As they got closer, cresting the hill before the slope downward, Melody suppressed a gasp and cast a sharp glance at Stryder who studied her as they walked. She swallowed and looked away quickly, careful to keep the surprise from her face.
A gazebo had been erected on the slight plateau to the side of the tree opposite the swing. Soft flowing white material floated like curtains around the tent-like structure. Twinkling lights had been strung up in the tree, all the way to the top and soft candlelight glowed on a round small table under the gazebo in glass mason jars.
Melody hesitated. The situation was more complicated than just eating at his house or even going into town to eat with all the gossip that would stir up. There were expectations in the candlelight and silky tent. They’d always talked about setting something like that up and having a wedding out there. The thought of a wedding and the implications of the location and everything he’d done struck her dumb and she blinked back suddenly present tears at all they’d lost.
Melody stopped, pulling back. “I… I can’t…. Stryder, this is… I don’t think it’d be fair.” She couldn’t breathe as she took in his strong features, shadowed by his hat and the warm light. Why? Why couldn’t she have everything she wanted?
Stryder turned back, his eyes pleading as he reached for her hand. “No, it’s not a date. It’s just…” He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb, making butterflies destroy her tummy. He pulled her close, his voice low as he begged her with his tone. “Let’s take a break. Take a break from hating me. Just… let’s take a break, okay? We can go back to all that tomorrow. We deserve this, Melody. Please.”
The please did her in. Melody studied him, surrounded in the halo of the lights in the ambience he’d created that promised romance and forever while he said to just forget what had happened. Forget her anger. Why couldn’t she have everything she ever wanted? Even if it was only for an hour or two? He was offering it and there was nothing wrong with pretending.
It wasn’t a date.
But she didn’t buy it. She didn’t believe it. And yet… she was hungry and just desperate enough that she would go along with it. She could pretend. They used to play house all the time growing up. She could pretend this was the same thing. She’d have to talk to her heart later, but for right now, her stomach won the argument.
She nodded slowly, relenting to his pull. “Okay.” That single word had better not be her undoing. She had to keep her walls up. She could do that. She could protect herself.
If Stryder turned on his charm and smiled at her like he used to, the lights and the creek would just be the beginning to her losing her heart all over again.
Chapter 10
Stryder
Stryder hadn’t been that nervous in years. He’d had everything flown in for that night to the point he’d just bought the airstrip on the north side of Two Rides for easier access and less necessity to clear anything with other people. They all worked for him now, which meant he didn’t need permission. He didn’t like getting permission from anyone for anything.
He rubbed his damp palms down the tops of his thighs and stared across the table at Melody. A soft gray smudge on her nose made him want to reach across and softly wipe it from her skin.
Melody cleared her throat, reaching with shaking fingers for her crystal glass of ice water. She looked around, her eyes wide as she took in the real table and chairs and the presence of china dishes and real cutlery. “You’ve been busy. What did the town’s billionaire do today?”
Her trembling fingers gave him pause. She was as nervous as he was. That fact assuaged some of his anxiety and he smiled at her question. “You probably wouldn’t believe me.”
Melody smirked. “Try me.” She set her drink down and folded her hands in her lap, putting on her listening face that he’d missed so long.
Challenge accepted. “Okay, well, to be blunt, the internet access out here is… shall we say less than stellar? I need a much stronger connection so I can work from my home office, so I spent the better part of the morning buying the local cable company and then paying for a town-wide upgrade. It’s going to be a good chunk of change, but if everything goes according to my business model, it will have paid for itself within three months.” He glanced out of the tent, motioning toward Javier, who he’d flown in to serve them that night.
Melody stared in disbelief, her lips parted and she blinked. “Your business model? What exactly is it you do? I mean, I know you’re rich and all that, but how… I mean, how did you get that way?” She laughed and then glanced up as Javier carefully placed a new china plate in front of her with coconut prawns and huckleberry sauce. He placed a plate in front of Stryder and bowed his way out of the tent. Melody glanced back at Stryder. “You weren’t born with money, is what I mean.”
