Brendon (Alluring Indulgence #8)(52)
Author: Nicole Edwards

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.

However, it didn’t seem to matter that Travis was happy these days. He was still acting like the big brother. The way his eyes narrowed on Brendon told her he was in that mode now. She just wondered whether he knew which one of them he should be protecting from the other.

Cheyenne got the feeling Travis was going to exert that big-brother power here soon and she wanted to cut him off at the pass. Although right here probably wasn’t the place to do that. Luckily, she was saved when Brendon’s cousins Jared and CJ approached. Cheyenne had only been introduced to CJ one other time, but she remembered that day clearly.

“Hey, little one,” CJ greeted her with a smile. Just like every other family member she’d met so far, Chase Jameson, better known as CJ, was incredibly handsome. Lorrie had introduced her nephew at one of the many family functions. He wasn’t usually in attendance, but that was mostly due to the fact that he was a volunteer firefighter in Coyote Ridge. When he wasn’t doing that, he was a construction contractor who often worked in tandem with Walker Demolition.

“Good to see you, CJ. How’s your mom and dad?” Cheyenne asked, accepting his hug when it was offered. CJ’s mother, Deborah, was married to Lorrie’s brother, Owen, who was the youngest of Lorrie’s eight siblings.