Chapter 7
7
C hloe’s search results sat waiting to be read. Miguel interrupted her just as she was about to read the results, causing her to practically jump out of her skin. Trav knew who Grayson’s father was now. She’d confided in him last night. What did it matter if he’d caught her performing a search on the man?
At least she had something to do with her hands as she whisked eggs and milk together for a cheesy egg scramble. Shaky hands couldn’t be trusted with a knife, so she didn’t bother chopping green onion to go with it. Sausage patties did the trick, so she crumbled a pair of those into the mix before pouring it into the pan.
The boys sat on the floor, playing with toys while she cooked.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Trav walk into the living room. The boys immediately shifted their focus to the lawman.
“Good morning, boys,” Trav said like they were old friends.
“Morning,” Grayson and Miguel chirped in unison.
Rather than walk past, Trav took a knee. “What do you have here?”
“These are my blocks,” Grayson said proudly as he stacked a couple more. They were stamped with different animals. “This is a cow, and she says, ‘Moo.’”
“Do you know that only girl cows make milk?” Trav asked. His easy way with kids caused her ovaries to ache.
“They do?” Grayson perked up. His smile was ear-to-ear. Did he miss having a Dad around? A piece of her wondered if that was true because he’d taken to Guy almost as quickly as he was taking to Trav.
Now that ketamine had been confirmed and her brothers were home, should she send Grayson to the ranch? With Miguel? Possibly with Annmarie? If any one of them got mixed up with the person targeting Chloe, she would never forgive herself.
Maybe she could bring up the subject with Trav later. See if he thought it was a good idea. There was no way she was dropping off Grayson with Kade. Her brother had a newborn and a new relationship. Plus, he was still healing from the ankle injury that caused him to medically board out of the military. Kade had enough problems. He’d moved his small family into the bunkhouse at the ranch, meaning he would be around. None of her brothers would stay at the main house except for Beau.
“Do you know what sound a cat makes?” Trav asked, picking up a new block.
“Me-ow!” Grayson said proudly. His giggle filled the space as Miguel joined them.
A few animal sounds later, breakfast was ready. She almost hated breaking up the play date in the living room. If she let it go on much longer, the boys might form an attachment. Trav was temporary.
Why did she feel the need to remind herself of the fact?
“Hey, boys. I need to grab your new friend so he can eat.” Her statement was met with a chorus of moans. “You want Trav to stay big and strong, right?”
“Yeah,” the boys cheered despite grabbing onto Trav like they were holding on for dear life. How wonderful it was to be blissfully unaware of the dangers that lurked. Those smiles gave her hope that she wasn’t doing a terrible job parenting. Keeping them safe meant making sacrifices because the thought of being away from them, even for a day or two, was a knife stab to the heart. In all of Grayson’s three years, they’d never spent an entire day apart. Yet, the idea of tucking him safely away at the ranch was growing on her.
“If I promise to come back and play, will you let me go eat?” Trav said to the boys.
Again, they cheered. Trav’s facial muscles tensed at the noise, but he maintained a smile, and the boys didn’t seem to notice his discomfort.
They let go. Trav pushed to standing in a move that clearly took some effort.
“Looks like you’re a big hit,” she said to him as she set a plate down at the table next to the fork she’d already laid out.
A look crossed his features that she couldn’t quite pinpoint. Regret?
“Kids are great,” he said before making quick work of the food.
“You must have been starving.”
“Turns out being hit in the back of the head makes you pretty hungry the next morning.” He smiled and then winced.
“Can you take something? Ibuprofen?”
“If you have a couple of ibuprofens, I’d forever be in your debt,” he said after taking a sip of coffee. A drop on his bottom lip made her want to reach over the table and thumb it away. The thrill of awareness in her stomach at the thought suggested it might be a bad idea. What could she say? Trav represented safety, a knight in shining armor in a world that had turned upside down in a flash. Who wouldn’t be attracted to that?
A voice in the back of her mind called her out on the lie. The man was seriously hot, and it had been far too long since she’d been touched. Her body craved those big, calloused hands to roam all over her, to make her feel wanted again after feeling like a second fiddle.
Chloe shook off those unproductive thoughts and walked over to reach into the top shelf of the cabinet, where they kept anything that might be dangerous in small hands. She retrieved a couple of pills before replacing the bottle and walking back to the table. “You need water.”
“I’ll get it.” Trav was up and moving before she could say no. The man moved with the athletic grace of a lion. He stopped in front of a cabinet next to the sink. “Here?”
“Yes,” she supplied.
He joined her after filling the glass. Once again, their fingers grazed as she handed over the pills. Once again, electricity pulsed from contact. This time, she didn’t want to pull her hand back.
Trav took the offering without making eye contact. He tossed back the pills and then followed them with water. “Has Mark been in touch?”
“Oh, yes,” she said, forcing her gaze away from the distraction sitting across the table from her. She retrieved her phone before setting it on the table. With two fingers, she pushed the device toward him, not wanting to risk contact again. Much more would only cause the ache in her chest to grow into a cavern.
Trav picked up the offering and made a quick call. “What did you find?”
There were a few uh-huhs and I sees before the call ended. Trav glanced over at the boys, who’d gone back to stacking and then knocking over blocks while making all kinds of demolition sounds and animal noises.
“What is it?” she asked as he locked his gaze with hers.
“Did you know your neighbor Guy was at the bar last night?”
