Her Cowboy Billionaire Bad Boy

by Liz Isaacson

  She repeated all of her actions with a second colander and half a dozen blueberry containers. She’d been making a patriotic sugar cookie cake for many years, but that wasn’t exactly breakfast food.

  As today was the Fourth of July, and she was in charge of breakfast today, she wanted to provide something red, white, and blue for the guests at Whiskey Mountain Lodge. The lodge never provided lunch for the guests, but dinner was almost always on the menu. Tonight, though, they’d partnered with the Chamber of Commerce to provide chuckwagon dinner tickets to any registered guest at the lodge.

  All of the employees had gotten them too, and Ames had purchased one the moment Sophia had told him she had a free ticket for the big city dinner, complete with Coral Canyon’s own cowboy band and silent auction.

  The whole town had been draped in Americana for the past couple of weeks, and Sophia loved it. Even Ames had commented on the banners and flags, the way the town had a new announcement about another contest winner that day.

  “Baby contests,” he’d said. “Garden contests, lawn contests, art contests. How do they keep up with all of it?”

  “The committee for our summer season is huge,” Sophia said. “I know, because they tried to recruit me one year to judge the kid’s baking contest.”

  “I’m sure they did,” Ames said. “I’ve had your cinnamon swirl bread.” He’d grinned at her, and Sophia had giggled. Then she’d made the bread with the streusel topping again the next morning. The guests at the lodge loved it too, and she had realized she’d do whatever she had to for them to like her cooking as much as they liked Celia’s.

  At the same time, she knew that was an impossible task. Celia was an absolute genius in the kitchen, and no matter what Sophia did, she wouldn’t catch up to that reputation.

  She’d still managed to find a way to transform her cake recipe into a less sweet version of itself and turn it into a pancake recipe. The cake was decorated with raspberries and blueberries and frosted with white cream cheese frosting to make it look like the American flag.

  She couldn’t decorate everyone’s pancakes, but she would make an example, and then let them do what they wanted with the cream cheese glaze and the berry bar.

  With the glaze ready, and the berries washed and drained, she turned to the griddles on the counter. Pancakes were hard for a breakfast that lasted an hour, where guests could come and go, so Sophia rarely did things like this. Casseroles and large batches of sausage or bacon were much easier.

  She had half a dozen pancakes on the serving platter when the first guests arrived, and she quickly poured the warm glaze from the pan into the pitcher and the berries into the waiting bowls.

  “Sugar cookie patriotic pancakes,” she said, her voice quite chirpy. She started pouring smaller pancakes for the children, and the time for breakfast passed quickly. She got several compliments, and she saw more than one person taking a picture of their red, white, and blue breakfast.

  She finished, cleaned up, and headed down the sidewalk to her cabin. Marcy and Wyatt had given her the day off, though it was Thursday, and she wasn’t surprised when she found Ames sitting in her living room, two dogs on the couch with him. The third sat only a few feet from the door, and Sophia definitely liked Cocoa the best. The other two scared her a little bit, though they’d never given her any reason for that.

  Ames had complete control over them, and they adored him as much as Sophia did. At least she suspected they did. He definitely loved them, and Sophia was just glad he’d made room for her in his life too.

  The past few weeks with him had been downright amazing, and Sophia really didn’t want summer to ever end. Now that July had arrived, she felt like the countdown had begun. She wasn’t even sure why—there was plenty of summer left.

  She swallowed back her concerns and said, “Hey, you didn’t come get pancakes.”

  “I looked in,” he said. “But it looked really busy.”

  “There was plenty,” she said, wishing he’d come right in and wrapped her in his arms, dropped a kiss on her temple, and stood with her as she fed everyone at the lodge.

  Ames leaned forward and put his phone on the coffee table in front of him. He grinned at her, and told the dogs to get down. Norman obeyed, but Florence just gave him a baleful look. “I think there’s room, even with her still there.” He patted the cushion Norman had vacated, and Sophia moved over to the couch and squeezed herself into the small space between him and the large Malinois.

