Whatever it was, she could tell Adrian Bear was becoming more to her than she ever expected him to be.
CHAPTER Fourteen
GOLDIE DIDN’T GET THE CHANCE to reply to his inquisitive, vulnerable gaze before the cowboy crooning sweet love songs finished another ballad. Again, she lifted her hands to applaud him only to be met by silence.
“Why isn’t anyone clapping for him?” she mused, deciding to be the rebel. She slapped her palms together in painstaking obviousness. Of course, her clapping was going to be noticeable. Adrian tapped his fork to his lips before setting down his utensils and joining in.
“Thank you,” the cowboy said into his mic. Several others at the surrounding tables joined in as if they only just realized the music was live. “I appreciate that, thank you.”
Gratification slipped down her spine. She was no musician, but she had an idea of the courage it must take to play in front of other people.
Adrian smirked at her.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said as the cowboy started a new song with a livelier beat. He tapped the side of his guitar intermittently to add percussion, and Goldie was ready to settle in. This music, the lights, the company, this was butter.
Their waitress appeared with dishes of steak and steamed broccoli. The food looked amazing, and both Goldie and Adrian dug in. It was delicious.
“You were right,” she said, halfway through.
“About what?”
“This is definitely not Spaghettios.”
Adrian laughed. “I’m glad you like it.”
His hand was resting on the table beside her napkin. She wondered if he was doing it on purpose to taunt her. She had the sudden urge to reach and stroke his fingers, but she kept her free hand tightly fisted in her lap. This wasn’t a real date. He wasn’t really interested in her. It was just a ploy to keep him off his mom’s radar until he returned to Chicago.
When dinner finished, Goldie dug a few dollars from her purse and slipped them into the musician’s case. He tipped his hat in thanks, and the two of them left the way they’d come.
Adrian offered to stop by Aunt Bethany’s house again, but again she was out. Goldie swallowed her disappointment.
The urge to touch him tormented her through their entire drive back to the ranch. It was probably nothing more than the invitation he’d presented, teasing her, turning it back on her to initiate contact. It would be so easy. He was a reach away, and she knew he wouldn’t reject her attempt. But she wasn’t here in Montana for romance. She would find her aunt and then she was going back home, too.
Adrian pulled into the drive and exited. Goldie did the same, closing the passenger door. Her gaze instantly lifted upward. Stars shined like silver flecks on an exquisite gown. The more she tried to grasp it all in one glance, the wider the sky spread.
The night had been incredible. Adrian was cordial, interesting, easy to talk to, and even easier to look at. She didn’t want to go inside yet. She wasn’t ready for the night to end.
“It’s amazing,” she said with an inhale.
“What is?”
“How the sky seems like it could swallow you up, right here.”
Adrian stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I guess I don’t really take the time to look. Most of the time, I do what I have to and leave as quickly as possible.”
“I don’t get that. If I had a place this amazing, I’d never want to leave.”
“It’s complicated,” Adrian said after a few moments, stepping away from her.
It felt like a sting. Goldie regretted her insistence on his home being amazing. She hadn’t meant to insult him. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t give you a hard time for it. I know your dad just died, and emotions must be pretty raw right now. I really was just trying to make conversation.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “You’re not an inconvenience, remember?” He lifted a hand as if to brush a hair from her temple, then seemed to think better of it. “The opposite, in fact.”
What did that mean? She wasn’t sure she was ready to find out. “I had a nice time, Adrian.”
“Want me to walk you to your door?”
She thought of Jordan eavesdropping earlier, and of the displeasure Adrian’s mom displayed any time she caught sight of Goldie and shook her head. If anything were said, starry-eyed or otherwise, she would feel too self-conscious about it. “We’d better just leave things out here.”
Steeling herself, she turned toward the porch.
“‘Oh wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?’”
Goldie paused and her heart did a jumping jack. Romeo and Juliet was something she could recite from memory, thanks to playing Juliet in high school. She peered back at him. “Did you just quote Shakespeare?”
He grinned. One hand in his pocket, moonlight playing on his brow, he was temptation itself. “I told you he was an evil genius.”
She was reeling. Business tycoon. Possible billionaire. Shakespeare enthusiast. Was he serious? Everything in her told her to ignore the impulse and continue to her room. She didn’t listen. “I believe Juliet asks Romeo what satisfaction he can’t have,” she said. “What is it you’re wanting?”
Adrian shrugged. “I can’t really say.”
“Oh?”
“I told you I wouldn’t initiate anything until you did.”
Tension prickled all across her body. “What exactly am I supposed to initiate?”
A shrug. “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
Oh goodness, was he saying he wanted to kiss her? The idea of feeling his lips against hers tripped through her. The truth was, she secretly liked the way he touched her and held her hand, and how attentive he was when she spoke. Which was all the more reason to keep him at a distance.
Was that distance really necessary, though?
An inner argument surfaced. She’d been one hundred percent honest about not wanting to take advantage of his hospitality and generosity. She was leaving in a few days. She didn’t want to get attached only for him to turn to the next woman who had something about her.
