A McCree Christmas (Chasing McCree) (2 page)

Chase

With the horses settled, I headed into the cabin and closed the front door. I was almost knocked off my feet by a pile of blankets.

“Briar?” I steadied myself and hugged her close, savoring the heat coming off her. She’d been warmed nicely by the fire. “You okay?”

“I was just worried. It seemed like you were gone for a while.”

“Ten minutes.” I gave her a kiss and pulled off my outer layers, heavy coat and boots, leaving them by the door. I checked the thermostat, making sure the heat was on. This place might look like a cabin, but it had all the comforts of the main house. “How are you feeling?”

She padded alongside me, looking a little embarrassed. “I feel good, better than before. I was really cold, and I don’t know what I was thinking.”

I knew. She was so cold she’d gotten confused. I’d seen it happen before. She wasn’t used to this, and I should have thought better of bringing her out here with me. I was going to keep her close to the house next time there was a storm like this. She wasn’t ready to be five miles from the main house in the worst weather she’d ever experienced. She took it like a trouper, though. Every time I tried to send her back to Millie, she protested.

Once she’d stuck out her tongue and ridden Firefly well out of my reach.

Stubborn girl.

I loved her, even when she drove me crazy.

In one of the bedrooms I raided the closet and came up with a pair of sweat pants and a flannel shirt. Once Briar was fully dressed, I could relax. It was tempting, having her ten feet away with nothing on but a quilt. I respected her though. We weren’t ready to take things to another level yet. She was worth more to me than a night of fun. Also, she wasn’t feeling too hot, but my male hormones weren’t receptive to that fact.

Further digging turned up some clothes I’d left from my last hunting trip. More sweats, and a thermal shirt. I changed into them and sat with Briar for a bit. Her color had come back, and she’d stopped shivering, but her stomach was rumbling. We were both starved.

“I’m guessing this place isn’t stocked since you haven’t been here in a while?” She followed me to the kitchen, dragging the quilt along with her.

I opened the pantry. “We’ve got canned soups.”

She wrinkled her nose and opened the refrigerator. “Bottled water and cans of soda.”

We hit the jackpot when we opened the freezer.

“Millie left lasagna out here?”

I turned on the oven and peeled off the layers of plastic and foil. “She always leaves something. Luckily, this isn’t freezer burned.”

I checked the date written on the side of the wrapper. She’d put it out here only a couple of weeks ago, probably anticipating someone being stuck during a storm.

That reminded me. I grabbed the cabin phone and dialed the main house.

My aunt picked up. “McCree residence.”

“Hey Millie, its Chase. Briar and I aren’t going to be home tonight. We’re stuck in the hunting cabin.”

Her voice rose an octave. “Oh, you’re stuck?”

Suspicious, and slightly nosy. I loved my aunt. “Briar fell in the creek. She’s going to be fine, but I had to get her out of the cold.”

“If that’s the case, you two be safe. I left lasagna in the freezer, and I think there might be some ice cream too. Not that you’d want anything cold…but it’s there.” She sighed. “Call if you need anything. I love you.”

I smiled. “We’ll call if we do. I love you too, and thanks.”

“And Chase?”

Here it came. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Your uncle loves a shotgun wedding.”

“I hear you.” I said before she hung up.

“Everything alright?” Briar asked, tugging on a corkscrew curl.

“Oh, fine.” I gave her a kiss and checked the oven. “The usual. Mille sends her love. Told us to call her if we needed anything. There’s ice cream in the freezer we must have missed.”

“She’s still worried you’re going to knock me up.” Her voice was deadpan.

“Apparently Uncle Jerry likes a shotgun wedding.”

She opened the freezer and dug around before pulling out a small tub of peppermint chip. “That’s one I haven’t heard before.”

“At least she’s not blunt like your grandmother.” I smiled as she found the silverware and dug into the ice cream. “Do you want to wait until after we eat the lasagna?”

“Nah, this is more fun.” She held up a spoonful and popped it in my mouth. “At least she didn’t pull anything biblical.”