  She giggled as he put that arm around her and gave her that kiss she’d been thinking of. “I was thinking you and I could go to breakfast together,” he said.

  “Today?” she asked, her eyebrows raised. “The grand parade starts in twenty minutes, and everywhere will be crazy right now.” She snuggled deeper into his side, throwing her arm around his torso.

  “Not in town,” he said.

  “Yeah, because you hate crowds.”

  “I don’t hate them,” he said. “I just don’t like them.” He ran his hand up and down her arm. “Oh, look at my thumb. It’s almost all the way better.” He held it out for her to see, and sure enough, his thumb looked really good. The stitches had come out a couple of weeks ago, and he’d been playing doctor with the bandages until now, when he didn’t wear one at all.

  The skin was still pink, and she could see the smoothness where the stitches had been. “It looks so great,” she said.

  “I haven’t picked up a nail gun since,” he said. “And listen, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

  “Okay,” she said, sitting up and looking at him. Florence made a huffing sound, and she jumped down to the floor. She tossed a stormy look at Sophia, but Ames just clicked his tongue at the dog, and Florence went to lay in front of the door. She always positioned herself between Ames and the main entrance to wherever they were, and that spoke of her fierce determination to protect him.

  “I called Micah Walker, and he went to my house in Three Rivers to assess it. He gave me a quote last night for what it would cost for him to finish the remodel, and I’m going to take it.”

  Sophia blinked rapidly, her heart beating the same way her eyelashes did. “Wow.”

  “Then I’m going to list that house for sale.” He looked right at her, and Sophia had a hard time holding a gaze as powerful as his. “I’m not going back to Three Rivers.”

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Really.” He reached up and ran his hand through his hair. “There’s no ‘I think’ or ‘potential’ here. I’m for sure not going back.”

  She wanted to ask him if he was going to stay in Coral Canyon, but she couldn’t. Just because he wasn’t going back to Three Rivers did not mean he was staying here. He had a house in Colorado too, and Sophia knew it. He’d never mentioned it at all, but he’d lived there for almost forty years, and she couldn’t imagine that he’d sold his place there to move to Three Rivers.

  He had a lot of money, and he could own homes all over the world without it being a problem.

  “That’s great,” Sophia said, leaning forward to kiss Ames.

  He kept the union sweet and short, and then he sighed. “Come on. Let’s go to breakfast.” He got up and reached for the leashes on the coffee table. “Come on, friends. We’re going into the mountains.”

  “The mountains?” She watched the dogs snap to attention and hold still as he clipped their leashes on. He’d take them off once they got up on the trail, because he liked to train them to be off-leash and listen to him.

  Ames threw her a grin over his shoulder. “Put on your hiking boots, sweetheart. I’ve got breakfast for us up there.”

  “You do? What is it?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  Sophia loved surprises, especially from her handsome boyfriend. Ames wasn’t super spontaneous, and he’d never planned a big surprise for her. She jumped to her feet and said, “I need five minutes,” before taking the few steps down the hall to the only bedroom in the cabin. She quickly changed in
to a pair of denim shorts, bypassing the white ones she was planning to wear to the chuckwagon dinner that night, and put on a bright red tank top. That was patriotic enough for now.

  She hurried to put on socks and her hiking boots before she returned to the living room. “Ready,” she announced, and Ames extended his hand toward her. She took it, and he kept the dogs on his other side as they left the cabin. They crossed the parking lot together and started up the trail that led to the bench where he’d found her last fall, crying over Patsy’s departure from the lodge.

  Sophia had gone up there the day Patsy was set to move out of the cabin they’d shared for four years, and she’d been distraught. Seriously distraught. The appearance of Ames had been the one bright ray of sunshine in her life that day, and she was so glad to be on this same trail with him again today.

  After several minutes, Ames unclipped the leashes and said, “All right, friends. Stay close and come back when I whistle.” Norman trotted ahead immediately, but Florence stayed right beside Ames until he said, “Go on, Flo. You can go.”

