by Jess Bentley
“What do you...oh. Shit. That’s today, isn’t it?” the man asked, looking first at my face and then my camera bag.
He recovered slightly, long enough to let his eyes slide up my petite curvy frame, then rest on my face. His eyes narrowed slightly for a moment, as if he knew me and was trying to place my name.
“Um, if you mean our interview, then yes. Yes, it is. I’m Meredith Banks,” I said, holding out my hand and pretending I wasn’t looking right at someone I’d known for years.
The man never moved, never took his hand off the door. Instead of shaking my hand, he stared at me knowingly.
“Wait a minute. No, you’re not. You’re Meredith Forbes. I’d know that red hair and little girl’s pout anywhere.” Colt still didn’t move or invite me inside, staring at me intensely instead with a look that bordered on annoyance. “What are you doing all the way out here?”
“I’m here to interview you for Elite Design Digest, remember?” I replied, somewhat confused by his reaction. I turned my shoulder towards him to show him my equipment bag.
“No, I get it, the interview. But why are you here?”
“Dang it, Colt. Did you get kicked in the head too many times? I’m the person doing your interview,” I answered, trying to keep my voice light but growing more and more frustrated with every passing second.
“And you were just gonna show up here, just like that, no phone call first to say ‘Hey, how’s it been going, it’s been a long time, I’ll be coming by to see you,’ nothing like that?” I could sense the irritation in Colt’s voice, but chose not to respond. He finally stepped aside and held the door open wider, which I took for his invitation to come in.
“I didn’t really have anything to say ahead of time, Colt.”
I turned around and pinned him back with my best interviewer smile, refusing to look at his naked chest. I couldn’t help myself, though, not after a flicker of movement forced my gaze to land on a few drops of water that fell from his disheveled hair and slid down his muscular torso, picking up speed as they slid over each ridge of his hard abs.
“Still, you go off to that big city college and never say another word to anybody—”
“Me?” I said, surprising even myself at how close I’d just come to yelling at him. “You’re the one who left, Colt. I was just a kid who still played tea party with my stuffed animals when I thought no one was looking, but you took off for the Army to go get yourself killed. You did my brother wrong the way you just packed up and took off! You two were supposed to be best friends! And all you did was make him feel like a coward for not following along behind you.”
“Bryant? He didn’t want anything to do with the military, since he had a football scholarship. Why should he have cared?” Colt fired back, but he knew the answer. “I’ve been Bryant’s best friend since kindergarten, and the only reason I didn’t tell anyone before I enlisted was I knew how easy it would have been for any one of y’all to talk me out of it. And trust me, there wasn’t a day gone by over there that I didn’t wish one of you hadn’t stopped me.”
Colt turned his back on me and padded into the kitchen, his feet leaving dark wet footprints across the stone floor. He reached into one of the oversized stainless steel fridges and pulled out a beer, flipped the cap into the sink, and took a long swig. He finally raised his eyebrows at me and held the cold bottle in my direction, but I shook my head.
“Never thought I’d see the day that I’d be offering little ‘Merry Forbes’ a beer,” he said with a quiet scoff.
“Ugh… no one has called me that in years,” I answered, automatically annoyed at my childhood nickname.
“For that matter, what’s with this ‘Meredith Banks’ crap? I’d have been happier to see you—and most likely wearing clothes—if I’d known you were the one coming to see me.”
Colt looked at me almost darkly, clearly expecting an explanation. I suppose that was the best he could do by way of an apology for the way he’d acted at the door. I only shrugged.
“My real name? It’s not a secret or anything, or that I don’t want anyone knowing what I do. A lot of journalists use a different byline, depending on who they write for. In my case, I just didn’t want anyone hearing the name ‘Forbes’ and thinking of that money magazine, and wondering if I only got my job because of a famous family connection. It’s not true, and as you know us Texas Forbes don’t have anything to do with those others, but people would still assume. I’ve worked too hard to get where I am to have people dismissing me as just another nepotism baby.”
“Makes sense, I ’spose. Still, it threw me for a loop. But look at you now. You’re not little old Mer Bear anymore, are you? Whatever they’re putting in the water in Chicago, it sure does change people,” Colt said, finally giving in to the temptation to take in the sight of me.
“Oh really?” I asked, an amused smirk on my face. “And what’s that they say about the Army making a man of you? You were just a puny kid with weird hair the last time I saw you. Between your funny looks and the fact that you and Bryant used to blow up all my Barbies with firecrackers, I wasn’t the least bit sorry to see you go. Now look at you. A grown man with a ranch of his own, turning the whole industry on its head with eco-farming… times sure do change.”
Sensing a natural start to the interview, I set my bag down on the granite countertop, fished out my camera once again, and retrieved a small notebook and pen. I placed those next to a small digital recorder while Colt looked on warily.
“So is that it? We’re getting down to business? ’Cause I’ve got to admit, I ain’t wearing any pants.” He shot me a look and leaned back against the countertop, crossing his arms over his chest. The movement made his biceps naturally flex, and I had to take a breath to recover.