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Last Sunday, after church. You were in the bathroom, and I was waiting out by the truck. The pastor’s wife came over to say hi, and the conversation somehow turned from a nice chat about winter weather, to fornication and being damned to hell for committing a sin.” She took another bite of the ice cream. “Of course, I told her that I wasn’t sure hell existed, that I’d have to fornicate to find out the truth, and that it would be an awfully tempting experiment.”

I almost choked on the ice cream. “No wonder she was looking at me funny when I walked out of the church. Briar, you can’t say things like that to someone like Dorothy Brown. It’ll be all over town in a few days.”

“She’s just jealous.” Briar patted my chest and hopped up to sit on the counter. “Pastor Brown is a lovely man, but his wife is just like those women my mother keeps in her circle of friends. She is a viper.”

“So giving her a rumor is smart in what way?”

She blinked. “I wasn’t thinking it would be a rumor at the time. I was just messing with her.”

“Good Lord, now I know why Millie was talking about a shotgun wedding. Next time, stick to talking about the weather.”

She smirked. “You have to admit, it’s kind of funny. I wonder what people will say at church next time we’re there. They’re all going to think we’re fornicating just to see if we’ll be damned.”

I hung my head, suppressing a laugh. “Ever since you moved to Montana, you’ve really gotten ballsy, Briar.”

“Must be all the fresh air.” She leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “I’m going to sit in front of the fire. Want to join me?”

“Aw, now don’t start that,” I said. “We’ll forget about the lasagna and then it’ll burn.”

She grinned, hopping down from the counter and backing out of the kitchen. “So shut off the oven and you can be my snuggle buddy.”

“I have a feeling I’ll be staring down the wrong end of a rifle in the future.” I turned off the oven and gr
inned, giving her a head start.

Briar

An incessant beeping brought me out of a dead sleep. I fumbled around until I found Chase’s hand hiding under a pillow, and jabbed at the buttons until the alarm on his watch shut off. It was the compass watch I given him for his birthday. He never took it off. I loved that he loved it, but I wasn’t a fan of the alarm. I liked to sleep too much.

Something bugged me though, making me come around when I was about to drift off.

Oh, right.

How could I have forgotten we had an early flight to Florida we couldn’t miss?

I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. It was six a.m. and I needed to get a few more things together before we could leave.

“Chase.” I shook him. It was like trying to move a brick wall.

Normally we didn’t share a bed. We had separate rooms in the main house, but every once in a while, I’d seek him out to snuggle, and we’d end up falling asleep.

Last night had gone a little differently.

We’d had the whole cabin to ourselves and no reason to sleep apart.

I could understand though, that some people would think our relationship was a little odd. I’d moved up from Florida about six months ago, not knowing anything about ranch life. I was living with Chase in the main house, and his aunt and uncle lived with us.

Chase’s father had died in a plane crash, leaving him the heir to a fortune. He was going to run the ranch after he graduated from college. Until then, his Uncle Jerry and Aunt Millie took care of things.

“Hey, cowboy,” I jabbed him in the ribs and he groaned. “I’m the one who usually sleeps in.”

He sat up, and his chocolate eyes smiled at me sleepily. “Hey, did you sleep well?”

I nodded, leaning in to kiss him. “Yes, thank you, but if we don’t hurry, we’re going to be late.”

It was a mad dash out of the cabin and to the horses. Our flight left in four and a half hours, and we still had to finish packing. I rode Firefly right beside Chase, keeping up with Ash easily.

“Hey, Mac, mind taking care of the horses?” Chase shouted to one of the hands when we finally reached the yard. “We’ve got a flight to catch.”

Mac, a burly guy in overalls and bright yellow snow boots, nodded. “Sure, just leave ’em out by the stables and I’ll see they get settled.

I told Firefly goodbye, that I’d see her in a few days, and followed Chase up the steps to the side door off the kitchen. Whiskers, Millie’s cat, was sitting on the counter staring out the window. He meowed loudly at me when I gave him a scratch, and hissed as Chase passed him. They still didn’t get along.

“Are you upset?” I asked the feline when he looked back out the window. The only thing Whiskers hated more than my cowboy was snow.

“Where’ve you been all night?” Uncle Jerry came into the kitchen and set an empty mug in the sink. He leaned on his cane, eyeing Chase and me. It seemed he’d heard the rumors that we were on our way to hell. “Having fun?”

