“I’m sorry.”
She grinned crookedly. “Me, too. What happened with your lady friend?”
Travis snorted. “If your fella was shallow, Becky might have been his equal. All she wanted was money, money, money.”
“I bet that hurt.”
“Naw.” Travis thought back to what he thought was love with Becky. “I didn’t really love her. I was more angry than hurt when I found she was cheating on me.”
“Ouch.”
“And when she ran off with one of the ranch hands?” Travis grinned sidelong at Addie. “I was glad.”
“Then I’m happy that you’re happy.”
“Well, happier now that she’s not around. She was tough, you know? Just a difficult person to be with, nothing ever was right enough, or even good enough, for Becky. I thought I loved her, thought I wanted to make a life with her. Then when it didn’t work out, man, the relief I felt. Like a huge weight suddenly tumbled off of me.”
Addie laughed. “I’m guessing the Lord wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting into.”
“I have no idea why He put her into my path to begin with.”
“To show you what you need and do not need in your life.”
Travis fell silent, thinking about that. If Becky is to show me what is wrong in my life, then why are you here, Addie? “You might be correct. They say every person you meet has a reason for being there.”
Addie shrugged. “Eric showed me the person I could have been, and had I become that person, I think I would have become truly miserable.”
Travis grinned. “I sure can’t see you, Miss-Down-To-Earth-Addie as a shyster lawyer out skinning people for every coin.”
Addie groaned. “I can’t, either. I’d rather stay poorer and help people with their legal problems, than be rich by taking advantage of the law.”
“Now that sounds like the Addie I know.”
Upon their return, Brady would not let Addie out of the saddle. “Time for a lesson, Addison,” he said sternly. “You’re flopping around in the saddle like a frog in a hot pan.”
Travis laughed as she sent him a pained look. “Well, you are.”
“You told me to relax,” she accused.
“Relaxed doesn’t mean turn into a wet sack.”
Putting Riley up on his horse in front of him, Travis watched as the lesson began. For an hour, Addie practiced sitting up straight with her heels down, learning how to keep her body upright while still moving in cadence with Zora. She learned how to keep a firm but relaxed hand on the reins, how to use both leg pressure as well as turn her shoulders in the direction she wanted the horse to go in.
“There’s a lot more to riding than getting on a horse,” she said, not quite complaining.
“Whoever told you that getting on a horse meant riding lied to you,” Brady told her. “But you did good for your first lesson. If I had you out here every day, I’ll have you proficient in horsemanship by the end of the summer.”
“The end of the summer!” Addie looked from Brady to Travis and back again. “That long?”
“Yeah. These skills don’t come overnight,” Travis said. “It’s not like law school. You’re working with a partner that’s smarter than two law professors who share the same brain.”
“Now that’s cold,” Addie remarked, but laughed.
“Truth hurts,” Brady replied brightly. “Now, time to learn how to unsaddle and groom your mount.
Addie appeared clearly tired, dusty and sweaty by the time Zora had been unsaddled, rinsed and put in her stall. But she wore a grin that wouldn’t quit. “Someday, when I can afford it, I want a horse of my own.”
“As long as you let a person with an eye for smart horses help you,” Brady said, sending a sharp glance toward Travis. “Someone definitely not him.”
Travis protested. “I know a good horse from a bad one.”
“I said a smart horse, not necessarily a good horse,” Brady retorted. “Smart is always better than good. A smart horse can have so-so conformation, and be a better mount than a good horse.”
“As long as that so-so conformation doesn’t interfere with the job being done,” Travis said. “If a bad leg goes lame all the time, brains don’t cut the mustard.”
Colton led the very tired and sweaty dapple gray into the barn. “Don’t listen to either one of these idiots, Addie,” he said. “Neither knows a good or smart horse from a pig in a poke.”
As Addie laughed, Brady stared, insulted. “You’re just a kid, Colton. What do you know?”
“More than you.”
On impulse, Travis said to Addie, not letting himself think too much about what he was doing, “Hey, I bought steaks yesterday, but we never ate them. Care to hang around and grill them with us?”
Addie, still laughing, nodded. “That sounds great. I’d love to.”
“Brady does his own thing with Riley at dinner, but Colton will join us.” A nice chaperone to keep both Addie and me honest. “Right, Colt?”
“Sure thing.”
Colton didn’t look around as he led the sweaty gray to the wash rack, and Brady started the afternoon feeding.
“Riley, you give everybody one scoop of grain. Can you handle that?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
While Riley ran to the big grain bin to start her chore, Addie glanced around. “What can I do?”
Travis gestured toward the water hose. “Fill buckets?”
“I think I can handle that.”
Taking the hose from one stall to the other, filling water buckets through the bars on the stalls, Addie kept a watchful eye on Riley as she dumped grain into feeders. The inmates, impatient and hungry, tried to shove their heads through the square opening. Undeterred and unintimidated, Riley pushed their noses back and poured the grain in.
“She’s amazing,” Addie said, awed.
“She let’s them know who is in charge,” Brady commented, wheeling a wheelbarrow with a bale of green hay on it down the aisle. “If they get pushy, she gives them a good thump on the nose.”
