My new hobby had become studying Xander’s family. They all seemed to accept me as readily as my family had accepted him. The guys acted like Hector—respectful, but willing to put me to work. Their wives were more like Eris than Rina—except for Eva. She might be a little more like Rina once she got to know me.
It was exciting.
I was making friends with people who weren’t my family and could decide to have nothing to do with me.
That they all cared about Xander was obvious. He needed to talk to his dad. He needed to quit avoiding him.
Kendall spoke up. “Listen, Savvy. We thought the guys could have some time tonight to be charming assholes with each other while we steal you and go to the Tap.”
“Are you asking me out?”
Kendall grinned and her breath puffed out. “Savvy, would you do me the honor of having a few drinks with me in a dive bar tonight?”
“I’d get down on one knee, but . . .” Eva picked up her boot and grimaced at what was stuck to the bottom. They looked newish, but not fresh out of the box. All the women’s clothing and footwear had seen dirt and manure a few times before.
“It’s not like an interrogation or anything, is it? You three aren’t going to torture me to see if I’m worthy of Xander?”
“Honestly, we don’t know Xander well enough to decide that,” Kate said quietly, but with a slight smile to take the edge off her little land mine of a statement.
Kendall chuckled and squinted into the sun. “Maybe we should’ve done that with him when we first met him.”
“Full disclosure, I’ve seen him in his underwear.” We all stared at Eva and she put her hands up. “I was using his room when I first came here as Beckett’s assistant.” She rolled her eyes. “Fake fiancée.”
“I’ve heard the story. The fake fiancée part, not the underwear.” Add it to the list of things Xander didn’t talk about.
“Anyway,” Eva continued, “I was in Xander’s room because we didn’t even know he was coming, but he showed up in the middle of the night and crawled into what he thought was an empty bed.” Her cheeks flushed. “I haven’t thanked him for scaring me into Beckett’s bed that night.”
Kate giggled. “Who scared who more?”
“Since I fell on my ass between the bed and the wall, I think it was me. Xander thought it was hilarious, more so after Beckett came rushing in.”
Kendall fiddled with her bun. “I’m going to risk sounding like Grams, but I can’t wait to see what scares some girl into Dawson’s bed.” We all blinked at her. None of the King men had to work hard to get women into their bed. Kendall sputtered when she realized what she’d said. “I mean . . . Lord. You know what I mean.”
Laughter broke out between us. Tonight was going to be fun.
Xander
The girls spilled out of the house on a wave of laughter and perfume. The sight of Savvy laughing and joking with all of them wormed its way inside me. How often would Savvy and I come to Montana so I could see her like this?
Dawson set five long-necks on the counter. “Now that the vegetarian is gone, can we grill?”
I snagged a bottle before my brothers got there. “She’s not a strict vegetarian. You’d just get interrogated about where the beef came from before she ate any.” Dawson pointed to the pastures and I flipped him off. “I know where it came from, jackass.”
“Is she afraid she’ll end up like the Pioneer Woman?”
“Who the hell’s the Pioneer Woman?” I looked at my brothers. Beck was next to me on the other side of the counter from Dawson. He shook his head. So did Aiden from his barstool as he scrolled through his phone. The guy never quit working. Even Dad shook his head, his reading glasses perched on his nose as he caught up with the King’s Creek newspaper.
“She’s got her own cooking show. Her schtick is that she lives on a ranch.” Dawson shook his head when none of us caught on to what he was saying. “She tells the story of how she was a vegetarian before she met her rancher husband. Then he made her some awesome steak or something. Christ, guys. Keep up with the times.”
Beck took a drink of his beer. “How did you get through that spiel without making some sort of dirty comment about the guy’s meat?”
Dawson picked up a pair of tongs and pointed them at Beck. “I don’t mess around when it comes to food, and I’m starving.” He hitched up the tray full of seasoned and marinated steaks and went down the hall to the back door.
Beck followed him, and I was about to when Dad spoke. “Sapphire tell you that I hired Abbot Security?”
Aiden glanced up from his phone but went right back to work. I couldn’t count on him to be a wall of support. The brother I’d grown up with was different from this guy.
“Yeah. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I might’ve anyway. It’s hard to say.” Dad took his glasses off and set the paper down. “Walter’s approach turned me off at first, but he came so highly recommended. That’s why I agreed to meet with him in Vegas.”
“But you didn’t hire him then.”
Dad’s smile was sly and sometimes I forgot that he hadn’t gotten to where he was today by being crap at his job. “I made him work for it. Seriously, though. I try to keep my business local, but when he said he could help me integrate with Montana companies that don’t have the extensive reach and knowledge he does, it was a given. He knows what he’s doing.”
I nodded and tried edging out the door, but Dad wasn’t done. “Sapphire’s not working for him anymore, I see.”
“No, we decided to travel.”
The look Dad shot me asked the question louder than if he’d spoken. Did you both decide, or did you make the decision for her and she had to chase after you like we’ve all had to do? After a beat, he started, “There was a company I was supposed to meet with in Las Vegas.”
I wanted to groan. I’d forgotten about the very reason Savvy and I had met in the first place.
