Southern Charm, Destiny Miller [top novels .txt] 📗

every little girl starts to plan when they reach 6yr old.

Hearing the front door swing open and deep rumbles of laughter, I took a slight step back into the hallway but not far enough so I could still having a good enough view, I was shocked when I saw three enormously tall looking me tried to fit through the door all at once then dropping their damp jackets on the back of a chair and kicking off their boots while joking and teasing who'll eat more steak and potatoes.
"Hope you don't mind Aunt Sally, but me and the guys are in the mood of some of your mean mash potatoes." His voice was so deep it seemed to vibrate through out the house.
"You won't get a lick of my potatoes if you boys don't take off your hats. You kids know the rules." Sounding stern, Sally said while gliding in to greet the men. She went to motherly hug and kiss the guy who hollard first, then she made her way around the other two guys who immediately followed her order about taking of their stetsons.
"I have a guest this even'n and I want you gentlemen to behave yourselves." She spoke just as she finished hugging the last gentlemen.
"My darling Sally," A second guy said with some mischief in his light green eyes "When have we ever

misbehaved?"
"When you boys chased off my last house guest, just because you three hoodlums thought he was carrying a torch for me." She turned around and started walking towards me, she grabbed my hand and puled me amongst the three giants. "Now before you three wash up and eat, I want you to meet my guest and make her comfortable, while I'll go start the mash potatoes."
With a final pat on my arm she turned around and went back into the kitchen.
Having Sally gone and three pairs of eyes gliding from the bottom up, was pretty unnerving, but having an undivided attention of six and a half feet of good looking men was pretty daunting.
"I sure hope you like mash potatoes," Sally's nephew said with a grin, "I'm Conner Braden. Sally's favorite and only nephew." Conner stepping forward to introduce himself, breaking the silence that was taking its toll on my nerves.
When his hand touched mine for a handshake, a warm tingle engulfed my hand shooting its way up my arm and through my body. With a nervous chuckle I told him, "I do love mash potatoes. Nice to meet you Mr.Braden, I'm Cat." while gently pulling my hand away.
His cobalt blue eyes quickly shot to his hand then mine, convincing me I wasn't the only one who felt that weird tingle. Recovering way more smoothly than me he responded, "Nice to meet you Cat. You can call me Conner. Being called Mr. Braden reminds me of my old man." Conner said with a slow lazy southern drawl.
With a wicked grin and a suggestive twinkle in his expressive blue eyes, he leaned against an archway. Dark brown hair slowly dripped water on his shirt that was plastered onto his well defined chest. Arms crossed, his wet t-shirt was stretched across his toned muscles.
Pulling my gaze from Conner's alluring eyes I saw that the guy who teased Sally earlier about being perfect angles was already talking to me.
"Welcome to our town Miss Kitty. I'm Tyler Hayes the trust fund kid of Adele." Tyler said with some devilment in his spring green eyes and a jaunty smile.
Conner and the last man let out big rumbling laughs at Tyler's joke, both smirking and ending up flashing beautiful straight white teeth.
With Tyler's shaggy blond hair and easy party nature, I would have thought he would have been more at home on a Hawaii beach with a surf board under his arm, than a rich guy in South Carolina.
Still with some laughter in his voice the last of the three men, nudged aside Tyler and reached over to stretched out his hand and took mine in his, "I'm Colten Ford."
It was obvious that the three men had a special bond, but when you looked into Colten's silver watchful eyes, you can tell he was more reserved than Conner and Tyler. He didn't have Tylers easy nature or Coltens allure. But he seemed the one who you could trust with just about anything. He had strong wide shoulders that could hold up the worlds burden, long legs that made Levi jeans proud, and a heart stopping smile that probably got him out of trouble with his teachers back in grade school.
Having decided the introductions were over, Conner walked into the archway he was leaning on, Colten following close behind, while Tyler place his strong hand in the middle of my back leading me into the room with them.
The guys made their way over into an open spacious living room with high vaulted ceiling and a big bay window that admired the drizzling street.
The furniture was place strategically making the large stoned fireplace the focal point in the room. One long couch with an afghan folded neatly on the back, was facing a matching love seat and on the walls hung stunning oil paintings of rolling hills and meadows covered in every different color dahlias. In one corner their was a big mahogany open bookcase stocked with books, a well used divine close by for people to read their books on rainy days just like this one. Maybe, If I'm still here the next few days, I can sneak down here and read a couple of books while curled up in a afghan and maybe I can have the fire going. Yeah that would pretty damn near perfect.