  She did then, and Ames chuckled at her. “She’s so worried she’s going to do something wrong again.” He looked at Sophia. “I don’t know how to help her get over that.”

  “Maybe it will just take time,” Sophia said. “Look, she’s out there, exploring.” She watched Florence, and the dog did trot around, sniffing things. In reality, she looked back at Ames every ten seconds or so, and Sophia saw it, which meant Ames did too. The dog definitely had some anxiety about displeasing him.

  They hiked for a few minutes more, and then Ames said, “It’s right here.” He tugged her over to a large rock just off the path, and he pulled out two camp chairs.

  “Oh, you’re good,” she said, giggling as he set up the chairs. He indicated the blue one, and she sat down while grinning at him.

  He stepped around the rock again, and this time, he came back with a picnic basket in his hands. “Let’s see.” He sank into the gray camp chair and set the basket between them. “I got you some orange juice.” He pulled the bottle out and handed it to her.

  Sophia couldn’t stop smiling as he then produced her favorite spinach and fontina quiche from The Rubber Sole in town, as well as a cardboard container filled with thick-sliced bacon.

  “You’re flawless,” she said, holding all of her food on her lap while he pulled out a container that had a chile verde breakfast burrito in it.

  “It’s probably cold,” he said. “Nothing flawless about that.”

  “Seriously, Ames,” she said. “This is wonderful. Thank you.” She leaned toward him, glad when he closed the distance between them and kissed her. She curved her fingers up the side of his jaw and along his neck to hold him in place after the kiss ended. “Ames Hammond, I’m falling in love with you,” she whispered.

  He pulled in a breath, but Sophia kept her eyes closed and added quickly, “Please don’t say anything. I just feel it, and I want you to know I feel it.”

  She wished he would say what he was feeling, but Ames rarely expressed those types of things—at least in words. His touch often said a lot, as did the way he held her and kissed her. The way he planned Independence Day breakfasts in the mountains with her, because he knew she would be working at the lodge and wouldn’t be able to get to town before all the best places to eat were too crowded.

  He hadn’t bought a house in Coral Canyon, and Sophia had never asked him about his decision to rent. To her, it was a huge flag that he still hadn’t decided where his final destination was.

  “I can’t say anything?” he asked, both of his hands coming up to cradle her face.

  “Only say what’s real and true,” she said.

  “I always do,” he said. “And what’s real and true is that I’m falling in love with you too.”

  Sophia sucked in a breath and pulled away from him, her eyes flying open. She wanted to ask him if he was kidding, but she could see the depth of seriousness in his eyes.

  “I don’t know what it looks like or feels like,” he admitted. “But I sure like being with you. When I’m not with you, I’m trying to find ways to make you happy, and the moment I leave, I’m counting down the minutes until I can see you again. Is that love?”

  “I don’t know,” Sophia said. “I’ve never been in love either.”

  “So I guess we’ll figure it out together.”

  “I guess we will.” Sophia looked down at her lap. “Okay, so quiche and orange juice. Who knew that’s all it would take to make me fall in love?” She laughed, glad when Ames did too.

  “I think it’s more complicated than that,” he said.

  Of course it was, but for right now, Sophia just wanted to believe that the mountains, orange juice, and Ames could fix everything in her life.

  Intellectually, that wasn’t true, and a thought Sophia had had over the last few weeks came right to the front of her mind again.

  Call your mother.

  Not today, she told herself. She didn’t want to ruin today, which had been so perfect so far.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Elise stirred the corn chowder on the stove, humming to herself as she did. She didn’t care that it was mid-July and not really soup season. She loved soup year-round, and besides, it got plenty cool up here in the shady mountains where she and Gray lived in the summertime.

  She sometimes wished she still lived in Coral Canyon full-time, but she knew exactly why they didn’t. She loved Hunter with her whole heart, and she wanted him to have friends and be happy. He was such a good boy, and he’d made excellent progress in his therapy over the past several months.

