Page 28 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

She chuckled. “I guess so.”

When she looked around, everyone was smiling at them. Libby winked and gave her a small nod.

She was grateful when Ace appeared, and everyone turned to greet him and his new lady. Retta had met Ace before, and she’d heard about Ari, but hadn’t met her yet. She watched as everyone greeted them. If she didn’t know differently, she would have guessed that Ari had known them all for as long as Libby had – a lifetime. She seemed to fit right in.

Ace grinned at Travis and said, “I see you’ve made yourself at home, then?”

Travis chuckled. “You know me. Retta, you met Ace before, didn’t you?”

“I did. Nice to see you again.”

“You too. I’m glad you’re here.” He wrapped his arm around Ari’s shoulders. “Ari, this is Retta – she’s Callie’s mom.”

Retta felt herself relax when Ari gave her a warm smile. She reminded her a little of some of the moms at school and for a moment she’d been worried that she might not be as welcoming as everyone else had been so far.

“Hey, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. I know Callie’s thrilled that she finally got you out here – although not about the circumstances. How’s your leg?”

“As good as can be expected. It’s more of an inconvenience than anything else.”

Ari nodded. “I can imagine. It’ll just take time.” She gave Travis a knowing smile. “Although, I’m sure this guy’s doing all he can to keep you busy.”

Retta felt the heat in her cheeks. It dawned on her for the first time how it must look. She’d grown so comfortable with Travis that she hadn’t thought twice about sitting on his lap – it was only a case of getting comfortable and accommodating her cast.

She looked up at him, and he winked. “They all know that I have a thing for you,” he explained. “And that Callie’s not the only one who’s happy to finally get you here.”

He held her gaze, and she couldn’t have looked away if she wanted to. His arm tightened around her waist, and she leaned a little closer against him.

By the time she remembered that Ari had been talking to her and looked up, the conversation had moved on. Deacon had arrived, and Tyler’s fiancée, Shayna, was there, too. Rocket, who worked here and was married to one of Kolby’s sisters, was moving a table over – pushing it up against theirs so that there’d be room for all of them.

Travis gave her a squeeze and grinned when she turned back to him. Her heart skittered in her chest when he said, “I could get used to this.”

When he raised his eyebrows, she nodded slowly. There was no point in denying it – she could too.

~ ~ ~

Travis tensed when he spotted Kolby and Callie making their way through the crowd toward them. They both knew about his interest in Retta – he’d been upfront about how he felt since the first time he laid eyes on her. He didn’t know how they’d feel about him having Retta on his lap like this. Yes, it was a way for her to sit at the table and not off to the side by herself in the wheelchair – but it was an opportunistic move on his part, and he was sure that everyone knew it.

He felt Retta tense, too, when Callie reached the table and exclaimed, “Mama!”

He held his breath. The last thing he wanted to do was cause any friction between mother and daughter.

“Hey, baby girl.”

He was impressed by how calm Retta sounded – it was a total contrast to the tension that he could feel humming through her.

It seemed like everyone held their breath while they waited to see how Callie would react – and then let out a collective exhale when she laughed and pointed a finger at Travis.

“I should have known.”

“Known what, honey?” he asked innocently.

“That every time you plonked me on your lap and told Kolby that you weren’t after his woman, you were just getting in practice for when my mama arrived.”

He shrugged happily. “I thought you did know. I told you both every single time I did it that the only reason I did was because you were as close as I could get to your mama.” He smiled down at Retta. “And now I’ve got you.”

She shook her head with a laugh. “It would appear so.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You have any complaints about that?”

---