by Eve Gaddy
“Oh, well, that makes everything perfectly fine, doesn’t it? Why the hell didn’t she tell me?”
“You’ll have to ask her, but I imagine she didn’t want to upset you. Besides, if she’s okay she probably figured what the hell. Why tell him now?”
Which was exactly what Travis had done when he’d had the near miss, so he had no right to complain. Except, damn it! She should have told him.
His student showed up just then, so he had no chance to call Tobi and ask her what the hell was wrong with her. But as soon as he could, he was going to see for himself that she was okay.
After they landed and taxied over to the hangar, his student, Bart Reasoner, said, “Thanks. That was a great lesson. Same time next week?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Hey, Travis, who’s that woman waiting for you? Girlfriend or student?”
Tobi. Had she been watching? That was weird. “Neither. Exactly.”
“She’s hot.”
“I know.” And she looked damn good today. Her hair was down, dark beautiful brown waves flowing past her shoulders. She wore a sleeveless blue shirt and a short skirt that showed off her legs.
“You have a thing for her?” Bart asked.
“I do. Absolutely.”
“Good luck, man.” He clapped Travis on the shoulder and laughed. “See you next week.”
Tobi reached his side. She was smiling as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
He jerked her to him and kissed her. She started to speak and he kissed her again. “Why the hell,” he asked her, “did I have to hear about you being attacked last night from Zack?”
“I was going to tell you. That’s partly why I came out here.”
“Some son of a bitch with a knife attacked you and you waited until now to tell me?”
“Yes, but I’m fine. He never touched me with it. I was able to disarm him and then Craig Simmons—you know, one of Whiskey River High’s star football players—happened to be close by and he subdued him so I could call for help.”
“I wish you’d told me last night. I would have come over.”
“I know you would have. But I needed to be alone to think things over.”
“What things?” Like how you almost got killed by a psycho with a knife? he thought but didn’t say.
“Mostly about you and me.”
Travis scrubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t think I understand.”
“Is there somewhere we can go and sit?”
“Yes, we can go to the office.” He led her to the small office that currently housed a variety of stuff. Travis cleared off one of the chairs for Tobi and rested his butt against the desk. He would have sat on it but it had papers and other paraphernalia all over it. “Sorry, we’re still working on expanding.”
“Not a problem. I watched you flying with your student.”
“I guess it’s a good sign you haven’t thrown up.”
“I’m trying to become desensitized.”
“How’s that working for you?”
“Better since you flew me to Taos.”
“You did really well.”
“About last night, a couple of things stood out to me once it was all over. If that guy had been smarter, or stronger, or meaner I could have been killed. If I hadn’t remembered my self-defense lessons, I might have been badly hurt, at the least. If Craig hadn’t shown up when he did the man could have escaped. But all that boils down to the fact that I was lucky. And that realization led me to the next conclusion.”
She got up and walked over to him. “I love you, Travis. I want to be with you.”
He took one of her hands and held it. “Tobi, I love you too. But that doesn’t solve our major problem. Realistically, I can’t quit flying and you can’t live with that.”
“The other thing I realized last night is that we don’t know our future. There I was, worrying about your flying when I could just as easily have been killed last night.”
“Thinking you might have been killed doesn’t make me feel better.”
“No, but it made me realize I’ve been looking at things the wrong way. My mom said something to me too. She said just because we broke up didn’t mean I could quit loving you.”
“What are you saying, Tobi?”
She moved closer and put her arms around his neck. “I’m saying I love you and I want us to be together.”
He wanted to believe it could work. But he still wasn’t sure. Which must have showed on his face.
“I know you’re worried that I’ll fall apart if something happens like last time. Or even if it doesn’t. I’m not saying I won’t worry. I will. But I’d rather learn to live with the worry than to live without you. So, what I’m saying is, can we try again?”
“I’m supposed to say no holding you in my arms like this?”
“No, you’re supposed to say yes.”
“Yes.” And then he kissed her. Held her close and kissed her again, knowing that whatever happened, the chance to be together was worth going for. “Tobi?”
She was busy placing kisses all over his face but she mumbled, “What?”
“There’s a lock on that door.”
She drew back and looked at him, arching an eyebrow. “You don’t say? Maybe we should check to see that it works.”
“Definitely.” He boosted her up and she wrapped her arms and legs around him. He walked to the door with her and locked it. “And now,” he said and kissed her thoroughly.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Six months later
Tobi walked into Booze’s and headed for the bar, spying Siobhan behind the counter. In the past few months Tobi and Siobhan had become good friends. Once Tobi had decided to give herself and Travis a chance, she’d found it easier to open up and make friends with Siobhan and Polly.
“Hi, stranger,” Siobhan said. “Where have you been keeping yourself?”
“Work mostly. But tonight I have strict instructions not to come home before six-thirty.” She saw Siobhan’s lips twitch. “What do you know about that?”
“Me? Nothing. Not a thing.”
“Liar, liar.”
“My lips are sealed,” her friend said. “What will you have? A glass of wine?”
“No, I’ll just have a coke.”
“What kind of coke?”
“Diet Pepsi.”
Siobhan left and brought back her drink. “Any idea what your banishment is about?”
“No. If I had I wouldn’t have needed to ask you.”
“Good point. Oh, look, I’m being paged.”
Tobi watched her retreating back and tried to figure out what Travis was up to. It wasn’t either of their birthdays. It wasn’t an anniversary. Wait, was it? They hadn’t been together a year, so that wasn’t it. She supposed it might be one of those monthly anniversaries that Travis liked to celebrate. Who’d have thought he had such a romantic streak? But usually on those occasions they went out to dinner.
