by Anna Castor
Bree’s cheeks flushed. It hadn’t been her intention to stop coming over at the ranch. It was just that she knew how close Declan was with his Mills and Moore cousins, and she’d tried to avoid him after last March.
“I heard what happened, darlin’.” Shauni gave Bree an understanding smile while she squeezed her hand in hers. “But from now on, you keep comin’ back here to see me, okay? I’ve missed our talks.”
Tears pricked Bree’s eyes at the warm welcome of Declan’s aunt. Bree was disappointed in herself for staying away so long.
“I’ve missed you too, Shauni.”
“Good.” Shauni turned them all around and walked in the house's direction with her arms over Bree and Gwenn’s shoulders. Shauni had inherited Pops’s physique, and she often made remarks about her size. She said there was simply more of her to love.
“Come to the house when you’re done, Fianna,” Shauni called over her shoulder.
“I will,” Fianna said.
“Let’s give your sister some time with Northstar. I’ve got some pumpkin pie in the oven with your names on it.”
“Hmm, there’s not even smoke coming out of the house,” Gwenn joked and stuck her tongue out to Shauni. Her straight, gray hair swished before Shauni’s dark blue eyes when she turned her head to Gwenn.
She smirked and winked. “Oh, I see you haven’t lost your sense of humor in the desert.”
Bree smiled at the memory of the Mills brothers trying to sneak some of Shauni’s food from their plates into napkins to feed the farm animals with later. Shauni’s husband Roger often joked the pigs wouldn’t be nearly as fat without Shauni’s cooking.
With a chef-cook for a daughter, the entire family had been happy when Emmy volunteered to cook instead.
“We saw Emmy in her vegetable garden. How was the latest harvest?” Gwenn asked.
“It could have been better, I’m afraid. Emmy started working at Lucky and I told her I would take care of her garden. But you girls know the only thing I know about food is how to put it in my mouth. Not how to grow it and certainly not how to cook it.” Shauni laughed the loudest.
They walked over to the ranch house with a wraparound porch. Shauni’s dog Rudy came barreling down the porch. The mixed breed sniffed at Bree’s outstretched hand and jumped with both paws against Bree’s upper thigh.
“Sit, Rudy.”
Bree passed the dog that instantly sat down at the command. Bree took a few steps to the man who’d called off the dog. Too bad she couldn’t be attracted to Ryan Moore.
Ryan is the oldest child of Shauni and Roger, and their only son. Growing up in a household with five younger sisters made Ryan even sexier in Bree’s book. How protective he was of his sisters was a total turn-on. She cocked her head to the side and inspected Ryan some more.
Although he was tall, dark and very handsome, she didn’t get that tingle she got from looking at Declan. He opened his arms and pulled Gwenn in for a hug. “Good to see ya again so soon. Your party was so much fun.”
Gwenn hugged the big guy back and said, “It was fun. I hope you could get up the next morning?”
Bree’s sister stepped out of Ryan’s embrace, and he took Bree in for a quick hug. All the Moore cousins got the hug-bug from their mother Shauni.
“You know how our roosters cock-a-doodle-doo, darlin’. A party or not, Ryan still gets his butt in gear in the mornin’.” Shauni smiled at her son before she entered the side entry of the house that lead directly into the kitchen.
Shauni kicked off her boots, leaving them next to the door. Bree followed her lead and almost tripped over Rudy when the dog came running back into the house.
“Rudy, out.”
Shauni never looked over her shoulder to check if the dog obeyed. She stepped over to the oven and mumbled something under her breath about getting here just in time.
“Mom, have you seen my phone? I can’t find it anywhere.”
“Tara Moore, your phone is there where you left it.” Shauni didn’t make a move to help her daughter. Bree grinned. Tara always lost sight of her stuff and then asked others to help her find it.
Shauni opened the oven door and placed the tray with the pumpkin pie on her kitchen counter. Tara said nothing to her mother’s wisecrack. Instead, she rolled her eyes at her mother’s back and shook her head. “Emmy said to leave the pie in the oven.”
“Well, Emmy’s not here to keep an eye out. So I’m checkin’ the pie.”