  He inspired her to be a better person, and when Jane tested her patience with her stubbornness about taking a nap, Hunter would step in and rock his baby half-sister to sleep just to help out.

  Today, Gray had taken his son fishing, as they did several times a week in the summer. Her husband and her son loved fishing with their whole hearts, and she loved cooking for the two of them, so they could have lunch together when they returned from the lake.

  Gray had bought a new boat this summer, and while Wes had gotten Hunter a new fishing pole for Christmas, Gray had had to buy his own. Elise had actually purchased it for him, after consulting with Wes, and she’d gifted it to him for Father’s Day.

  No sound came through the baby monitor, and relief pulled through Elise. Jane fought her every step of the way when it came to sleeping, which meant Elise hadn’t slept well in almost nine months now. She loved her blonde baby girl beyond anything she’d ever loved before, though, and Elise would happily sacrifice sleep for her.

  Hutch barked, and Elise turned as he trotted over to the sliding glass door that led onto the deck. Her silver goldendoodle loved to chase rabbits, squirrels, and birds, and there were plenty of those in these hills. They owned five acres here, and Elise moved over to the door. “Do you need to go out, bud?”

  She glanced up as movement caught her eye too, and Hutch’s booming bark filled the house again. Elise froze as she saw someone walking along the trees at the edge of the yard.

  Her heart started pounding in her chest, and she couldn’t tear her eyes from the figure there. It looked like a male, and Elise’s mind fired scenarios at her faster than she could latch onto.

  Hutch’s barking continued, and it was that obnoxious sound that broke her from her trance. She quickly flipped the lock on the sliding glass door and said, “Hush, Hutch. Stop it.” She pushed the dog back, but he returned immediately to the glass, adding a whine to his chorus of barks.

  Elise hurried into the kitchen and grabbed her phone from the countertop. She ducked around the corner and into the mudroom off the back of the garage. The washer and dryer took up the back part of the room, and a window sat above them. She dialed Gray as she stood back and looked out the window.

  “Come on,” she muttered. He’d hired a few people this year to do some work around their property, and perhaps this man skulking around the edge of her back yard w
as there treating the lawn or spraying for pests.

  “Hey, sweetheart,” Gray said, his voice deep and even and full of happiness. “What’s going on?”

  “There’s a man in the back yard,” Elise said. “Hutch is going nuts.” Even now, the dog barked. “Did you hire anyone who’d be coming today?”

  “I don’t think so,” Gray said. “The guy I talked to about doing a fire pit said he’d be there on Friday.”

  “Dad,” Hunter said, his voice animated. “I’ve got one.”

  Elise pulled in a breath as the man stepped onto the lawn and started toward the house. She couldn’t be trapped in the mudroom when her baby girl was asleep in the nursery off the master suite. “Gray, I need you to come home right now,” she said. “I’m going to hang up and call 9-1-1.”

  “9-1-1?” Gray asked. “Elise, who’s there?”

  “I don’t know. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. There’s a strange man in the back yard, and Hutch is going crazy. He never barks, Gray. Ever.” She entered the kitchen, and the barking only intensified. “Hutch,” she commanded. “Come.”

  He didn’t, and his bark definitely sounded scared as it echoed up to the vaulted ceilings.

  Elise ran through the dining room and living room now, tears pressing against the backs of her eyes. Panic fueled her movements, and she said, “I’m hanging up Gray,” as she ducked into the hallway that led to the master suite.

  “Elise—” he started, but she hung up the phone.

  “Hutch,” she called back down the hall. “Come on.” Much quieter, she added, “Please,” as her first tears fell. Behind the closed door she’d just arrived at, Jane fussed.

  Elise ducked into the room, and quickly closed the door, sealing Hutch out. Her chest wasn’t nearly big enough for her heart to beat as violently as it was. Her hands shook as she dialed 9-1-1 on the way across the nursery to Jane’s crib.