“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
I dropped the armload of blankets and pillows onto a lounge chair.
“Put them on that one.” She motioned toward the round one, large enough for two people.
I blinked at her before I finally cleared my throat. “Yes, ma’am.”
I spread a blanket over the cushion and lined up the pillows at the head. I hoped this meant what I thought it did, but in the end, how far we went was always completely up to her. I made sure she felt she was in full control.
“Making beds another chore you excel in?”
The woman amazed me. We hadn’t talked about easy stuff, yet she shrugged it off, enough to tease me.
“I practice every day.” I fluffed her pillow for emphasis.
She actually giggled. “Lunch with you isn’t so bad.”
“No?” I tried to fight a grin, but it broke free.
“No.” She climbed onto the makeshift bed, stretching out with her hands behind her head.
In my hasty packing job, I’d forgotten her pajamas. The T-shirt she’d borrowed from me slid up her thighs. I tried to look away, but my eyes kept drifting back to her skin.
“Chilly?” I spread an extra blanket over her legs before she could respond.
It had been a long time for me. The woman I wanted was right in front of me. Sure, I fantasized about sex with her, but we’d waded through some shit, and she’d opened up to me. That was what I craved most from her.
My fingers burned to touch her skin, find out if it was as silky smooth as it looked. But I could wait until she was ready, until she chose to go further.
I mirrored her position.
“There she is.” She pointed with reverence to the sky. “Mama’s favorite constellation was the Southern Cross.”
I scanned the stars with no luck. “I can’t find it.”
She tilted her head towards mine to get a view from my perspective. “It’s the four bright ones. They’re higher in the sky here.” The last part she murmured more to herself.
I spotted the constellation and marveled at its beauty.
“She used to say the stars were the four of us. Papa, Carlos, her, and me.”
The need to hold her grew to the point I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
“May I?” My voice was hoarse as I stretched my arm out above her head, careful not to touch.
Her chest rose and fell in a pronounced rhythm. She turned on her side to face me. “Do you need this?” she asked.
I tilted my head, wondering where she was going with the question. “More than anything, but not if it hurts you.”
She stared at me, a million thoughts flitting through her mind. Intensity radiated off her, and I felt the moment she came to some sort of decision.
“I’ve found it’s easier for me to touch you when I know you need me. You were upset earlier, and I didn’t like that,” she said softly.
A selfless, courageous woman. No one was like Muriella. No one.
She inched toward me, her throat bobbing as she swallowed.
“We don’t have to do this,” I said hoarsely, even though I wanted to desperately.
Her slender arm flung over my stomach. She clutched my shirt in her fist and burrowed against me, lighting a fire of determination in my soul.
I didn’t move a muscle and waited while she acclimated, nearly shouting when she finally settled and rested her temple against my chest. Her heart thumped against my side as I closed my arm around her.
“I can. I can. I can,” she whispered.
“Darlin’.” She gripped me harder and squeezed her eyes closed. “You belong right here. But whether and how long you choose to stay is up to you.”
I stroked her back, but she didn’t relax. I kept up the gentle rhythm and braced myself for when she would disentangle herself from my arms. She’d pushed a lot of boundaries today.
But my girl surprised me. The tension finally slackened, her breathing turned even, and her face smoothed in the peace of sleep.
I savored the moment. This was what I wanted more than anything. To have her right next to me every night for the rest of my life. Now all I had to do was figure out how to keep her there.
Chapter Twenty
Muriella
“They didn’t take it well.”
I dropped down onto the sofa next to Stone, my heart heavy.
“Mr. Jacobs, the itinerary has been amended. We should be ready for take-off in about ten minutes.” The steward silently offered a bottle of water, which we both declined, before he disappeared to resume pre-flight checks.
Stone had spoken to Daniel first thing in the morning to explain he had to go back to Texas. Naturally, Daniel had immediately given him the use of his plane and promised to have a team in place to help by the end of the day, even though it was the day before Thanksgiving.
But when it had come time to tell them I was going with Stone, I teared up and barely got the words out. They’d given me their blessing, but there was no mistaking the disappointment in their voices.
We’d said our goodbyes, but just before I hung up, I heard him tell Vivian he was sorry, that this was his fault.
But that wasn’t true; this was about me. And maybe more than that, I needed to support Stone. The more time I spent with him, the more my feelings for him started to trickle out of the box I kept them in.
I was beginning to see he was right about my need to protect him, which was silly. He didn’t need me. Not in that sense. Yet my instinct was to do it anyway.
All of these new things were dizzying. I’d ended up sleeping in his arms all night. I panicked when I woke up but did a decent job of hiding that from him. Having survived that challenge, I was torn between wanting to do it again and just checking it off the list of been there, done that, and never have to again.
“There’s still time to change your mind.” The offer was earnest and one I appreciated.
“No. I need to do this.” I left off the part that it was to support him. He needed me more than Daniel and Vivian did. I toyed with the fringe on a throw pillow. “You’re lonely, aren’t you?”
He adjusted his ball cap and spread his thighs. “That obvious, huh?”