“I tell you what, why don’t you go put on your clothes while I take some pictures, then when you get back, you can explain to me how you just landed on the 30 Billionaires Under 30 list.”
I arched an eyebrow knowingly, doing my best to let him see that he wasn’t going to get under my skin. Colt nodded quietly, then left the room without a word.
Chapter 3
“Did you get what you needed?” I whispered when I came back, leaning very close to Meredith’s ear as she took a picture over the winding staircase. She jumped slightly in surprise, and then shot me a fierce look.
I enjoyed the moment to breathe her in. She had changed a lot since I last seen her, and I was having a hard time not staring down her low-cut shirt.
“Well, all except that one, which will be blurry now.” She wrinkled her nose in what seemed like an unconscious gesture. It was cute.
Clearly, she was annoyed for actually losing her picture but still smiling, and it took all my strength not to laugh. I forgotten how fun it was to tease her. As kids, I did it purely to piss her off, but now I couldn’t help the satisfaction I was getting in my nether regions every time I threw her off her kilter.
“I’m sure it’s not too bad. Eyes like yours are probably pretty good at finding anything with beauty.”
Her pale skin turned the faintest shade of pink and she looked away from my gaze. I might have taken it too far on that one. I was used to charming women but I was a little out of my comfort zone when I found myself doing it with Meredith.
I coughed lightly and changed the subject. “What can I fix you to eat?” I was going for a bored tone, as if she appeared in my kitchen every day of the week.
“Oh nothing, I’ve got a long drive back when we’re done here. I’ll stop and grab something along the way.”
“Don’t be silly, now. My mama’d kill me if I let someone stop by and sent them on their way empty-bellied. I’m fixing us some steaks.” I pulled the ingredients for a steak dinner and salad out of the fridge while Meredith peppered me with questions. When she finally stopped, things got personal.
“Speaking of your mama, how is she doing?”
“She’s good, but just couldn’t stay out here after Dad passed away.
The twins both went to school over in Dallas, and she got a little house closer to them.”
“Doesn’t that make it hard to come to visit you here?” she asked. I could tell she was treading carefully so her questions didn’t come across as too forward, but my mom had been like extended family to her while Meredith was growing up. She must have felt she had a right to know how Mama was getting along.
“She heads out here a few times a year, and I just send the helicopter to fetch her,” I answered, nodding my head towards the window where a shiny, luxury vehicle sat waiting in a paved clearing. “Mostly, I fly up to see her though. There are a lot of memories buried around this place. Dad finally passed away in their room upstairs, but that was his wish after the cancer got too bad. And of course, Mama and Dad were already living out here on the ranch when his parents both died. There’s just a lot of hurt wrapped up in one old house, and it can be too much for some people.”
“That’s true. But wait, I’m sorry—I’m still hung up on the helicopter! You have your own helicopter?” Meredith asked with a laugh. I nodded like it was no big deal, but finally even I had to crack a smile.
“Now don’t go thinking I’ve turned into some tycoon. I swear, it’s just a business thing, and it comes in handy with the cows. You know how it is out here, isolated from everything. Now, the jet, the four-wheelers, and the RV… those are just ’cause I like to travel in style.”
Meredith’s laugh was the most amazing, friendly sound, like something right out of my childhood.
“You know, you’re still exactly the same. My big brother’s obnoxious friend. After hearing you made yourself into something so big, I didn’t expect you would still be the same.” She cleared her throat and a slight blush appeared again in her pale cheeks. “I’m sorry, that sounded rude, I really did mean for the article.”
“Oh yeah, the article. I kinda forgot about that. Well, lemme see…” I began, looking intently at the countertop grill where the steaks were almost done. “You know that I inherited the ranch and the house, that part’s no secret. And my dad left us in good enough shape, nothing outrageous… We’re not rolling in money, but not struggling, either. He was a smart man, and a hard worker, but a little too conservative with his risks.”
Meredith looked at me with the strangest mix of rapt attention and friendly catching up while I explained about my eco-land use designs and products, all aimed at helping farmers continue to do what they’d done for generations while ensuring that the land could support it for decades to come.
“So, I built my designs, bought more than a few patents, sold some of those patents to corporations that could implement them on a bigger scale, and the rest is history.” I chopped vegetables into an oversized bowl of lettuce while I talked, watching Meredith out of the corner of my eye as she scribbled furiously in her notebook. “There’s oil on the property, and Dad was smart about not letting the oil giants drill for it. There’s just too much risk in the way things have always been done. When I inherited and took over, of course the oil vultures descended… heck, I don’t think Dad had been in the ground a week before one of them was out here knocking on the door, wanting to negotiate a lease to get their hands on that oil.”
Meredith waited, watching me. I could tell what she was thinking: she was wondering how her interview about a house and environmentally friendly ranching had turned into a heartbreaking trip down memory lane. I smiled to reassure her a little, and cleared my throat.
“Anyway, the land they wanted to access was at the back of the property, and I got them to agree to a whole lot of measures to protect it. Some of the negotiating was tough since they didn’t want to spend a dime more over what the government regulations required of them, but I told them that was the only way they were getting close enough to my land to even smell oil, let alone drill for it.”
