Bedding The Boss (Bedding the Bachelors Book 8)

by Virna DePaul

  Eric sighed but said nothing.

  Jake continued on. “If you’re going to be suffering this much, you better ask yourself what you’re trying to prove and who the hell you’re trying to prove it to.”

  “You don’t think I’ve been asking myself that shit since the day she left?”

  “Well what’s the answer then?” Jake threw his hands up in exasperation.

  “I have to prove it to myself, Jake. In L.A., everybody weighs me by my bank account. But money has no value to your heart. To your spirit. After Brianne and I fell apart, I woke up and I just didn’t know how to measure myself anymore. My own worth. All I knew was that I needed a simpler life. Filled with hard work and small, reliable rewards. I was going to lose myself otherwise.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Jake dropped his head in his hands. “I love you, Eric. But these are rich kid problems.” He raised his hands in self defense. “Problems nonetheless. Of course. We can’t compare pain, yadda yadda yadda. But from where I’m standing, here you are, holding a big rubber stamp in one hand. You know what that stamp says? It says ‘success’ on it. And all you have to do is this.” Jake took Eric’s hand and pressed it to Eric’s forehead. “Quit torturing yourself and give yourself the label already. You done did it. Success.” He released Eric’s hand.

  “That easy, huh?”

  “Hell no. That shit is hard as hell. Trust me. But you know what oughtta be easier than living without her?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Getting out of your own way so you can figure out how to live with her.”

  * * *

  Lexi bounded down the steps of the community college where she was taking a few general education courses to ease herself back into school mode. Thankfully, she was doing better than keeping up, she was acing everything so far. In addition, even though she was only making minimum wage working at a coffee shop around the corner from her house, she’d applied for and received a scholarship. As such, she was not only paying all her bills, she was even saving up for a car.

  Finally, she was meeting with a writer’s group twice a week. It had only been a month and she was already halfway through her second manuscript. It was even better than the first, and she already had ideas for more scripts.

  Yes, indeed, she’d made the right decision coming to L.A. It was the best thing she could have done for herself.

  And the fact she had to keep telling herself this every few hours didn’t mean a thing.

  Twenty minutes later, she was unlocking her front door, calling out a hello to Aubrey, who was doing dishes in their kitchen, and then locking herself in her room.

  She took a deep breath and lowered herself to her bed just as her face crumpled.

  This happened everyday like clockwork.

  While she was busy, out in the world, moving and shaking, she was fine. Good even. Juiced by the simple fact that she was making her dreams come true.

  But the second she was alone, the very second, she crumbled in on herself. So homesick for Eric she could barely breathe.

  She was homesick for Montana and the friends she’d made there, as well.

  The pain should have been easing by now, but it wasn’t. If anything, it was worsening. She missed Eric more than she thought possible. Down to the bone. Even her stupid teeth missed Eric.

  When she’d given herself a solid twenty minutes of wallowing, Lexi sat up, brushed her hand over her face and reached for her phone. She always felt better after talking to Marina.

  She’d just started to dial when someone knocked on her door.

  “Lexi?” Aubrey called. “There’s an extremely handsome man here for you.”

  Lexi was off the bed like a shot. Eric. It had to be. A visit? Could she handle it? Could she handle turning him away? Hell no. She already knew she was going to take what she could get. After a month of wallowing, she was ready to torture herself with however much of him he was willing to give.

  But when she flung open the door of her bedroom and bounded into the living room, it wasn’t Eric waiting for her.

  “Papa!” she yelped, and was in his arms before she could think twice.

  “Hey there, baby girl.” His grin was bigger than a full moon.

  Twenty minutes later they were walking through Chinatown together.

  “You’ve got more gray in your hair, Papa,” she teased him. Her eyes dropped down to the leg he was favoring. “And a little hitch in your giddy up.”

  “Yep. Doctor says I need a new hip.”

  Lexi stopped walking, earning a dirty look from the business woman rushing along behind her. “You have a fall?”

  “Nah. Just your normal wear and tear. Rodeo’s a hard life. You know that, baby girl.”

  “Sure.” She was already recalculating her wages, trying to find a way to cover the cost of a surgery like that. Nothing doing. Her car was going to have to wait. She might need to move to a cheaper place. Well, those were the breaks.

  “Now, quit that,” her father reprimanded. “You look just like your mother when you’re doing money math in your head. Break’s my heart a little.”

  Lexi laughed in surprise. “What do you mean?”

  “She was always so concerned about money. She’d have rolled over in her grave to know I got us wrapped up in rodeo after she passed. Money pit is what it was.”

  “I never had any complaints about it,” Lexi shrugged. “Makes for good party conversation these days,” she teased him. “These L.A. rich kids can’t get enough stories about horse country.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “Is that right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Well, it wasn’t no game to us, now was it?”

  “No, sir. That was real life.”

  “Realer than real,” he agreed. Then took a deep breath. “Which is why it was so hard to leave it behind.”

  “What? Papa? You retired? Is that how you got the time to come visit me?”

  “Nah. I made the time to visit you because you’re my baby girl living her best life out in Los Angeles. And I’m proud. That’s why I come to visit.” He scraped a hand over his stubble and looked at her out of the side of his eye. “I ain’t got the savings to retire. But I got another job.”