“No, I almost froze,” I said. “I fell in the creek.”

Chase patted his uncle’s shoulder and smiled. “Don’t worry, Jerry, we haven’t done anything you wouldn’t want us to do.”

He snorted, fishing the Christmas pipe he smoked only a few times a year out of his pocket. “I’m not trying to get in your business, I was just checking on you.”

As we passed Jerry, I gave him a kiss on the cheek, and said hello to the litter of puppies in their playpen in the hall by the stairs. Stinker had become a father again. There were four in this litter, and it had been a surprise to us all. Normally Millie kept the only female dog on the ranch well away from Stinker, but he was a sneaky one.

The litter of spaniels would all need homes now.

We’d be bringing Penny to Chase’s little sister Amy for Christmas, and I couldn’t wait to see her face when she realized we’d brought her a wiggly puppy.

Chase went up to shower and get his things together. I decided to call Grandma to make sure she and Grandpa were still up to meeting us at the airport.

“Hey, how’s the weather up there, baby?” Grandma asked. The soft sound of bells jingling in the background clued me in that she was probably decked out in her Christmas best.

“Oh, it’s snowy, and cold…but I love it.” I said, heading into my room to clean up and get my things. “Chase and I will be at the airport around six. Are you sure you and Grandpa want to pick us up?”

“Oh, positive. I can’t wait to see you, and neither can Grandpa.”

I couldn’t wait to see her, either, but I was just a tad worried about the thirty-minute drive Grandpa would be making to pick us up. His trips were normally five to ten minutes around town. He wasn’t the best driver in his old age.

“But…”

“No buts, Briar baby. Grandpa and I will be picking you up.” She blew kisses over the phone. “Have a safe flight, and I’ll see you in a few hours!”

I hung up, thinking I might need to bring a crash helmet and padding. Maybe I could convince them to let me or Chase drive us back to the house.

“You ready?” Chase’s voice carried from down the hall.

“Not yet,” I shouted. “Ten minutes!”

I showered quickly, dried my hair, and layered my clothes so that I could shed the heavy ones once we got to Florida.

“You got the tickets?” Jerry asked as Chase and I headed out the front door for his truck.

I pulled them out of my purse and held them up. “Yes, and we’ll call you when we land.”

We hugged Millie and Jerry good-bye, and they handed us the little carrier with Penny tucked safely inside. We’d see them again in three days. Our flight would land Christmas Eve, and we’d be home in time for the festivities.

Chase fired up the truck, and we headed down the drive. It was almost an hour to the airport, and with the snow, the traveling would be even slower. “I’m really looking forward to this.”

I wasn’t— at least, not the part where we were supposed to have dinner with my parents. “It’ll be nice, most of the time.”

“You’re still worried about your mom and dad.”

“I’m just surprised you aren’t worried. I haven’t seen them since July, and we didn’t part on the best of terms.”

“I’m being optimistic. It’s Christmas. Maybe your mom and dad will be in the spirit and they will be happy to share the holiday with us.”

“You can be optimistic enough for both of us. I’ll be on guard.” I propped my feet on the dash and watched the snowy trees rush past the truck in a white blur. “Oh, I got a Christmas card from us to your mom and stepdad. Remind me to have you sign it.”

He smiled, rubbing my shoulder with his fingertips. “Will do, Briar baby. Thanks for getting that.”

“Shall I go over our itinerary?” I asked.

“What’s bothering you?”

I averted my eyes, trying to avoid his questioning gaze, and rifled through my purse for my nail file. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Fine…as in, just fine?”

“Perfectly fine.” I nodded, wondering where my darn file was. I couldn’t find it, so I took Penny out of the carrier and cuddled her close.

“So flying home to visit your parents for three days isn’t bothering you at all.”

Of course I was bothered. He knew it. I knew it. Everyone and their best friend on the ranch knew it. I just wasn’t verbalizing how badly I didn’t want to go. I was the perfect picture of happiness. “I’m fine.”

He chuckled, taking a turn a little too swiftly, and it sent me sliding into his side, where he hugged me close. “We will have fun. It’ll be great. Just think about Grandma and Grandpa. They can’t wait to see us.”

