by Liz Isaacson
Laney? Are you all right? I’m worried I haven’t heard back from you.
So I guess we won’t go to dinner tonight.
She raised her eyes to his. “I didn’t get these.”
His voice softened, along with the dangerous edge in his eyes. “I know. I heard your phone chime.”
“Is it too late for dinner?” Because she really wanted to go, and she was starving. Of course, the aroma coming from the kitchen meant Celia had been at work and would most like have something as restaurant-worthy as anything in Coral Canyon.
“I haven’t eaten yet.”
“Can I have ten minutes to change?”
Graham regarded her for a moment, those beautiful eyes taking on a sparkle. “A beast would insist we go now because it’s already going to be busy. But you know what? Take fifteen minutes.”
Laney burst into laughter, glad when Graham joined her. She gave him a quick hug, swept her lips across his stubbled jaw, and ran upstairs to change for her first date with Graham Whittaker.
Chapter 14
Graham paced in his office, Laney’s words haunting him. I’ve lived through a man leaving me for something he deemed better, and I won’t do it again. I won’t allow Bailey to go through that.
They hadn’t even gone out yet, and she was thinking marriage—she’d said not right away, but he wasn’t stupid. Laney didn’t do anything halfway, he knew that much about her. And now she was fretting about him abandoning her and Bailey—and they hadn’t even gone out yet.
He exhaled, the pressure from this date already near peak levels, and ran his hand down the side of his face, picked up his cowboy hat, and positioned in over his too-long hair. “You want to go out with her,” he told himself. When she hadn’t answered that afternoon, his anger had taken on a life of it’s own.
He’d left everyone to do whatever they wanted, and he’d gotten through a list of emails and a pile of forms for payroll. Eli had come in and started talking about making the lodge a summer and winter destination, and Graham liked the idea.
He liked the idea of Andrew moving back to Coral Canyon and becoming the lodge’s marketing expert. He wanted Eli and Stockton to stay in town too. Throughout the past year, Graham had been terribly isolated, and he hadn’t even known it.
Sure, he could buy whatever he wanted, but he couldn’t buy friendship, brotherhood, family love. Somehow, his brothers had felt the same things he had over the past few days, and as the new year approached, Graham finally felt like maybe it would be worth living through. Embracing. Enjoying.
And when he pictured the next twelve months and the changes they brought, Laney was at his side. So maybe she was thinking really far down the road. He couldn’t blame her for that, could he? She had a daughter to consider, and a past to unpack.
“Hey.”
He turned toward the sound of her voice, relief washing through him at the simple sight of her. Yes, he could give her the reassurance that he wouldn’t abandon her. He wouldn’t even know where to go, because leaving Coral Canyon wasn’t an option.
“You working?”
“A little, earlier.” He approached her. “I just want to ask you something before we go.”
Her eyes met his, and he almost lost the words. “Yeah?”
“You’re beautiful.”
She ducked her head as a smile touched her lips. “That’s not a question.”
Graham ran his fingertips up her forearm, glad when goose bumps broke out on her skin. At least he wasn’t the only one invested in the relationship. “I wanted to ask you to separate me from your ex.”
Those eyes sprang back to his, and now they held fire. “I haven’t—”
“You have,” he said gently, sweeping both hands up her arms to her shoulders and back to her hands, where he laced her fingers between his. “And I don’t blame you. But I’m not Mike McAllister, just like you’re not my cheating ex-girlfriend from Seattle.” He hadn’t meant to say that last bit, but it was out now, and the flames in Laney’s eyes went out.
“She cheated on you?”
“At least three times, with three different guys.” His voice hardly sounded like his. “So when my dad died, it was really easy to leave my life in Seattle. Well.” He shrugged and gave a dark chuckle. “Nothing was easy about returning to Coral Canyon, but I didn’t want to stay in Seattle, so there was that.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
“That’s because I’ve been a beastly best friend,” he said. “Always calling you for help but not really talking to you.”
“You’re a great best friend,” she said. “You always have been. You know when to ask me stuff and when to let me be. I’ve always liked that about you.”
“Oh yeah?” His gaze dropped to her mouth, and she’d put something shiny and pink on her lips.
“Yeah.” She eased into his arms, a coy smile sending his pulse to the back of his throat.
“I like you, Laney McAllister,” he said just before claiming her mouth with his. She kissed him back as if she liked him too, and Graham definitely wanted the next year to include a lot of Laney.
Forty-five minutes later, he sat across from her at The Devil’s Tower, the only restaurant worth sitting down to eat, in Graham’s opinion. Coral Canyon had a lot of fast casual places, with drive-through windows so he could take his burrito or burger or pizza home and eat it.
But The Devil’s Tower was an experience, from the alien-like music to the menu. They only served towers of things—onion rings, sliders, grilled cheese sandwiches, even their salads were stacked and served vertically.
He loved the barbeque slider tower and the Tower of Power—a stack of mini-burgers layered with tomato, avocado, onion crisps, and bacon.
“Have you been here?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said. “I didn’t just move back last year.”