  “Really? What is it?” Lexi traded cash for two snow cones and handed one to her dad. He chuckled at the electric blue color but took a big bite.

  He didn’t answer her question about the job, just gave her a long, clear look. “You know you were my biggest dream, right, baby girl?”

  “What do you mean, Papa?”

  He scrubbed a hand over his stubble. “I mean that you always had it in your head that I woulda been George Clooney if you hadn’t come along.”

  “You’re handsome enough.”

  “Well.” He blushed. “Alright. I’m just saying that I think you always got your dreams confused with mine. You thought I put my hopes on hold to be your daddy. To rodeo. But you got it backwards. The life I lived? That was my best life. What I always wanted. And sure, I was curious about Hollywood. Probably wouldn’t have minded starring in a movie or two. But did I want the rest? The pace? The parties? The time away from you? Hell nah.”

  Lexi tossed her cone in the trash. She’d never heard him speak like this before. She could barely believe her ears.

  “Mostly I just told you them stories to keep you entertained. Lord knows I plugged you into movies often enough in the back of that trailer. I think I really just wanted a way to stay involved with you even when I had to be away from you, out working. So I wanted you to picture your daddy in them movies. Dancing and singing and what not. And then after a while, it became your dream. To make movies like that. And I was proud. You was always so creative and smart and such a dreamer. And I’m proud to see you out here in Hollywood, making it happen for yourself.”

  Lexi felt tears rising and she wasn’t altogether sure why.

  “But I guess I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t getting your dreams mixed up with
mine. You know? If this is what you want, then have at it, girl. If this is some sort of vindication for my lost dreams? Well, you can give that up, child. Because I done got my dream. Healthy kid. Good relationship with her. And now I got a good job to settle down with. Stay in one place for a while. I got what I need. What I want.”

  Lexi was speechless. She wasn’t sure if what he’d said was true. If that’s the way that she had felt. Whether part of the reason she was out here was because she’d somehow felt like she’d gotten in the way of her father’s dreams. But she did know their conversation had made her feel lighter. Like he’d given her permission to let go of a helium balloon she’d been carrying around her whole life. Not exactly a heavy burden, but a burden nonetheless.

  “Well, Papa. I guess I just don’t know.” She wiped a tear from her eye.

  “You’ve got time to figure it out, I suppose,” he said, handing her his half finished snow cone. “Here, you done threw yours in the trash when you got upset.”

  She laughed because he knew her so well. Laughed because she felt light. Laughed because she was happy to be in the same city as her dad.

  “Tell me about this new job.”

  They were halfway back to her house by now, and her father looked at her with a little trepidation in his eye.

  “Well, I haven’t taken it yet. I wanted to run it by you first.”

  “Alright,” she said, figuring it was some sort of off the books gig he’d want her blessing for.

  “It’s a ranching gig.” His eyes slid sideways to watch her carefully. “Horse ranch. Up in Montana.”

  Lexi’s heart froze but she did her best not to show it. “Is that right?”

  “Yup. I’d be working for a young man who knew you by name in fact. An Eric Davenport.”

  Lexi swallowed hard.

  “Boy called me up out of the blue one day ‘bout a week ago. Said he had a job offer if I wanted it. Needed someone who knew about horses and who knew about hard work. Figured I knew about both.”

  “He was right,” Lexi choked out. Her mind was spinning. What the hell did any of this mean?

  “Yep. Well, seems he needs a foreman.”

  Her face snapped around to his. “I thought he was going to be the foreman.”

  “Well, seems that’s up for debate, depending on the way a few different things shake out. But seems like he’s hoping he can be on the ranch a few months a year. And elsewhere a few months a year.”

  “Elsewhere,” she repeated numbly, her heart beating a mile a minute. She missed the little smile from her father.

  “So I figured I’d ask you ‘fore I took the job.”

  She cleared her throat. “And why’s that?”

  “Well, I didn’t want to go muckin’ up your personal matters between you and this boy you’re over the moon for.”

  “Papa, I’m not—” She broke off since at this point she didn’t see the damn point in lying. “He’s really great, Papa. The second best man I know.” She nudged his wiry old ribs and he smiled.

  “Well, seems he’s caught a few feelings for you, baby girl.”

  “He told you that?”

  He shrugged. “Didn’t have to. Man doesn’t rearrange his life for a woman he’s on the fence for.”

  That balloon that Lexi had just let go of? Well, it was currently setting up shop in her belly, expanding to the size of a football field. She felt like she might just lift right off the earth.

  She turned to her father. She didn’t know in that moment, with blue snow cone on her lips, and her hair back in a ponytail, that she looked more like both a woman and a child than her old dad’s heart could bear.

  “Papa. Take the job.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Eric patted down the old horse that was enjoying the shade of his brand new barn. He was going to miss the smell of the hay and the way the horse chuffed at the morning air. He was going to miss the sun biting through the fog in the morning and falling into bed an exhausted heap every night.

  But he wasn’t going to miss any of that as much as he missed Lexi.

