong, men go right after them.”
She grabbed a platter. “Travis has just got to have anything Trevor has.” She set the platter on the counter next to Bren. “You just better be sure who it is you do want and stick with that.” Her eyes grew beady. “Don’t make me regret getting you the job.”

The situation was getting clearer to her now, but that clarity didn’t make her feel any better. Now she knew why Trevor was so mad at the cottage, when she called him Travis and the way he acted about this Vikki person.

Thinking about more obstacles in her path that were even bigger than those beefy cows she saw this morning, she muttered, “I hope I don’t regret it either.”

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The rest of the afternoon did not proceed as smoothly as she’d hoped. There’d been a few spills and she’d dropped some eggs on the floor, then she slipped on them and dumped the flour. If a cooking job ever called for floor batter, she’d be the one to hire, all right! In between preparing dishes, she’d cleaned up the messy fiasco as best she could.