by Vivian Arend
She was too surprised to move. Or at least that was the excuse she gave herself.
His lips were firm but gentle. No tongue, just a meeting of mouths. Kisses, one after another followed as he controlled her position, not allowing her to squirm away. And when she opened her mouth to complain he took total advantage, deepening the kiss until she was ready to pass out for the second time that day.
Pass out, or she was about to wrap her arms around him and grind their bodies together, she was so excited. From kissing. From the feel of his long, hard body pressed up tight against hers.
He let her go, leaning away. Cool air and regret he hadn’t done more than simply kiss her hit about the same time. Holy cow, what had she gotten herself into?
One corner of his mouth twitched before his wide smile reappeared. “Figured we’d better get used to each other a little—hate to have anyone call our bluff just because we ain’t good at kissing.”
The butterflies in her stomach didn’t quite know what to think of his comment. The tenderness in his touch had seemed far more real than she’d expected.
Allison pulled herself together. “You’re right. Totally right.” She nodded briskly and snatched up a bag in either hand, turning her back to hide her flaming-hot face. “Have a good night.”
She fled as unhurriedly as possible, but it was still an escape and he knew it. And she knew he knew because that wicked laugh of his followed her yellow-bellied retreat.
Allison stood on the porch in the dark and watched his taillights disappear down the long driveway leading to the main road.
Chapter Four
Loud music blared through the made-over barn, but it had been used long enough for its new purpose there was no dust or straw bits left in the rafters to shake loose and fall on those gathered beneath the bright lights.
The scent remained—nothing could remove that slightly sweet aroma of animals and feed that had permeated the wood itself from years of use. Layered in were the new scents of alcohol and cigarettes. Perfume and sweat.
Gabe watched the men fighting in the ring before him with only half his attention, the rest focused on his cousin who stood nearly motionless at his side.
Bullshit. Most of his attention was still back on the woman he’d left in his house. Wondering what Allison was doing, and questions of how they were going to pull this deception off, threaded through his brain like a snake holding its tail. An endless loop of unanswerable chaos.
Her taste lingered on his lips, and he gave himself a mental slap and refocused on the here and now.
Travis stared intently across the wide space of the room, his eyes almost glazed. It was always like this—the calm before the storm. His breathing slow and even, relaxed as if he were ready to fall asleep.
Deceptively dangerous.
It was nearly a year since Gabe had discovered what Travis did in some of his spare time, and insisted he be brought along as an emergency backup. Some nights he wasn’t needed. Some nights, he was.
A roar of approval rose from the men gathered around the perimeter of the fighting area as one of the two in the ring landed a series of blows that dropped his opponent to his knees. Men with nothing more than wrapped fingers, stripped to the waist. Beating the hell out of each other because they wanted to. Because they could.
It wasn’t Gabe’s thing, but Travis sure the hell got something out of it, so who was he to judge? As long as his cousin got home in one piece, he figured the bruises and cuts would eventually heal.
The man teetering toward the floorboards was dragged to his feet by a couple of the watchers, raucous laughter and ribald comments flying through the air. Gabe ignored it all. He’d heard it before, seen it before. Shock value was gone.
Someone poked him in the arm and he jerked around.
Shit. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Tamara Coleman planted her fists on her hips and lowered her chin just enough to peer over the top of her glasses at him. “On-call medical. Don’t tell me you’re stupid enough to be participating in this free-for-all?”
Someone jostled her from behind, and Gabe automatically reached out to pull her closer to his side so he could protect her. “Not me.”
The suddenly fucked-up situation got more and more convoluted, even though he’d expected this to happen eventually. In an area as small as theirs, it was inevitable that somewhere along the line someone in the family would find out.
He didn’t expect it would be one of the Coleman cousins of the female variety.
He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
Tamara leaned around him and swore lightly. “Travis Coleman, you’re a bigger fool than I’d ever imagined.”
Travis didn’t even move his head. “Tamara. You slumming it tonight?”
“You lost whatever you had of your minuscule brains?” Tamara wormed past Gabe and got directly in front of Travis until he had to look at her. “You’re an idiot, right? Your mama dropped you on your head when you were a baby.”
Travis smirked. “She did, and I liked it. So if you’ll excuse me…”
He was past them both and pushing through the bodies, climbing into the ring with the evil grin still on his face.
Tamara growled in frustration, arms folding in front of her across her flannel shirt. “When I volunteered to come stitch up the brainless twits who fight here, I didn’t think I’d be working on family.”
Gabe moved in closer, putting himself between her and the biggest of the men intently watching the ring. “Things can get a little iffy in the crowd too, so if you’ve got a safer place to watch from, let me take you there.”
“I’m fine.” She planted her feet wide, somehow echoing the stance Travis took as his fighting partner climbed through the ropes. “If I have to stitch him up? I’m not using any painkiller. Stupid ass.”
In the ring, Travis and the wiry blond who’d joined him were already tossing experimental blows. Or the blond was swinging. Travis moved smoothly side to side, dodging and otherwise staying just out of reach.
“It ain’t a dance party, Travis,” someone catcalled.