I blinked back, shocked he admitted it so easily. “I feel it.” I rubbed my chest. “To the world, it looks like you’ve got everything. A great career. Fame. Fortune. But since that wasn’t what you wanted, it’s a curse.”
“You do feel me.” He kneaded his hands up and down his thighs. “I’m ready to go home, Muriella. Past ready.”
“If you need the money you’ll make from this film, I can give it to you. You could quit.” A simple solution that was worth any cost if it made him happy.
His head jerked toward me. “I made a commitment.”
“It’s nice to have options.” He could go back to the life he missed so much, be with his family and the horses he loved. I could make that happen. I wanted to.
“I don’t need the money. And I wouldn’t dare take yours anyway.”
“It’s Daniel’s really. He split everything he has right down the middle between me and Vivian. Can you believe that?” On the flight to New Zealand, I’d read the letter he’d written to me. I’d been dying to read it ever since Vivian had read hers, but my anger with him had stopped me. When I finally did, I saw that those words were written by the man I knew. I couldn’t reconcile that with the one who kept secrets.
“Yeah. I’d be surprised at anything else.”
I stared at him, wondering what he saw that I didn’t.
“I need to figure out a way to give it back. But the person who would know how to go about it is him. He’d never tell me.”
Daniel had always been generous. I’d never wanted for anything. He gave without me ever having to ask.
I covered my mouth with my hand, and my eyes stung as the realization hit me.
“Muriella?” Worry clouded Stone’s eyes.
“That was his way of telling me he loves me.
He couldn’t say it, so he did it in the only way he knew how.”
Why hadn’t I seen it sooner? Right after I read the letter, I thought he was just being crazy, overbearing Daniel. But that wasn’t it at all.
“What would you rather have? Action or words?” He angled his body toward me.
“Words are worthless sometimes.” My father had told me he loved me over and over. Lies. Every bit of it lies.
“And sometimes we do stuff that directly contradicts how we feel,” he said. I had a difficult time imagining Stone not being forthcoming about anything.
“Like keeping the possibility of prison from me?” Bitterness seeped back in. I still couldn’t grasp how Daniel had lied to me.
“That just goes in the stupid column.”
I snorted. “Will you tell him that?”
“If you want.” He shrugged. “But just because he did something stupid doesn’t mean he loves you any less.”
“I get that. I just—” I twirled my hair around my finger. “I’m having a hard time with it.”
“A little fresh Texas air will put everything in perspective.”
“Is that so?” I asked, skeptical. Distraction seemed a more apt description for this trip.
“It’s a proven fact.”
A couple hours into the flight, Stone’s phone rang. He answered it, listened for a minute, then let out a huff of air.
“Friday morning? I thought the crew was off until Monday.”
He frowned as he pressed the phone against his ear.
“This is a huge mistake. I can’t be there by Friday. I’m somewhere over the Pacific Ocean as we speak.”
He slouched. “I know what the contract says. But the schedule is clear until Monday.”
His face darkened as the person on the other end spoke. “I’ll be there.”
He threw the phone on the sofa beside him.
“What’s wrong?”
“They scheduled to have a couple of streets blocked off on Friday instead of Monday.” He punched the seat cushion. “I have to go to New York.”
Disappointment swirled between us. We’d both been excited about the trip, maybe me a little more than I’d realized. I rose to my feet. “I’ll let the captain know.”
When I returned, Stone was bent forward, elbows on his knees, head in hands.
“We’re stopping in L.A. to refuel, so she said we’ll change course from there.”
I slid onto the sofa beside him and lifted my hand to rub his back, but then I dropped it back to my lap. The night before had been a huge step I had yet to fully process, and I didn’t want to lead him on.
“They need me. And I’m not there. Again.” The blame he placed on himself had my fingers wiggling, the itch to soothe him almost too much to ignore.
“Daniel will put everything in place.”
“I should be the one on the front line. Not shoveling it off on my friends.” He yanked on his hair.
“Stop it. You’ll do what you can and ask for help with what you can’t.” Protective instincts took over. I had to defend him, even if it was against himself.
“I don’t want to tell them I’m not coming,” he said quietly, sinking lower in the seat.
“They’ll understand.”
“I’m tired of them having to understand. They mean more to me than any of this crap, yet they always end up on the back burner.” He looked over at me, regret in every line on his face. “It just feels like I’m choosing the wrong thing.”
He may have shared his burden, but he still carried the brunt of it when all I longed to do was take it away. “What is it you can really do at the ranch right now? Only your grandfather knows about this, right? Maybe it’s best you don’t go. From what I know of Ruby, she’d realize something was wrong as soon as she saw you.”
“That’s the truth.” He dropped his chin down. “I dread telling Mama I’m not gonna make it after all.”
“The sooner you get it over with, the better it will be.” The words to offer to do it for him were on the tip of my tongue, but this was news his mother deserved to hear from her son.
He scrubbed the light stubble on his face. “I have to find somewhere to stay in New York. I checked out of the hotel.”
“You can stay with me.”
Both of us jerked in surprise as soon as the words were out of my mouth.
“I couldn’t impose.”
