Brendon (13 page)

She didn’t think they would, either. So she was hopeful that Brendon’s friend Z would be able to figure it out and she wouldn’t have to tell Brendon more bad news.

Pulling herself from her thoughts, Cheyenne focused on the task at hand. She was supposed to be winning this impromptu race and she had every intention of beating Brendon. The guy made everything look so damn easy.

“To the tree line!” Brendon yelled.

Cheyenne focused on the copse of trees in front of her, leaning forward and talking sweetly to the horse, encouraging her to beat camo boy. “You don’t wanna lose to a boy, do you?” she asked the horse. “Come on, girl. We’ve got this.”

chapter
FIFTEEN

B
y the time Saturday night came around, Brendon was ready for a little downtime. Well, if a party could be considered downtime. He’d spent the week working, but when he wasn’t handling his job at Walker Demo, he’d volunteered a large amount of time to helping Cheyenne with some of the projects around her house.

Since the crew Kylie had hired was ready to start on the upstairs, Brendon had enlisted Ethan and Beau to help move her furniture down to the guest room on the first floor—the room he’d learned would eventually be her grandmother’s. Moving furniture had probably been the easiest task he’d tackled that week though. But he wasn’t complaining. Helping Cheyenne probably benefited him more than her. It allowed him to spend time with her, and to him, that was probably the most selfish reason he was helping. Since they worked late each night, he had the pleasure of having dinner with her and twice he’d spent the night at her house.

Needless to say, things were progressing nicely.

Of course yesterday he had taken off work a couple of hours early and convinced Cheyenne to accompany him to the mall. She had agreed as long as he promised there weren’t any surprise parties in her future. He’d assured her that was a one-time deal and he really had wanted her to go with him. She’d donned her disguise and they’d ventured out in search of a birthday present for Sawyer. Luckily, it hadn’t been difficult for him to pick something out and when they were finished, he took her to dinner.

Now he was on his way to her house to pick her up.

When he pulled into her driveway behind her truck, he peered up at the porch, half expecting her to be sitting there. She wasn’t though, which meant she was probably still getting ready. The days were getting longer with summer approaching and the sun was slowly descending behind the house, leaving plenty of light.

After he knocked on the door, he checked the knob, finding it unlocked. Stepping inside, he called out for her and earned a “I’ll be just a minute” in return.

“Mind if I go upstairs and see what they’ve done?” he hollered in the direction of the downstairs guest room.

“Not at all.”

With her approval, he ventured up the stairs, flipping on lights as he went. He was happy to see they’d make some significant progress. The walls had been moved where Cheyenne had requested extra closet space and the bathroom was completely gutted. In one of the extra bedrooms, he noticed there were rolls of new carpet, which would eventually cover the hardwood floors that had been uncovered. He recalled Kylie being a tad disappointed that the wood floors weren’t in good enough shape to salvage, but Cheyenne had seemed content going with carpet anyway.

After checking each window, ensuring they were secured and locked, Brendon made his way back downstairs, just in time to see Cheyenne emerge from the bedroom.

Holy. Fuck.

He came to an abrupt halt on the last step as he took in the intoxicatingly beautiful woman standing before him in a sexy little cream-colored dress paired with boots. Her hair was pulled up on top of her head, a few strands hanging down had been curled. She looked . . . Damn.

“Aren’t you gonna say somethin’?” Cheyenne asked.

“I would if I could get my brain to work,” he admitted, still admiring her. “Holy shit.” Cheyenne’s sweet chuckle made his dick hard. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t just her chuckle that had his little head outthinking his big head, but still. “I think I know why they call you the West Texas Princess,” he muttered.

Moving closer, Brendon inhaled her sexy scent and studied her face. She didn’t have on much makeup, but she didn’t need it, either. She was beautiful exactly like that.

“Thank you,” she answered. “I think.”

“I’m not good with words,” he informed her. “I wish I was.”

Taking her hands, Brendon leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. What he’d intended to be a simple peck turned into an inferno within seconds and he found himself pulling her against him, doing his damnedest not to wrinkle her.

When he pulled back, her eyes were glazed, her face flush, and he wished like hell they could simply skip the party. He wanted to get his hands on her. All fucking over her.

