The Promise (Butler Ranch Book 1)

by Heather Slade

  The weather was warmer, so before getting back on the highway, Brodie put the top down. He couldn’t wait to see her face when he drove up in his lava orange “baby.” Her beamer was fun to drive, no question, but he wondered how she’d like driving this car.

  He found the playlist he’d made two nights ago, and the music they’d listened to on their See Canyon drive began to play.

  He checked his phone one last time before putting the car in gear. There weren’t any messages from her, a good sign since he expected her to send him a text asking him not to come. It was a little after noon, which would put him at Stave by two-thirty or three.

  At three on the dot, Brodie pulled up in front of Stave. There were several people sitting on the patio, and when he looked inside, the tasting bar looked full.

  He went inside and perused the wine racks. He recognized every label. The wine was made by people he knew from school, celebrated the crush with, and with whom he shared life’s most important events. Butler Ranch wines sat next to the ones made by the Avila family at their Los Caballeros winery, and to those made by Wolf Family Vintners, among others.

  It was hard to believe he and Peyton hadn’t met until this week, since they were so close in age. He knew she’d gone to Mission Classical Academy, not to the high school he and Alex graduated from, although back then, the Butlers weren’t on speaking terms with the Avilas.

  Then, right out of high school Brodie left for UC Davis, and once he graduated, he went to work in Napa. He remembered when Kade asked Brodie if he knew her. He told him he’d heard of the winery, but didn’t know the family. Although now he knew that if he’d met her first, she wouldn’t have been available when she met Kade.

  Alex approached him first, nudging him. “Hey, booty-man.”

  “Give me a break, Alex.” Brodie looked in Peyton’s direction to see if she was paying attention.

  “She’s heard it before Brodie.”

  Brodie led Alex out to the patio. “How’s she doing?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Come on, Alex, you know what I mean.”

  “Did you just roll your eyes at me? That’s hysterical. Peyton made me promise to stop rolling my eyes when she talks about you.”

  “She talks about me?”

  “Brodie, Brodie, Brodie. Yes, she’s been talking about you.” Alex’s demeanor went from playful to serious. “Don’t play with her though, Brodie. That bastard Lang Becker did a number on her, and then Kade goes and gets himself killed. She’s closed up pretty tight, but she likes you, and if you’re not into her as much as I’m afraid she’s into you, you’ll devastate her.”

  Brodie’s surveyed the patio, “I can’t stay away, Alex.”

  “This isn’t some f’d up thing with your brother is it?”

  “She’s all I think about. Alex, I don’t have a choice about this, I’m obsessed.”

  “That doesn’t reassure me.”

  “All right, how about this? You’ve got it backwards—I’m more into her than she is to me.”

  Peyton watched Brodie and Alex from behind the bar. She was surprised when they walked outside, but from the looks of it, Alex was lecturing him, no doubt, about her.

  She almost didn’t recognize Brodie when he walked in earlier. He was wearing a suit and tie, and damn if he didn’t look fine. He exuded the confidence of a man who knew who he was and what he wanted out of life. It probably served him well both in the business of wine, and with other women.

  He looked in her direction, but Peyton wasn’t sure if he could see her staring at him through the glare of the windows. When he smiled and waved, she knew he could. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, held it to his ear, and then excused himself from his conversation with Alex. When he did, she came back inside.

  Alex took the glass out of Peyton’s hand that she’d been drying for the last several minutes. “You’re relieved. Go get him.”

  “He’s on the phone.”

  “Yeah? So?”

  “Maybe it’s a private conversation.”

  “It’s Maddox. I overheard the beginning of their conversation.”

  “I’ll still wait in here until he’s finished.”

  Brodie walked back inside, grasping the back of his neck with his hand, the way Kade used to. When he did, it usually meant he had a lot on his mind. Peyton wondered if it meant the same thing with Brodie.

  She untied her apron, hung it on the office door, and walked out to where he waited.

  “Hi.”

  Brodie leaned in, almost as though he was going to kiss her. Without thinking, Peyton jumped back.

  “God, Peyton, I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  “It’s okay.”

  “It isn’t, or you wouldn’t have reacted the way you did.”

  Peyton looked around the tasting room. Too many eyes were on them. “Do you mind if we leave?”

  “Not at all. Alex is okay with it?”

  “Yeah, today’s my day off, actually.” Peyton looked over at the clock. “She has help that should be here any minute.” The back door opened and two women walked in. “Oh, here they are now. Do you know Addy and Sam?”

  “Abbey?”

  “No, Addy, with a ‘d.’”

  “I don’t think so. Who are they?”

  “They work here, but they don’t come from wine families. Addy’s aunt owns the Ollalieberry Diner, and Sam’s parents live over on Windsor Drive.”

  Brodie was listening to Peyton, but wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying. Instead he watched the way her eyes danced when she smiled, and how she talked faster than she had yesterday, as though she were nervous. He understood, he was nervous too. If she wasn’t doing all the talking he might embarrass himself again, like he did when he leaned forward to kiss her. He hadn’t been thinking, it just felt so natural to want to kiss her hello.

