by Emmy Eugene
He turned toward her, and Millie almost fell down. The sight of that sexy cowboy hat, those broad shoulders and that tool belt slung dangerously low around his waist… It felt like air was the wrong thing to breathe.
Travis came toward her, and she lifted the tree skirt, which she’d ridiculously brought with her. “I came to finish the decorating.”
“Hey, baby,” he said, leaning down and kissing her cheek. “You could’ve just gone in. I can’t remember the last time we locked anything at the homestead.”
Millie thought about the walk back and glanced at the pickup truck parked nearby. She was going back in that thing, that was for sure. She looked up at Travis, and he seemed puzzled for a moment.
“You’re building without a foundation?”
“Oh, uh.” He spun back to where he and Russ had a ton of lumber and were obviously building walls. “Yeah, it’s construction in stages,” he said. “We can frame all the walls and then attach them to the cement foundation once that’s ready. It’ll keep things moving forward, and things will go fast once the foundation is cured.”
“Fascinating.”
He looked back at her, that heat that had always been between them sparking in his eyes.
“Maybe you could take a break?” she asked. “I know you’re super busy and all of that. More work than men, but…I was hoping to see those bridges you told me about.”
And get a date for that night, but Millie was willing to bide her time. “Plus, there’s no way I can walk all the way back to the homestead. So I need a ride at the very least.”
Travis laced his fingers through hers and squeezed. “You can’t walk back to the homestead?”
“I hiked Old Baldy this morning,” she said.
“Wow,” he said. “That’s out near where I used to live.”
“I know,” she said. “I thought about you when I was on the summit.” She gave him what she hoped was a coy smile.
“Can you walk to the bridge? It’s just over there.” He didn’t look toward anything or point to anything. He seemed to only be able to look at her, and Millie wished his brother were anywhere but here with them.
“I think I can handle getting to the bridge,” she said.
“All right.” He turned back to Russ and let go of her hand. “I’m gonna take a break, Russ. You okay here?”
“Yep,” his brother called. “Go. Have fun.”
Travis took off his tool belt, and Millie actually mourned the loss of it. If there was anything better than a cowboy for her, it was a carpenter cowboy.
He set his tools in the back of the truck almost lovingly, and then he took the tree skirt from her. “This is nice, Mills.” He held it out in front of him as he examined it. “Did you make it?”
She laughed and shook her head. “No way,” she said. “I don’t sew. Me and needles don’t get along. I found it at Heatherford’s.”
“My momma loves Heatherford’s,” Travis said, turning to place the tree skirt on the back seat of the truck. “So that should win her over for sure.”
Surprise darted through Millie. “Do I need to win her over?”
Travis returned to her and took her hand in his again. “I mean, maybe? She was surprised I wanted to do a party out here.”
Now a pair of hands squeezed Millie’s heart, where it struggled to beat against the pressure. “Are we still doing the party?”
“Yeah, sure,” Travis said. “I just forgot my mother usually hosts it.”
“Travis,” she said, a bit exasperated. “I don’t want to step on her toes.”
“You’re not,” he said, glancing at her as they walked down a pair of dirt tire tracks. “I talked to her about it last night. She said she couldn’t wait, though she did request we have steak of some kind.”
They hadn’t talked about the menu at all, but Millie knew Travis was teasing her when he shot her that devilish smile that made her whole being light up.
“Right,” she said sarcastically. “I think you’re the one requesting steak of some kind.”
He chuckled, and she sure did like this more relaxed version of him. “I do love steak.”
“That’s something I already knew,” she said. “Tell me something I don’t.”
“I built the bridges out here,” he said, nodding toward the path ahead of them as they left the crude road they’d been walking on. The ranch behind them disappeared completely as they entered the trees.
The rushing of the river filled her ears, and Millie felt like she’d entered a whole new world. “Wow,” she said, glancing up and wondering what these trees would look like in the full beauty of spring or summer.
Right now, they were kind of brown and a bit bare, but still beautiful.
“There she is,” Travis said, nodding to the elegant walkway that went across the bridge. “That’s the Wright’s land over there,” he added. “The river is the boundary between our properties.”
“It’s an arch,” Millie said. “It’s so beautiful.” And so romantic. She wanted to kiss him on that bridge so badly, and she practically skipped onto it. “How do you build a bridge over water, anyway?”
“Carefully,” Travis said with a grin. He joined her more slowly, his cowboy boots making a more clunky noise on the wood. “And scaffolding.”
Millie leaned against the railing and watched the water flow beneath her and down the river. The air smelled clean and crisp, and she took a deep breath.
“You wanna tell me something I don’t know?” Travis asked. “Like maybe why you’re really here?”
Millie’s heart skipped a beat, and she opened her mouth to ask him out.
In that moment, she gained new respect for all the men who’d asked her on a date in the past, because wow. It was not easy to find the right words and put them in the right order. She ended up just standing there, her mouth open with nothing coming out.
Chapter Thirteen
Travis sure did like Millie when she looked like she’d been smacked by a frying pan. He chuckled, and that seemed to break her out of the trance she’d fallen into. She turned away from him and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Do you want me to go?”