“I know what you mean. And you’re right. What I’ve done is taken a standard takeover model that many business people us – buy out everything, demolish it, and start over – and I’ve turned it on its head.” Stryder warmed to his subject, ignoring the seed of embarrassment that blossomed at talking about what he did. It was business. His best-friend, Trevor, was constantly telling him it was okay to explain what he did. “So, instead of going into a small town and buying everything up and ghosting it to be used for something later, I buy up businesses in a town and increase the pay and benefits substantially.”
“Why? How does that make you money? You’re spending more.” Melody glanced at her plate but kept her hands in her lap. She chewed her bottom lip and reached for her water again.
Stryder motioned toward the prawns. “Please, go ahead and eat. I’ll see if I can explain it.” He cocked his head to the side as she picked up a prawn and ate it. “It’s the idea that if I own most of the businesses and people have money to spend, I’ll be able to profit. But it’s more than that. I had to experiment on a few towns before coming to Two Rides to enact the model, but if I pick carefully – like choose a company that has been previously successful, I can reenact that success by focusing on the traits that built the community and fixing what ‘broke’ it, for lack of a better term.”
Melody nodded in understanding. “You make money by being helpful. That’s rare.” Her tone didn’t hide being impressed which warmed Stryder’s chest.
“Yeah, I guess it is.” He ate with her, falling into silence as they enjoyed the first course. He wanted to show her all the fine things she’d missed by choosing to stay there and not go with him, but he also wanted to make her feel like she could eat the things he’d learned to love. Caviar wasn’t an option. They’d only heard of that there in Two Rides and it might gross Melody out.
“That was delicious, thank you.” Melody placed her napkin beside her plate and moved to stand, pausing at the hand Stryder held up.
“I’m sorry, that was just the first course. If you’re still hungry, there’s plenty more.” Javier removed their plates, suddenly there like an apparition and then placed in front of them each a sixteen-ounce prime rib with a potato and salad on the side. The meal was Stryder’s favorite and Melody had always loved a good steak.
Melody sank slowly to the chair and stared at her plate. “No, this is too much.”
“Why? I was going to eat anyway. We’re just friends, Melody.” His heart hurt every time he said it, but he’d say whatever she needed to hear to keep her there.
Melody didn’t drag her gaze from the meat on her plate. “You can’t buy me, Stryder.” She finally glanced up. “I know you’re with Candy. Go back to her. She’s probably fine without all the extra hoopla.”
As if caught in the act of stealing a prized bull, Stryder stilled. “How did you know about Candy?” He wasn’t even sure what he knew about Candy, except they’d been out a couple times as a favor to one of his friends and she’d turned into a slight stalker. Now, he couldn’t seem to shake her and she somehow acted like they were together or getting married or something.
Melody shrugged. “Mrs. Singhe at the laundromat and floris
t prides herself on knowing everything about you.” Melody reached cautiously for her fork and knife, as if waiting for him to take it away. “Is Candy excited to move here?”
A warm flush crept up Stryder’s skin. “It’s not like that.” Just where had Mrs. Singhe gotten her information?
“Sure, it is. You didn’t have to wait for me, or pretend there’s anything between us, Stryder. That all died a long time ago.” She scoffed, cutting carefully into the steak. “You don’t owe me anything.”
“You mean, I killed it, right? When I left?” He studied her, leaning back in his seat. Self-righteous anger began to rise inside him. He hadn’t wanted to address what had happened, not yet. And there she was pushing things aside as if they were already figured out and done. That irritated him, not to mention she got a lot wrong. Nothing was dead for him. It stung that she considered it over between them. “And you, what about you? Have you been waiting for me all this time?”
Melody took a bite of steak and ignored both questions. Her long hair hung past her shoulders and Stryder caught a glimpse of a collarbone beneath the collar of her t-shirt as she leaned forward. She’d always been able to make rags look more elegant than a ballgown. Stryder had always admired that about her.
He couldn’t let it go. She’d opened the bag and her silence just further infuriated him. “What do you think happened?” If she had waited for him, he would have come back, but Clint assured him, repeatedly that Melody had moved on. Stryder hadn’t killed anything. He’d been out trying to revive it all this time. How much did he have to prove he loved Melody? More than a billion? How about two?