  “Where should we go?” Brodie walked over to where his Porsche was parked.

  “Is this yours?” Peyton gasped.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He tossed her the key fob. “Wanna drive?”

  “I’m so embarrassed.”

  “Why?” He chuckled. “I wanted to drive your car as much as I’m guessing you want to drive mine.”

  “Who does the truck belong to? I know it isn’t Kade’s.”

  “No, it’s mine too.”

  The wineries in the Paso Robles region were successful, and growing all the time, especially ones where the land had belonged to the family for many years. Brodie and his brothers all owned more than one car, motorcycles too. He wondered if Kade told her about the helicopter, or if he ever brought her to the ranch to see the horse stables.

  “Where to?” she asked once she was behind the wheel.

  “Peidras Blancas?”

  “You have a thing for lighthouses.”

  “I’m fascinated by them.” As fascinated as he was with her, although he couldn’t tell her that.

  “Why?”

  He thought about why they held such allure while she drove along the Cabrillo Highway. They drove through San Simeon, past the entrance to Hearst Castle where his grandparents met, and by Arroyo del Corral, the secluded cove where the elephant seals made their home. Peyton slowed the car as they approached the entrance to the lighthouse station. There were several buildings, one housing a gift shop, as well as a replica of the station’s original water tower.

  “Did you know you can stay here?” he asked.

  “I didn’t. Have you ever?”

  “I haven’t, but I want to.” With you, he wanted to add.

  “So, you haven’t told me why you have a thing for lighthouses.”

  “I thought about it, and I don’t really know. It started when we’d go to Avila Beach with my dad. And maybe it’s just that simple, that when I see them it reminds me of a happy time.”

  They walked through the gift shop, and Peyton picked up a lodging brochure. A tour had left several minutes ago, but the girl behind the cash register told th
em they were welcome to try to catch up with it.

  “I’d rather just walk around. Is that okay with you, Peyton?”

  “Yes, definitely.” Peyton thanked the gift shop cashier, and they went back outside.

  “Piedras Blancas was added to the California Coastal National Monument this year,” Brodie began.

  “Most of the Cambria shoreline was, too,” Peyton added.

  “That’s right, I remember hearing about that.”

  “I’m a walking-talking Central Coast guidebook.” She laughed. “A lot of tourists come into Stave, and most of them are looking for ideas of other things they can do while they’re in town.”

  “The tasting room is certainly a boon to the Westside Collaborative. It’s a good thing you’ve got going there.”

  “I usually give the credit to Alex—”

  “I know you do.”

  Peyton laughed again. “But I’m proud of it. When I took over we sold a few cases a month of my dad’s wines, but it never generated a profit. Now it does, and at the same time, helps spread the word about wineries that aren’t on the beaten path, Butler Ranch included.”

  “It’s been a good thing for us, Peyton, and not just here on the Central Coast. Down south, Paso Robles is as well-known as Napa Valley and Sonoma. We may not have the same prestige worldwide, at least not yet, but with every sales trip I go on, more and more of the customers I call on know about our wines before I get there. And not just ours, like you said, many of the region’s wineries are growing in acclaim.”

  “Is that where you were, on a sales trip?” As soon as she asked, Peyton wished she hadn’t. What if that wasn’t why he was gone? She closed her eyes in an effort to curb her speculation.

  Brodie laughed. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I just realized I was being really nosy.”

  He reached over and rubbed her shoulder. “That’s where I was, and I like that you want to know, Peyton. Believe me, I’m not going to hesitate asking. I want to know everything you did while I was gone.”

  “It isn’t that interesting. I ran errands, made dinner for the boys and me, did some laundry. Fascinating stuff. Of course I was exhausted yesterday after being up so late the night before. I wondered if you had the luxury of sleeping in.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Brodie moved closer to her and whispered, “Were you imagining me in bed, Peyton?”

  She laughed, and pushed him away, but she didn’t freak out. A good sign.

  “I was envious, especially when I had to pry my eyes open at seven to get the boys ready for school.”

  “Nope, no sleeping in for me either. I left early yesterday, before dawn, and timed it so I hit LA after the morning traffic. I spent yesterday afternoon and evening there, and then this morning, I drove back for a meeting in Santa Barbara.”

  “Nice car to be in for that much driving.” She smiled.

  “Yours is pretty nice too, Peyton.”

  “I like it, and so do the boys…”

  Brodie studied her face. There were lines in her forehead, and near her eyes, that he’d noticed before when she talked about Kade. He wondered if his brother had anything to do with her buying her BMW.

  “Speaking of the boys, do they have basketball practice again today?” He pulled out his phone to check the time, and she peeked over at it.

  “They do. We better get on the road.”

  “Would you like to drive back?”

  “No, I had my fun. I kind of like being a passenger.”

  The lines on her face that had been visible were gone. In their place were happier ones, smile lines. “I like seeing you smile, Peyton.” Brodie reached over and touched her face. “I like seeing you happy. You’re beautiful, Peyton.”

  “Thank you, Brodie.” She looked away from him, but her smile remained.

  “And I hate seeing you sad,” he added.