“Not at all.” Travis rested his elbows against the railing and leaned over too. His back complained a little bit, but it was only one-thirty, and he wouldn’t be dead on his feet for a few more hours.
Millie wore a cute pair of khaki shorts and a blue blouse that made her eyes seem more alive than ever. She fiddled with that hair again, and Travis really wanted to do it for her, cup her face in his hands, and kiss her.
Instead, he stood there and waited for her to say what she’d come to say—and it wasn’t that she’d brought the tree skirt.
“It’s Friday night,” she said. “And I was wondering if you had any plans.”
Thinking fast, Travis said, “It’s fish fry night at The Ale House. Did you want to come with me?” He stepped over to her and put his arm around her waist, tucking her right against his side. Everything inside him aligned, and he took a deep breath of her hair. She smelled like pineapple and vanilla, and his eyes drifted closed in bliss.
“Yes, cowboy,” she said. “I’d like to go out with you.”
“Sorry,” he murmured. “I probably should’ve realized I needed to ask you out for Friday night.”
“I’m willing to overlook it this one time,” Millie said. “I mean, you haven’t been out with anyone in four years.” She giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist too.
“Oh, wow,” he said. “Throwing that in my face.”
“We could go out to the bat cave after dinner,” she said, still gazing at the water. “Lay on our backs and look up at the stars.”
“Baby, if I lay down, I’m falling asleep,” he said, thinking that lying beside Millie while he slept sounded like a version of heaven he really wanted to experience.
“Even to look at the stars?” Her voice had a bit of pleading in it, and Travis found himself wanting to do whatever she wanted him to.
“Maybe if I get a nap this afternoon,” he said, knowing he wouldn’t be getting any shut-eye before dinner. “And maybe if you pick up a hammer and help me and Russ build a wall.”
“Let’s go, cowboy,” she said, stepping away and cracking her knuckles. “I’m going to show you what I can do.”
“Oh-ho,” Travis chortled. “And what’s that?”
“Come find out, baby.” She grinned at him and skipped down the bridge again. Travis shook his head as he laughed, because she was just…the exact breath of fresh air he needed in his life.
He hadn’t even known he hadn’t been breathing properly. They walked back to the build site, and he clicked on his tool belt and flipped his hammer around like a juggling pin before extending it toward her. “Here you go, sweetheart. Wow me.”
Millie took the hammer with a glint in her eye he hadn’t seen before. She marched over to Russ and said, “Can you show me what to do?”
Russ looked up, surprise on his face that made Travis laugh. “I’ll help you,” he said, joining them.
“I’ve built stuff before,” she said, barely glancing at him. “With a glue gun,” she added in a mock whisper, and that got Russ to smile.
“Glue doesn’t hold buildings together,” he said. “You take these smaller boards I’ve already cut, and you nail them in where I’ve marked them.” He pointed to the blue chalk lines on the studs he’d already put in place. “Got it?”
“Nail them on the blue lines,” she said, glancing around. “Nails?”
Russ pointed to the bucket of nails, looking at Travis next. He sucked back the laughter threatening to escape and glanced away to try to control himself. Russ chuckled and shook his head as he moved back to the power saw they’d set up that morning.
“When’s the excavator coming?” he asked, grabbing a handful of nails and putting them in a pouch on his belt.
“Tomorrow morning,” Russ said. “You promised I could do it.”
“And you can.” Travis starting setting another stud into place and picking up the nail gun. Pop, pop, pop, and it was set.
“Hey,” Millie said. “Why can’t I use that?” She stood there with that huge hammer in her hand, staring at him with a look of disgust on his face.
“Baby, you can’t just pick up a nail gun and use it.” He grinned at her. “This thing has kick.”
“I’ll show you what has kick,” she said, flirting right back with him.
Russ scoffed, and Travis cleared his throat. He wouldn’t want Russ to have a flirt-fest with Janelle right in front of him either. Especially during working hours. So he got back to work, barely glancing at Millie as he set another stud twelve inches away from the first.
Straightening, he looked over, and she caught all of his attention as she hammered home a nail. She was so sexy in that moment, and Travis couldn’t wait to be alone with her, the vast heavens spread overhead.
His heart kicked out an extra beat, popping like the nail gun did, and he was glad Millie was willing to drive to the ranch and insert herself into his life.
She’s got to like you, he told himself, and that made his pulse skip around the way she had as she left the bridge. Millie ended up only doing one row of supports between the studs before she hung up her hammer and found a patch of shade to watch them work.
She didn’t ask any questions, but she didn’t sit and stare at her phone either. She just watched him and Russ as they interacted and worked. He was surprisingly comfortable with her eyes on him as he worked, and he finished putting up the last stud on the long wall and groaned as he stood.
“I’m done,” he said.
“Yeah, I would be too if she was waitin’ for me,” Russ murmured. “Go on. I’ll clean up out here.” He grinned at Travis, who couldn’t help grinning back. “And just be you, Trav. She obviously likes who you already are.”
“Yeah,” Travis said under his breath. “Thanks, Russ.” He turned away, and reached for Millie though she was way too far away for him to actually touch.