“Take off his pretty head, Stan,” another encouraged.
Stan lunged and shot out his fist, connecting with Travis’s torso, high and hard. He followed with his left fist to ribs, the slam of knuckles against flesh loud even as voices rose. Gabe shifted to the side to see around the man in front of him, and in that single moment he missed Travis’s first blow.
Stan was bent in two, his body doubled forward with Travis’s fist still buried in his gut. Travis dragged his hand free, pounding a blow to Stan’s face, then another. It was like watching an automaton, repetitious and consistent in motion. Travis had lost his smile, a concentrated glare replacing it. Drops of sweat beaded his brow, his muscles flexing as he worked around Stan. He backed up as if to allow the other man to straighten.
Stan drew in a deep breath, hands on his thighs to push himself vertical.
Travis stepped forward and swung, knuckles connecting with jaw. Stan’s head snapped back, his entire body flipping in a wavelike motion as he collapsed to the floor.
Travis waited, arms bent in a ready position, as if eager for the man to get up and continue fighting. Gabe sighed, recognizing the energy still blistering out from his cousin.
“At least that’s over,” Tamara muttered. “Because while I have no objection to staring at half-naked men all night, including my cousin in that number kind of makes the thrill fade.”
A snort escaped involuntarily. “Yeah, I can see how that could ruin the show. He’s going to fight again,” Gabe warned.
She turned to stare at him in shock. “But I thought once a night—”
“He gets like this. He’s going to fight until someone takes him to the ground.”
“That’s insane.” Concern and disgust warred on her face.
Gabe nodded. “Maybe. But if he doesn’t get it in the ring, he’d be out at a bar picking a fight, and this is safer than getting c
old-cocked by a dozen pissed-off hockey players he’s managed to insult so bad they want to beat him until he’s half-dead.”
All her usual bluster vanished. “And you’d know this because that’s not some random example you pulled out of thin air?”
“Nope. Been there, done that.”
Travis was out of the ring and headed to the side of the room, so Gabe pulled Tamara after him, weaving through the crowd. Travis might be a grownup, but Gabe needed to keep an eye on him. Sometimes Travis got these notions into his head that something out of the norm would be great to try, and while Gabe had no trouble babysitting him here in organized chaos, he wasn’t about to let his cousin go get beat up or killed in something even more free-for-all.
Tamara tugged his sleeve to get him to stop. “Is this habit something I should be worried about? Like more worried than not understanding why my cousin likes to get violent?”
Gabe dragged a hand through his hair and wondered how to explain this, then he realized he couldn’t. “You have to ask him. As far as I know he gets something out of it, and he’s not dead at the end of the night. That’s it. That’s my understanding. I like a good fight at times, as much as the average guy. Getting physical lets out the demons, and sometimes that means beating the hell out of something, and sometimes…”
He trickled to a stop and shook his head. Nope. Not a discussion he was willing to continue with her.
Tamara smirked. “You were going to add fucking to that list of physical things guys like, weren’t you?”
Oh sheesh. “Not going there with you.”
“You’re such a girl.”
Gabe laughed. “No, you’re a girl, and my cousin, and I’m not talking sex with you.”
He glanced around the wide-open space. Another fight had begun already, people crowded forward, some with beers in their hands. The few women in the crowd were held tightly, their guys keeping a close eye on them.
He took a quick peek at Tamara. She was far more covered than the other women in the room. Her jeans and flannel shirt were modest, her long hair pulled back into a simple ponytail. She wasn’t going for the femme fatale look, but she was still an attractive woman. “You planning on putting in medical care often?”
She cocked out a hip, her head tilted to the side. “You thinking of becoming my keeper, Gabe? If you figure on following me, or otherwise trying to keep track of me, forget it. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself. You’re not responsible for making sure I get home in one piece.”
Something twisted at her words, the echo of ones he’d heard so long ago, burning and painful. He stared her down, hoping he could keep what roiled inside from showing on his face.
The volume rose around them to a roar, someone shouted for a doctor. Tamara whipped away before he could react, elbowing her way through the crowd, ducking under arms. Gabe followed at a much slower pace, her smaller body wiggling easier through tight spaces. He was in time to see her snatch up a bag from the side of the platform then scramble through the ropes. She dragged on gloves before dropping to her knees to examine the downed fighter. Her orders rang out, and a couple of men stepped forward to lift the fallen off the mat. She worked efficiently, pressing a bandage to stem the blood pouring from a head cut.
It took so little time—one minute they were in the ring, the next Tamara had the man secluded to a small area off the side, bright light tilted to make it easier for her to see as she made an injection. Gabe moved in closer as she carefully stitched together the three-inch wound, seemingly oblivious to her surroundings.
The Whiskey Creek Colemans always came across as tough girls, somewhat inevitable as they’d had years of attempting to keep up with their multiple wild male cousins, but Gabe had never actually witnessed one of them in a setting like this before.
“I don’t know why you’re still hanging around, Gabe. I’m fine.” Tamara let go of the fighter’s cheek to slap his hand off her thigh. “And you. If you don’t want me to stitch your eyelids shut, keep your bloody hands to yourself.”
