by Gray Gardner
“My naughty little Blake,” he sighed, shaking his head at me as I rubbed my rear.
“My billionaire boyfriend,” I grinned, stepping from the marble onto the pebbles and grout of the open shower. He was suddenly behind me, the hot spray of water misting off of his chest and onto my head.
“I love the sound of that,” he softly said, sucking on my ear. “I promise I won’t be gone long, and we’ll spend the rest of our time here figuring out what we’re going to do in the future.”
The future. It sounded so nice for once. And I could certainly sacrifice a few days in the future for some more of what we’d just done in his bed. He’d been firm but gentle, two things I never thought went together, but was happy to discover that with West, they just did. I smiled and looked back and up at him. Then it quickly turned into a frown as he continued.
“Now you have to promise to be good while I’m gone. It’s just one day. Can you do that?”
“Don’t sound so condescending,” I snapped, turning and shoving him off of my back. Good feeling gone. “I don’t go looking for trouble, by the way…”
“But it always seems to find you,” he stated, folding his arms over his dripping wet chest. Focus.
“Yeah, and his name is West!”
“You know what you’re not supposed to do, so don’t try and go do it just because I’m gone,” he ordered, looking completely serious.
“Sure, because you have spies everywhere who are just dying to tell on me and get in good with the boss!” I scowled, folding my arms over my chest, too.
He exhaled and drew a wet hand down his face. Then he stepped towards me, pinning me to the stone wall with a very serious stare.
“I know everything that goes on here whether I’m present or not. Keep that in mind,” he nodded, turning and grabbing the shampoo.
I grunted in frustration and yanked a fluffy white towel off the hook on the wall. I wrapped it around myself and marched out of the bathroom in a desperate search for my clothes.
“You complete me!” he called in a playful tone.
“You’re an arrogant asshole!” I replied, tripping a few times as I pulled on my underwear and jeans in anger. I was just shoving my foot into my boot when he appeared, white towel around his waist, and slowly walked towards me.
“Please don’t be mad. I’ve explained how much I worry about you…”
“And it’s unwarranted!” I shouted, pausing and closing my eyes. I breathed in to calm myself. “I know what I’m doing, okay? I won’t hurt myself.”
“I care about you,” he stated, stepping in front of me and running his fingers down the side of my face. “So it is warranted and you just have to accept that.”
“No, I don’t,” I argued, though I don’t know why. I knew what was coming next.
“Then when I get back and I hear about what a bad little girl you were, you’re going to be reprimanded,” he said, giving me a surprised look because I had the audacity to say the wordsyou’re going to be reprimanded at the same time he did. And I may have used a tone. God, I was a bad little girl.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, looking down at my boots and regretting my childish behavior.
He took my chin and lifted my head up so that I could see the adoring look in his eyes. “Quit saying you’re sorry. I don’t know why it’s so cute when you’re being contrary, but it is…and I have to go,” he sighed, checking his watch. He looked back down at me and leaned in, kissing me softly and sweetly. “Please stay here. Sleep here, spend the day here.”
“I paid to be on a ranch, West, I want to do ranch stuff,” I whispered, his lips hovering over mine.
“Fine,” he exhaled, leaning back and giving me a pointed look. “Just be good.”
“Yes sir,” I called over my shoulder as I walked out of the room. “Anything you say, sir!”
“Don’t sass me!” he yelled down the hallway, smiling as he leaned in his doorway.
“Aren’t you gone yet?” I shouted, grinning as I skipped down the stairs. It was only 5:00 am. Yeah, it was going to be a good day.
Tapping my thumbs rhythmically against the front desk I shot the concierge a forced grin as she nervously dialed a number and wiped her sweaty upper lip as she mumbled into the phone. Closing her eyes like she’d just gotten terrible news, she swallowed and handed the black receiver up to me.
“Um, hello?” I asked, expecting to speak with someone more knowledgeable than Ms. Penny Peterson, Concierge.