“You don’t look too bad yourself, camo boy.”

It was a casual shindig, but Brendon had managed to put on a pair of good jeans and a black button-down. He’d shaved for the occasion and also grabbed his black Stetson on the way out the door. Other than that, he was pretty sure he looked the same as he did every day. Granted, it didn’t matter what he looked like, he was pretty sure everyone’s eyes were going to be on Cheyenne anyway. His would be, that was for damn sure.

“Are you ready?” she asked and he forced his gaze up to meet hers.

“As I’ll ever be.”

“I got the gifts wrapped,” she told him, nodding toward two small boxes sitting on the breakfast bar in the kitchen. He noticed a stack of envelopes sitting beside the boxes, one of them open and a piece of paper sticking out. It wasn’t that he was trying to be nosey, but there was one word that caught his attention:
stalker.

Knowing she was waiting for him, he tore his gaze away, making a mental note to check out the letter later, or at least question her about it. Brendon retrieved the gifts, gave the back door a cursory glance to ensure it was locked, and then met her at the front door.

A few minutes later, they were in his truck on the way to the resort.

“Have you heard anything from your Sniper One friend?” Cheyenne asked when they were halfway to the resort.

Brendon glanced over at her. He had heard from Z, but he hadn’t intended to tell her the news until later. There were a shit ton of questions he wanted to ask her, most of them based on information that Z had given him, but he knew now was not the right time to get into that discussion. Especially not after having seen the letter on her bar.

“He called this mornin’,” Brendon informed her, not willing to lie, but not intending to reveal the details of the conversation. Not yet. “I figured we’d talk about it later tonight.”

He could feel Cheyenne’s eyes on him and he wanted to question her, to ask whether she had some information he may need, but he didn’t. The plan for tonight was to enjoy themselves. After working his ass off all week, he was ready for something to take his mind off all the shit going on.

Brendon pulled through security gates, then steered his truck down the long, winding, tree-lined street that led to the resort.

“Have you seen the inside of the resort? Or just the clubs?”

“The clubs,” she answered. “Kylie told me what goes on in the rest of the place, but I haven’t had a reason to check it out.”

“If I’m not mistaken, it sounds like you might have a little interest in knowing what goes on there.” Brendon wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“Have you toured the rest of the resort?” she inquired.

“Sure. But not in the way you’re probably thinkin’,” he told her. “I’ve seen it plenty of times. It’s hard to miss when I’m lookin’ for one of my brothers, but no, I haven’t gone in guest capacity.”

“Interesting.”

“How so?” he asked as he pulled into the valet entrance.

“Based on what I . . . uh . . .
know
about you, it seemed like it might be your thing.”

“You think?” Brendon grinned at Cheyenne as he pulled the truck to a stop. “Maybe I haven’t had the right date to take with me.”

Not waiting for her to respond, Brendon opened the door when one of the attendants made his way to Cheyenne’s door. Handing the keys to the valet, he made his way around to Cheyenne and took her hand, leading her to the main doors. He purposely was taking her through the main play area—as his brothers referred to the section of the resort where the naughty stuff occurs—rather than taking her into the club via the side entrance.

As they passed through the main lobby, after being scrutinized by a big-ass security guard who’d been hired specifically to man the main doors after an incident involving a nosey sheriff’s deputy a few months back, they were greeted by a woman at the hotel’s check-in desk.

With a nod, Brendon continued to the doors that would lead to the play area. He took a deep breath as he pulled them open and laughed when he found the place empty.

Figured.

Knowing Travis, Kaleb, and Sawyer, they hadn’t wanted their sweet mother to accidentally get an eyeful of things she’d be better off not seeing.

“Kinda dead here tonight,” Cheyenne teased.

“Looks that way.”

The doors to Covet—Sawyer’s club—were standing wide open and Davis, ever the dutiful employee, was standing guard.

“What’s up, man?” Davis greeted Brendon like an old friend.

“Not much. Davis, meet Cheyenne Montgomery. Cheyenne, this is Davis. He’s Sawyer’s hired muscle.”

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Montgomery,” Davis said politely. “Hope you’re keepin’ this boy here in line.”