But she couldn’t deny the tug of attraction she felt anytime he was nearby. The idea of a kiss was far too intriguing.
“How about a hug?” she suggested, unable to let herself give in.
“You sure you can handle it?”
Her mouth matched his half-smile. Body pulsing, she made her way across the gravel to his cocky stance. Suddenly nervous about touching him, about pressing her body to him, she swallowed.
He waited, hands in his pockets. He’d really meant when he’d said he wouldn’t offer any initiation.
What was she supposed to do, squeeze around him like a tree trunk?
“A hug involves two people,” she said.
“Does it? I wondered.”
“That means you put your arms around me.”
“Uh-huh.” He took a step. One hand came free from its pocket.
“And I put mine around you.”
“I like where this is going.”
She wanted to sock him, but at the same time, anticipation was building. She could tell well enough how toned he was beneath that polo shirt of his. The wind stirred hints of his cologne toward her, making this all the more agonizing.
She couldn’t do this cold contact. She needed something from him. Gently, she reached for his hand. His skin was warm, and she stared at their fingers as they connected. The man might as well be filled with electricity for all the charge he was having on her. She was trembling inside, yet she couldn’t pull away.
“Thank you for taking me to dinner,” she said, closing the distance between them.
His arms opened to her, and she wrapped hers behind him, allowing his arms to enfold her. A feeling sank in, warm and soothing and reassuring. She’d never been held like this. Not by her last boyfriend or by any of the other dates she’d had walk her to her door. This wasn’t just a hug. It was more like slipping her hand into a perfectly fitted glove.
Crickets chirped, stars twinkled, and her pulse flew off the charts. She wondered if he could feel her heartbeat. Her head nestled perfectly against his chest, and he pressed his cheek to her hair.
If hugging Adrian was like this every time, she would never want to let go. He was warmth and safety, he was furtive laughter and hidden smiles. He was the welcome of home. She and Adrian stood together in the embrace for several more seconds before she pulled away.
“Best hug I’ve ever had,” Adrian said, his eyes smoky in the moonlight. His gaze flicked to her lips.
“Me too,” she shyly admitted before she could stop herself. Embarrassed, she tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
“You sure I can’t walk you to your door?”
She licked her bottom lip and did her best not to stare at his. “Good night, Adrian.”
There would be no door-walking. That meant another hug, and she was suddenly sure if she ever got that close to him again, she wouldn’t be able to let go.
***
Adrian’s mind was a tornado of thought and emotion. He was lost in its swirl until he managed to tromp past the barn, past Chase and Kimmy’s house to his mom’s and through to his room. Well, the room wasn’t actually his; the room he’d grown up in happened to be the same space Goldie was occupying, though he’d decided not to say as much.
With the door closed, he rested his back against it, tipping his head up and running his hands through his hair. He wasn’t sure what to do about this churning inside of him. He was still reeling from Goldie’s hug. She was so soft, so perfect with him.
This was madness. He’d never expected anything like this. She was right to speak sense about her staying with him like this, but every time she hinted at leaving, the thought struck him like dismemberment. He didn’t want her to leave.
He’d tried telling himself it was because she needed help. He’d tried to convince himself she was just a girl in an unfamiliar town who was trying to find her aunt. But when he’d held her, when she’d nestled in and hadn’t pulled away, a dormant part of him had awoken.
He’d been weak for so long. From the distance between him and his father, from his father’s death. He hadn’t realized how much he’d been breathing, doing, acting, because it was just his default setting. Being around Goldie was making his life intentional again, and he wanted to do something for her. To let her know she was wanted and not in the way.
An impulse took over him. He dialed Rita’s number.
“Hello?” Rita’s voice was groggy.
Guilt struck him. It was already past ten o’clock here, which meant it was nearing midnight in Illinois.
“Sorry for calling so late.”
“Mr. Bear?”
“Yeah, it’s Adrian. Can you look into someone for me?”
“I’m not a secret agent,” she said dryly, shuffling as if reaching for the notepad he knew she kept near her bed.
He laughed. “I know, but can you?”
A long pause. “Ten more bonuses, boss.”
“Ten more lollipops,” he said in agreement. “Her name is Bethany Harold…”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
DREAMS OF ADRIAN MADE SLEEPING on the too-cushy mattress more like a restful daze. His arms around her, the sound of his voice, the way he made her stomach flutter. Everything was that much more amplified in her dreams. He was leaning in to kiss her just before her eyes popped open.
She awoke with splashes of both yearning and disappointment. Maybe she should have taken his invitation last night. Been brave and bold, the way she’d always imagined love to be. She should have hooked her hand around his neck and reeled him to her.
As it was, the contact they’d shared had been pretty amazing just the same. She dressed eagerly, her step lighter, her outlook downright dizzy at the possibility of seeing him again today. Maybe it was good she hadn’t been able to get ahold of Aunt Bethany yet. If she had, none of this would have happened. Adrian would just be a guy who’d helped her into town instead of one who was beginning to shake up her dreams.