“Why do you need to rent a car?”
“West?” I asked, totally not expecting to hear his voice. I even looked at the receiver like he would just pop right out of it. “Where are you?”
“I’m in the car driving from JFK to the office. Why do you need a car?” he repeated, sounding mad.
I shot Penny Peterson an annoyed glare as I turned in the reception area and quietly said, “I want to go and see how Kelly’s doing.”
“Then let one of the drivers take you.”
“In one of those stretched Hummer limos? I’d really rather just drive myself…”
“You don’t know the roads around there and once you hit the highway the tractor-trailer traffic is very heavy. Get a driver and let him take you…”
“Did you instruct your employees to notify you of my movements through the ranch all day?” I asked, hunching my shoulders to my ears, as I tried to keep my angry voice quiet to spare myself further humiliation. That was really taking the spying thing too far.
He was quiet for one second too long.
“West! I don’t need a buncha babysitters!”
“Take the damn limo or don’t go at all. I need to hang up. We’re here.”
“Bye,” I said with a mock-cheerfulness and fully intending on proceeding with the car rental. I handed the phone back to Penny and thanked her. It really wasn’t her fault West was acting like a lunatic.
“Got the car? I’ll go with you if you don’t want to be alone,” Caroline said, handing me a coffee and leaning against the stone ledge surrounding the cafe. We sipped our coffee in the mid-morning sunlight, her in tight white jeans and matching tank top with yellow boots, me in ripped Seven jeans, my old boots, the trusty Cowboys hat, and a thin navy t-shirt that said ‘NAVY’ across the front in white letters.
“But it’s your picnic with Rowdy today,” I grinned, having listened to her gush about it for an hour before she asked what I had planned for the day. “You have to go. He made fried chicken, for Pete’s sake.”
“He’s a great cook,” she sighed, looking off somewhere. “Better in bed, though. How’s West?”
“At cooking or bedding?” I smirked, sipping the coffee as she turned and narrowed her eyes at me.
“I knew you didn’t come home last night! Now spill!” she squealed, abandoning her coffee and folding her arms over her chest.
I actually twirled one of my pig tails as I thought about how great he’d been in bed and then frowned about how supercilious he’d been acting since then. My first real adult relationship and I wasn’t sure if it was going well or crashing and burning. Maybe that’s what adult relationships were all about.
“Oh, it’s good and bad all at once, huh?” she nodded. “That means it’s serious.”
I decided to tell her a few things. “He wants to be my boyfriend. Said those exact words.”
She sputtered for a second, shaking her head and finally exhaling the words, “I’m so sorry, Blake. I really thought he was putting up some kind of good guy front. I was wrong, I guess.”
“He used to be like that in college,” I nodded, staring at the landscape. “But since he runs this ranch and other properties he doesn’t have time anymore.”
“I feel like that sometimes,” Caroline sighed, making me frown at her admission and empathy. “What? Since my promotion how many times have I been out with you?”
I thought about her New Year’s promotion and could only come up with a handful of times we’d even seen each other since then. I’d attribut
ed it to my break-up but it was she, too. I smiled and rolled my eyes at her.
“You’d better get going or Rowdy’s going to think you went on a picnic with another hot cowboy who knows how to cook.”
“Well, okay, but we’ll talk more later?”
“Definitely,” I agreed, knowing that there was a lot more to say. I waved and walked back around to the administration building, ready to argue with Penny Peterson until she rented me a car, but was stopped on the flagstone walkway by a tall, shaggy blonde haired man.
“Ms. Campbell?”
Oh great. The surly river rafting guy. I set my hands on my hips and raised a brow at him in annoyance.
“I’m not even within half a mile of the river. I’m not going to try and go rafting, okay?”
“Of course,” he nodded, acting way too polite. “I’m here to take you into the city to the hospital.”
“Ugh!” I groaned, holding a hand in his face and rolling my eyes. Of course. West had called the person I hated the most on this ranch and made him promise to escort me into town. “So West has made you my driver for the day?”
