“Why don’t you come tomorrow night?” he asked. “Thursday is usually leftover night, but I’m going to call in for pizza. You could pick it up and bring it out? Meet everyone?”

  Shayla started nodding before he’d even finished asking the question. “Yeah, all right,” she said.

  Travis dipped his head and kissed her, taking his sweet time to explore every millimeter of her lips, giving himself plenty of opportunity to breathe in the soft, powdery, cottony, petally scent of her skin, and hopefully conveying to her that yes, he’d started to fall in love with her.

  If she got the message, she didn’t seem to mind it. In fact, she kissed him back as deeply, and she breathed him in as thoroughly, and Travis could only pray that she was starting to fall for him too.

  16

  Shayla found Travis sitting on the front steps of the farmhouse, a perfectly delectable guitar slanted across his lap. As if she needed another reason to swoon over the cowboy. He grinned as he lifted his head, and he set the instrument aside and got to his feet.

  She got out of the truck about the same time Travis arrived at the vehicle, and his deep chuckle filled her soul with sound and her heart with light. “Howdy, ma’am,” he said, oh-so-Texas proper.

  She giggled as he swept her into his arms. “Pizza’s in the back.”

  “Yeah, okay,” he said, leaning down to kiss her first. She sank into his touch, hoping his brothers weren’t spying through the front windows. She needn’t have worried about that, as a car horn interrupted them only a second or two later.

  Travis pulled away, looking past her and over the top of her pick-up. “Rissa and Spence are here.”

  “At least I’ve met them before.”

  “Lee said the drive went great,” Travis said, releasing her and moving to open the rear door on the truck. “It should go okay. He’s the grumpiest of us.”

  “Worse than you?” she teased.

  “Come on,” he said, pulling out the four enormous boxes of pizza. “I’m the nicest one.”

  “Besides me,” Clarissa said.

  “She has moments too,” Spencer said, smiling at his fiancée.

  “Yeah, like when you scald the milk too far.” Clarissa rolled her eyes and hipped the man at her side. Shayla had enjoyed her time with them earlier this week. Sunday dinner had been an easy affair with them and Travis’s mother, so she had some hope for tonight’s dinner.

  “You shouldn’t wear such perfect perfume,” Spencer said, leaning down to press his lips to her cheek.

  “Stop it,” Clarissa said. “This is a family dinner.”

  “They were kissin’,” Spencer said, grinning. “I haven’t seen you all day.”

  “Best do it out here,” Travis said, stepping between Shayla and the happy couple. “That’s what I was tryin’ to do.”

  Shayla grinned as he passed and then went with him. “Did I get it all?”

  “Seems like it,” he said. “Will had come in from the farm when I came outside, but I haven’t seen Lee yet. I’ll text him when we get inside.”

  She started up the steps at his side. “Did they go back out to work after they got here?” According to his texts, his brothers and father had returned to Sweet Water Falls Farm before noon. It was almost six-thirty now.

  “Yeah,” Travis said. “Of course.”

  Of course. The words rang like double-gongs in her ears. Travis had already said he worked a lot. She’d seen it with her own eyes. But after she’d driven for ten hours—a lot of them over night—she probably wouldn’t have gone right back out onto the showroom floor.

  Travis opened the front door, and a voice filled the air. “…not a date, Will! Stop asking me about it!”

  “Oh, brother,” Travis muttered under his breath.

  “Date?” Clarissa asked behind Shayla.

  “Don’t ask him about it,” Travis warned, taking the first brave step into the house. “I can’t believe Will’s stirring this nest. I asked him to be on his best behavior.”

  “Maybe this is his best behavior,” Clarissa said.

  Travis led the way into the kitchen, where Shayla found Will—whom she’d met before—and who was obviously Lee squaring off.

  “Stop it,” Travis said. “Will, Lee’s not dating anyone. Lee, Will isn’t going to ask you any more questions about this.” He moved over to the island and set down the boxes, then stepped between his brothers and literally pushed them a few more feet apart. “Right?”