People Goldie hadn’t yet met were serving breakfast at the tables below. New faces were seated at tables, families with small children, women and men sitting alone. One couple was captured in conversation with Chase, who was bent to their table and pointing to things in a pamphlet he was displaying. On its cover was an image of a horse.
“Morning, Goldie,” Chase greeted as she took a seat at a nearby table. A woman wearing a white chef’s apron over her jeans and t-shirt approached.
“Eggs and pancakes, please,” Goldie ordered. She longed to get back in a kitchen. It’d been too long since she’d baked anything. If she didn’t hear back from her aunt by this afternoon, she would ask Adrian about baking for his mom. Food always seemed like a good way to cool the air between people, and she did want to show her thanks.
Goldie was enjoying her pancakes when Adrian entered, flanked by Kimmy in a yellow sundress and her two young girls. What caught her off-guard more than anything else though, was the sight of him in a cowboy hat.
“Adri, Adri!” the youngest one called, offering her tiny hands. He scooped her up and carried her to where Goldie sat.
“Good morning,” she said. “You look like you’ve been busy.”
“I have,” he said. “I took these rascals for a horse ride.” The little girl threw her arms around his neck and gave him a squeeze that somehow squeezed Goldie’s heart at the same time. Adrian set her down, and she scampered to join her mom and dad.
Adrian took the empty chair across from her, rapping his fingers on the table. “Would you like to see the horses this morning?”
Like Montana itself, Goldie had never seen horses, aside from those she’d driven past or in movies. The idea filled her with excitement. “I’d love to.” She began stacking her empty cup and utensils on her plate, searching for a cart or something else to set them on.
“Sandy will get that,” Adrian said, waving away her effort. “Come on.”
Goldie felt strange leaving a mess for someone else to clean, but she glanced at the other tables and saw a young girl wearing a black apron busing tables and clearing away dishes. It appeared to be her job, and that made things a little easier.
“Funny, that you have all boys in your family, and now your brother has all girls,” Goldie said once they were outside. The morning air was far cooler than the afternoon they’d spent on the porch the day before.
“My mom thought so, too. She was over the moon about having some girls around.”
“And your father? Was he excited about having girls around?”
The mood around him instantly hardened. She could swear his jaw ground. “I’m not sure he got excited about anything.”
“You want to tell me why he makes you so tense?”
He swallowed, hesitating so long she kicked herself. She shouldn’t have brought his dad up.
After a few moments, Adrian answered her. “Even though my brother got married first, I’m the oldest. Technically, I should have been the one to start taking over the ranch, handling the business side of things while my mom runs the B & B. But I don’t want it. I don’t care about the inheritance, which he thought should matter the most to me.
“I know it sounds petty, but I always wanted him to care about what I was interested in, not the other way around. I’m a businessman, not a ranch hand.”
“Are you sure about that?” She quirked a brow at his hat with its sweeping brim.
Adrian’s gaze darted upward, and he removed his hat. “This? This is just for the girls.”
She’d give him that. But still, she gestured to the barn they were approaching. “You claim to not like it here, yet you seem so at home at the same time. What’s really bothering you, deep down?”
It was an extremely personal question, but she couldn’t help asking it.
He cast his gaze to the horizon before entering the barn. Horses were lined up in stalls, their heads peeking over barriers. They were of every
shade, from white to black to tan and even paint horses with colors splotched in between. She was surprised at how many stalls there were.
Adrian stopped to pat the nose of a curious black stallion whose hair was as jet as pitch. The horse nuzzled in, welcoming the attention.
“The memories,” he said. “There’s too much of my old man in this place.”
“I see.” And she did. Things were starting to make much more sense now. Why he seemed to loathe a place as much as he did. Why he kept doing everything he could to prevent his mom from having any say in his life.
Goldie had never been around horses much before, but she found she liked them, despite the smell. The black stallion’s eyes were wary as she approached, but she copied Adrian, brushing a palm against its smooth neck.
“Makes me sound heartless, I know.”
She continued stroking the horse. “Actually, I understand more than you may realize. My mom is pretty controlling and dominating. I’ve always been scared to take off on my own, but I’m twenty-seven. I knew it was time, and now that I have, I feel so brave. It’s one reason I haven’t wanted to call her, because I don’t want her to ruin my victory.”
Adrian opened his mouth to reply when voices crept nearer to the barn’s gaping entrance. After a quick peek out, he took Goldie’s hand, pressed a finger to his lips, and guided her farther in, taking an entrance in the center of the line of stalls.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Shh,” he said with a tantalizing smirk. “Looks like it’s Jordan and his hot date. I don’t want to throw off their day.”
Jordan and Taylor’s soft voices grew louder. Goldie didn’t see why she and Adrian couldn’t have just stepped out of the barn, but in any case, Adrian was treating it like an adventure. She couldn’t pass up an adventure with him.
Goldie And The Billionaire Bear (Once Upon A Billionaire Book 1) Page 10