“Not exactly,” he grinned, holding his arm out and indicating I should start walking.
In the next thirty minutes I was securely strapped into a two-seater helicopter, with huge headphones on and my knuckles white with fear. I gripped the seat underneath my legs, closed my eyes, and I’m pretty sure I screamed the whole way there. Luckily it was pretty loud so Blondie didn’t have to listen the whole way. The hour and a half trip by car only took us about twenty minutes in the Death Trap.
“I know it’s scary, but it’s safe,” Blondie grinned, holding my hands and steadying me as I fell out of the helicopter and tried to stand on wobbling legs. “I’ll wait here until you’re done, okay?”
“Where’s the hospital?” I asked, looking at the low rooftops of the small downtown area surrounding us. We were on a rooftop, too, right in the middle of a big red H painted beneath us.
“You’re on it. Try not to take longer than an hour, if you can. The hospital begrudgingly let us land here because West basically built the place with all of his donations.”
“Of course he did,” I grumbled, tripping as I walked unsteadily to the metal doors.
Kelly greeted me shyly as she sat up in her bed and ate green Jell-O. She said everyone had been nice and she was ready to go to Utah for rehab. She wanted to get her life back.
“That’s good to hear,” I nodded, jumping as she squealed to the passing doctors and nurses in the hallway.
“This is she! This is she!” Kelly pointed at me, smiling for the petite blonde doctor and her three nurses. “She saved my life.”
“Oh,” I shook my head, half-smiling as they all shook my hand and patted my shoulder. “I didn’t really…”
“You found her in just enough time to save her,” the doctor grinned, nodding her head. “You knew how and when to administer mouth to mouth…you’re a very smart, brave girl.”
“Um, th-thank you,” I whispered, forcing a smile at Kelly, who was holding my hand as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“No, thank you,” she nodded, smiling. “I know this is my last chance, I’m not going to blow it.”
The doctor and nurses left and I squeezed Kelly’s hand. “I know.”
She gripped my hand tighter as I turned to leave. Stopping, I looked back at her now very determined face.
“And don’t you blow it, either.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, confused.
“The way he looks at you…I’ve known him for years and I’ve never seen him look at a girl like that, or smile so much. You really have him wrapped around your finger. Don’t let him go just because you’re scared,” she softly said, leaning back on her pillow. She looked exhausted, but I was suddenly very interested in having this conversation.
“I’m not scared I’m just…wary. He’s wealthy and good-looking and smart. What…”
“And you and you alone have captured his interest. Your boyfriend dumped you, now West wants you. That’s how the world works. Don’t let opportunity slip through your fingers because you’re afraid,” she yawned, looking bleary eyed.
“So…he’s not a playboy billionaire?” I whispered, looking over my shoulder like no one in the hospital had anything better to do than listen in on our gossip.
“He’s neither a playboy nor a billionaire,” she mumbled. “He’s a man who didn’t even know he was looking for you until he found you. Now give him a shot, m’kay? He’s such a good guy…he doesn’t want people to think that, but he is…He’s paying for all of my rehab.”
She was snoring by the time I’d thought it over and agreed to give it a shot. I felt better, though. Confused, but better. Caroline had thought he was putting up this good guy façade to land me into bed. Kelly thought he was hiding behind a cantankerous mask to push everyone away.
My phone chimed so I paused in the hallway by the windows and dug it out of my back pocket.
Your hot little ass better be back on that helicopter and at the ranch within the hour.
Rolling my eyes, I quickly typed out a response with my thumb as I walked to the stairwell leading up to the roof and passed several signs indicating that this hospital was called The R.D. Hamilton Memorial hospital.
Thought I’d take advantage of the free ride and go sightseeing.
Back to the ranch.
Yes sir. Anything else, sir?
Don’t talk to me like that.
Yes sir.
I mean it.