  “Right,” Will said, flicking his eyes in Shayla’s direction. He wore what his brothers did—jeans, cowboy boots, and a long-sleeved shirt the color of corn stalks. Travis looked amazing in blue and purple, but his shirt tonight was actually one of the most popular colors of the season—vermillion.

  Shayla had several tanks in the color, as well as some running leggings with stripes up the side in the deep, red color.

  Lee said nothing, but he turned toward Shayla, Clarissa, and Spencer. “Hello,” he said diplomatically. “You must be Shayla.”

  “I am.” She stepped forward, her hand already out. “You’re Lee. Travis has told me a lot about you.”

  “I’m sure it was all good.” Lee smiled, but Shayla had the distinct feeling that he didn’t let his mouth curve up as much as it could.

  “Of course it was,” Travis said, moving out of the way and opening up the top pizza box. He continued to spread them along the counter while saying, “Lee, grab the paper plates. Rissy, will you get Mama and Daddy from the deck?”

  “I’ll get the drinks out,” Spencer said, and he’d obviously been to many of the Cooper family dinners. Shayla stayed out of the way, almost in the background, while everyone set about doing something.

  “Hello, Will,” she said, as he hadn’t been given a job.

  He smiled at her, and it looked sincere and genuine. “Good to see you again,” he said, stepping into her awkwardly and placing a kiss on her cheek. “Come sit down. Make Trav work a little tonight.”

  “I work all the time,” Travis complained, but Shayla simply linked her arm through Will’s and let him lead her over to the table. Clarissa came inside with her parents, and Shayla stalled in her movement to sit down.

  She stiffened at the sight of Wayne Cooper, his hand on his wife’s lower back. He stood tall and proud, his cowboy hat perched perfectly on his head. He swiped it off, his bright blue eyes the contributors to Travis’s teal eyes.

  “Well, hello there,” he said. “Look who it is, Chrissy.”

  “I’ve met Shay already,” Chrissy said. Shay moved to pull out her chair for her, and Wayne helped her lower herself into it. “Hello, darling.”

  “Good evening,” she said formally, because she liked Chrissy, and she wanted Trav’s mother to like her too. She looked up to Wayne. “Howdy, sir.”

  “Daddy,” Will said. “This is Travis’s girl. Shayla Nelson.”

  “Will,” Travis said crossly. “I wanted to introduce her.” He arrived on scene, and Shayla now had one arm linked in each Cooper brother’s. “Daddy, this is Shay.” He took his father’s hat in his free hand. “Shay, my father, Wayne.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Wayne said, his voice nearly the same timbre as Trav’s. “Welcome to our family dinner.” He grinned at her, took her hand, and kissed the back of it as if she was some sort of princess. “Where are you puttin’ her, Will?”

  “Over here.” Will indicated the other side of the table, where she’d been about to sit.

  “Hang my hat, Trav,” his dad said. “Then Lee will pray for us.”

  Shay settled at the table, and Clarissa and Spencer sat beside her, leaving a space for Travis on the end. Will sat beside his dad and left the last place at the table for Lee, who could sit directly across from Travis. Neither of them sat, though Travis had hung his father’s hat on the hooks by the door and Lee had properly positioned the paper plates at the end of the bar.

  The two of them glared at one another, and then Lee closed his eyes and dropped his chin toward his chest. Shayla clasped her hands in her lap and closed her eyes too, a feeling of belonging overcoming her. She wasn’t sure how, when Trav had told her all about how grouchy and overbearing his family was, but the Coopers… They felt like family.

  “Dear Lord,” Lee said. “We thank Thee for our safe return to Texas. Bless our new cattle to settle in with the dairy cows we have now. We ask Thee to help us be kind to one another tonight and always, and we beseech Thee to help Shayla feel welcome among us. Bless Mama with continued health and strength, and bless us all with clear minds and willing hands to do They work.”

  He paused, and Shayla thought that was about the most perfect prayer in the world. Then Lee continued with, “We’re thankful for all we have, including this farm, the animals, and the men and women we work with. Help us to remember what we’ve been given, and seek to give to others in the same way. Amen.”