“I’ve got four bedrooms on an entire floor. You won’t.” Butterflies fluttered inside me, but I decided to be brave. Yet another test to see if I truly meant what I’d told myself about trying harder to at least form a deeper friendship.
“You sure?”
“Keep asking, and I’ll change my mind.” I wasn’t sure at all, but I didn’t want him to know just how scared I was.
His shoulders drooped. “That’s one less thing to worry with. Thanks.”
I could have easily offered him Vivian and Daniel’s apartment. They wouldn’t have minded, and that would have kept him out of my space. I never entertained the idea because at my basest level, I wanted him with me.
That thought sent my world off balance at a time when it had already spun into another orbit. Nothing was the same anymore. Not with Stone. Not with my best friends. Not even with me.
If I were this brave woman who could learn to touch another person, let him into my life, where did that leave the old me? I was stuck in limbo, one foot in the past, one edging toward the future. I was afraid I’d somehow end up torn in half.
Chapter Twenty-One
Stone
“Home sweet home.”
I dropped our bags in the foyer and shrugged off my jacket. Muriella hung both of ours in the closet.
“It’s still Thanksgiving. Want some turkey?” She went straight for the kitchen.
“Is it?” I rubbed at my temples. The only thing I knew was it was almost dark. The day and time? Forget it.
“Yep.” She rummaged though the fridge.
“Doesn’t it take all day to cook a turkey? And aren’t you exhausted? We’ve flown halfway around the world and back in a couple of days.” I collapsed on a barstool.
“If you don’t mind leftovers from when I tested out the menu I’d planned a few weeks ago, there’s some frozen. Along with your grandmother’s recipe for stuffing—”
“Dressing,” I corrected.
“Dressing.” She stuck out her tongue at me over her shoulder.
“Why do you have her recipe for dressing? She won’t even give it to my sister. But that’s probably because Mulaney can’t cook worth a shit.” She cut her eyes at me. “Sorry.”
“I still can’t believe she was in the city and you didn’t introduce us.”
Was that irritation I heard? And why did that please me so much?
“I’m half surprised I got to see her myself. She flew up for a meeting, saw me for a few minutes, and went back to Houston.” I hadn’t spoken to her since. Except I’d heard her two cents in the background when everyone found out I wasn’t coming home after all. “I wanted her and Easton to meet you, but they couldn’t stay.”
“Who’s Easton?” She stacked a few more containers from the freezer on the counter.
“We’ve known him since we were kids. His grandmother lives in Burdett, is good friends with mine. Mulaney is a VP for his family’s oil company.”
She made a satisfied grunt and held up two dishes. “Creamed corn? Butter beans?”
“We might as well be at the ranch. This menu is straight out of the Jacobs ladies’ kitchen.”
Her answering smile was secretive. She rummaged through a drawer and produced an envelope. She held it up but didn’t let me have it. I recognized the handwriting immediately.
“You wanted to know what Miss Ruby writes to me about? More often than not the letters contain recipes for her grandson’s favorite foods.”
“Why is she sending you what Mitch likes? He’s already got a wife.” She threw a dishtowel at me. “He does.” I caught it and se
t it on the counter as I stood, the barstool scraping against the stone floor.
“Speaking of Mitch, when are you going to tell them about the trip?”
I planted my hands on the cool granite. “I talked it over with Grandmama and she thinks we should make it a surprise. Mulaney wants to split the bill with me.”
“That’s kind of her.” Muriella put several baking dishes in the oven with a clang. “And I like the idea of a surprise.” She paused, considering. “But you can’t wait too long or they might have other plans.” Her eyes lit. “What if you give it to them as a Christmas gift?”
I pointed my finger at her. “That’s a hell of an idea. I’ll text my sister to keep her mouth shut until then.” Her enthusiasm had lifted my spirits about skipping out on my family again. “I need a shower. Feels like I haven’t had one in a day or two.”
“Sure. It shouldn’t take me too long to get this ready.” Back home in her element, she’d already settled in and didn’t seem to mind me here, something else I could be grateful for.
“Which room am I bunking in?”
She knocked the handsoap dispenser into the sink. “Take your pick,” she croaked.
I saluted and took off my hat, laying it on the island.
Maybe she wasn’t as comfortable with me here as she made out to be. I admired her for trying. This was progress, a push in the right direction. And I wasn’t leaving until she told me to go.
I dropped off her stuff in her room before picking one for myself. Drawn to the one closest to hers, I flipped on the lights.
This was so much better than a hotel, even though the ones they put me up in were outrageously nice. I’d been living out of one for the better part of two years. That took a toll on a guy who was a homebody.
I’d pushed hard, shooting film after film for my family. But I’d also done it because of Muriella. My control had reached the point where it was sustainable, so staying busy and away from her became a survival tactic. I could have any woman in the world except the one I wanted. My Mama had told me from the time I could understand, and probably before, that when I found the one, I’d know it. I’d seen it happen to my brother, heard the stories of my parents and grandparents, but it had never hit home until that Fourth of July.
Three Dates (Paths To Love Book 2) Page 12