Sir yes sir.
My phone began playing music as I opened the door to the roof and walked into a blast of hot air and sunshine. I nodded at Blondie and took my time answering the phone.
“I hope you know you’re in it up to your ears already, so stop trying to provoke me and get back to the ranch.”
“And a good morning, no, wait, good afternoon to you, too,” I greeted, knowing that he was probably squeezing the phone and gritting his teeth wherever he was.
“Blake, I’m not kidding around,” he said, sounding worried.
I didn’t want him to worry about me, so I sighed and said, “Yeah, I’m going, okay? Rough day at the office or something?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Then what’s the use in having a girlfriend?” I grinned, hoping that I could at least make him smile.
He laughed, finally saying, “You’re right, you know. I’ll tell you all about boring legal documents and client meetings over a glass of wine when I get home. Sound good?”
“Sounds perfect,” I replied. It really did.
We made it back and I grabbed a sandwich from the Dining Cabin, catching the eye of a few other Adventurers as they walked down the road.
“Hey, we’re going on the Rocky Top Hike. Want to come? I heard you telling your friend about your new camera. The views are supposed to be phenomenal,” a woman in her forties said, standing with her girlfriends. They were all in ridiculous pointy cowboy boots and rhinestone encrusted western shirts.
I smiled and nodded at them, raced back to my cabin, snatched my camera, and met up with the crowd of about thirty as they milled about by a couple of boulders and a trail leading up through the trees. We chatted and waited as two hosts began handing out bottled waters and another couple of hosts began shouting out the do’s and don’ts of a hike in the Rockies.
“Thank you,” I smiled, holding the water bottle and trying to put it in my back pocket. It didn’t budge. I looked up at the host, who was staring at me, then said ‘thank you’ again and yanked the bottle away. I was adjusting the strap on my camera and leaning against a tall pine tree when a tall, brunette woman approached me.
“Miss Campbell?”
“That’s me,” I smiled, looking up at her.
She shook her head and exhaled, looking around at every bit of scenery and not quite meeting my eyes.
“Um, Miss Campbell, we, uh…we’re at capacity. We’re going to hav
e to ask you to sit out on this hike.”
I dropped the smile. What? How can a hike through miles and miles of forest be overbooked? I sucked in my breath as I suddenly realized what had happened. Weston Hamilton. He’d told them to not let me go on a hike? No way. This was too far.
“Sure, sorry,” I nodded, putting the cap back on my camera as my blood boiled.
“No, we’re sorry,” she said, looking upset as I turned and walked towards the back of the crowd.
“Got that fancy camera ready?” the lady who’d told me about the hike asked, tying a tan windbreaker around her waist. “Maybe I should just leave this here on the bench.”
I quickly took my hat off and held my hand out for the jacket.
“You know, I’m actually kind of cool. Would you mind very much if I wore it?” I asked, eyeing the crowd around us. No one seemed to notice or care that I was there. The hosts thought I was gone. I could make this work. I zipped it up to my chin and threw the hood on.
And I’m so glad I did. The hike was invigorating. The air was fresh, warm, the people were pleasant, and the scenery was breath taking. After a couple of hours we reached the top. People were taking pictures and videos, while the hosts broke out snacks and juice. I was careful not to be seen and even got some great shots of the mountains in the distance, along with rivers snaking through valleys and lush green forests.
We were just packing up to head down the much faster fire trail when a helicopter suddenly swept through and hovered overhead for a few seconds. I kept my head down, wondering if Blondie was out looking for me, then ventured a quick glance as it flew away and the wind and noise surrounding us died down.
On the side of the chopper in big white lettering were the wordsHamilton Holdings.
Fuck.
My stomach was in knots as we made our quick decent in the late afternoon. When we reached the blacktop road there were ice chests full of water and beer…and a couple of hosts flanking the director, Dusty. I ducked behind everyone in the back, pulled the hood lower over my eyes, and backed into the pine trees.