“No, I didn’t see him,” she said.
“Neither did I.” He thanked her for breakfast, stood up, and cleared his plate.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To have a conversation with Guy.”
“Is that a good idea?” she asked.
“Why would he be there and hide?”
It was a fair question.
“Then, I’m going with you,” she stated.
Trav’s gaze shifted to the boys. “It’s better if I go alone.”
“Talk to him outside,” she said. “I’ll stand on my porch.”
Trav shot her a questioning look.
“He’s been a good friend to me ever since I returned to town,” Chloe explained. “There’s no way he would do anything to hurt me or Annmarie. He’s been nothing but good to us and our boys.”
“Have you ever wondered why?”
“No,” she admitted. Well, on occasion, she had questioned their good fortune in finding such a devoted friend. She walked over to the kitchen window and checked Guy’s trailer. His vehicle was gone. “But even if what you’re suggesting is true, why would he want to hurt me? The person who slipped ketamine into my drink could have caused me to crash on the way home. Guy would never do that.”
“How do you know?” Trav asked. “And why do you feel the need to protect him?”
Those words stung for reasons Chloe didn’t want to explore. She didn’t think of Guy as anything but a close friend. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. And a person his size could certainly protect themselves.
But that wasn’t why Trav’s words—no, his accusatory tone—stung so much. It was because he believed she had a thing for Guy and that she would let an attraction cloud her judgment. She’d done that once. At seventeen. She was a twenty-four-year-old mother now. Not na?ve. Almost too wise to the world to let anyone else break down her walls—and that was the reason Trav’s accusation hurt.
“I may have touched a hot stove once,” she said, hearing the heatedness in her own voice, “but that doesn’t mean I’m inexperienced enough to do it twice. I see people for who they are, Trav.” She folded her arms across her chest, willing her body to stop shaking.
Trav cut across the room in two seconds flat. In less than that, he pulled her into an embrace. “I’m sorry. Chloe. I wasn’t suggesting...”
His words trailed off as she got lost in that clean, spicy scent that was all Trav.
Slippery slope, here she comes.
Pull it together, dude.
Travis drew a breath, breathed in Chloe’s scent, and regretted it the minute she filled his senses and stirred his heart. Rather than a trip down the rabbit hole that couldn’t be allowed to lead anywhere, he let go of her and took a step back. “I should head over to Guy’s place.”
“His vehicle is gone,” she murmured, stepping away from him to brace herself against the counter. They’d been dangerously close to crossing a line.
“Come play with us,” the boys shouted from the adjacent room.
Those round, angelic, smiling faces reminded him of the reason he worked in law enforcement. So they could safely play in their living room and be assured their moms would come home every day without becoming crime statistics.
“All right,” he said to cheers. And then he walked over and sat down, the pain that movement caused be damned.
Chloe’s cell buzzed, breaking into more of the tension in the kitchen that lingered even after he’d gone. She checked the screen and gave a slight headshake, meaning it wasn’t Mark.
There was no reason for Mark to call back, but you never knew. Cases took on a life of their own. He needed to keep throwing theories into the box. Right now, the best thing he could do for the investigation and his sanity was to make animal sounds with a pair of three-year-olds.
Chloe stepped outside to take the call from her brother Conrad. “Everything all right at the ranch?”
“I’m more worried about you,” Conrad said to her.
“Why?”
“Last night, for starters,” he said. If Conrad had information, so did Kade. Her protective older brother would be showing up any minute if that was the case.
“Does Kade know anything?”
“He hasn’t come out of his quarters yet,” Conrad said.
“How did you know about—”
“Beau told me,” Conrad said. He’d taken up a friendship with their surprise half-brother. Conrad had always been the quiet one, but Chloe never doubted his love for his siblings for a second. It also occurred to her that Beau would benefit from a reduction in heirs.
“How did he—”
“News is all over The Bean Counter as of five a.m.,” Conrad supplied.
She should have known. Small towns meant gossip traveled fast, and what had happened at Boots and Buckles would be news.
“Beau called right away and asked about you,” he said. “I didn’t want to reach out until you had a chance to sleep.”
Those were a lot of words for her normally quiet brother. His concern touched her.
“If I’d known how hard it’s been for you bringing up Grayson on your own, I would have—”
“What? Come home? Lived with Beaumont? Been miserable? I would never ask that of any one of my brothers.” Growing up with all males in the house convinced her they matured much slower. Then again, there’s nothing like becoming a mother to bring on maturity.
Conrad issued a sharp sigh. “I would’ve been there for you.”
“You’re still figuring out your own life,” she pointed out. “And my choices are my choices. You’re not responsible for—”
“Would you have run away from home so young if I’d stuck around?” Conrad asked, guilt lacing his tone.
“That’s not a fair question.”
“I’d still like you to answer if you would.”
“You weren’t the problem,” she said.
A moment of silence—and understanding?—sat thickly between them.
“I get that we were all living our own lives back then, but what if we’d stuck around and taken over the ranch?” Conrad asked. “How would life have turned out differently for all of us?”
“I still might’ve taken off because of Beaumont,” she reassured, hating that her brother seemed to be carrying the weight of the world.
“Don’t get me wrong—I love my nephew,” Conrad said. “I just keep thinking we could’ve banded together, and things could have turned out differently.”
Were those the regrets weighing on her brother? Or was she missing something?