by Leela Ash
“I don’t consider it my home,” Estelle said firmly. “Home is where you make it.”
“Well then…” the man said, standing tall and walking toward her with his hand outstretched. She took it, and the contact of his fingers sent a wave of heat coursing through her body. She pulled away, embarrassed and a little confused, and the man set his jaw, almost as if he could tell exactly why she had reacted the way she did. It was unsettling.
“I’m Estelle Sanders,” she said, desperate to take away from the awkwardness of the moment.
“Blaine,” was all he said, squeezing her hand and then letting it drop.
But his eyes seemed to be speaking volumes. He was a tall man, with dark, crisp features. His chiseled jaw and square chin were covered in neat brown hair, his beard carefully groomed and the same color as the hair on top of his head, speckled with the odd few grey hairs. Except for his trimmed beard, Blaine’s hair was wild and wavy, reaching just above his broad shoulders. She had only seen men this handsome in movies, and normally, she wasn’t even interested in men wearing red flannel.
“Do you live around here, Blaine?” Estelle asked, doing everything she could to distract herself from the inappropriate thoughts that continued to plague her mind. The man was beastly in a way; but completely different than the wolf shifters. More rugged, perhaps.
“I’ve lived on this mountain all my life,” Blaine said. “And I know what you’re thinking about Oak Mountain here, but really, once you start going up, it isn’t so bad. Just stay away from the edges.”
“Actually, I’m glad we’re talking. I found this ad…”
Estelle rustled through her purse and pulled out the newspaper ad, handing it to Blaine. “I’m looking for the BBT Mining company.”
“Really?” he asked, his eyes flashing as he snatched the ad away from her. He read it quickly. “This is the first time I’m seeing the ad myself. I was heading down to the silver city to go make sure Greg did it right.”
“Greg? Do you know the man who placed this ad?” Estelle asked, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. How was she going to get any position with the BBT Mining company if she gave this man a bad impression. She groaned. She probably already had.
Estelle froze, trying to think about all the things she had said and done that probably looked stupid to a man who just happened to know Greg, the person who had placed the ad. She probably came across as a clueless little twit who didn’t deserve a management position at all. And on top of that, it was obvious she had never driven up a mountain before in her life.
“Actually, kid, I told ol’ Greg to place the ad. One of those Bs stands for Blaine.”
Estelle covered her face with her hands and groaned.
“Then I’m looking for you,” she said, refusing to meet his eyes.
“What, you want to mine?” Blaine asked, looking her up and down skeptically. “You don’t much look the type.”
“Well, not specifically. I need an internship to complete my degree in business management so when my friend saw the ad she thought of me…”
“Ah, Greg placed two. Clever bastard…”
Blaine was quiet as he studied the paper first, and then Estelle. Every once in a while, she hated being a big girl. Meeting people for the first time, it often felt like they judged her before they even spoke to her, or decided she wasn’t competent or qualified just because of the way she looked. But none of those questions seemed to rise in Blaine’s eyes and he nodded.
“You’re going to want to go up the mountain a ways…it will seem scary, but you’ll get there. The building’s not at the top. You turn left on Cedar Road.”
“Thanks,” Estelle said. “Do you want a ride?”
“With someone who has never driven on a mountain before?” Blaine asked, quirking his brow. It made her laugh but his handsome face remained close to expressionless. “I think the question would be, do you?”
Estelle was a little bit taken aback. “You mean, you would drive me up?”
Blaine nodded, shrugging casually. “I’d rather drive than ride. That’s just the way it is. Either way, I’ll make my way where I’m supposed to be. Doesn’t matter to me any.”
“Well…you’re welcome to drive my car,” Estelle said after studying Blaine for a moment. She had a pretty good judge of character after living with such a terrible family dynamic for so long. Blaine seemed like he was hardened, but he wasn’t a bad man. She would have staked her life on it.
Blaine nodded. “You’ll definitely get there faster. Besides, it’s easier getting down than up. It would be a good way to start practicing. If you’re going to work for me, you’re going to have to get used to it.”
Estelle nodded and got into the passenger’s seat of her car. It was a little bit funny to sit there in a way. She had never done it before except one time when she had let Helen talk her into going out to the bar with her. But she had to admit, she liked the change of pace. She had been nervous about trekking up a mountain without anybody to supervise her or ask questions to. It was hardly a part of the curriculum when she was learning to drive in the flat land of the east coast. Now that she was out west, it seemed like a good idea to have someone there with her.
“Thanks,” Estelle said quietly as Blaine got behind the wheel.
“It’s nothing,” Blaine said without meeting her eyes. He closed his door and the car was immediately filled with his rugged, outdoorsy scent. His heady aroma nearly made her dizzy, but in a good way. She hadn’t been near anyone quite this masculine in her entire life. A lot of the wolf shifters were rugged and manly, but she hadn’t been very compatible with most of the wolf shifters she had met. It was just a wariness between them and humans, which she couldn’t blame them for.
