Southern Comfort

by Natasha Madison

  He looks over at me as I stare at him with my mouth open. “Better close your mouth before you catch some flies.” He laughs and then his horse walks over to us. “You ready?” he asks, and I just nod.

  “I’m so ready,” I say as we make our way out of the clearing. “When are we going to ride?” I look over at him.

  “We are riding, darlin’,” he says, smirking at me.

  “I mean, it feels like we are ninety years old and using a walker.” I look over at him, and he shakes his head, laughing. “I want to feel the wind in my hair.”

  “Okay,” he says. “When we go around that bend over there.” He points at the fence. “We can open it up, but I don’t want you to push her too hard or fast.”

  “Got it,” I say. The minute we get past the fence, I kick her, and Lady M picks up speed. She goes from a gallop to a trot, and when she sees Casey’s horse beside her, she speeds up, and at the end, both of them are racing away. The wind blows into my hair exactly like I want it to, and then I feel Casey look over at me.

  “We need to get them water,” he says, and I just nod as he leads the way to the creek. His horse slows down and so does Lady M. When he gets off his horse, he looks over at me, but I get off my own horse and hold the reins as I lead her to the water. “I’ve never seen her be that comfortable before,” he says, looking at Lady M. “You know I rescued her,” he says. I look over at him and then over at Lady M, my heart falling more and more in love with her. “She was skin and bones. They tried to train her, and when she wouldn’t listen, they would whip her.”

  “What?” I ask, shocked. I lean over to her and hold her around her neck. “I’m so sorry, girl.”

  He looks over at me, and I look back at him. “I’m sorry,” he starts to say, and I look at him. “For before. I shouldn’t have.”

  I shake my head. “You don’t have to apologize for anything.” My eyes never meet his. “It’s none of my business.”

  I hear him huff out from beside me. “Do you want to come with me?” Now I look over at him. “I have to go to Atlanta for business and …” My eyes go wide. “It is only for two days, max three.”

  “You know I can stay with Kallie and Jacob for those days,” I say, and I’m not sure if he’s inviting me because he wants to or because he has no choice.

  “Olivia.” He says my name, and I look up at him. “Will you come with me to Atlanta?” The way he asks and the nerves in his voice are so apparent I want to laugh, but I don’t have time to because he walks over to me and puts his hands on my hips. “I want you to come with me to Atlanta.”

  I watch him, and the only thing I can do is nod. “Good. We leave tomorrow morning.” Leaning down, he pecks my lips. “Now let's get these horses back.”

  I don’t say anything because I’m scared shitless that my voice is going to crack or I’m going to sound like a giddy teenager. So instead, I just follow him back to the barn.

  Chapter Twenty

  Casey

  “Are you ready?” I shout, grabbing my bag and walking out of my bedroom. “Flight leaves in an hour.”

  “I’m coming!” she yells. I see her walking out of her room, and I’m again forced to see why the two of us could never be. She looks like she just walked off the runway. She wears white jeans with a pink top, and a matching white jacket with leopard heels. “I’m ready.” She smiles at me, and I see she has makeup on this time, and her hair is loose and curled. It’s crazy that she went from mucking a stall yesterday to this catwalk version.

  Seeing her ride Lady M at full speed made her so fucking sexy. I was in awe by the way she handled Lady M when she thought she was going to do something. Now she blows me away again, and all I can do is watch her. “Is this okay?”

  “Yeah, darlin’.” I grab my bag. She just looks at me now, and it’s her turn to stand there with her mouth open. Gone are the worn Levi’s and in their place are dark blue jeans and a white V-neck shirt with a leather jacket. I pick up my bag and walk out of the house, and she just watches me. “What?” I try not to smirk.

  “You really are all that and a bag of chips, Casey Barnes,” she says, walking to me and then turning to run back to the kitchen to grab her carry-on bag. She stops in front of me. “Now I’m ready.”

  I open the door for her, and she steps out and then stops. “Is that yours?” She points at the black Range Rover parked in the driveway. It’s the top of the line with tinted windows.