Melody finished chewing, then swallowed, pointing toward him with the tines of her fork. “You had a better offer. You left. It doesn’t have to be complicated.” She poked her fork at her plate. “This is delicious. Thank you.”
Stryder studied her, furrowing his brow as he tried to put the pieces together. She was constantly surprising him and he hadn’t been that out of his depth since walking into his first MBA class. “What do you mean it doesn’t have to be complicated? Everything about us is complex and worth a little more thought than just shoving us under the rug.” He ran his hand through his hair, sighing as he tried not getting upset.
Melody didn’t speak for a minute as she ate a couple more bites of her steak. She finally set her fork and knife down and leaned her forearms against the edge of the table. “Stryder… I’m not mad anymore. I used to be… so mad… and hurt.” Her face softened and she offered a slight smile. “But it’s like when my mom left, you know? I can’t control her. I can’t make her love me. Just like I can’t make you love me. There’s so much more out there than Two Rides and me. I get it.” She shrugged her graceful shoulder. “I just wish I’d known you’d moved on before I wasted so much time waiting.”
The proverbial stallion had returned and Stryder tried not to grunt as if a real horse had kicked him again. Being around Melody was dangerous – she had more surprises she revealed slowly. He wasn’t prepared for them. Clenching his fist, he pressed his knuckles into the ridges of his abs and took a deep breath. “Clint… Your dad never told you what happened? Or what… He didn’t tell you.” The latter wasn’t a question. The truth was coming out and he had no way to tell her without sounding desperate like he was making things up.
She laughed, tilting her head to the side. “Tell me what? Did you send him a secret letter? Maybe he hid a bunch of letters from me.” She shook her head, her laughter more derisive than humorous. “No, let’s just be honest here. I wasted a lot of time on what I thought we had. You moved on and got rich while I stayed here and…” She laughed uncomfortably, tucking her hair back behind her shoulder. “Obviously didn’t.”
“I see.” Stryder had never felt more helpless as he studied her graceful features and the sadness she hid behind her blunt bravado.
He pushed a piece of meat through the creamy horseradish on his plate and avoided looking at her for a moment. He didn’t want to see the truth in her eyes – that they were lost and there was nothing he could do about it. He didn’t take failure well and he had to admit, the blow she’d dealt didn’t do much but assert that he’d lost her and there was nothing he could do about it.
The sound of a diesel thundering up the road and getting closer pulled Stryder’s attention from his plate.
Headlights turned up the small dirt path Stryder had used to bring everything for his surprise for Melody. The evening was turning out worse than he’d ever thought possible. How he longed to be able to go back in time and… do what? Now he had to deal with a newcomer and Stryder wasn’t sure what to expect.
The truck stopped on the other side of the van Javier cooked from.
The red paint reflected the lights from the gazebo and Stryder leaned back to watch the driver get out and storm toward them.
Wide shoulders and a stocky build flooded Stryder back to when he’d returned to Two Rides for Melody and she’d found her at the Two Rides rodeo park. The same man had stood beside her and even wrapped his arm around her. She hadn’t shrugged him off.
Melody glanced toward the newcomer and looked back at her plate, shaking her head.
Stryder studied her as Brock got closer. That wasn’t happiness to see the man she’d replaced Stryder with.
What did Brock want and how far was Stryder going to let him go after it?
Chapter 11
Melody
Brock wasn’t taking the hint and he wasn’t taking the not-so-subtle no’s either. She was finally getting some kind of closure with Stryder. And there was Brock, interrupting the time with Stryder that Melody was just selfish enough to be grateful for since she hadn’t seen him in years. Plus, after they got everything taken care of between them, would they even see each other again?
She pushed that thought to the side with sadness she didn’t want to explore. Brock’s boots stomped on the grass. Melody placed her fork down and pasted a forced smile to her lips.