But Blaine seemed completely different, and she watched him out of the corner of her eye as he whipped around curves that she would have had to creep through at a snail’s pace. Normally, she didn’t even let Helen drive her car. She had worked hard to get just the make and model she wanted. And yet, with Blaine at the wheel, he seemed so competent and capable that she didn’t even mind. She was at ease with him, and, unlike the wolf shifters in Stonybrooke, he was at ease with her. At least, as at ease as he would probably be with anybody else.
Blaine wasn’t looking down on her for being human, or being a woman, or even for being a big girl. In fact, the way his eyes had lingered on her and sent such a strong surge of heat through her body, she was wondering if maybe he wasn’t even a little bit attracted to her.
That was an inappropriate thought, though and she tried to push it away. Whether he was attracted to her or not, they had business to do together, and it was hardly professional for her to be thinking about the man’s sexuality before even thinking about what she might possibly do to redeem herself after what could very possibly amount to being a very humiliating encounter with a potential boss that would cost her the chance of an internship.
“This is it,” Blaine said, after whipping the car to the right and coming to an abrupt stop.
Estelle was surprised by how quickly they came upon the building, but sure enough, a large cabin-like structure was right outside her window with the letters “BBT” painted in red on a sign above the door. She had been far too consumed in her thoughts; she hadn’t even given herself a chance to enjoy the scenery. Maybe on the way down.
“Wow. It would have taken me an hour to get up here safely.”
“That’s why I offered to drive,” Blaine said with a quick wink. He turned the car off and dropped the keys in her hand, and led her inside.
“Everybody, this is Estelle. She’s going to be my new intern.”
Estelle was just as surprised as everybody else by the announcement, and she felt her eyes widen in shock and embarrassment.
“Hi,” she managed to say.
“Come on,” Blaine said. “Let’s go over my paperwork in my office.”
“All right,” Estelle said, following Blaine. He shut the door behind them and
sat down at his desk. “I brought my resume…”
“Please,” Blaine scoffed. “Anyone with a brain in their head can do this job. It’s pretty straight-forward, but a lot of organizing. Do you have any experience or will you need training? Because we need someone right away.”
“I can start now,” Estelle stammered. “I’ll get a hotel in the area or something.”
“Nah, that won’t be necessary. We have cabins for out of towners when they’re here to mine. You can have one of them. Just keep your head down and nobody will bother you.”
“Does that come out of my pay or something? It did say a paid internship, right?”
“Of course, it’s paid,” Blaine said, looking at her as if she were an idiot. “And no, it wouldn’t be charged. You stay there for free for coming out of your way to help the company. People don’t always appreciate what it is we do here, so anybody who can help out is welcome to.”
“Well, I guess that means I would need a little bit of training,” Estelle said. “But basically, I have a good idea of how things are run. I just need this internship to get my bachelor’s degree in business management.”
“No shit?” Blaine said, raising a brow. “That’s impressive.”
“Thanks…” Estelle said. She normally didn’t feel shy around people, even when they were praising her, so it was strange that she suddenly had the urge to look down at her hands and avoid Blaine’s serious brown eyes.
“All right. Let’s get you started then.”
Blaine seemed inexhaustible, and soon, they were going through the rigors of training for the job. After about two hours of having the job explained in detail to her by the man in charge, he looked at her with a mischievous gleam in his eye.
“You want to see the mines?” he asked.
Dumbfounded, Estelle nodded, and Blaine grinned.
“Great. But this time, we take my car.”
3.
Blaine wasn’t sure what made him think the kid would be able to make her way through the mines. She was dressed to the nines, and knew exactly what it took to accentuate her supple curves. Yes, that dress seemed to hug her in all the right places. Most men would think she was too much woman, too heavy really, for them, but Blaine appreciated a woman who could carry herself. It meant more to him than miles of legs on a skinny blonde ever could.
“All right, kid. This is it,” Blaine said, parking his car and stepping out.
“Wow,” Estelle said.
Blaine had brought her to the base of one of the nearby mines, where there were still people bustling around, even though twilight was falling.
“We just found a huge deposit of gold,” Blaine confided in her. “And it runs all throughout the mountain. We think this used to be a riverbed, so we’re trying to find out where it came from. Knowing the source is kind of a big deal. We’re going to make a lot of money from it.”
“That’s great!” Estelle said, her baby-blue eyes shining. “I’m glad your business is doing so well.”
“Yeah,” Blaine said, caught off-guard by her positivity. She was genuinely happy for him. She didn’t seem to realize that the company barely needed the money; except to pay for the cost of mining. He’d received a huge inheritance from his family, who had been treasurers for the bear clan since ancient times. The only thing being disputed about his inheritance was the deed to the mountain, but that would be taken care of shortly.
It was strange showing a bubbly young woman around the site. On most days, he was lucky not to get the death look from every single person he encountered. He was used to seeing crotchety bear shifters and tired humans around, exhausted and discouraged about the portals. But Estelle was neither of those things. It was strange.
“Well, anyway, it means we’re going to be really busy,” Blaine said. “We need as much help here as we can get, but we need people we can trust.”
“Then why did you hire me without even seeing my application?” Estelle asked, frowning at Blaine. His eyes lingered on her full lips; they looked soft from where he was standing. Tempting.