She looked at her watch and decided she’d waited long enough. Slapping money down on the bar, she waved at Siobhan and left Booze’s to drive home.
A short while later she parked and walked in the kitchen door. Something smelled really good. There was no sign of Travis or Lucky so she called out, “Honey, I’m home.”
Lucky came first, bounding through the door to launch himself at Tobi. “Down,” she told him sternly, still surprised when he obeyed. But Travis had been working with him a lot and had managed to instill some discipline in the dog. Which was good since he probably pushed eighty pounds and would probably be close to a hundred by the time he finished growing. “Where’s Travis?” she asked him while scratching behind his ears.
“Right here.” He was smiling, leaning against the doorjamb wearing jeans and his favorite T-shirt, the one that had the image of Devil’s Rock on it.
“What’s that delicious smell?” She went to the sink to wash her hands.
Travis strolled into the kitchen, leaned down and gave
her a kiss. “That mouthwatering smell is dinner from Blue.”
“Blue, the new winery restaurant? I didn’t know they did takeout.”
“Yes, indeed.” He held out his arm. “Dinner is in the dining room.”
“Wow,” she said, walking into the candlelit room. The table was set with her good china and crystal, which she hadn’t realized Travis even knew she owned. “It’s beautiful, Travis. But how did you know I had different china and crystal? We’ve never used them.”
“Siobhan said you probably did, so I looked around.”
“Siobhan knew about this? I wondered why she had that knowing smile on her face when I was speculating about what you had planned.”
He pulled out her chair for her to sit. The minute she did so, Lucky came and put his head in her lap.
“Excuse us a minute,” Travis said, taking Lucky by his collar. A few moments later he came back minus the dog. “Lucky isn’t invited. He can play in his nice big fenced yard.”
They sat down to a dinner of Waldorf salad, roast beef, truffle mashed potatoes and green beans almondine.
“This is wonderful,” she said after tasting the food.
“Leave room for dessert,” he told her. Soft music played in the background as they ate and drank excellent red wine.
After they finished the main course, Travis brought out chocolate mousse.
“I think I love you,” she told him.
“Because I brought you chocolate?”
“Among other things,” she said after savoring a bite. After that they sat drinking their wine and talking. “This is lovely, Travis, but what brought it on? Have I missed an anniversary of sorts?”
“You don’t remember?”
“Obviously not. You know I can’t keep track of things like that. You’re much more sentimental than I am.”
He laughed but didn’t deny it. “Today is the six-month anniversary of the day I moved in with you.”
“That’s right. I remember now. And you made this beautiful, romantic dinner for us to celebrate.” She leaned forward and kissed him. “Thank you.”
“I had another reason for doing this tonight.”
“What’s that?”
Lucky began barking at the back door. “Apparently he’s had enough of being outside,” Tobi said and started to get up.
“No, I’ll get him. Why don’t you go sit in the den? I’ll take care of the dishes later.”
“You really are going all out. Did you do something I’m going to be mad about?”
“Very funny. No, smartass.”
Tobi took her wine with her and went to the den. Travis and Lucky came in a few minutes later. Lucky immediately came and put his head in Tobi’s lap. “So, what’s this other reason?” she asked, stroking the dog’s head.
“Lucky, go lie down,” Travis told him.
Giving Travis a look that said he was the most put upon dog ever, Lucky obeyed.
Travis sat beside her and took her hands in his. “I love you, Tobi.”
“I love you too.”
“I’ve been trying to think of the best way to do this. Finally, I decided to hell with that, I’m just going to do it.”
“Do what?” she asked, mystified.
Travis got down on one knee and pulled something out of his pocket. Her heart started to race.
“Ask you to marry me.” He held out a beautiful engagement ring, a single diamond set in white gold with smaller sapphires encircling it. “I love you, Tobi. Will you marry me?”
She stared at him for a moment. Then she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Yes.” She kissed him again. “Yes.”
“You had me worried for a minute there. I thought you’d figure it out but you didn’t seem to.”
“I wasn’t expecting it.”
“We’ve been living together six months. I figured, why wait any longer? Hold out your hand.”
He slid the ring on her finger and kissed her. She held out her hand, admiring the ring.
Lucky came over and nudged his head between them. “What do you think, Lucky? Do we want to marry Travis?”
Lucky barked.
“I’m taking that as a yes,” Travis said. “And now,” he stood up and scooped her up in his arms. “Let’s celebrate our engagement properly.”
She twined her arms around his neck. “I really love you.”
“Good. Because I really love you too.” And he kissed her.
The End
Devil’s Rock at Whiskey River
Book 1: Rebel Pilot, Texas Doctor
View the series here!
Book 2: Coming soon
Book 3: Coming soon
Love the town of Whiskey River, Texas? Stay awhile. Where the women are feisty, the men are sexy and the romance is hotter than ever.
The Brothers of Whiskey River Series
Book 1: Texas Heirs by Eve Gaddy and Katherine Garbera
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Book 2: Texas Cowboy by Eve Gaddy
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Book 3: Texas Tycoon by Katherine Garbera
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Book 4: Texas Rebel by Eve Gaddy
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Book 5: Texas Lover by Katherine Garbera
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Book 6: Texas Bachelor by Eve Gaddy and Katherine Garbera
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About the Author
Eve Gaddy is the best-selling award-winning author of more than seventeen novels. Her books have won and been nominated for awards from Romantic Times, Golden Quill, Bookseller’s Best, Holt Medallion, Texas Gold, Daphne Du Maurier and more. She was nominated for a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Innovative Series romance as well as winning the 2008 Romantic Times Career Achievement award for Series Storyteller of the year. Eve’s books have sold over a million copies worldwide and been published in many foreign countries. Eve lives in East Texas with her husband of many years.
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