“When did you move back?” He studied the menu like he needed to find something to order. But he knew he’d take the fried cheese pillar as an appetizer and the Tower of Power for his meal. And probably a French fry skyscraper too.
“Oh, about five years ago.” Laney gave him a tight smile. “My dad died, and Mom didn’t love ranching the way I do. I came back with Bailey for about eight months while my husband finished school. Then he joined us.”
“You said he didn’t stay long.” Graham put his menu down, interested in this part of her past.
“Only nine months. He wasn’t cut out for ranch life either.” She studied him like maybe she’d be able to find the gene that indicated a person was into ranching just by looking. “You seem to like your horses.”
“Sure,” he said. “I wouldn’t call myself a rancher. But then again, I wasn’t interested in running Springside Energy either, and I’m doing that.”
“Doing it well, I’ve heard.”
Graham ran his fingers along his beard, thinking about what she’d said. “I don’t know about that. According to Dwight, I’m probably screwing everything up.”
“Dwight Rogers?” Laney laughed. “He only knew what your dad told him.”
Graham put a smile on his face, though he rarely wore one when thinking about or dealing with Dwight. “Yes, well, things change, and my dad’s not here anymore.”
Laney sobered, and Graham hated that he’d put a damper on the conversation before they’d even ordered. “It gets a little easier,” she finally said, sliding her hand across the table and layering it over his. “My dad’s been gone about five years now, and it’s just a little pinch behind my heart these days.”
Graham nodded, because his emotions felt more like a cyclone than a pinch. The missing, the anger, the loneliness, the desperation all swirled together in perfect harmony, and he couldn’t speak.
“So the cabin has power,” Laney said, which made Graham focus on something else. “I’m thinking about taking Bailey and moving down there.”
“You don’t need to do that.” He practically barked the words at her, and he leaned b
ack in the booth, sliding his hand out from under hers.
The waitress appeared at that moment, and Graham took the excuse to order drinks and appetizers. As soon as Sylvia had left though, Laney said, “Your place is nearly full.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “I….” Could he say the thoughts of his heart? What if Laney found them too forward? Read too much into them?
“I like having you there,” he said, pushing himself to be brave, something he’d had to do a lot this past year. “I feel like if you go back to your ranch—or even the cabin—I won’t…I’ll….”
“Forget about me?”
“No,” he said quickly, trying to find the right explanation. “But we won’t get to spend as much time together, and I won’t get to know you as quickly as I’d like.” There. That didn’t sound too needy. Or like he had to have her nearby to even think about her. If she knew how often she played the starring role in his thoughts, he’d be embarrassed.
She tucked her hair behind her ear, his answer apparently satisfactory. “I’m not sure I could pull Bailey away at this point.”
“Then you’ll stay.”
“I guess so.”
“Don’t say it with so much enthusiasm,” he teased.
She laughed, and Graham did too, and when their eyes met again, Graham felt himself slipping a little bit. He’d fallen like this before—once—and he knew where he’d end up if he allowed himself to keep pursuing this relationship.
With a wedding band on his finger and a wife in his life.
And while he’d thought he didn’t need or want those things, if they came with Laney, he suddenly did want them. Very much.
“So,” she said. “Tell me what you do at work.”
He groaned, but he started talking about the robot he’d been developing for the past eight months that could potentially change how the entire business of fracking worked. To her credit, Laney acted interested, and that further endeared her to Graham.
That, and she ate an entire skyscraper of French fries by herself.
Graham pointed to something on one of the papers in front of Eli. “But if I moved downstairs, we could rent out these three rooms too.”
“If we’re really thinking about renting out the rooms, you need an on-site staff.” Eli pulled out another booklet. “This is the staff directory at Pure Paradise.” He dropped it on top of the other folders and lists they brothers had been working on and discussing for days.
“Yeah, but they’re at least a hundred times bigger than this.” Andrew leaned forward. “We’ve got six bedrooms upstairs. That’s nine hundred dollars a night if we sell them for one-fifty, which I think we’ve decided on.” He glanced at Graham and then Eli. Beau hadn’t arrived from the valley yet, but he wasn’t going to be too involved in the start up of Whiskey Mountain Lodge.
Graham waved for Andrew to go on. “So we need, maximum, someone to clean six rooms a day. How long can that take?”
“Thirty minutes, tops,” Eli said. “Or we get someone else.”
“This isn’t a luxury resort on the beach,” Graham said. “But it’s definitely not full time.”
“So that person can help in the kitchen,” Andrew said. “And if we’re going to serve dinner every night, we’ll need someone here in the afternoons doing that.”
“So someone to clean in the mornings, and someone to cook in the afternoons. That’s full time work.” Graham made a note on his phone. “And I have Celia already. What if she wants to be the cook but not the housekeeper?”
“You have a housekeeper too.”
“And we think we want to offer Celia and Annie a place to live here?” Graham hadn’t included that in his offer to them, but they were both part-time. Neither seemed to mind the hours he gave them.
“I don’t know,” Eli said. “Do we?”
“I don’t think we need full-time on-site staff if we’re all going to live here too.” Andrew leaned back in his chair.
Surprise pulled through Graham. “You guys are moving in too?”