Tara walked over to her mother and leaned in. “See. The filling is cracking already.”
Shauni narrowed her eyes at the offending pie before her. “Why does this always happen to me?”
“Because you don’t follow instructions, Mom. You never listen.” Tara had the decency to hide her smile behind her fist.
“Cracked or not, we’re eatin’ this pie.” Shauni slid the pie on a plate and placed it on the kitchen table where Gwenn and Bree already took a seat. “I see you all later,” Ryan said while turning back around for the kitchen door.
“You don’t want to take a piece with you?” Shauni started slicing the pie that not only cracked, the bottom also appeared undercooked. Shauni cleared her throat the moment the soggy filling seemed soupier than anything else.
“Right. Well, you don’t know what you’re missin’, son.”
“I’ll take my chances.” Ryan winked at Bree and then stepped out.
“Damn ungrateful. Like he could bake a pie.” Shauni and Tara locked eyes over the kitchen table and bust out laughing.
“If it has nothing to do with horses, count him out,” Tara said and then hugged her mother.
“I’m going to look for my phone upstairs. I have to go in five minutes if I don’t want to be late. Good to have you back, Gwenn. You too, Bree.”
“Thanks,” Bree and Gwenn simultaneously said.
“Take my car, Tara. I don’t want you drivin’ to that part of town in a car that’s about to fall apart if you so much as fart inside.”
Bree and Gwenn laughed while Tara groaned. With her blonde hair parted in two braids, she almost appeared sweet. “Mom, you’re so embarrassing.” Tara walked out of the kitchen.
“It’s a gift that keeps on givin’, darlin’.” Shauni smirked and winked at Bree and her sister.
“They grow up so fast. Tara is an apprentice at a tattoo parlor, did you know?” Shauni licked a piece of pumpkin slosh from her thumb.
Bree nodded as she’d heard it from Tara’s sister Emmy a few months ago. With her own chest tatted up with angel wings and a big heart with a ‘Freedom’ banner, Tara would fit right in at a tattoo parlor.
Tara walked back into the kitchen with her phone clutched to her chest. She personalized the phone case with the same image of her heart tattoo.
“So cool that you’re working in a tattoo parlor, Tara.”
“Thanks, Gwenn. If you’d like one for free, I can practice on you.”
“No, thanks.”
“Maybe you should see one of my pieces before you—”
“Nah, I’m good.” Gwenn put her foot down, and nobody was going to change her mind. “But if I would ever let someone paint my body, it would be you, Tara.”
“Okay, it’s a deal.” The teal eyes of Tara sparkled with mischief, like she already imagined a piece for Gwenn.
Tara kissed her mother’s cheek and waved the Ryan sisters goodbye.
Shauni took a bite from her pie and winced. She kept on chewing and chewing and waved her hand at Bree for her to fill the glass in front of her with water. Bree handed the newly filled glass over and Shauni swallowed her food down.
“Okay, probably best to only eat the upper crust, girls.”
Gwenn gave Bree a look while she hesitantly forked a piece.
“So, Bree. Tell me about Declan. What’s going on between you two? My dad said you two are not even speaking?”
Bree’s face heated, and she quickly eyed her piece of pie in front of her, in the hopes Shauni couldn’t read her. They’d
done so much more than speaking a few nights ago. Bree startled when Shauni placed her hand on top of Bree’s hand.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, darlin’.”
“No, it’s fine. Gwenn knows everything.”
Gwenn murmured with her mouth full, “Yep. It’s MIND-blowing…”
Bree groaned at Gwenn’s reference to Bree’s remark about having MIND-blowing sex with Shauni’s nephew. Talking about sex in front of Shauni didn’t sit right with Bree.
Shauni and Bree grew close over the years. The warmth of Shauni had been exactly what she’d missed at home. Bree could talk about her hopes and dreams without the need to defend herself for wanting to become a Kindergarten teacher. Something her mother didn’t approve of.
“Shauni…. It’s complicated.”
Shauni took another piece of pie in her mouth and waved at Bree to carry on.