  So the arrangements had been made. He had a new foreman coming next week. He had even more crew coming after that. He’d made sure they’d be comfortable in the guest rooms located in the old farmhouse. There was nothing left to do now but put his heart on the line and see if Lexi wanted the same thing he did.

  To be together regardless of how difficult maintaining two homes, two careers, two dreams, in two different states might be.

  Eric let out a long slow breath and led the horse to her water. When he heard a car pulling up on his gravel, he figured it was probably Jake ready to give him a kick in the ass again.

  Eric patted the old horse on the side then stretched his arms above his head. He was just straightening his ball cap and heading back to his house to meet up with Jake when…

  He stopped in his tracks when he saw who was leaning against a cherry red rental car, arms crossed over her chest and one ankle crossed over the other.

  Eric took a moment to look at her. The woman who wasn’t overly feminine but still more beautiful than any other woman in the word. He adored her lean muscles. Her wild hair. Her tough little face.

  “That scowl a permanent fixture on your face?” he called over to her. “Or do you reserve it just for me?”

  Lexi turned to him, and he immediately saw the nerves dancing in her eyes. They were easy to spot given his own nerves needed a dancing partner.

  “You really did it, Eric.” As she straightened, she raised her arms and made an all-encompassing gesture. “And you did it in record time. Have you even slept?”

  He was close now, maybe only five feet between them. He felt the pull of her, but couldn’t get enough of a read to know how much closer she wanted him. “Not lately.”

  She bit her lip. “Me either.”

  “Are you just passing through?” he asked and could have kicked himself for the awkward, stilted way the question had come out.

  “I’m not sure,” she answered, a very serious expression on her face. “I guess that depends how this visit goes.”

  His heart knocked on his ribs like it was asking to please come out and play.

  “You came to see me.”

  “I sure did. To ask you a question.”

  “And what question is that?”

  “Why you hired my Daddy to take care of this ranch for half the year.”

  “Um, well…” Eric scraped a hand over his stubble, eyeing her carefully, like she was a filly who might kick him at any moment. “It appears your father played my cards for me,” he grumbled.

  Her lips tipped into a small smile. “He wouldn’t take a job like that without making sure I was okay with it. So he came to L.A. Spent a few days with me. Spilled your secret.”

  Eric pictured the slow-talking cowboy he’d spoken with on the phone. Then he tried to picture him in Echo Park. He couldn’t help but smile. “How’d he like it?”

  She shrugged. “He thought it was interesting. Said he liked Montana better.”

  “Hmmm. I can’t say I disagree with him since you’re currently in Montana, standing right in front of me.”

  Lexi stared at him. Then, quick as a cat, she snaked a hand around his belt buckle, and pulled him close until his body pressed hers against the car. The move soothed him and kicked his heart into overdrive. She wanted him closer. But that had never been their problem. Still, he couldn’t resist touching her so he slid one hand around the back of her neck, and caressed her bottom lip with the other.

  “You want to know why I hired your dad? Because I finally decided to get out of my own way.”

  “Meaning?”

  He took a deep breath and looked around them. At what he’d built. “I thought that in a perfect world, I’d be here 365 days a year. But then I met you. And that’s not your perfect world. So mine had to change.”

  “You want to split your time between here and L.A.” She whispered the words tentatively, like she migh
t break in two the second they left her mouth.

  “I don’t know how realistic splitting my time down the middle is, not at first. But I want to spend a lot of time in L.A.” He traced his thumb over her bottom lip. “A lot.”

  “But you hate Los Angeles.” She was still whispering. And her eyes were filling with tears. He almost would have preferred her yelling. He’d never seen this lost little side of her before.

  He chose his words carefully. “I don’t hate L.A. any more than you hate Montana. It’s just I wanted Montana to be home so badly, and I thought that meant completely putting aside my life in L.A. I told myself I had to give up my past in order to truly commit to my future. But with you by my side… At the gala... When you met Brianne and Gabe... I never felt like a jilted man with too much money and no purpose returning to the place he’d wanted to leave behind. Instead, I was simply home. Because you’re my home, Lexi. Not Montana. Not California. Not any state or city or building. You.”

  Lexi’s eyes searched his. Hope and understanding swirled inside her. “So you’re really sure? You won’t mind regularly visiting me in L.A.?”

  He took a deep breath. “No. I want to live part-time with you in L.A. And trust your dad to run the ranch whenever I’m not here.”

  Lexi slammed her eyes shut and dropped her forehead to his chest. He couldn’t help but hold his breath.

  “I’m working on another screenplay, you know.” Her voice was muffled against his chest. “Which I guess makes me a screenwriter. I’m in school for it right now. But we get a summer vacation. And a Christmas break. And a spring break.”

  Eric felt a hand squeeze over his heart. “Any chance you might want to spend those in Montana?”

  Lexi stared at him. Then she shrugged. “No might about it. Because you’re my home, too, Eric.”

  Completely losing his cool at this point, unable to continue this calm charade they had going on, Eric slapped his hands together over his head with a tremendous clap and let out a victory roar. Right before he picked her up and pressed her against the car. Lexi laughed and tilted her head to one side, inviting him to kiss his way up her neck.