  “Yeah,” I mumble and lock the door behind me, grabbing her luggage and loading the trunk with our bags. She stands there and looks at me. “It’s just a truck,” I say, and she walks toward me as I stand next to the truck. “I only use it when I travel or when I have a special day.”

  She smirks at me now. “Are you saying that I’m your special day?” She wraps her arms around my neck, and I want to say that every single day with her is special. But instead, I just shake my head and kiss her. I open the door, and she steps in, and I try to come up with the words to say that we aren’t exactly flying there commercial.

  “I’m so excited,” she says from beside me. “Do you know where we are staying?”

  “Yeah, I have the name in my bag.” I try to hold off as much as I can, and when I make my way over to the private airstrip, she looks around in confusion. When we pull up, and I park the truck, I look over at her. “I’ll get the bags.” I get out of the truck, and she meets me in the back. I walk past the gate and head over to the private plane that is waiting. A little red carpet at the end of the stairs.

  “Um, Casey,” she says quietly from beside me. When I get to the plane, the flight attendant comes down the stairs as I start to walk up the stairs.

  “Good morning, Mr. Barnes,” the flight attendant says to me, smiling. “Welcome aboard. You can put your luggage right over there.” She points at the side of the plane. “We’ll have it loaded up right away.”

  “Thank you,” I say and put down the bags. “Darlin’,” I say to Olivia, who now just glares at me. I wait for her to walk up the steps. She puts her bag on the table in front of her and then sits down, not saying a word to me. “What has got you all in a pickle?”

  “Don’t you pickle me, Casey,” she hisses. “We are in a private plane.”

  “I know,” I say, shrugging off my jacket and handing it to the flight attendant who is there waiting for it.

  “Would you like anything to drink before takeoff, Mr. Barnes?” She smiles at me, and I look at Olivia.

  “Darlin’?” I call her, and she turns on her charm and fake smile as she looks over at the flight attendant.

  “I’ll have a water with lemon, please.” She nods her head and walks away.

  “See,” I say, sitting down and pointing at her. “That smile right there. Fake.”

  “See that,” she says, pointing at me. “Fake as fuck!” I try not to laugh, but I can’t help it and put my head back.

  “What difference does it make that I can fly in a private jet?” I ask, leaning back, and she glares now even more than she did before.

  “You think I give a shit that you can get a private jet to fly you all over the place?” She leans in now. “I’ve flown on private jets.” She comes in closer, and her eyes go from a light to a dark, and it’s when she is getting all up in a fit that I kind of love her the most. It’s the time when I want to kiss her until the light comes back into her eyes. “I’ve eaten caviar on private yachts in the middle of the Mediterranean,” she hisses. “So I couldn't care less about this. I care more that you didn’t tell me. You told me when we were by the creek that you wouldn’t lie to me.”

  I’m about to say something when the flight attendant comes over with her water and then looks at me. “We are ready to take off, Mr. Barnes.”

  “Thank you,” I say, and then I watch Olivia as she looks out the window.

  “It’s not that I didn’t tell you,” I start to say, and Olivia looks at me. “It’s just not part of who I am.”

  “How can you say that?”
she asks. “Are you or are you not sitting on a private jet right now?” Before I have the chance to answer, she continues, “Did you or did you not drive us here in a brand new car?”

  “It’s not brand new,” I say as the wheels lift off the ground.

  She shakes her head now. “You just don’t get it.” She looks out of the window, and I see her blink away tears.

  I get up and sit in the chair next to her. “Darlin’,” I say her name quietly.

  “It’s fine.” She tries to do the fake smile.

  “It’s not fine,” I say. She looks at me, and for the first time, she admits that it hurts her.

  “You’re right. It’s not fine,” she says, and I want to smile taking her in my arms for admitting that she isn’t always okay all the time. “I don’t care what you drive or what you fly in. I don’t even care what kind of house you live in. I care that you weren’t honest with me.”