I couldn’t wait to see them. “I know, maybe we can just visit my Grandparents and no-one else, except your mom.”

“We made a deal with your mom and dad.”

“Let’s just call and tell them I’ve somehow contracted malaria from the cattle, and that I’ll have to stay in Montana for the rest of the winter.”

“Yeah, that’ll go over real well.” He snorted. “Briar, if you want, why don’t you call your mom and dad and tell them you’re not coming down? What are they going to do? You’re eighteen now.”

“But we did promise them. On holidays and special occasions we would visit, and I’ve never spent Christmas without Grandma and Grandpa.”

Chase slowed the truck, and at a stop sign he put it in park and turned to me. “Briar, we’re a team, and we’re going to make this the best Christmas.”

I smiled up at him. “It’s our first Christmas.”

“First of many.” He ignored the car honking behind us and kissed me.

Someone pounded on the driver’s window and we jumped, blinking up into the craggy, red face of Pastor Brown’s wife. She looked at us incredulously through the fogged-up window, and all I could do was waggle my fingers at her and smile.

Chase nodded in her direction and threw the truck into drive.

We laughed the rest of the way to the airport. We were in such good spirits until we realized that our early arrival meant we had almost two hours with nothing to do. We stayed in the terminal, playing games on our phones and texting our friends. Penny was a very good passenger and slept almost the whole time. She even went potty on her puppy pad without any problems.

But when it finally came time to board the plane, we received some bad news. They were having mechanical trouble, and it would be another hour until we were ready for takeoff.

Chase glanced at his watch and then at the gate. “What could be so wrong that it takes an hour past departure time to fix it?”

“Well, there’s the snow,” I muttered, flipping through a magazine. I had my horoscope memorized, and was thinking about reading my least favorite article backwards to see if it made the story more interesting. Or maybe I could take Penny for another outside visit. “I’m just happy the airport hasn’t grounded the planes.”

“That would be the perfect ending to the perfect day.” He went back to playing a hunting game on his phone.

“It’s going to be fine.” Normally he was the one consoling me, but in this case, I was finding the role reversal entertaining.

Chase was afraid of flying.

No, make that
terrified.

He looked like he wanted to bolt out of the terminal.

Normally my cowboy was patient and steady, and with an attitude other men wished they could emulate. Not today. Today I got to see a side of him that not many had. It was the human, vulnerable side. He wasn’t a superhero or indestructible. He was just as fragile as anyone else, though he hid it better than I could ever hope to.

“Maybe if I flash you, it’ll make you forget about the flight.” I smiled up at him. His chocolate-brown eyes went wide, and a smile spread across his face.

“In the airport?”

“Sure, we’ll spice things up.”

“Uh, Briar, you might get in trouble for that.”

I nodded, flipping through the magazine until I reached the back. Or maybe I should say, the front. I was reading back to front now. “Yeah, but it would be a good distraction for you.”

“
I’m already distracted by the thought of you doing that.”

Mission accomplished. I wasn’t actually going to do it, but I was certain the mere thought of it would distract
him. He was, after all, a guy.

“My bra’s pink. With blue polka dots,” I said, off hand, as though I were discussing the weather.

“Briar, you’re driving me crazy.” He chuckled, kissing my cheek.

“That’s the plan.” I glanced up at the gate. “Oh, look, they’re going to start letting us on the plane.”

“Great. Let’s get this over with.”

As we made our way onto the plane, I held Chase’s hand tightly in mine, trying my best to reassure him. His dad had died in a helicopter crash. It was natural that he would be scared. I was proud of him, though, that he’d conquer his fear to spend part of the Christmas holiday with my family in Florida. He was a good guy, and growing into a greater man. He was someone I’d love until I took my last breath.

I’ll admit, this scared me.

This was so much bigger than anything I’d ever expected. Seven months ago if someone had told me that I’d meet a cowboy and move to Montana with him to live on his ranch, I’d have called them crazy.

Things like that didn’t happen to people.

But it happened to me.

Even though I had doubt and fear inside me, it wasn’t enough to send me home. Sometimes I second-guessed things, and that was natural. No one knows what is going to happen, and I was not going to let the unknown rule my life. I was just going to put on a good helmet, hang on, and enjoy the ride.