Finding Love In Big Sky, Montana (Resort to Love--Finding Love line Book 2)

by Angela Ruth Strong

  Her posture relaxed. She studied the horizon as if in contemplation. As if she couldn’t imagine not knowing what she wanted. “You don’t know?”

  “I think I’m just a little lost right now.” His answer continued to spill out. “I thought I had it all, and it turned out to be an illusion. And now I have nothing, but it’s real. And as painful as it is to be broke, I’m doing okay. It’s confusing.”

  She gave him a small smile, and in that moment it didn’t matter that he had nothing. “That makes a little bit of sense,” she said.

  He let the calmness of their surroundings envelope him. The split rail fence leading them along the property. The crystals of ice covering tree branches. The fresh powder puffing up behind them. The snort of horses and tinkle of bells and swooshing of runners. The conversations about snowshoeing and how to stuff a turkey and that time Uncle Fred built a snowman in the street so he could drive through it.

  Paisley tapped his leg. “We’re headed back. This is the part where I usually have the horses trot while we sing ‘Jingle Bells.’ Do you want to start us out?”

  Josh studied Paisley. She’d dropped her defenses. She’d overcome whatever was bothering her when they first climbed into the sleigh. Maybe it had helped her to vent a little. Maybe she only needed to get back into her element.

  “Sure,” he said. He still had his arm behind her. Earlier it had been to irk her, but now with the coziness of the moment, he wanted to tuck her underneath his shoulder.

  “Hya.”

  He rocked back in his seat as the horses picked up speed. The breeze invigorated while the dimming light blanketed him with peace.

  He cleared his throat. “Dashing through the snow . . .”

  Paisley joined him. “On a one horse open sleigh . . .”

  More voices. Some rough. Some off key. Some clear and powerful. Was that Charlie? She was good.

  The chorus came to an end. Sam finished with a, “Hey!”

  Which led straight to Charlie’s solo. “Sleigh bells ring, are you listening . . .”

  Peace settled over Josh. This was what he’d needed. Had God allowed him to be accused of stealing advertising ideas to get him away from the commercialism of life so he could remember what it was like to enjoy the moment? So he could reconnect with family? So he could focus on the true meaning of the season?

  That’s what would draw other people to Paisley’s ranch. That’s the route he should take for her advertising campaign.

  He studied her profile again. Leather cowboy hat, freckles, long wavy hair. She was different from the kind of people he worked with in the city. She was refreshing. And if he was honest with himself, what he wanted more than anything in that instant was to get to know her better.

  Should he tell her? How could he not after the conversation they’d just had?

  Charlie’s voice lowered. Her tone dropped. She sang the first line to “Silent Night.” The rest of the sleigh joined in, including Paisley. The melody wrapped around him, warm like a fire.

  “Paisley?”

  She gave him a soft smile, though she probably wasn’t thinking of him. She was being carried away by the sweetness of the lyrics. But if he was going to ask her out, she was in the right frame of mind to accept.

  “There is something I want.”

  Her face tilted his way. Curiosity? Interest?

  “I want to take you on a date.”

  Her head dropped back slightly. She focused her eyes straight ahead. Losing the heat of her gaze left him chilly.

  She scrunched her nose before answering. “Remember when I said some things are impossible?”

  He snorted. Of course he remembered. But he hadn’t understood then, and he didn’t understand now. “Did I come with the same warning label for dating as I did for kissing?”

  She shifted away, but she might as well have stayed pressed up against him with the way that little space between them vibrated with an electric current.

  “That’s one way to put it,” she allowed. “But taking me on a date is literally impossible.”

  Oh, this ought to be good. He waited.

  “You can’t pick me up because your car won’t make it down the road. You don’t have money to take me anywhere. And then, you couldn’t even invite me back to your place—not that I’d go—because your former fiancée is living there.”

  He stared at her. Everything she’d said was true. And cruel. And an excuse. Because she was the kind of girl where money didn’t matter. If she’d wanted to go out with him, she’d be happy stargazing or taking a quick road trip to see Old Faithful in Yellowstone. Which was probably why she wouldn’t look at him. Her eyes would reveal the rejection to be based on more than monetary requirements.

  “And you live in Chi-ca-go,” she added, drawing the word out for emphasis.

  “Are you going to keep going?” he deadpanned. She’d made her point. And maybe that was the only point she needed to make. He lived far away. Getting involved was senseless. Only that fact didn’t make him any less drawn to her.

  “Do I need to keep going?” she asked.

  The lights inside the barn loomed. In a minute they’d be unloading passengers, unhooking the sleigh, feeding horses. As they sailed across the pasture, Charlie led the rest of the riders in a rendition of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

  Josh didn’t feel merry anymore. How presumptuous of him to think God had brought him to the ranch to restore his joy. God must have brought him there to continue the humbling process. Not a fun lesson. He’d thought he’d lost everything before running into Paisley again. He’d been wrong.