“Saving Sunsets,” Dad continued. “I was supposed to meet with a Sapphire Abbot and Brady Younger. I thought it was extremely coincidental that Walter Abbot showed up with a daughter that had the same name after my meeting had been canceled, but I couldn’t get ahold of the company afterward.”
“It folded while Savvy and Brady were there. She said the founder wasn’t a good businessman.”
“That’s a shame. The premise was good. It’s disappointing that the follow-through was lacking. I’ve been looking for a company that provides similar research data and the educational opportunities they advertised. I’m thinking of hiring someone instead.”
I turned toward the back hallway that led to the garage, where Dawson grilled just outside the door to be out of the wind. “Well, Brady’s taken. He went to Kosovo too and is doing work there as a hiking guide.”
“Too bad,” Dad’s murmur followed me out. “I was interested in what they had to say.”
I made my getaway before the subject turned to me. Yet I’d managed to have a conversation with my father that hadn’t left me with the usual sting of inadequacy. Dad might’ve been talking up Savvy’s skills instead of mine, but that was good enough. And it showed me that I would have to work harder to earn my place at her side.
Chapter 18
Savvy
My sides hurt from laughing so hard. These girls liked to have fun. The few times I had been able to afford going out with friends from college, there had always been an agenda, and it had often revolved around a guy, or finding a guy. Tonight was nothing more than us getting to know each other. For them, it might be a little vacation. They all had jobs they were getting away from.
Accomplished women. I got why Xander felt inferior around his brothers.
Kendall’s smile stretched wide. She was in the middle of a story about running to a parts store in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with Aiden while Gentry was in a meeting. “Then he says, ‘Maybe you want to check with your husband,’ like I wasn’t just pointing in their catalog at the exact car battery we needed. S
o Aiden turns around, about to chew into the man, and I said, ‘Oh, no, he’s not my husband, he’s my son.’ ” She smacked the table with her palm as she laughed. “I’ve been waiting to use that line for forever.”
I snorted, imagining the salesman’s reaction. Aiden and Kendall were the same age.
But there was more. “So he goes, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I mean, it’s none of his business and he’s the one that assumed I was dumb, so I say, ‘His dad owns an oil company so it made more sense to marry him instead.’ Then I blinked all innocent and smiled like the vapid female he thought I was.”
Eva’s grin glowed with wickedness. “If you ever get to use that line when you’re with all four of the brothers, you have to video it.”
Kendall’s head dropped back. “Oh my God, that’s on my bucket list. Can you imagine?” Her smile faded. “You think they’d all be cool about it? I wasn’t sure how Aiden would take it, but since the guy had been kind of insulting, I took a chance. He didn’t flinch, and when I made the oil company comment, he just shrugged and nodded—it was priceless.”
“I think Beckett would be a good sport,” Eva said. “Dawson would probably call you Mom first.”
Kate fiddled with her White Claw can. “Like you said, in the right situation, Aiden would be game.”
In unison, they all turned to look at me. I raised my brows.
“What about Xander?” Kendall prodded.
“Um . . .” How would Xander react? He talked about his mom a lot, but he seemed to like Kendall. “I don’t know. Maybe as a joke?”
“Most definitely,” Kendall agreed. “It would only be to mess with someone. I feel like there should be a name besides stepmom for those of us who are similar in age to our stepkids.”
“Isn’t it ‘trophy wife’?” Kate’s eyes flared wide and her cheeks lit red like she was inches from a bonfire. “Oh—”
Kendall sputtered and threw her head back on a laugh. I chuckled with Eva. There’d been no malice in Kate’s statement. The joke in her voice had been clear, but I doubted she was ever that honest with people. She’d been reserved the entire night and I didn’t think that was unusual.
“I was kidding— I—”
Kendall dabbed at the tears gathering in the corner of her eyes. “I know, but that was hilarious. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself.”
After a few minutes, Eva rose. “I have to pee again. Anyone wanna be my posse?”
“Me,” I said, rising.
“We’ll need a name,” Kate said as we were walking to the back hallway. “King’s Queens, or something like that.”
Her comment brought the memory of my wedding night. I am a King and you are my treasure. My heart warmed at the real meaning behind the words. He was a King, but his family was the treasure. I couldn’t imagine spending so much time away from them. It’d been less than a week, but I didn’t want to go. I would eventually, but I wouldn’t want to go far. I missed my sisters. I even missed my parents. But this helped.
I wanted to travel, but I didn’t want to journey all over the world for years on end. So that narrowed down my future aspirations. Being around these women was inspiring. Instead of being intimidated, I was motivated.
Two shadows were tucked deep in the hallway, lit by the exit sign. A slender woman stood tall with worn-jean-clad legs that went on for miles and hair that glowed like the bonfire I’d thought of earlier. The man was older, burly, and standing like an immovable stone.
“I told you to quit selling to him,” the woman growled. She had to be close to my age, maybe a year or two older, and a whole lot more badass. She wasn’t intimidated by the mountain of a man at all. I was and I’d just turned the corner.
“He’s a paying customer. I’m not a bouncer and I have a business to run.”
“Dammit, Errol. You’re taking advantage of him.”