“That’s incredible,” she finally acknowledged, eyeing me with a new appreciation. “From country boy to soldier boy to tech giant, all in just a few years.”
“You make it sound like I invented the iPhone or something. It wasn’t like that. I just saw a need, and found a better way to do a few things. The rest just happened naturally.”
“And so modest, too,” Meredith answered with a smirk.
“Whatever,” I said, rolling my eyes and blowing off her comment.
“I just mean success looks good on you,” she said, giving me a look over the rim of the wine glass that I’d managed to slide in front of her while I told my story.
“That’s funny,” I said, leaning my forearms on the bar separating us. “I was just thinking of something else that might look good on me.”
I turned back to dishing out salads onto our plates, and now it was my turn to get a little red-faced. What the hell had I just said? And to my best friend’s little sister, no less?
Meredith immediately choked on a sip of wine, and her eyes watered with the effort of trying not to throw an all-out coughing fit. I handed her a napkin, and quickly changed the subject.
“How do you like your steak?”
Chapter 4
Meredith
My first thought when Colt came down the stairs was not at all professional.
Holy shit, how is it possible he’s sexier with clothes on than without? Wait, stop it! This is Colt Stone, your brother’s friend and the subject of an interview. There’s no time for thoughts like—
But as the interview went on, I managed to keep things businesslike. Then he had gone and made that offer of putting “something else” on top of him. If my mind hadn’t already fallen fully into the gutter at the sight of him after all these years, that just about did me in.
“Um, well done,” I answered to his question about steak. Luckily, that changed the temperature in the room as he cast a sideways glare in my direction.
“Well done? What have they done to you up north, honey? That’s no way to eat God’s own Texas cattle!” he answered, but his sarcastic expression was quickly changed with a wicked smile. “I might just how to reteach you how to be satisfied.”
“Sorry, I’m just not into raw meat with a side of its own blood,” I explained, doing my best to ignore his flirtatious comments.
Colt pressed his lips together in a thin line, but returned my steak to the countertop grill to cook just a tad longer.
“Did Bryant ever tell you about the time we snuck into the Big B grocery and helped ourselves to a few steaks and racks of rib for a barbeque?” he asked with a grin.
I shook my head and waited, open-mouthed in astonishment at the thought of my dear brother stealing so much as a stick of gum, then waited for him to tell the rest of the story.
“Oh man, my dad found out and we thought we were literally going to be put to death. He called up your parents, asked permission to beat your brother’s butt alongside mine, then made us walk back to the store, leading one of our steer the whole way. When we got there, we had to help the butcher process the entire thing, and then clean the butcher shop and the store. I never so much as thought about breaking a rule after that!” Colt laughed, and I took advantage of an opportunity to get a great shot of him for the article.
“I just can’t picture either one of you as the town’s ‘Beef Bandits’!”
“Oh, it was a nightmare. People were driving past us on the road, honking at us to move over. The steer was getting spooked the whole way. Finally, a bunch of kids from school passed us on the bus coming back from some sports trip or other, and we sure got an earful about it at school!”
“How did I never know about this?” I asked, still laughing at the image of Bryant and Colt walking a cow all the way into town.
“Well, lemme think, Bry and I were about fourteen, so I guess you had to be, what, about ten? You were just a little thing. I’m sure your parents didn’t want to go telling your brother’s shameful business to a kid. But look at you now… all grown up.” He paused for a moment and I felt the sink in for the both of us. He shook his head and added quickly, “and s
itting back in our kitchen just like you did when my mama’d give you a plate of cookies.”
Something shifted in Colt’s gaze, something that immediately put me on edge. I could tell he was switching between his teasing attraction and the little girl memory. I’d worked hard to shrug off the kid sister Texas girl image, and I stood on my own two feet every single day. At the same time, the frustration at being Little Merry Forbes again melted in the glow of feeling like I’d come home for a long overdue visit.
“You ready to go see this old place?” he finally asked after we’d eaten our lunch, and I’d taken a few more notes. I nodded eagerly, grabbing my camera and notebook.
He led the way out back to an immense deck, one that could have easily hosted its own events for a hundred people. Tables and chairs were arranged in intimate clusters all around, each giving the feel of an entirely separate space. They were all arranged around the most inviting fire pits I’d ever seen, assembled from carved stones that provided seating around the flames. I could just envision the winter get-togethers with friends and family.
“The pool and the hot tub are that way, with a couple of small apartments in the pool house,” Colt explained, putting off to one side of the house. “Then on the other side, there’s a separate apartment I built for Mama, just in case she ever decides to move out here when she gets further on in years.”
“That’s awfully sweet,” I added from behind my camera, in between shots.
“I dunno, she’s gone all city woman on me,” he said, laughing for a second before sounding more serious. “Kinda like you.”
He gave me a nudge with his shoulders. The simple touch sent sparks flying up and down my body.
“But back to our interview,” I said, trying to regain control over the conversation. “I remember the house a little bit, just from coming over here with my mom. What are some of the changes you made, and how did you decide what to upgrade?”