But no. He couldn’t let himself get swayed by physical attraction. Not only was it wildly inappropriate, but even if she was his age, it was impossible for him to be in relationships. He was just the kind of guy who sowed wild oats. And besides, after the last time…
“It’s way easier to know who you can trust before the person you’re judging knows you’re judging them,” Blaine said, pushing thoughts of the past away. They had no place in his reality anymore. It was just a horrible situation that didn’t need to be remembered. Not now, and not ever. And it especially didn’t need to be repeated.
“You’re right about that,” Estelle said thoughtfully. “Besides, you’re a bear shifter, aren’t you? You have better senses than humans have.”
“Well, you’re not wrong,” Blaine said with a slow nod. “It’s not foolproof but they do help out when push comes to shove. Works good enough for me, anyway.”
He was still feeling raw from the memories of the past attempting to surface in his mind. But he knew he was stronger than the memories. He just had to steel himself against them again, just like he had been doing since it happened. Even if that meant Jack was right and he had changed.
“Come on,” Blaine said, eager to get his mind off the past.
Estelle followed him into the deep mine and he handed her a helmet. She turned the little light on right away and he grinned.
“Scared of the dark?” he asked.
“No,” she said, looking him square in the eye. “I am nervous about the things that could be lurking in the dark, though.”
Blaine nodded. “Fair point. Come on. This is one of the new mines. We’re waiting to blow the top open until we know just how much quartz we’re dealing with…this is kind of a special operation.”
“Special how?”
“Well…just a pet project, really. And we can always use some extra hands, so if you feel like helping out in the field, you’d want to come here. We’re looking for quartz here, and finding more than we know what to do with.”
“Quartz? Really?” Estelle asked, looking closely at the wall. “Isn’t that powerful?”
“That’s what they say,” Blaine said.
“Blaine, who the hell is this?”
Ken, a dirty know-it-all of a man came up behind Estelle and glared down at her. “She don’t look like she belongs in a mine. Maybe at a department store trying to get girls who are prettier than she is to buy things.”
Ken laughed harshly and looked around for someone else to enjoy his top of the line entertainment with, but there was no one. Blaine glared fiercely at him, the blood boiling in his veins.
“Meet your new boss, you asshole,” Blaine growled.
Ken flinched away and looked at Estelle in a panic. “What do you mean by that, man? You’re my boss.”
“Well, I hired someone to help me out with the paperwork, and she outranks the muscle. So…you should probably apologize. Unless you want a problem.”
Blaine glared at Ken, who backed away. He was a coward at heart and always had been, and when he knew Blaine was angry, he grew scarce fast. Estelle looked between Ken and Blaine, clearly not looking forward to a brawl, and to Blaine’s surprise, she stared Ken right in the eye.
“What’s your name?” Estelle demanded, stepping in front of Blaine. Blaine shrugged at Ken. He was at her mercy now.
“Um…”
“Well that’s quite a name, Um. Was your mother illiterate or did she just run out of names? Had a lot of kids, did she?”
“You watch your mouth about my-”
But Estelle was just getting started. “You think you can walk around here like you own the place? What don’t you understand about consequences? You act like an ass, and you get the same thing right back at you. It kind of works both ways too. You don’t act like an ass and the people around you might not treat you like you’re treating me right now. Do you even think about how degrading comments can affec
t people, even a random stranger? And it’s pathetic you pick on people you’ll never have to face again anyway. What’s that say about you?”
“Well, I…”
“I’ll tell you. It says you’re a freaking coward, that’s what. And whether you feel all big in your britches by spewing that shit or not, it says far more about you than it says about me, that’s for sure.”
“It’s just that…”
“What? Spit it out.”
Blaine watched the exchange, unable to hide his amusement. He had been sick and tired of Ken’s attitude for a long time now, and somehow, without even laying a finger on him, he was tucking his tail between his legs, ready to run away.
“I’m sorry. What did you say your name was again?”
“You can call me Ms. E. Get back to work, man. You’re wasting time.”
Ken scurried away and Estelle rolled her eyes, turning back to Blaine almost as if she had forgotten he was there.
“What were we talking about?” she asked without missing a beat.
“Quartz?” Blaine guessed.
“Right, sorry. I lost track. That guy was rude as hell.”
Blaine grinned.
“Yeah, he’s an asshole. And really, he’s always been that way. I don’t know what to do with him…”
“I’d be surprised if he acts out again, at least for a while. There’s plenty to work on right now without him acting like a dick. Keep him extra busy. I bet he feels bored and unchallenged. And even if he doesn’t, the more shit he has to do the less running of his mouth he’ll get done.”
“Hm,” Blaine said, leading Estelle deeper into the mine. “I do believe I’ve made the right choice bringing you on board, Ms. E. Welcome to the team.”
***
The tour of the mine went well, but Estelle and Blaine both decided she would be more useful behind a desk than in a mine. It wasn’t that she wasn’t strong. Actually, he showed her how it was done and she was a natural at it. It more had to do with the idea of sticking a girl like her in a dark hole with a bunch of guys like Ken. It didn’t particularly appeal to any of them.