“We…. Uhm… I dated a colleague last Friday and the next day…. Declan decided he wanted me. He said he couldn’t stand me moving on with someone else.”
Gwenn clanked her fork at her plate. “He said ‘thinking about you with another man made him crazy.’ Don’t know why that’s so bad? You’re being difficult and looking for faults. Just when you two finally can be together, you’re pulling away from him. Life’s too short, sis. This is exhausting.”
Shauni eyed the Ryan sisters sitting at her kitchen table. She picked up her napkin and wiped at the corner of her mouth. “I agree with Gwenn; life’s too short. But Bree being difficult? That’s news to me. Now I haven’t seen you in a while, so maybe things have changed…” Shauni smiled and reassured Bree she didn’t think she was looking for faults in her nephew.
“She’s been in love with Dec for ages. And I mean ages…” Gwenn said while fisting her straight brown hair to put it in a ponytail.
“I mean, sure. His timing is off. But come on. What else do you need him to do? Sign an agreement that—”
Bree leaned in across the table with her palms flat on the table. “What I need is to be able to trust him. To know that his intentions are true. I need him to love me like I love him!” Bree almost shouted the last words at her sister.
She closed her eyes and winced at her pounding head. A warm hand patted her arm. “Shh, it’s okay, Bree.”
Bree opened her eyes and returned Shauni’s smile with a watery smile of her own.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to shout in your home.”
Shauni busted out laughing and slapped the table with her palm like it was the funniest thing she’d heard in a long time.
“Darlin’, the day nobody shouts in my home is yet to come. You know my kids, right? And if they’re silent for once, Pops shows up and makes a ruckus.”
Gwenn laughed , and Bree giggled along. She wiped an escaped tear away. All the pent up frustration came out now. Just Bree’s luck that it happened at Shauni’s kitchen table.
“Shauni, can you please tell me what to do? I’m stuck. I love Dec. I… I’ve always loved him. But he hurt me so bad when he said he didn’t love me. My heart turned into stone after that night. The moments we saw each other, he seemed happy while I was withering away. Now suddenly, he wants to have his best friend back. He came over once in all of those months, and that was after having a bad date. I can’t have him toying with my emotions….”
“Darlin’, if it were up to me, I would drag you with me into Tara’s rattling junk of a car and drop you off at Dec’s immediately. But life doesn’t work that way, honey. You need to know in your heart that you’re Declan’s choice. That he loves you for you and nothing else. Not because he misses a friend, or he hates the idea of you being with someone else. And quite frankly… I’m proud of you, darlin’.”
Shauni held up a hand when Gwenn shifted in her seat, probably to give her opinion. “I know, Gwenn. We both know my nephew is head over heels. I see it as clear as you do. But what’s important here is that Dec has his work cut out for him to get Bree to see and feel it. Dec has this thing that he always wants to do the right thing. But in this case, he messed up because of it.”
“Thanks, Shauni.”
Hearing from Dec’s aunt he loved her felt good. Bree suddenly stood from her seat and hugged Shauni, who gave Bree a playful swat for causing the surprise.
“I want to get one last thing off my chest, if you’d let me.”
Bree stood still in Shauni’s arms. The dark blue eyes of Shauni misted over and she cleared her throat. “I heard your mother hasn’t been around much lately, but I want you to know that you can always come to me.”
She looked over Bree’s shoulder and nodded at Gwenn. “All of you, Ryan girls. I respect Joan, because I know your mother didn’t have it easy on her own. But deep down, Bree,” Shauni looked Bree straight into her eyes again, “I know all your doubts are coming from something deep inside of you. Something that happened a long time ago to your family that has made you girls the way you are.”
Of course, Shauni knew about Bree’s father walking out on them when Bree had been only eight years old. Bree could have argued with Shauni that her past or her mother had nothing to do with Bree being so hesitant to trust Declan. But they would both know that would be a lie.
Shauni nodded. “I know we can’t change the past. But you are in charge of your future, girls. Think about how you see yourself in twenty years from now. And if things need to change to reach that goal; go for it.”
Bree hugged Shauni once more and held on even stronger. Bree wanted to be with Declan. It has always been him. But could she give him another chance while he held her fragile heart in his hands?