“The basement is empty,” Andrew said. “And we’re all single.”
Single. The word rang in Graham’s head. “Well, things change.”
“Oh, right.” Eli chuckled. “Because you’re dating Laney now.”
“She doesn’t do things lightly,” Graham said, determining that would be the last thing he’d say about her or their relationship.
“So let’s say you get married.” Andrew waved his hand toward Graham and then Eli, who nodded in acknowledgement. “Your master bedroom is like a small apartment. And Bailey could have the room right across the hall.” He gestured again, and Graham smiled at the way his brother couldn’t seem to say a sentence without his hands.
“They’d still have use of the kitchen. There are private living areas in the basement, your office, the small TV room across from the mudroom.” Andrew started nodding. “The main festivities for the lodge guests would be in the foyer, which is big enough for movie nights, tree lightings, popcorn tastings, whatever else we want to do.”
“And it’s more than they’d get at a hotel,” Eli tossed in. “And I’ll get the boarding stable up and running, and we’ll have a pool in the back in the summer, and easy access to hiking trails, a private entrance to the National Park….” He lifted his eyebrows as if to say Enough said.
Graham didn’t know what to say. The idea of having strangers living upstairs didn’t sit very straight in his gut. But he wanted his brothers to come back to Coral Canyon. He’d seen his mother’s face with all of her sons here, and if he could get Andrew and Eli back in town, he’d do it.
Both of his brothers watched him, waiting. “Let’s get Beau on the documentation we need to be a legally operating lodge,” he said, and Andrew cheered.
He immediately turned to Eli and said, “I get the gray room downstairs.”
Eli rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’ll take the blue one. And Stockton can have the one beside me.”
“What about when you guys get married?” Graham asked.
Eli blinked at him and then started laughing. “Oh, brother,” he said as he stood, their meeting clearly over. “I’m never doing that again.” He headed for the door, and Andrew stood to follow him.
“Yeah, I’m with Eli,” Andrew said. “Except I’ve never been married, so I can’t say again.”
Graham waited until his brothers left him alone in the office and then he muttered, “Yeah, that’s what I thought, but look at me now.” He reached for his phone so he could talk to Laney, the one person he wanted to share everything with.
Chapter 15
Laney hummed to herself as she packed the clothes she’d brought with her to the lodge. The power had been restored at the ranch yesterday, and she and Bailey were returning tomorrow, New Year’s Day.
Graham had been very convincing when he’d asked her to stay for the New Year’s Even party that night. Whispers about kissing under a disco ball had entered her ears, and she’d finally admitted that he could recite a shopping list in that husky voice of his and she’d probably melt into him and agree to whatever he’d said, the way she had that morning.
But since she’d come to Whiskey Mountain Lodge a few days before Christmas and had been here so long, she had way more than she could fit in the bag she had. So she’d be making a couple of trips today to get most of her and Bailey’s stuff back home.
“Where we belong,” she murmured as she folded another sweater. She liked being so close to Graham, but sometimes distance helped a relationship. It definitely would help Laney get some of her crooked thoughts straightened out.
“Knock, knock.”
She jumped at the sound of Graham’s voice outside her bedroom. To her knowledge, he never came upstairs.
“Hey.” She tossed the shirt she’d just picked up to the bed and moved in front of the pile of laundry. “What’re you…what’re you doing up here?”
“Seeing if you wanted to grab lunch before taking a load back to your place.” He
flashed that sexy smile that made her want to throw herself into his arms and kiss that mouth until it wasn’t grinning quite so coyly.
“Yeah, sure.”
“I’m ready whenever you are.”
Of course he was. He seemed to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. She’d been impressed by his work ethic, because by the time he emerged from his office in the morning, he already looked like he’d been up for hours. He got all the chores done around the farm, and he’d been meeting with his brothers behind closed doors too.
He’d told her a lot about it, and she hoped he and his brothers were successful at making Whiskey Mountain Lodge into what they wanted it to be.
She handed him her stuffed bag and said, “Use your muscles for this, cowboy.”
He chuckled as he took it, sweeping his free arm around her waist and pinning her against his body before he kissed her. This kiss was slow, sensual, exploratory. She let him take his time, her heartbeat accelerating with each moment that passed.
When he kissed her like this, she’d learned that he was feeling vulnerable and needed some sort of reassurance. So she returned his affection with as much passion as he gave her.
“Ready now,” he finally whispered. When he stepped back, he looked at her lazily, that slow smile curving his lips and promising another bone-melting kiss later.
Laney felt like she was walking on clouds as she rode next to him in his big SUV, as he ordered the exact kind of pizza she liked from Just a Pie, as he asked her about her resolutions for the new year.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “Just trying to survive.” She hadn’t told him anything more about her money troubles, and she wouldn’t unless they got really serious. Like, diamond ring serious. “Make sure Bailey’s happy. That kind of thing.”
“She said she wanted a new puppy.”
Laney scoffed. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. I’ll have to get up in the middle of the night with it, and I’m too old for that.”
Graham gave her a peculiar look, his right eye squinting a bit more than his left.
