Aleta laughed and confessed, “I have been matchmaking. I admit it.” She grew serious again. “You do know about Rachel—and Wanda?”
“Yeah, I know. My dad still owned the ranch and I was working on a land rig, coming home for weekends, when Travis and Rachel got engaged. Travis brought her to meet us. It was a Saturday. She stayed for dinner. I really liked her.”
Aleta made a sad little sound in her throat. “She was a lovely girl. You know he met her through me? Wanda, too.”
“Uh-huh.” Sam had met Wanda once, too. And she’d liked her well enough. Not as much as Rachel, but she’d seemed like a nice person. At least at the time.
Aleta gazed out the window. “I thought it would kill him when Rachel died. I was sure he’d never try again. But he did. With Wanda. And then I felt so guilty, the way that turned out. I wanted to make up for steering him wrong.”
“Aleta, not your fault.”
Travis’s mom straightened her shoulders, refolded her hands on her linen-covered knees. “You’re right, of course. And as it turns out, my efforts to find him someone new weren’t required because there was you.”
They both heard the hall door open in the room next door. “Sam?” Travis appeared in the open doorway between the rooms and spotted them. He leaned against the doorframe. “Okay, what are you two up to?” He was teasing, but there was a note of real suspicion in the question.
His mother rose. “Talking about you, of course.” She went to him, kissed his cheek and patted his arm. “I was just seeing that Samantha was comfortable in her room.”
Sam stood up, too. “And I am. Very.”
“So, then. I’ll leave you two alone.” Aleta crossed to the door and paused before she went out. “Dinner at two.”
“We’ll be there,” Sam promised.
Aleta shut the door behind her.
Travis waited until they both heard her footsteps moving toward the stairs before he said, “Mercy told me she saw Mom dragging you up here.”
“She didn’t have to drag me. Really. I like her. A lot.”
He came toward her, looking much too manly and handsome in jeans and a sweater the color of dark red wine. “She’s a charmer, all right. People jump through hoops for her. She’s got that sincerity thing going and she has all the right connections.”
“I think she is sincere.”
Travis shook his head. “You’ve fallen for her. Just like everyone does.”
“Fallen?”
He moved a step closer, lowered his voice. “I mean she’s charmed you. And you trust her.” The light from the windows slanted in on them, bringing out glints of gold in his dark brown hair. “You’ll end up telling her everything, wrecking my brilliant plan to get her to let me find my own damn girlfriends.”
“I do trust her, but I promise I won’t mess up the plan.”
He was doing that thing again, holding her gaze. Not letting go. She felt the now-familiar shiver, warm and delicious, as it moved through her body. “Travis?”
“Hmm?”
“You’re looking at me that way again.”
“What way is that?”
“You know, like you’re going to kiss me.”
He lifted a hand, brushed the back of his fingers along the side of her neck. Such a simple touch, to feel so good. To make her burn. “Would that be so bad if I kissed you?”
“No, I don’t think so. Not bad at all…” She sounded breathless. Because she was.
He stroked her temple, touched her hair. “This…with us?”
“Yeah?” Definitely. Breathless.
“I swear I had no clue. I never thought of you this way.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. She knew he’d never seen her as a woman—not really, not until last night. And it hadn’t bothered her before. She’d accepted that they were friends and nothing more. Somehow, though, it did kind of bother her now. She ached for her old self, for the woman she’d always been, the one no one seemed to see. It hadn’t been all that great being the invisible woman. But she had learned to live that way, become accustomed to it.
Twin lines formed between his brows. “Okay, that’s a lie.”
She frowned, too. “What’s a lie?”
“I did think about maybe asking you out at first.”
“You did?” She wasn’t sure she believed him.
“Yeah, but your dad said he’d kill me if I laid a hand on you.”
Sam swore under her breath. “I never knew—and he’s more talk than action, you have to know that.”
Travis shook his head. “He loves you. And he thought he was doing right by you. And I like your dad. I wanted him to like me. So I kept my hands off. And you and me, we became friends. I guess I got used to things being that way, to seeing you as a pal and not as a woman.”
Her throat clutched. If she spoke, she knew her voice would break. So she simply gave him a soft smile and a slow nod.
“Sam…” The way he said her name told her everything. She read his intent.
And she read him right. He cradled her face. And he kissed her.
Their third kiss.
It was as good—no, better—than the two that had come before it. They stood in the yellow room, sunlight pouring in on them, and they kissed.
Her mouth knew his now.
And welcomed it.
He gathered her close, so tenderly. He cradled her against him. She drank in the taste of his mouth, gloried in the hardness of his body pressing all along hers.
She knew him. She knew that what had happened with Rachel had damaged him, deep down. And then all the awfulness with Wanda had only made him more certain that love wasn’t for him. He probably wouldn’t be changing his mind about that.
Not even for her, not even though he trusted her and cared for her and treasured her as a friend.
If she let this go where it seemed to be going, if she took advantage of that doorway between their two rooms, she would have to go into it with her eyes wide open. She would have to accept that she was one Cinderella who would get to keep the glass slippers, but would most likely have to let her prince go.