  “It can’t always be avoided. It’s just there sometimes, as much as I don’t want it to be, things remind me…”

  “Like the car?”

  “Kade talked me into it. I was looking at the X5, a far more practical vehicle, but he convinced me I didn’t need a ‘mom-car’ anymore. The boys aren’t that old, but he was right, it isn’t like I’m lugging around strollers and diaper bags.”

  There were so many things he could ask, like how Kade was with her boys, or if they ever talked about having kids of their own, but he didn’t. He didn’t want to know, and he didn’t want to picture Peyton with his brother.

  When Brodie held the passenger door open for her, she breathed in the scent of him. He didn’t wear much cologne, if it even was cologne. He smelled good, like the salty air, and the pines that grew so predominantly in this area.

  “I wish we didn’t have to go back yet,” Brodie murmured, leaning in closer to her. If she turned her head just slightly, she’d be close enough to kiss him. Instead, she bent down and got into the car.

  Peyton looked out at the sea on their drive back, thinking about how different she felt with Brodie, than she had with either Lang or Kade. It had taken months before she’d go out with either of them. With Lang, she thought he was flirting with her like he did with everyone else—she didn’t believe he was really interested in her.

  Kade was her friend a long time before he became her lover, and it was even longer before she introduced him to her boys. If he hadn’t sent her the email asking her out, she never would’ve realized he wanted to be more than friends.

  With Brodie, his interest was out in the open. There was no pretense. When she and Alex talked about Brodie being a player, she mentally compared him to her ex-husband. If she hadn’t held out on Lang so long, she doubted he would’ve asked her to marry him. When he did, and she hesitated, he pressured her. Even then she felt as though she was Lang’s conquest more than a woman he was in love with.

  Brodie mentioned something the other day about how she would’ve gotten to know his family better after she and Kade were married. They weren’t together long enough for either of them to be thinking about marriage.

  In both cases, with Lang and Kade, she was cautious. In hindsight she must’ve sensed both of them would break her heart. With Lang it was intentional, with Kade it wasn’t. But why had he pursued her knowing the danger he was in each time he left on a mission? Worse, why had she allowed her boys to get so close to him? She was aware that every time he left, there was a chance he wouldn’t come back.

  She often wondered if she had to do it over again, would she let herself fall in love with him?

  “You’re very quiet over there Ms. Wolf. Which reminds me, do you go by Wolf or Becker?”

  “I go by Wolf-Becker officially, although I only keep Lang’s name for the boys’ sake, since they’re Beckers.”

  She studied him for a while, wondering how he felt about kids. “I thought about asking him to give up his parental rights, since he hasn’t seen the boys in years, and has no desire to. If he did, I could legally change their last name to Wolf, but now that Jamison is ten, I think it’s too late.”

  He didn’t say anything, but Peyton could see the tightness in his jaw, and his hands gripping the steering wheel harder than necessary.

  “Brodie?”

  “I never met him, and I never want to. I don’t understand how a man can leave his kids.”

  “When he left, he told me he realized he never really wanted children. He was a big kid himself, and I should’ve recognized it before I married him. I see that now, and I blame myself as much as I blame him.”

  “That’s not right, Peyton. He made the choice to become a father—you have no blame in this.”

  “I’m sorry, Brodie. It’s a tough subject. It was for Kade, too.”

  “Was he going to adopt them?”

  “Who? Kade? No. We never talked about it.” Peyton looked back out at the sea. “We weren’t as close as you think we were. I loved him, and I thought about a future with him, but I had doubts. Mainly about what he did.”

  “Did
he tell you he was going to retire?”

  “Not specifically. I knew he would eventually, just given his age, but we didn’t discuss it.”

  “I don’t know what I should say and what I shouldn’t.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “About Kade, and what he was thinking.”

  “What was he thinking, Brodie?”

  “I knew what his plans were, so did the rest of our family. Before he left, he told us it would be his last mission, when he got back he was going to retire.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely. He asked our mother to start planning the ceremony.”

  Peyton closed her eyes, and leaned back into the headrest.

  Brodie pulled the car over and took her hand in his. “Peyton, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, Brodie. I’m just…I don’t know what to say.”

  He gripped the steering wheel with his other hand. How could Kade have kept so much from her? She kept saying they weren’t as close as he thought they were. He was beginning to see she was right. It didn’t make sense. How could Kade be planning to propose when he hadn’t even discussed his retirement with her?

  “Listen, Brodie, I realize how hard this is, for both of us. I think it would be best if we didn’t—”

  Brodie took his hand off the steering wheel, leaned over and gripped the back of her neck. “Don’t say it, Peyton. Don’t say it would be best if we didn’t see each other. Please.”

  Without waiting for her to answer, Brodie covered her lips with his, and tangled his fingers in her hair. He felt her resistance for a second, and then she relaxed into their kiss.

  Her hand came up and rested on his chest, and her mouth opened to his. His tongue explored her mouth, battling with hers, and her breath quickened. He pressed harder, then slowed and softened. He nipped at her lower lip, and kissed across the side of her face, down her neck. Her hand grasped the front of his shirt.