She got up and dusted off her shorts. “Ready?”
“Yeah, we need a few minutes to put out the tree skirt, right?”
“Definitely,” she said.
“I need to shower,” he said. “But I’m starving, so I’ll be fast.”
“Take your time.”
He opened the passenger door for her and guided her into the truck with his hand on the small of her back. He got behind the wheel and started back toward the homestead.
“Watching you work is amazing,” she said. “You know exactly what you’re doing.”
“You know how to plan a party,” he said. “I’m sure it’s the same.”
“Thanks for letting me hang out.”
“Anytime, baby, though I’m not sure why you’d want to do that.” He glanced at her and found her shrugging.
“I’m not exactly working right now.”
“You want to work out here?” he asked. “We have plenty to do.”
“Stuff I can do?”
“Sure,” he said. “You can fill a trough with a hose, right? Toss out chicken feed?” He felt whiplashed between looking at her and making sure he didn’t drive into the dog range.
“Yeah, I think I can do that.”
“Great, you come out tomorrow morning, and I’ll put you to work.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really,” he said. “And I’ll pay you too. We pay Brian and Tomas and Darren a bit more, because they’re permanent ranch hands, but our seasonal workers get a hundred bucks a day. Eight hours. Hour for lunch—and I’ll feed you.”
“You will?”
“Well, I won’t, personally,” he said, pulling into the shed where they kept the ranch vehicles. “We have to walk a bit.”
“What will you do for lunch tomorrow?” She unbuckled and slid out of the truck.
Travis met her at the tailgate and reached for her hand. “We usually make sandwiches or heat up leftovers.”
“Will Russ cook tonight?”
“Doubt it,” he said. “He’s going out with Janelle.”
“So sandwiches.” Millie swung their hands like they were little children. “I like sandwiches.”
“I sure do like you, Mills,” he said, surprised the words were there and that he’d said them.
“I like you too, Travis. Oh.” She spun back to the truck. “The tree skirt.” She jogged back to retrieve it from the back seat, and they continued inside. “I’ll get this in place while you shower.”
“Deal.” He dashed upstairs to get cleaned up, and while he wanted to hurry, he also wanted an extra moment to try to find his center. He felt better than he had in years, and he knew it was because of the last week with Millie.
After he’d scrubbed and dried and brushed and dressed, he hurried downstairs. Millie sat in the living room, the Christmas tree lit up and the skirt the perfect touch. “It’s amazing,” he said.
“We need to meet about the party,” she said. “How about during dinner tomorrow? I’ll bring it out here, or you can come to Momma’s or we can go out.”
“I’ve been craving the fried pickles at this place along the highway toward Boerne. Not that far, but yeah, south.”
“Pickled Pig,” she said. “They have the very best pickled onion slaw in the world.”
“You like pickles?”
“Love them,” she said, standing.
“I think that might be the first food thing we have in common,” he said, grinning at her.
“Well, let’s go see how we fare at The Ale House.”
Travis reached for his nicer cowboy hat, set it on his head, and they went out. Dinner was an easy affair, with great conversation where Travis didn’t have to come up with anything too hard to tell her.
She talked about her friend that she went hiking with every Friday morning, and Travis told her about how his dad had started giving him tools when he was eleven years old.
They drove out to Old Tunnel in the dark, but neither
of them expected to see any bats. They didn’t stay the winter in Texas, for the most part. A few did, he supposed, but the Mexican free-tail bats that came to Old Tunnel from spring to fall migrated back to Mexico in the winter.
He pulled into the dirt parking lot and got out of the truck. It really was dark out here, without headlights, porch lights, or street lamps. He managed to find Millie, and his eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness.
They only went out several yards, and Travis glanced around. “Wait, the blanket.”
“I’ll get it,” Millie said, already walking away from him. He ran his hands down his thighs, because this was the moment he’d been waiting for.
There wasn’t anyone else out here, and they had virtually no chance of getting interrupted. He could kiss her and kiss her—and he really wanted to.
She returned and spread the blanket on a bare patch of earth, sitting on it in the next moment. “You didn’t get your nap,” she said. “You gonna fall asleep?”
“Most likely,” he said, joining her. “Do you think you can get us back to town?”
“In that behemoth of a truck?” She shook her head with a giggle. “No way.”
“So you’ll wake me up,” he said, taking off his cowboy hat and laying down on his back. The universe opened up before him, and he took in a deep breath. “This is amazing.”
“You live out in the country,” she said. “Not a lot of light pollution out there.”
“I don’t slow down and experience the ranch that way very often,” he admitted. “All I see is how much work there is to do.”
“Mm.” She nestled into his side, and Travis’s heartbeat started booming through his body. “The stars are so beautiful. There’s so many of them.”
It looked like God had splashed white and gold across the navy-blackness of the heavens. “It’s spectacular just before full dark, too,” he whispered. “Sometimes you can still see orange and pink from the sun.”
“Yes, I’ve seen that,” she said.
Travis ran his fingers up and down her arm, her skin smooth. He had no idea how to make the next move, how to start this kiss he wanted so desperately. Not only that, he really hoped his last kiss wasn’t a fluke.