Travis, with his own wheelbarrow, served flakes of hay into the racks inside the stalls. Addie, backing from a stall after filling the bucket, tripped over the hose behind her. In a lightning move that surprised even him, Travis caught her before she tumbled all the way to the barn floor.
“Oops,” he commented, his hands on her shoulders and waist.
Addie gazed up into his eyes, her own green eyes wide and shocked. Her arm instinctively grabbed him around his neck, both steadying herself and regaining her balance. Her firm body felt light in his grip, her nearness like a sudden balm to his soul. He liked holding her, liked the way she felt, and he didn’t want to stand her on her feet, because then he’d have to let her go.
Get her upright, or catch a load of teasing from Brady. Reluctant, Travis helped her to stand, yet Addie kept her arm on his shoulder, even when it was no longer necessary to keep her balance.
Embarrassed, he tried to turn the incident into a joke, covering his discomfiture. “Can’t have you taking a tumble on our barn floor,” he said, grinning. “You might sue us.”
“Get real,” Brady grumbled from the stalls opposite. “Addie wouldn’t sue us. She likes us too much.”
“I might if it meant more riding lessons,” she replied, picking up the hose. “And finding me the right horse to buy.”
“Then it’s a good thing I caught you,” Travis replied, continuing down the barn aisle. “Those things are valuable.”
“You know,” she said thoughtfully, filling the water bucket. “I might use all three of you to find me a horse. One you all agree on has to be perfect.”
Travis stared at Brady, who stared back, and then they both turned and gazed at Colton entering the barn.
“That’ll be the day,” Colton commented dryly, leading the dappled gray to its stall. “Addie, if you think that, you’ll never get a horse.”
She laughed. “I think you boys can agree. It just takes work.”
To Travis’s delight and dismay, Colton grabbed a quick bite from the kitchen, then departed to his little office in the rear of the house. That left Travis alone to cook steaks on the back deck as the sun went down and the crickets chirped in the grass and weeds. Addie drank tea while watching him, the table on the deck set, the potato salad made.
“How do you like your steak?” he asked.
“I want to know if you remember.”
He glanced at her teasing expression, observing the hint of flirtation in her voice and manner. Accepting the challenge, Travis grinned. “Medium rare. Just like a proper Texan.”
Addie clapped her hands. “Bravo. You remembered. But can you cook it properly?”
Feigning insult, Travis growled, “We Hamiltons were born to grill. It’s in our blood, our heritage. Just like this land.”
Addie folded her arms over her chest. “Now you sound like a TV commercial.”
“Hey, we raise cows.” Travis shrugged. “You’d think we’d also know how to cook ‘em.”
“But cooking meat in Texas is an art form,” Addie said. “Take barbeque. If it’s not done right, then it’s almost not worth the trouble.”
“I suppose they know how to barbeque in Houston.”
Addie grimaced. “Oh, no. That place is too big with people from all over. Nope, in order to find true Texas barbeque, one must get away from the huge populations. Not exactly Sticksville, like this place, but to places where the talent is handed down from generation to generation.”
“Now who is sounding like a commercial?”
“Instead of going to law school, maybe I should have gone into advertising.”
Inspecting the coals, Travis cocked an eye at her. “Well, Ms. Barbeque Expert, are we ready to start?”
Addie stood up from the table, setting her glass of sweet tea down, she ambled across the deck. Holding her hand over the grill, she jerked it back with a hiss. Travis chuckled.
“Yeah, I think it’s hot enough,” she replied, shaking her hand.
“You should know better than that.”
“I guess I’ve been in Houston too long.”
Picking up the plate with the steaks, Travis felt keenly aware of how close she stood to him. Her afternoon spent with horses did little to halt the clean fresh scent of her hair from wafting into his nostrils, the faint odor of her perfume. Setting the steaks on the grill with a sizzle, he looked into her eyes.
Lord, how can I not fall in love with her again?
Chapter 12
He stood too close to her.
Her nerve endings on fire, Addie stared into his eyes only inches from hers. She could kiss him if she dared. All she had to do was lean forward, and press her lips to his, perhaps rest her arms on his shoulders like she used to do. He’d missed a spot while shaving that morning, she noticed.
For a moment, she was sure he was going to lean in and kiss her. She braced herself, waiting to feel his lips against hers, to feel him close again.
But at the last moment, he turned away. She could almost feel him emotionally withdraw at the same time. Hopelessness filled her, realizing that no matter what, Travis would never trust her again.
Addie crossed her arms over her stomach, then stepped past him to gaze out over the landscape.
“Check out that sunset,” she said, covering her embarrassment.
The sun had crossed the horizon, but the distant clouds reflected the golden and red light into amazing hues. Travis stepped up beside her, closer than she felt he should be if he was to remain emotionally distant.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “I’ve always liked being out here when the sun goes down.”
“I remember.”
Addie drew in a deep breath, willing away her feelings of vulnerability and regret. There’s no good reason to start anything with him again. I may not be staying here in this hick town, anyway. So what if we almost kissed? Once his issues with Parnell go away, he won’t want anything to do with me again.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Travis said suddenly. “Here, having dinner tonight.”