Brock snarled as he got closer, pushing through the filmy material and glaring at the lights and dinner. He reached out and roughly grabbed Melody by her upper bicep, yanking her to her feet and toppling her chair behind her. She didn’t whimper, but she was close. She glanced embarrassedly at Stryder and tried shaking Brock off. “Ow, you’re hurting me.” She muttered and pushed at his vice-tight fingers. They pinched at her skin and she had no doubt there’d be a bruise there in the morning.
He lifted his hand as if he might slap her and Melody flinched. Alcohol seeped from his skin and burned the air between them.
He was a drinker, like her father. He had never been able to own the fact that he drank and it was a problem. Melody couldn’t have that in her life. No more alcohol. Not anymore. Not since her dad was gone. “You’re been drinking. Get away from me.”
Lowering his arm, Brock growled at her again and then wrapped his forearm around her neck, dragging her to the side. “Come on.” His words slurred and spittle caught on the lower fleshy part of his lip.
Stryder pushed back calmly from the table, taking the linen napkin and tossing it beside his plate. He strode around the side of the table, rolling up his sleeves as he walked like time stood still for him.
Which it kind of did.
Melody couldn’t stop watching him. Stryder had always had a magnetism about him, but with righteous anger darkening his face and the flicker of the candlelight on his masculine features, he took Melody’s breath away.
If Brock were smart, he’d be scared.
Stryder reached out before Brock could register what was going on. Wrapping his fingers around the nape of Brock’s neck, Stryder almost smiled. Yanking Brock close and shaking him until he dropped his hold of Melody, Stryder murmured close to Brock’s ear, but loud enough Melody could hear it. “Go home. Don’t come back. If I catch you anywhere near Melody again…” The promise didn’t need to be completed. The threat sent a shiver down Melody’s back and he wasn’t even directing it at her.
Br
ock fumbled at his neck, grasping for a hold of Stryder’s arm to pull it off, his eyes bulging with furious desperation. But Stryder’s grip was like iron and he seemed to be enjoying the game.
Melody stepped back from Brock’s reach, pressing her fingers to her lips. She placed her hand out, grabbing at the chair to steady herself before she fell down. No food for a long while and then the sudden influx of such rich fare left her head spinning.
Brock narrowed his eyes at Melody, struggling against Stryder’s hold. He dropped his hand from Stryder’s arm around his neck and reached for his side. He always carried. Everyone did and Stryder had lived in California too long. He didn’t know about the guns or the fact that Brock was a bully.
But Stryder laughed and tightened his forearm. “I know what you’re reaching for, Brocky, and I wouldn’t do it. You’ll end up in prison so fast. Just go home and sleep it off. Then, when you’re sober, think about what you did and come back while I’m there and apologize to Melody…” He lowered his voice to a whisper and Melody couldn’t hear what he said, but whatever he said, Brock nodded shakily, fear covering his eyes and his face taking on a distinct pallor.
Brock shook Stryder off. He stared for a moment at the two of them, then turned and rushed toward his truck. He pushed past Javier who carried a tray and walked toward the tent. The truck drove off, leaving behind a surprised silence.
Melody swallowed, lamely lifting her hand and then letting it fall to her side. “You shouldn’t have done that. Brock Stidwell… he’s a bigger bully than his dad.” What was she going to do? She wasn’t going to have many options, if Brock remembered what had happened. She’d have to leave Two Rides.
Stryder scoffed, unrolling his sleeves and rebuttoning them at his wrists. “I’m not scared of Brock. He can’t touch me.” He moved closer to Melody, tenderness in his gaze.
That wasn’t the point. Leave it to Stryder to only think of himself. Melody thrust her jaw to the side, anger pushing away her shame. “Yeah? That’s great for you and Candy. What about me?” She poked the center of her chest, blinking back tears. “I need to find work. When you leave, and we both know you will, what then?” She had to find a job and her frustration with her situation brought tears to her eyes, tears she refused to shed in front of him. No way did Stryder get to see more weakness from her. “The Stidwell family will block all the jobs. I won’t be able to get anything. I’ll either have to marry him or I’ll need…” She didn’t say anything as her throat constricted.
Stryder: The Second Chance Billionaire (The Billionaire Cowboys of Clearwater County Book 1) Page 6