  “Amen,” chorused through the house, and Travis immediately indicated the pizza boxes. “There’s ham and pineapple with Alfredo sauce. Meat lovers. Veggie, because I know Shay likes that. And a chicken, bacon, tomato that sounded good.” He pointed to the salad bowl on the end of the row of boxes. “Caesar salad. Mama, what do you want?”

  “Meat lovers and pineapple,” she said.

  “Daddy?” Lee asked.

  “Meat lovers and the chicken one. I can come.”

  “Stay,” Lee said.

  Will, Clarissa, and Spencer got up and got their own plates while Travis and Lee served their parents, and Shay waited in her seat until Travis had put his mother’s plate in front of her, bent down, and kissed her cheek.

  He came to her side, and she beamed up at him, fully enamored with him as she saw a more domestic side of him. She already knew about his love and care for his mother, but it sure was amazing to see again. “This is wonderful,” she whispered, standing to go with him.

  “Yeah?” he asked, looking dubious. He shot a look at Lee across the table. “Wait for it. There’ll be something embarrassing said, I guarantee it.” He nudged her in front of him, and she picked up a paper plate. She took a slice of the chicken-bacon pizza, as well as the veggie Trav had ordered just for her.

  She hadn’t told him specifically that she adored veggie pizza. She had divulged that she loved veggie tacos, and he must’ve translated that to other foods. No matter what, it showed that he listened to her, and that meant a great deal to her.

  Zings and pops moved through her body as she tonged salad onto her plate, and she’d just turned when Wayne said, “All right, family. Tonight, let’s go around and say one thing we used to love but we haven’t done or tried in a while.”

  “Oh, brother,” Travis said behind her, but Shayla simply grinned at those already seated at the table and went to join them. She could never imagine her family doing this, and her nerves jangled at her about taking him to meet her family.

  Because it certainly wouldn’t be like this.

  Shayla paced in her living room, wondering how long it took for a man to change into a suit. Travis had been in the guest bedroom for an extraordinarily long time now, and she glanced down the hall, thinking he’d probably gone out the window ages ago.

  “Trav?” she called, and the door opened a nanosecond later.

  He emerged, and everything inside Shayla took flight. Her pulse, her nerves, her desire for the cowboy.

  He wore a hat, but not the right kind. Knickers instead of jeans. A suit coat that hugged his broad, sexy shoulders and had tails that fell down the back of his thighs. “Oh my,” she breathed, pressing one hand to her heart as if about to recite the pledge of allegiance.

  He reached up and ran his hand down his face like he had a beard there to feel. He didn’t, as she’d insisted that Mr. Darcy would be clean-shaven. He then smashed his hat down and immediately pulled it back up again, as top hats shouldn’t be worn so low over the eyes.

  Travis entered the living room and swept his arms out to his sides, turning as he asked, “How do I look?”

  “I have no words,” Shayla said. Plenty of feelings, but she couldn’t vocalize those. At least not so soon in a relationship. She hadn’t been in a serious relationship with a man for a while, but she figured this warm, gooey, marshmallowy feeling inside her indicated she was falling in love with the man in front of her.

  The way he’d dedicated himself to seeing her every day since she’d driven a pot of chili out to the farm a couple of weeks ago meant the world to her. He’d said he liked talking to her, but he sure did like seeing her every day, and they’d committed to that. If he didn’t drive into her shop or her house, he might take her to dinner, or she’d make the trek to the farm.

  They’d sat on his front porch while he attempted to teach her to play the guitar. That try had been pathetic, as all he’d really wanted to do was kiss her. She hadn’t objected to that.

  He’d taken her on a walk around the pond, and she’d enjoyed the clean, earthy scent of nature with Trav’s hand in hers. She’d wanted to try a couple of the newer restaurants in town, and he was happy to humor her. He’d even liked the Indian place, though the Thai place hadn’t pleased him.

  “That bad, huh?” Travis asked, teasing. He knew he looked like a million bucks, and the temperature of Shay’s blood did too.

  “You look amazing,” she said, stepping into his arms. “Thank you so much for doing this.”

  His hands landed easily on her waist, and he leaned down to kiss her. “I like this blue on you,” he murmured. “Very pretty.”