Confused, Addie glanced up at him. “Oh. Well, thanks for the invitation.”
He turned back toward the grill to check on the steaks, and Addie, deciding she really didn’t want to figure out the emotional yo-yo her relationship with him had become, followed. Passing him, she went to the table, and uncovered the potato salad, poured fresh tea into the glasses. After checking to make sure all the utensils they needed were present and accounted for, watched him turn the steaks.
“Why are you buying meat from the store?” she asked. “I thought you guys liked to process your own.”
“We do,” he replied with a grin. “It’s just that we’ve already eaten last year’s tender heifer, and are waiting for the next one to get fat enough.”
“If I remember right, your dad had a cooler for aging the beef,” she remarked. “Do you still do that?”
“Oh, yeah.” He waved his hand at the steaks on the grill. “What you get from the store these days isn’t at all like what we do for ourselves. Thus, it’s never as good.”
“If you’re selling any after it’s processed,” Addie said as he plucked the steaks from the grill and brought them to the table, “Callie and I would like to buy.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
The steaks were indeed cooked to perfection, and Addie ate with an appetite only an afternoon of exercise outside could create. “I guess you do know what you’re doing,” she said with a grin.
“Ah, ye of little faith.”
The sun had gone down, and nearly full darkness had set in by the time she helped Travis to clean up, and put away the uneaten food. “That was great,” she told him. “Thank you.”
“You are most welcome.”
As his body language and his manner didn’t indicate he expected her to make her goodbyes and leave, Addie picked up her glass of tea, and followed him back onto the deck. Sitting beside him, she gazed up at the stars, brilliant in the sky without the city lights interfering.
“This is one thing I like about living in the sticks,” she commented. “Being able to see the stars.”
“Aren’t they stunning?” he asked. “Just a few miles away, they are even brighter.”
“Remember how you used to take me out there to view them?” she asked, suspecting she walked on dangerous turf. “We’d sit on the tailgate just looking.”
“Well, we didn’t just look,” he said. “We’d try to figure out the constellations.”
Addie laughed. “Did we ever figure out what was what?”
“Only the Big and Little Dippers,” he replied, chuckling. “I was never good at astronomy.”
“Nor was I.”
They stared at the vast expanse of sky and stars in silence for a while, then Travis turned to look at her. Addie couldn’t quite make out the expression on his face, but the fact that he was gazing at her so intensely sent butterflies through her stomach.
Finally, he closed the distance between them, and kissed her.
It was almost like she and Travis were kids again. His mouth closed over hers, her arms snaked around his neck. Addie felt the weight of his hands on her waist, breathed in his masculine scent, tasted the sweet tea on his lips. All the memories of feeling young and in love flooded back. The heady, light feeling of loving Travis – and being loved by him.
For a moment, just for a moment, she let herself think it was possible to love him again.
Travis pulled away first, and a wild thought crossed her mind that he didn’t like it, didn’t want her close to him again. But the tenderness and warmth in his eyes reassured her. He ran the back of his hand down her cheek.
“That was nice,” he murmured, staring down into her eyes.
A question rose to her mind, but got no further. No, this was not the time to ask him if there was a chance they might find what they had lost twelve years ago. Addie slid her arms from around his neck, but let her palms linger on
his hard shoulders for a moment. “It was.”
Out of nervousness, she reached for her glass of tea and took a drink. The moment passed, and they both looked back up at the sky.
Finally, Addie gathered enough courage and asked, “Is there another chance for us?”
When Travis said nothing, Addie feared it had been a mistake to ask.
“I don’t know,” he said at last.
His words stung sharply.
“Oh,” Addie said sadly, a little surprised. Hadn’t he just kissed her?
I knew it, I told myself not to ask, now he’ll say absolutely not, we can only be friends. The distant kind, you know, exchanging Christmas cards and the occasional ‘see you at church.’
“It’s a little hard to trust,” Travis said. “You broke my heart when you left. I just wish you would have stayed here with me. And, well, twelve years is a long time.”
She should have never asked the question. He had kissed her, but that was it. It hadn’t meant he wanted a relationship with her.
“Don’t I know it,” Addie replied, not bothering to hide her bitterness, her shock at his callousness, her pain. “I wanted – needed – out of this town, to make a life for myself, to make a go of it in the city. If you can’t understand that, I’m sorry.”
Addie stood up abruptly, half blinded by her emotions, hardly seeing the astonishment and self-recriminations on Travis’s expression. “I’m sorry I turned you down twelve years ago, and more than that, I’m sorry I ever came back here.”
Stalking through the back door and into the house, she only half heard him call, “Addie? Wait.”
Knowing that she would be crying by the time she reached her car, she almost ran smack into Colton. “Sorry,” she muttered, pushing past him and out the front door.
“Addie, what’s wrong?”
But she couldn’t stop to answer him. It hurt too much. Addie felt the tears burn her eyes as she left the house, fumbling for her keys. She hit the remote the moment they spilled down her cheeks, and almost lunged into the Toyota. From the corner of her eye, she saw both brothers on the front porch, staring after her as she drove toward the road.
Cowboy Billionaire's Second Chance Page 8
