Page 6 of Cheyenne

Micah hopped into Trey’s blue truck. It was an older truck, one that Micah always used when he was in town. The condo shouldn’t be that far away. He could run to it on the beach, but he wanted to get there quickly and be able to head to the gym after he said hello.

For some stupid reason, he was nervous. The memory of meeting Cheyenne during Blaze’s wedding flashed in his mind. The whole Stone family had helicoptered out to Wyoming to Cross Creek and the Cross ranch. He had liked Cheyenne, but it had been just that one night. They had danced and talked a little. At that point, he hadn’t even decided to go into the Navy yet. He had been about to start college.

From what he remembered, she had won the rodeo queen title and had a big belt buckle. It had made him smile at the time. Her long blonde hair and slim figure, not to mention her catlike green eyes, had made her look older back then. She had told him she planned on going to Montana for school. Had she done that? Maybe he’d find out.

Micah pulled up the address on his phone and before long, he was rolling up into a parking lot for some condos. Once he’d parked the truck in the visitors’ section, he made his way along the sidewalk around a little park toward the condo that she was staying in.

He paused. It was getting dark, but ahead of him he could see a woman with blonde hair talking closely with some guy. Then the guy leaned in as if he would kiss her.

For some reason, Micah’s protective instincts kicked in. She was supposed to be alone. Her friend hadn’t shown up. He stepped out of the shadows. “Cheyenne, is that you?”

She jolted and stepped back before her lips could press against the guy’s, which made Micah unreasonably happy.

The guy she was with looked angry. “Who is that?” He gestured to Micah. “Who are you?”

She squinted at him. “I’m not sure.”

Micah forced a laugh and moved closer to them. “It’s Micah Jamison. I met you at your ranch a couple years ago. At your uncle’s wedding.”

Cheyenne looked confused, gave him a once-over, and then nodded. “Right. Micah.” He couldn’t tell if she was happy to see him or not, but she moved toward him and put her hand out. It was obvious manners had been drilled into her. “Hi. How are you?”

He grinned and shook her hand. “I’m great.”

“Do you live here?”

“Not in these condos.” He didn’t want to give away too much. He looked past her, eyeing the guy she was with. “What have you been up to?”

Cheyenne looked back at the guy. She gestured to him. “This is Eli Waters.”

Suddenly, Micah felt like he had taken on Trey’s personality, including all of his suspicions. He glared at the guy and then nodded to him. “Hi.” He crossed his arms, indicating that the guy had better watch it.

Eli was clearly confused, looking between them. “Well, I guess I’ll say goodnight, Cheyenne.”

Cheyenne’s eyelashes fluttered, and she looked nervous, looking from Micah and Eli. She didn’t seem sure whether to end the night with Eli. Then she faced Micah again and said, “Okay. Thanks for dinner, Eli. I had a good time.”

Micah felt almost like a protective parent. He felt guilty because he was supposed to come check on her earlier. Trey would not be happy that she had gone out with some random guy. Micah would have to pay attention to who the guy was. His whole family was highly suspicious of everyone after all their dealings with treasure hunters. And Cheyenne was a Cross. Her family had gone through their share of grief about the gold. It would not bode well with Trey that Micah had slacked on his job.

Micah turned his full attention to her. “Can we talk for a little bit?” He would not be talking in front of Eli, whoever the guy was.

Cheyenne hesitated. “Sure. Goodnight, Eli.”

The dude seemed reluctant to leave. “Okay. See you tomorrow?” His eyes flashed back to Micah as if to say,I’ve already claimed this woman.

Micah raised his chin, mentally saying,No, you haven’t.Which was ridiculous, because he didn’t want to fight over this woman like a couple roosters fighting over a hen. It wasn’t like that, but he wanted to dissuade this guy from being around her. He wouldn’t stand for letting this guy hang around without a thorough background check.

Then he realized that if he wanted to run a background check, he would have to call Trey, or maybe Kensi’s husband Tim, who was a cop here. Both of them were out of town. Maybe he could go to Tim’s second-in-command instead of bugging his family. He quickly dismissed the thought, however, because Trey would want a full report on everything. Micah was doomed.

Eli turned and moved to a condo to open the door. He paused again and said, “Cheyenne, if you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask. Even tonight. Just text me.”

Micah couldn’t help but let out a light laugh. Did the dude think he was going to hurt her?

Cheyenne said, “Thanks.” Then she turned and scowled at Micah.

Eli shut the door, leaving the two of them alone.

Cheyenne cocked an eyebrow. “You’d better tell me what this is all about.”

CHAPTER 3

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