"So did the Almighty let one of his angles on vacation or you staying for The Bucking Bronc Rodeo Fair?" Tyler ask while settling into the seat on the couch closest to the fire.
"Before you start askin' the lady questions, you should at least let her sit down. I thought you've went to finishing school Ty." Conner remarked while sitting down on the love seat.
Standing back up with a apologetic smile Tyler offered me a seat on the couch closest to him and sitting back down when I sat. "Sorry for my behavior Kitty. If I keep hanging around these Yankees all the time, more of their bad manners are gonna rub off on me." Tyler jokingly said.
"You guys are not from around here?" I asked in general.
"New York for me." Offering no more than that Colten turned back around to stare out the window.
Standing back up, Conner went to stand next to the blazing fire. "Nope, Ty is the only true Southern gentleman here. I own a ranch down in Texas but from Montana. The only state where the sky can out run the land." he said in that deep drawl voice that all Texans seem to have.
Just listening to him talk had those tingles racing back and warming me more than the fire. "How come You and Colt are in South Carolina now?"
"When we were younger, both our families came down here in the summers to vacation. We eventually all started hanging out every year and they became my brothers. Now I'm just visiting my Aunt Sally and Ty. I roped Colt out of his office to come with me."
Colten who was remote through the conversation was watching the peaceful drizzle of the rain, he turned around and asked "How about you Cat? Where you from?"
"Oh... Well I'm really not from anywhere in particular. I've moved around a lot with my grandmother when I was younger"
"So your from everywhere and nowhere, huh?" Colten asked.
"That sums it up pretty good" saying it with a light shrug.
Leaning forward Tyler wondered for the first time why a beautiful woman like her, would show up in a small town alone in the middle of a rainy night. "You gotta be from somewhere Kitty. Even grumpy Colt here is from the big N.Y." Tyler didn't know that his thoughts were running similar to Conner's.
"I guess you can say I'm from Texas, I've spent a lot of time their as a kid" Catherine hedged.
"Were at in Texas?" Colt said with a friendly smile but with a gaze of a hawk tracking its prey.
For being such a reserved person, Colten sure was nosy and dense, clearly he can see I don't want to talk about it.
Looking at Tyler then Conner for help but only seeing that they both were waiting for an answer too. "Cant really say. Iv spent some time in a lot of cities their" I said.
"Come on." Colten coaxed. "What city did you like best?" Refusing to get the hint, Colten asked. "I was in San Antonio last month visiting my folks and Conner. My folks got tired of always having to beat people with their umbrellas for a cab back in New York so they moved down their."
Conner looked at Tyler and than at Colt, who was leaning against the window watching Cat with hooded watchful eyes. I could tell he was uneasy about Ms.Hale. His every action was thought out and three words would be too many when two would do, seeing him actually stringing words into more than one sentence was pretty obvious to us that Colt was curious about our house guest.
"New York is such a upbeat and lively place. San Antonio is pretty special too, I enjoyed going down to the River Walk. Have your parents had the chance to see it?" Ms.Hale smoothly and neatly avoided the question.
"You visited New York before?" seeming to be tired of dancing verbally with Ms.Hale Colten asked bluntly. "When?"
Even though I could tell she was reluctant to answer Colten and he knew they were being rude and they should make her comfortable again, but the whole situation seemed odd. The only information she was willingly part with was her name.
Before I could come up with another way to dodge their question, Sally swept into the room bringing in sunshine that seemed to follow her. Exhausted, I was so thankful that Sally was back I let out a breath of air and sunk into the couch knowing I didn't have to watch out for Coltens strategically worded land mines anymore.
"Alright kids, Dinner's ready." With a cheerful smile Sallys gaze swept everyone in the room seeming to be oblivious to the tension in the room.
Tyler who was pretty quite through the integration, hoped up from the couch to walk toward Sally. "If I didn't have to worry about getting beat up by Conner ma'am, I would marry you in a heart beat just so I can have your steaks and potatoes and

I get to see your beautiful face every day"
"Oh you devil." With a knowing smile she lovingly patted Tyler's arm, "If I didn't know better, I would think your trying to charm me out of making you your favorite cookies."
With a conspiracy wink and a kiss on the cheek,