And what about their friendship? Even she, with her limited experience in the male-female arena, knew that bringing sex into a friendship—even a really solid friendship—could blow it all to hell.
He lifted his mouth from hers, took her shoulders and spoke with tender gruffness. “I could stand here kissing you forever. Or at least, until dinnertime.”
She put on a teasing grin. “You’re so easy.”
He touched her cheek. He seemed to really like that—touching her. Which was fine. She liked it, too. He said, “But we should go back downstairs.”
“Right.”
He took her hand. “Come on.”
She leaned closer, breathed in the scent of his aftershave, and kissed him again, a quick kiss that time. “You go on. I’ll be down in a few minutes. I want to unpack.”
Travis went to the game room and played pool with his brother Jericho and Jericho’s wife, Marnie. They seemed real happy together, Jericho and Marnie. They were easy and content with each other.
And yet, they had that spark between them, too. Travis had always kind of thought that Jericho would never settle down. He’d been the family rebel, the complete bad boy, and he always said he liked his women tall and curvy and gone in the morning.
Marnie was short and slim, with a certain toughness about her, not what Travis would have thought of as Jericho’s type. But they’d been married within weeks of their first meeting. And it had turned out to be a great match.
Travis won the game with Marnie. And then Jericho won the second game. Donovan, who was married to Travis’s sister Abilene, rolled up in his wheelchair to take on the winner. Donovan was good. But Jericho was better.
By the time Jericho won that game, it had been over an hour since Travis left Sam upstairs. He started to wonder. Had she come downstairs yet?
Was she okay? Nervous about being surrounded b
y his relatives? Hanging back in her room to get away from all of them?
But she hadn’t seemed anxious about his family. She’d breezed through the endless introductions, so cool and easy. She really knew how to handle herself around a crowd now.
And then she’d gone upstairs and gotten cozy with his mother.
The new Sam was pretty much a revelation, all the way around.
He thought of her room upstairs, of the door that connected it with his, of how much he liked kissing her, how he’d like to share a whole lot more than just kisses with her.
Then he told himself not to think about that.
Thinking, after all, too often led to doing. He’d always looked after Sam. And having sex with her wouldn’t be looking after her. There were about a thousand reasons they shouldn’t go there. And then there was the heat between them—the heat that made all those reasons too damn easy to forget.
He glanced at his watch.
A half an hour until dinner. Where was she?
He turned for the door to the long hallway that led to the front of the house.
And there she was. She’d changed into a slim skirt and a different sweater.
Their eyes met. Wham. Like a big bolt of lightning, searing him where he stood.
He realized there was no way he would last the coming week without holding her naked in his arms.
Jericho said, “Hey, Sam. Want to play?”
She smiled at his brother. “Eight ball?”
“That’s the game.”
“Sure.” She went to the table, expertly racked the balls and then chose her cue from the ones on the wall while Jericho broke.
Travis sat back down. Jericho sank four balls and missed the next shot. Sam took over. He watched her play as he’d done so many times in the years he’d known her.
She won that game and then took on Matt, second born and CFO of the family company, BravoCorp. Sam ran the table that game. Poor Matt didn’t have a chance.
She was something, all right.
But it wasn’t her skill at pool Travis was admiring.
Uh-uh. It was the way the sweater showed off her breasts and the skirt hugged her body. It was the flexing muscles in her calves when she bent to sink a shot.
Matt’s wife, Corrine, challenged Sam next.
Travis’s sister Abilene sat down next to him. She leaned close. “It’s good to see you in love again after all these years.” Abilene chuckled. “You can’t take your eyes off her.”
He wanted to tell his sister to mind her own business, but how smart would that be? She and the others were supposed to think he was in love with Sam, that he couldn’t help staring at her. He answered as a man in love would answer. “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“And you’ve known her for years…”
“Yeah, funny how that happened. We’ve both been on the same job for several months now. Working closely together.”
“Working together. I know how that can be.” Abilene shifted her glance to her husband, who sat in his wheelchair on the far side of the pool table. Donovan seemed to sense his wife had glanced his way. He turned to meet her eyes. They shared a slow smile.
Travis felt some relief, to have his sister’s knowing eyes on her husband, instead of on him. “How’s that dream house you two are building coming along?”
“It’s finished,” Abilene said. “We moved in six months ago. I love it.”
“Good.”
She turned to him again. “And you are out of touch, my dear brother. You know that, right?”
“Guilty as charged.”
“I’m hoping Samantha will make you come home more often. I’m planning to talk to her about that.”
“You’re as bad as Mom.”
“Not quite. But give me a couple of decades, I will be.”
“You’re scaring me, Abilene.”
“Just don’t be a stranger.”
Right then Kira, Matt and Corrine’s older daughter, stuck her head in the door. “Grandma says it’s time for dinner.” Kira was—what?—nine now? She’d always had a bossy streak. Apparently, that hadn’t changed. “Everyone has to come and sit down.”
Corrine said, “Tell Grandma we’ll be there soon, sweetie.” She banked a shot and sank another solid. “Mom. Now.”