“Come on, man. You’ll have to do better than that!” Ronan said before he put his black mouth guard back into his mouth.
“Fuck you,” Declan said, and he turned his back on his brother. Declan walked over to his gym bag and threw his mouth guard inside. He slowly unwrapped the tape from his knuckles.
“If you can’t stand the heat…” Ro bounced on his feet and added, “Come on, brothers. Who’s next?”
It was Monday night, and he’d been at Duncan’s dojo for their traditional Mills brothers fight night. Only his brother Donovan was at home with his Kate. They had just been together for a few weeks now, and Declan guessed it would take another more weeks for his brother to come up for air.
Luckily his brother Duncan, the former MMA-fighter and champion, got in between the ropes and took Declan’s spot. Duncan matched Ro’s physique the most out of all Mills brothers. And as his coach, Duncan could still give Ronan an ass whooping.
“Go knock him on his arse, Dunc,” Declan said.
Declan acted like a moody bastard ever since Bree crept out of his home. He couldn’t talk with his brothers about it. Bree wanted to keep things a secret. Like she was ashamed of their night together. Ashamed of him.
He looked over at Duncan, who grunted and shifted his weight backward onto his rear leg. With his leading leg, he reacted to an incoming blow from Ro, who gave Dunc a round kick.
Declan wanted to cheer Duncan on, but the sound of an incoming text distracted him. His already rapidly beating heart pounded even harder against his chest.
He rummaged around his gym bag for his phone.
BREE: Want to come over?
Four words.
And it made all the difference in the world.
“I’m outta here.” That’s all he said before he speed walked to the dressing room. He made quick work of showering and got dressed. He passed his brothers on his way to the exit.
“Where ye going?” Ronan said with a busted lip. Declan smiled at Duncan’s work. Served Ro’s arrogant arse right.
“Home. See you later.”
Giving Bree some time had been the right thing to do. He’d talked about a game plan with Keenan and Aiden. But after an entire night discussing every angle to work on Bree, he gave her some more time to work things out in her head.
On his way to his truck, he texted Bree.
DECLAN:
Hi. Was at the dojo. Stepping into my truck now. Be there in ten.
He rang Bree’s doorbell and took a deep breath through his nose. He exhaled slowly and counted to ten in his head. The weight of this moment suddenly dawned on him. She wanted to see him. At her place. Alone.
Bree’s door cracked and his eyes instantly found Bree’s. She blushed and opened the door further.
“Hi,” she softly said.
Declan stepped inside and locked the door behind him. When he turned, he immediately pulled Bree into a hug. Stiff at first, she sighed and then relaxed in his arms.
“So glad you texted me.”
“Me too,” she whispered.
He leaned in and brushed her lips with his. Just a peck on the lips. But she’d let him, and this first step gave him hope.
She walked out of his arms and said over her shoulder, “I’ve got a new horror series waiting on us. Hope you haven’t seen it.”
He couldn’t care less if he’d had. He was here, and that’s all that mattered. He took a seat next to Bree on her sofa. He glanced at the television and said, “Haven’t seen this one. Heard it was real bad.”
Bree giggled. “I know. But it’s one of the few things we haven’t already seen together.” Bree grabbed the remote and started the first episode. She’d already filled a bowl with popcorn and two glasses with soda.
Bree settled her back against the sofa, and Declan placed her throw blanket over their laps. She pulled at her end.
“I see you haven’t changed a bit. You’re still hoarding the blanket.” Declan grinned when Bree attempted to act outraged by his accusation.
“You’re the one who keeps wiggling and pulling. I’m just sitting still.” She gave her next tug some grit, and he laughed.
They’d settled in on her sofa like the past eight months didn’t happen. Although it wasn’t quite the same. No. He was so much more aware of her thigh brushing against his when she leaned forward to grab her glass.
He was also very aware of Bree wearing a dress. It would have been so easy to slide his hand under the blanket and under her dress. Feel her up like a teenager.
He closed his eyes and waited for the urge to kiss her stupid to pass. He knew she wanted to take things slow, and he really wanted to follow her lead.