The man snorted. “Ain’t no one taking advantage of your daddy, Bristol.”
Whoa. How many Bristols could there be in little King’s Creek, Montana?
Eva tried to slink into the bathroom, sensing the conversation was just as awkward as I had, but Bristol spotted us at the same moment. The man saw his chance and darted back into the off-sale portion of the building.
Her gaze landed on Eva and recognition lit. Then it landed on me. “The newest addition to the King herd?”
I’d expected the venom, but there was just as much curiosity. Her arms were crossed, but I took a chance.
Sticking my hand out, I said, “I’m Savvy, Xander’s wife.”
The word’s rolled out, still foreign on my tongue.
She eyed me like she didn’t understand a single syllable I’d said. Then she slowly extracted a hand and gave mine a quick shake. “Bristol. The wicked witch of a neighbor that I’m sure you’ve heard all about.”
“You have the hair, but you’re not green.”
Her lips twitched. “It’s the red from the neon lights. Neutralizes my tone.”
Eva pulled up next to me. “Hey, Bristol.”
“Eva, right?” Eva nodded and Bristol took a step back. “Well, I’d better go before I get you into trouble.”
I didn’t have a chance to argue—I wanted to get to know this mystery woman—before she shouldered her way out the exit door, her face tucked into the collar of her shirt.
Eva nudged me with an elbow. “She’s not harmless and that’s why I kind of like her.”
“Why do they hate her so much?”
“There’s history there I don’t understand, but ultimately I think when she didn’t show up to the funeral, they felt like she chose her drunk of a dad over their mom, who’d doted on her.”
I did the math. “She had to have been a kid.”
“Yep. But she backs her dad, every time, no matter what despicable thing he does.”
I had no idea what her dad was like, but I’d been afraid to even tell mine I didn’t want to work for him. Chief was a lot of things, but I knew without meeting Daniel Cartwright that they were nothing alike.
“There’s a lot of history there,” I murmured. It seemed easy enough to ask, to talk with Bristol instead of fighting her head-on.
But then I thought of the times I’d asked Xander to talk to his dad. And when I’d taken the job with Chief and Xander had left. Talking wasn’t his strong suit and it’d almost broken us up once.
Xander
The horses’ nickers carried across the pasture to us. They were tied up on a fence post, grazing on what hadn’t turned brown and brittle yet. I’d packed a blanket and food for me and Savvy. Our picnic was spread out, already eaten. I’d packed myself a leftover roast beef sandwich from the four roasts Dawson had cooked last night after we’d worked cattle. For Savvy, I’d made a cucumber and avocado wrap. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Dawson knew what avocados were, let alone how to use them. Maybe I should’ve asked if he had plans for it before I cut it up.
Savvy gathered up all our items and stuffed them into the tote bag. “I can’t believe how nice out it is. Is this what the weather is usually like this time of year?”
“Sometimes. Some years, there’s snow, but it doesn’t stick around long. Most years, it’s like this though, and the bluff blocks the wind.”
She looked around. We weren’t far from the ravine that Dawson and I had ridden out to earlier in the week. It was a high point in this area and rugged enough that the cows didn’t like to come out this far. The butte jutted nearly vertical from this patch of level ground, leaving what was like a large landing.
“Mama used to bring us out here for picnics.”
Savvy pointed to the ravine that dropped off to the left and the rolling hills that rose from the river valley in front of us. “I thought I recognized this area. This picture is in your room.”
“It’s one of hers, yes. She taught me how to use her camera here.” I ran my fingers along the outer edge of my camera bag. On a whim, I’d actually packed it.
The fact that it was on a
whim showed how long it’d been since photography had been the center of my life.
“I can see why you always came here when you were upset. I feel like my mind is a thousand times clearer, and talk about inspiring. It’s gorgeous.”
The breathlessness of her voice and the way her gaze soaked in the grassy terrain and touched on the glittering blue peeking between the trees were just as she’d said—inspiring. I unzipped the bag and withdrew my camera.
Savvy glanced over, her small smile encouraging. She framed her hands like a photograph. “That’d be a perfect shot, right?”
I had the perfect shot all lined up, but it wasn’t a landscape. She looked over at me and I hit the button. The series of clicks didn’t bother the horses or their grazing.
Savvy’s cheeks flushed and she glanced away. I took another shot.
“I have plenty of the land,” I said and lined up another shot. The sun glowing behind us made her hair several shades lighter and once we’d sat down, she’d let it out of its top bun. She looked relaxed, happy, and free. This was the Savvy that I’d fallen in love with.
“That’s the first picture you’ve taken of me.”
I lowered the camera. “I know. Does that bother you?”
“Seems odd. We don’t even have a selfie together.”
“I’m not a selfie guy. And photography has been . . .” I set the camera aside. “Taking pictures got me through a lot, and then it wasn’t enough.” I wasn’t enough. “I didn’t want to take random photos of you and have them feel . . . insignificant. Because you’re the most important person in my life and I had to be sure I didn’t fuck those shots up too.” The words I’d been thinking fell out of my mouth. “I love you, Savvy.”
King's Treasure (Oil Kings Book 3) Page 21