The fighter chuckled. “No harm in trying.”
“I have a scalpel in my bag and an intimate knowledge of anatomy. You really want to get fresh with me?” Tamara was the one to laugh as the man sucked in a hiss of pain as she pulled the thread. “Yeah, poor baby. Concentrate on something other than your head.”
“I was trying,” the man complained.
Tamara didn’t look up from her task. “Go away, Gabe.”
“Going.” But he wasn’t leaving for good until he knew she was safely in her vehicle and headed home.
Gabe grabbed another beer as he casually followed Travis. They’d done this for long enough now he didn’t have to put up with at least one cousin telling him to fuck off. Travis knew the story. Gabe wouldn’t step in unless needed. And at the end of the night, after Travis had enough, Gabe would drag him to the truck and drive him home.
It wasn’t typical, but it was what it was. Gabe didn’t judge. Just did what had to be done.
He pulled himself onto the top of a platform area to the side and leaned on the wall. From here he could see the ring, see Travis clambering back through the ropes for round two of pain and punishment. Off to the right Tamara was finishing bandaging her fighter. Gabe took another pull from his drink and wondered if his life could possibly get any weirder.
He laughed at himself. Oh, yeah, it could. Because when his babysitting tonight was over, he would head home to a woman who planned on turning things upside down and sideways.
Kissing Allison—that had been both a good and a bad idea. Bad because it made him think of all the things he’d put aside over the past while. Trying to keep his family together, all the little bits he’d secretly been dealing with around the ranch.
Her lips were soft, almost innocent under his. Her body? Innocent miss she wasn’t, not with those curves and the way she’d pressed into him. Pretending to be with her and not getting to have more than public tastes of her mouth was going to suck.
But perhaps…
Travis staggered for a moment in the ring, and Gabe held his breath. His cousin’s right eye was swelling shut. Maybe there would be an earlier finish than usual to their evening.
Fists exploded out, rapid jabs flying like electric sparks from a welding gun. Travis’s opponent reeled backward and collapsed onto the ropes.
Far more vertical than the other man, Travis raised a fist in the air in triumph. He headed back to the corner to snatch up his water bottle and press a towel to his face.
Gabe sighed. No reprieve. A long night loomed ahead of him.
After everything was over, after he’d helped Allison, and once the ranch was producing the money they needed to stay afloat, then he could approach Allison for real.
But for now, she was just another lost sheep to care for. His gaze moved carefully over Travis, over Tamara. Gabe leaned his head on the wall and watched.
It was after one, and Gabe still wasn’t back. Allison pulled the packing tape off the bottom of the empty box and unfolded it, sliding the collapsed cardboard under her bed with the rest.
She looked around the room, trying to see if she’d spread out too much. There was surprisingly little when she’d actually decided what she needed to unpack. Clothes, her computer. Her ebook reader. The knickknacks and other parts of her stuff were stacked in the porch to be added to the items already stored in the shed. She didn’t need them here, not for the while she’d be around, and the less she intruded, the better.
Who was she kidding? She’d totally come in and taken over his life. Just being in his house was bad enough.
Allison stepped back into the main living area and flicked on the kettle.
She was writing notes, sipping on a cup of tea, when floorboards outside creaked softly a second before the door opened.
Gabe hung up his jean jacket, turned silently toward the main room. He spotted her and shook his head.
“I thought you’d be asleep for a long time by now.”
Allison hesitated. “I think napping so late threw me off. I’m tired, but I can’t sleep.”
“You’re also worrying yourself to death, ain’t you?”
She nodded. No reason to deny it.
Gabe stepped forward, long limbs eating up the distance between them so smoothly. He pulled out a chair and sat beside her at the table. “You settle in?”
“Feeling guilty the entire time. Not guilty enough to change my mind, though.”
Gabe patted her hand. “I didn’t think you would.” He drew the paper toward him. “I take it this is what you’ve got planned for us.”
“It’s simple.”
“That’s always best.” He read for a minute, nodding slowly. “You got it pretty much covered here, with the whole ‘it’s an engagement to see if it’s gonna work’. That makes sense, with us supposedly dating long distance until now.”
It would also help when they called it off down the road, after her—
Allison rushed ahead, refusing to let the thought fully form in her head. “Yeah, that’s what I figured.”
He leaned back in his chair. “So, tomorrow?”
She nodded. “I’m going to try to catch my mom in the morning, by herself. I think that would be the way to start. Maybe by some miracle she’ll confess what’s wrong before I begin the hoax…”
Surprise registered on his face. “I hadn’t even considered that. Hopefully she’ll see you and change her mind. It’s possible.”
She spotted blood on his fingers. She caught him by the wrist, turning his palm up to see where it had come from. “Did you cut yourself?”
Gabe withdrew his hand and went to the sink. “It’s not mine. Sorry about that, thought I’d washed it off. I was…helping a friend, and he got a bloody nose. That’s all.”
She deliberately didn’t ask. Just sat and took another drink. The tea was lukewarm, and she gave up. Even with the discomfort in her body and mind, she had to get to bed.