  He shook his head at the situation. Why did he have to run into her? Was she a carrot to keep him going? To show him that there was more to life than promotions and sports cars? He knew something had been missing. And now he knew it existed. But it was still out of his reach.

  “No, Paisley. You’re right. Dating you sounds impossible.”

  Chapter Eleven

  There he was, shoveling snow again at the beginning of another week. Only this time Paisley also wanted him to sweep it. Repetition was not his strength. He liked to do creative things, social things, and exciting things. Yet Paisley had him doing the exact same thing he’d done the day before the snowstorm. Only today they were going to start flooding the ice to create a smooth surface. They’d have to repeat this process five times before she opened it for ice skating.

  If Sam and Paisley helped him out, it would go faster. But they were too busy carrying benches and burn barrels to strategic locations while he did all the grunt work.

  “She’s the boss,” he muttered to himself. She’d allowed him to stay on her ranch when he had nothing to pay her. And their trade was beneficial to both of them. But he kept hearing her statement from the day before ringing through his head. You live in Chi-ca-go. There really was nothing for him here.

  Paisley grabbed a couple of buckets and headed his direction. Sam held her hand as she stepped out onto the ice as if she needed help balancing. Josh rolled his eyes. The girl had the balance to jump a horse while standing on its back if she wanted. They weren’t fooling anyone.

  She let go of Sam and slid her boots purposefully along the opaque surface of the pond. Sam cheered as if she’d completed a triple jump.

  She glanced Josh’s direction, a huge smile on her face. He’d take what he could get. Plus, seeing her smile made him smile whether he wanted to or not.

  “Great work, Josh. You checked to make sure the ice is thick enough?”

  “Five inches.” He leaned on his shovel. “I also chiseled off the bumps as you requested.”

  She nodded. “Flooding the ice should fill in any holes and level the surface, but it wouldn’t have covered those kinds of imperfections.” She held out her arms for balance and made her way toward the other side of the figure-eight shaped pond where a small fountain kept the water from freezing. “So you think we can safely walk to the edge to fill our buckets and pour them across the ice?
”

  Josh strode after her. He’d mounded a blockade of snow to keep skaters from crossing onto thin ice, but he didn’t want her leaning over it by herself. “It should be safe, but just in case, we’ll have Sam stay on the side with a rope.”

  “I’m here for you, bro.” Sam plunked onto a bench and extended his long legs to cross at the ankles.

  “My hero.”

  Paisley handed Josh a bucket before leaning over the ledge of snow to demonstrate the flooding process her grandpa had told her about. Cold water splashed up, wetting the tips of her gloves. “We’ll have to do this every night after skaters leave.”

  “Every night, huh?” Life on a ranch was all about manual labor. But she was nothing if not a hard worker. Hopefully she’d make time to enjoy the rink, as well.

  Their last splash hadn’t yet reached the other end of the pond. If they were going to enjoy the rink at all, they should do it before they finished the flooding process. He took her bucket and set them both down in the snow. “Come here.”

  She stood slowly, a palm to her lower back for support. “Why?”

  He held out his hand for hers. “Because owning a skating rink should be a fun job.”

  She looked at his offered hand out of the corner of her eye. “I haven’t ordered skates yet.”

  “That’s okay. We’ll slide around in our boots.”

  She didn’t move.

  He dropped his arm and slid his feet back and forth like working out on a Nordic Track. “Not impressed?”

  She shook her head, but one side of her lips curved up.

  “I’m not impressed either, bro,” Sam called.

  Nobody was trying to impress his brother. But maybe they should. “You think you can impress Sam more than I can?”

  She lifted her arms overhead like a ballerina and spun on one foot. “Yes.” She stepped down, and her foot slipped out from under her. She teetered his way.

  Josh caught her around the waist, her chest leaning into his. This was working out better than expected. He tilted his chin down to inhale her sweet scent and tease her before letting her go. “Smooth move.”

  She smiled but pushed against his chest, sliding backward and creating more distance between them.

  He slid his feet forward and shoe skated around her. “You get five moves. Sam can be judge.” Which meant Josh was going to lose, but winning wasn’t his goal here. He spoke louder to alert his brother of the role. “Sam, you get to judge us on a scale of one to ten. Paisley goes first.”

  “She gets a perfect ten,” Sam called back.

  Josh held out his hands in exasperation. “You can’t judge her until after she skates.”

  “Oh, right.”

  Paisley stood in place, tapping her fingers against her legs. “I haven’t agreed to the competition yet. What does the winner get?”

  Josh rubbed his hands together. This was working out a lot better than expected.

  She pointed a finger to stop his train of thought. Though since they’d agreed dating was impossible, her eyes shouldn’t have been dancing with the pleasure of being pursued. “Let’s just say the winner gets to choose, since I’m going to be the winner,” she said.

  He really wanted to win now. Though… “The judge does seem to be a little bit biased.”