  “I never lied to you,” I say. “Not once.”

  “No, but you omitted it,” she says and wipes away a tear. “I’ve been omitted my whole life,” she says, and I want to take it back. I don’t want to be one of those people who promised to say things or omitted.

  “Darlin’,” I say, and not touching her makes my hand itch. “I’ve never thought of it that way.” I reach out now and move the hair out of her face. “Have you ever heard of CBS Corporation?”

  “Casey,” she says my name. “Everyone knows who CBS Corporation is. They are all over my computer when I log on as the anti-virus kicks on. At the bank when you put in your bank card and it spins on the screen.” She starts naming every single place she’s seen my name. “Unless you live under a rock, you have heard of CBS Corporation.”

  I take a deep breath and then come out with the news. “I’m CBS Corporation.” I watch her eyes as she takes in what I said.

  “What do you mean?” she asks, not sure of what I said.

  “I’m Casey Barnes Security. CBS,” I say again, and she looks at me.

  “But …” she says, her mouth opening and closing. “How?”

  “Well, when I was eighteen, I started playing around with the computer, and it turns out, I was really good at coding.”

  “I don’t even know what that means,” she says, and I just laugh.

  “Not many do,” I say and now take her hand in mine, bringing it to my lips. “When I left the rodeo, I was lost,” I say. “All I heard in my head were the words ‘he’s just a hick.’”

  “Casey,” she says my name in a whisper, and I just shake my head.

  “I know it’s stupid, and I know that you know the whole sticks and stones shit. I get it, but it’s just, those words they cut me. ‘Just a hick.’” I say what I’ve never told anyone before. “I took a step back, and I wanted to be more than that. I wanted to be more than what people thought I would be.”

  “You are more than that,” she says. I don’t hear any sympathy in her voice. It’s soft, and it’s genuine, and it’s everything.

  “It was a stereotype. I was a cowboy, so I couldn’t be anything else,” I say. “Then one day, I’m playing around with the computer, and I’m creating this whole thing. I was a natural with it, and I couldn’t explain it.” I shake my head. “I broke into the government website in three hours.” I laugh now when she gasps out. “I mean, I didn’t take anything, but I just did it because I could.”

  “Oh my God,” she says, and she puts her hand to her mouth.

  “Yeah, imagine what my mom felt like when they arrived on my doorstep and asked to see me.” She opens her eyes. “Yeah, well, needless to say, it’s when they brought me in, and I showed them, and then I told them how to stop it. Which made me finally someone who wasn’t just a cowboy.”

  “You, Casey Barnes,” she says, shaking her head. “Even if you were a cowboy, that doesn’t mean you are less of a man.”

  “I know that,” I say, and she raises her eyebrows at me. “I mean, I know that now.”

  “There are so many questions I want to ask,” she says.

  “And I’ll answer every single one,” I say. She just smiles at me, and I finally smile at her and lean back in my chair. “Every single one.”

  “Where are we staying?” She leans back in her chair and smiles. “Also, I want to go shopping.”

  “So you find out I have money, and you want me to take you shopping?” I joke with her, and she rolls her eyes.

  “Trust me, I don’t need you to buy me anything,” she says. The flight attendant comes over with a fruit platter and puts it down in the middle of the table.

  “We should be landing in about thirty minutes,” she tells us and then walks away.

  “You’re the first person I’ve ever told.” I lean with my back against the window. “I mean, my parents know, and my COO knows.” She leans over now coming into my seat, her eyes light and her smile bright.

  “Thank you for trusting me,” she says, and at the exact time I kiss her lips, someone is breaking into my house.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Olivia

  His lips touch mine, and his phone goes off like a siren. He grabs his phone and opens it, I can see the screen of the kitchen. But I have to look closely to see the black figure tearing through the house. “What is that?” I ask. The feed goes black, and his phone rings.