“Boy?” Brendon challenged. “What the hell is it with everyone callin’ me ‘boy’?”

Cheyenne giggled, her attention on Davis when she said, “I’ve given him the nickname camo boy. He’s not too happy. And as for keepin’ him in line, I assure you that I’m doin’ my best.”

“Not an easy job, is it?” Davis questioned.

Brendon rolled his eyes and shook his head before tugging Cheyenne into the club proper, giving a head nod and a smile to Davis as he passed.

“Y’all have fun now,” Davis called out.

“Oh, we certainly plan to,” Cheyenne assured him and that unmistakable promise in her tone had Brendon suddenly wondering just what she had in mind.

IF IT WEREN’T
for the fact that Alluring Indulgence Resort was known for its sincere respect for its members’ privacy, Cheyenne might’ve given a second thought to being a guest there. Travis and Gage had informed her on multiple occasions just how important it was to them that their guests feel comfortable knowing that their presence would be handled with extreme discretion.

Oh, she’d heard about the mishap a few months back when Mack, the local bartender, had come to the club and his attendance had been purposely leaked, but that turned out to be by a jealous ex-boyfriend of Kennedy’s who’d managed to sneak into the club. Since then, they’d beefed up security and Cheyenne actually felt safer there—for both her personal protection and her reputation—than she did almost anywhere else.

It didn’t hurt that she was with Brendon and he’d make sure her reputation wouldn’t be affected by her attendance. Not that she really cared. In her opinion, there was no such thing as bad publicity. Granted, not all publicity benefited those she cared about, as she’d seen with a widespread news story a year or so back when the media had latched on to the idea that she was actually dating Dalton Calhoun, a fellow country musician who she’d gone on tour with at the time. She still remembered how angry Brendon had been when he had thought there was some truth to that story. Fortunately, Dalton’s wife, Katie, hadn’t been worried about the unsubstantiated rumor and neither had Dalton.

As for Cheyenne, she’d endured all sorts of public accusation, most of which was false. If someone did get a glimpse of her at the resort, she was sure her publicist would find a way to spin it so that she got the most out of the story.

But she wasn’t going to worry about any of that tonight.

When they stepped into the club, it looked as though they were open to the public, there were so many people there. Since the Walkers had a huge family, including aunts, uncles, and cousins, it wasn’t surprising.

“Good to see you, man,” Jaxson Briggs greeted Brendon, giving him one of those strange man-hugs, where there was more slapping on the back than there was actual embracing. “Nice to see you again, Cheyenne.”

Luckily, the hug Jaxson gave her didn’t include any backslapping. “Likewise,” she told him.

“No music tonight?” Brendon questioned.

Although the lights in the club had been turned on, it did seem significantly quieter than she would’ve expected.

“Aunt Lorrie insisted they keep it to a reasonable decibel,” Jaxson informed them.

“So that means we’ll be lucky to have any music at all,” Brendon retorted.

“Probably.”

“Who put this thing together, anyway?” Jaxson asked. “Looks like every member of the family showed up tonight.”

And then some
, Cheyenne thought. She’d been introduced to a vast number of family members during the last couple of years, but she had to believe that there were probably several there tonight that she’d yet to meet.

“It was a joint effort,” Travis said as he joined them, Gage by his side. “Hey, kiddo,” he greeted her, pulling her into his arms and giving her a brotherly hug. “You doin’ okay?”

His last question was said low enough that only she could hear.

“I am,” she assured him. “Where’s Kylie?” When Travis took a step back, Cheyenne peered around him, looking for his wife.

“Causin’ trouble, knowin’ her,” Gage said with a grin. “Glad you’re here.”

She was once again pulled in for a hug and she returned the embrace. Ever since Travis had told her about his newfound relationship with Gage and Kylie, Cheyenne had pretty much fallen in love with them as well. She’d actually been introduced to his entire family right around the same time he found himself back in the thick of a relationship with Kylie, although he’d been downright confused by his feelings for Gage, or so he’d told her. She’d actually had a conversation with Travis during one of his down times and she’d assured him that he needed to give it a shot. Thankfully, he’d been listening to someone, because he was now married to both Gage and Kylie, and they had a beautiful daughter together.