Corrine sent her daughter a quick smile and took another shot. Two more solids dropped into pockets.
Kira pulled a face. “Well, hurry up, please,” she huffed, and marched off the way she had come.
Corrine laughed. “My daughter is destined to rule the world.”
Matt winked at his wife. “It could happen. After all, she’s as beautiful as her mother and almost as smart.”
“You’re a smooth talker, Matt Bravo.” In quick succession, Corrine dropped the rest of the solids and then the eight ball.
Sam applauded. “Oh, you are good.”
Corrine grinned. “I’ll give you a rematch if you’ll come visit me at Armadillo Rose. That’s the bar I own in San Antonio. We’re closed tonight and Monday. But Tuesday would be good.”
“We’ll all come,” said Marnie. “Make it Bravo family night.”
“It’s a date. I’ll expect you.” Corrine hung up her cue.
“What do you say, Travis?” Sam sent him a questioning glance.
“Sure,” he said. “Sounds great.”
Corrine added, “And Sam, another thing. Friday is Black Friday. And that means shopping. We meet up in town at 4:00 a.m. It’s the first year we’re all going together—all the women in the family. We want you to come, too.”
Shopping—and at 4:00 a.m., no less. Travis had a feeling that wouldn’t be Sam’s idea of a good time.
But she put on a big smile anyway, and said, “I would love that.”
When they went in to dinner, Travis held out Sam’s chair for her, taking total advantage of the moment to bend close and breathe in the faint scent of that tempting perfume she wore. “Having a good time?”
She sent him a look that flirted and challenged. “A great time.”
“I’m glad.” He took his own seat, smoothed his linen napkin on his lap.
They’d had the salad and the girls from the kitchen were serving the prime rib when his dad started the toasts.
The first was to having the whole family together. Everyone raised their glasses. Even the two oldest kids, Kira and Ginny, picked up their glasses of milk and held them high. Four-year-old Ginny was his brother Gabe’s stepdaughter.
“To our whole family.” Kira echoed her grandfather.
“Our whole family, yeah!” Ginny chimed in.
Luke’s son, Lucas, shouted, “Yeah!” and sucked on his sippy cup.
Travis was starting to feel a little sentimental, sitting there at the long table with its embroidered white cloth. He loved his big family, and he was happy for all of them, that each of his brothers and sisters had found someone they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with. That his parents had worked out their problems and still held the seats of honor at either end of the table, that they were still giving each other tender glances, so proud of their children, so pleased with their grandchildren.
The next toast was for Abilene and Donovan. Abilene was expecting their first child in May. Donovan caught his wife’s hand as they all raised their glasses again.
And he brought it to his lips. “You changed my life,” he said. “Thank you.”
Abilene’s eyes were definitely misty. “You’re welcome.”
“You’re a complete sentimentalist.” Donovan’s voice was husky.
And she answered, grinning through her tears, “You bet I am. A big bowl of emotional mush…”
Everybody laughed, though Travis didn’t think the rest of them got the joke any more than he did. It was clearly a private thing, between Abilene and her husband.
Travis watched them together, thinking how they had it all. Just like his other sister Zoe and his half sister, Elena. Zoe and her husband, Dax, had a happ
y toddler. And Elena and Rogan had a big, handsome baby boy.
And then there were his brothers. All six of them. Each had found the woman for him and then been man enough to work through whatever crap got in the way of a good life with the right partner. They were brave men, his brothers. They’d fought to claim their happiness.
Travis realized he admired them.
Maybe he needed to take a lesson from them—and from his sisters. And his mom and his dad, too.
Maybe it was time to let the pain of losing Rachel go. To accept that he’d made a big mistake with Wanda. And move on. To stop turning away from the possibilities life offered for fear of what might happen if he dared to take another chance.
He turned to catch Sam’s eye. She gave him a glowing smile that had his heart beating crazy-hard inside his chest.
And when he reached for her hand, she gave it. Willingly. Without a second’s hesitation.
She amazed him. She could hold her own with the toughest roughneck around. And then, inside of a single week, with a little coaching from an expert, she’d turned out to be one hell of a gorgeous, tempting, sexy woman, as well. Every time he looked at her now, he didn’t want to look away.
He wove his fingers with hers as his dad raised his glass again. “And now, to Samantha and Travis. Samantha, we are so glad to welcome you as part of the family. Travis, congratulations. My son, you are one very lucky man.”
Chapter Seven
At a little after midnight, Sam stood at the bay window in the yellow bedroom. She could see the waxing moon, riding high in the dark sky above the softly rounded overlapping hills.
It had been a great day and an even better evening. Travis had stayed close to her after dinner. He’d been frankly affectionate, taking her hand in his, laying his arm casually and possessively across her shoulders when they all sat together in the living room for after-dinner coffee. And then later, in the game room, when the two of them played checkers, he took any slightest excuse to catch her eye, to share an intimate glance with her.
He also touched her knee under the table. And he brushed her leg with his. He acted like he couldn’t keep his hands off her, like he didn’t want to let her out of his sight.
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