  “Yeah,” he says, harsh. “Someone is in my fucking house.” He just listens and gets up now, standing there. “I want to send a message.” He waits to listen. “I don’t care how you send it. Send it to his lawyer, send it to the fucking warden in prison.” Then he hisses, “Don’t fuck with someone who can bury you.”

  “Casey,” I say, getting up. He looks at me, and for the first time, I’m scared of his look.

  “He crossed the line when he came into my house.” He hangs up the phone.

  “What?” I ask almost in a whisper.

  “Someone broke into the house and trashed your bedroom,” he says. I sit back down because my knees give out.

  “What?” I ask, shocked. “But why?”

  “I have no idea,” he says, and his phone dings again. He sits down and pulls out his laptop from his bag he carried on. He turns on the computer, and I see the feed from the house. I watch in horror as the masked guy breaks into the house and goes straight for my bedroom.

  He tears the drawers out in record time, then flips the mattress. When he doesn’t see anything, he runs into the living room, tossing shit over, and then he runs into the dining room that has all my stuff on it since I started to work in there. He makes the papers fly everywhere. I look over at Casey. “What the hell do they want from me?”

  “I have no idea,” he says as the wheels touch down. My hands shake when I start to get up, and he puts away his computer. He holds out his hand, and when I take it, we walk down the steps out into the sunshine.

  “There he is.” I hear a man and look up as he walks over to us. He’s wearing a blue suit and has black hair with a salt and pepper beard. He smiles big, but I can’t see his eyes since they are hidden behind sunglasses. “Holy shit,” the man says when he looks at me. “Is that?”

  He comes to me now, whipping off his sunglasses, and I see he has brown eyes. “It really is.”

  “What are you doing?” Casey says, pushing him away from me. “Derek.” He calls him. “Get away from her.”

  “That’s …” he says, pointing at me. “Do you know who this is?” He looks at him and then back at me, and I put my head back, and I laugh.

  “Hi,” I say to him, putting out my hand. “I’m Olivia.”

  “Oh, I know who you are,” he says, and then he slaps Casey’s arm. “You have been holding out on me.”

  I just look at Casey, who is missing this whole thing, so I lean into him and whisper in his ear. “I used to be a Victoria’s Secret Angel,” I whisper, and now it’s his turn to be shocked. “Also Sports Illustrated. A couple other ones also.”

  “What?” he whispers.

  “When you said Olivia Young
, I didn’t put two and two together,” Derek says. “I have to get you new cameras at home because, let me tell you, they did not show her in the right light.”

  “You’re an angel?” Casey looks at me. “How did I not know this?”

  “It’s not that big of a deal,” I say. He just smirks at me and bends his head and kisses me softly on the lips. “It’s not who I am.”

  “We are going to table this right now,” he says with a smile, and then I look up at him. “But tonight, or whenever, we are going to discuss this.”

  “Okay,” I say quietly as he puts me in the truck waiting for us. Derek gets into the front seat, and Casey gets into the passenger seat.

  “Where to?” He looks over at Casey.

  “Headquarters,” he says. I just look out of the window and try to ignore this feeling I have inside me. This feeling I don’t think I’ve ever felt. This feeling of contentment, of easiness. It’s a feeling I’ve never ever felt so I don’t know if it’s normal or not.

  I don’t know where we are going, but we drive into an underground parking area. When the truck comes to a stop, I unbuckle my seat belt. My hand is about to open the door when it’s ripped open by Casey. He holds out his hand to me, and I’m waiting for him to drop my hand when we walk, but he doesn’t let it go, and when we step out of the elevator, I stop in my tracks.

  CBS Corporation is written all over the brown wall right on top of the receptionist desk. “Is this your office?” I look over at him, and he just smiles.

  “One of them.” He says hello to the receptionist, and when we finally make it into his office, it’s the corner one with windows on all sides, showing you the beautiful Atlanta skyline. He shrugs off his jacket and looks at me. “Do you want anything?”

  I just shake my head, then he turns and walks out of the room, leaving me with Derek. “I can’t get over it,” he says, and I laugh.