  “Thank you.” She didn’t let him kiss her for too long or too deep. She didn’t want to redo her makeup. If they didn’t leave for Beeville in the next five minutes, they’d be late. She stepped out of his arms and picked up her clutch. “We best be going.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Travis escorted her out of her own house and to the passenger door of his truck. Her pulse picked up speed with every mile and every minute that passed, and before she knew it, she’d directed him around the last left turn, and her parents’ estate expanded before her.

  “It’s right there on the left,” she said needlessly, as there were only two houses on this northwest road in Beeville, and just the one that looked like Frankenstein and Casper the Ghost had thrown up all over the land.

  “Wow-wow,” Travis said, bending his head down to peer out his side window. “You weren’t kidding.”

  “That I was not.” Shay didn’t like the number of cars and trucks parked along the side of the road either, but she couldn’t back out now. Travis found a place to put his truck, and she linked her arm through his after he’d opened her door to help her from the vehicle.

  “We don’t have to stay long,” she told him—and herself. “We just have to make an appearance. They want to meet you.”

  “I want to meet them too,” he assured her. “It’s going to be fine. You didn’t run screaming when Mama asked you if you’d thought about your wedding.”

  A smile touched her face. Chrissy had asked her that at the Sunday dinner she’d attended only a few days ago. Shay had stammered through an answer before Lee, Will, and Travis jumped to her rescue. Voices had been raised, but Shayla had learned that the Cooper men simply got a little animated sometimes. When that happened, the volume button got twisted toward high.

  The front door of her parents’ house opened, and a wall of noise exited. Talk about a high volume level. Shayla flinched and started to warn Travis, as if he hadn’t heard the music, the laughter, or the noisemakers that were going off with a very vampiric-type laugh of “Mwa-ha-ha-ha!”

  She froze, her feet growing roots right there in the driveway. Her mind shrieked at her, and she really did want to run screaming from this place. Right now.

  Immediately, her brain told her. Go. Now!

  She couldn’t move, and Travis paused too. “Shay?” he asked. “What’s goin’ on?”

  “Evening,” the man Shay had seen said. He moved his eyes from Shayla to Travis, and she noted that he hadn’t dressed up. Not really. He still wore his jeans, cowboy boots, and that dark, deep black cowboy hat. “Your mom said you’d be here tonight with your new boyfriend.”

  Travis looked at her too, but everything blurred behind the tears gathering in Shay’s eyes. “I’m Travis,” he said.

  “Flynn,” he said. “Don’t worry, Shay. I’m leaving.” He gave her what looked like a smile but could’ve just as easily been a grimace.

  “I think I know you,” Travis said, and Shay’s stomach turned to ice. “You look real familiar.”

  “We’ve met,” Flynn said. “You dated a friend of mine once.”

  “Oh.” Travis sounded surprised. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember.” He spoke with such sincerity, like he truly was sorry he didn’t remember Flynn’s friend.

  “Kylie,” he said. “Kylie Peregrine.”

  Shayla blinked, her vision clearing. Her voice still sounded a bit wet when she asked, “Is she here too?” Shayla really would fly from this place if she was. Nothing and no one would be able to stop her.

  Flynn’s eyes came back to hers. “No.”

  Relief flowed through her, and it surely shone on her face. Travis’s arm in hers tightened, and he said, “I did date Kylie for a bit. Years ago.”

  “Yes,” Flynn said. “Just like I did. And then Shay too. Years ago.”

  She pressed her eyes closed, thankful beyond measure that no water leaked out. Beside her, Travis turned into a board too.

  “Good to see you, Shay,” Flynn said easily, as if it really was good to see her. How he could think that, she had no idea. He couldn’t. He didn’t. He sounded so sincere though.

  “Nice to meet you, Trav.” Flynn stepped past them, and Shay thought she might be able to explain things to Travis. Maybe. Possibly.

  Then Flynn said, “And don’t worry, cowboy. She’ll get tired of you soon enough, and then she’ll chase after the next thing Kylie did first.” With that cruel jab, he walked away, and Shayla stared after him, sure she could never look Travis in the eyes again.