  “Yep.” She smiled in agreement. “Ready, Sam?” she asked, but her eyes never left Josh.

  “I’m practically breathless in anticipation.”

  Josh shook his head. He didn’t have a chance.

  She scrunched up her freckled nose. “Here I go.”

  She scooted backwards, waving her arms in front of her. Move one. She stepped wide to turn herself around twice. Move two. She lifted a foot and balanced like a flamingo. This caused her to tip precariously, but she set her foot down before falling. Move three. Not bad. She did a little jump. Move four—and that one would be hard to top. She finished by striking a pose with legs wide and an arm pointing to the sky.

  Sam clapped. “Bravo. Bravo. Though because of the wobble when you were standing on one foot, I’m going to have to give you a 9.5”

  “I meant to wobble.”

  Josh guffawed. “Puh-lease. You’re just scared I can beat you now.”

  Her eyes narrowed in mock challenge. “You are not going to beat me.”

  He crossed his arms. “We’ll see.”

  “Hurry it up, Josh.” Sam called from his spot. “I’m getting hungry. All this sitting here and doing nothing is wearing me out.”

  Josh had absolutely no idea what his five moves would be. In fact, he had no idea what his first move would be. The only time he’d watched ice skating was when he took clients to Blackhawk games. That would have to be a start.

  He ran across the ice and slid. Move one. Now what? He ran across the ice and slid faster. Move two. And actually kind of fun. Maybe once more.

  Paisley watched him pass her a third time. She laughed. “Is that all you’ve got?”

  His feet slowed, and he looked over his shoulder. If she was laughing, he’d keep going. “No, I can do it faster.”

  He ran. Wind stung his cheeks. He planted his feet and sailed past, holding his arms out for balance.

  “This is great stuff.” Sam whooped. “I think you could sell tickets for such a show, Paisley.”

  She covered her mouth, but the corners of her eyes crinkled, giving away her smile. She pulled her hands down to her chest. Definitely smiling. “Yeah, I don’t need a loan anymore. I’ve got the Josh Lake Capades to bring in big money.”

  Josh faced her across the pond. His heart swelled. Because it wasn’t about money. It wasn’t even about getting her to go out with him. It was about bringing her joy. “If you liked that, wait until you see this.”

  Not that he knew what this was going to be. He had a good thing going with the running and the sliding. Maybe he could run and slide and turn at the same time. Why not? She’d done a turn as one of her moves.

  “How long do we have to wait?” Sam shouted.

  If the guy was so hungry, he should go raid the fridge. But Josh had made him judge. He took a deep breath, charged, gave one last mighty push, and careened forward. Now for the turn. He looked over his shoulder, twisted his hips, turned his toes…spun out of control. Right towards Paisley.

  “Whaaa . . .” He yelled a warning, arms flailing.

  Her eyes grew wide. Her mouth opened. She leaned backward as if trying to get out of the way.

  Then his body connected. He gripped her shoulders to keep her from going down. His momentum carried him forward and her backwards. He slid his feet wider to try to keep balanced, but they tangled with hers.

  They tipped right. He flexed. Overcorrected. They tipped left.

  She gripped his jacket. They balanced themselves out but ended up in a spin. Gravity pulled. Josh continued the spin to throw himself down underneath her, gritting his teeth in preparation of impact.

  The snowdrift caught them. Cushioned him. Paisley’s body rammed into his, an elbow to his ribs.

  He grunted. All went still. He waited for a throbbing to alert him to an area of pain. Nothing. Nothing except for Paisley smashed on top of him.

  Josh lifted his chin to check her for injury. Her freckles stood out even more than usual against her pale face. But it was her eyes that had all his attention. Awareness. Then fear. But shouldn’t the fear have come before the awareness that they were okay?

  He’d check. “You okay?”

  She nodded. Still no words.

  Sam’s voice rang out. “If I deducted half a point for Paisley’s wobble, I’m going to have to deduct at least a whole point for a fall. And as you took someone else down with you, Josh” —Sam clicked his tongue— “I’m going to have to take at least nine points off for that. That gives you . . . uh . . . zero points.”

  Josh lost. Like he knew he would. But somehow he’d ended up with his arms around Paisley. She hadn’t moved yet. “What do you want?” he asked.

  Her body tensed a
gainst his. “I told you yesterday some things are impossible.”

  He still didn’t know what she meant by that. She’d made it clear that she wasn’t going to date him. Though with his arms around her and her lips so close, it seemed like the most possible thing in the world. His gaze studied hers to read between the lines. What wasn’t she saying? “You’re the winner, Paisley. You get anything you want from me. You just have to ask.”

  Her huff warmed his cheek. “In that case . . .”

  He inhaled. His fingers dug deeper into her jacket. Was he feeling light-headed from hitting his head too hard or was it from being so near to her?

  His pocket vibrated. His phone rang out the insurance commercial jingle he’d written. It sounded so out of place in their peaceful environment. He’d have to change it.

  Paisley pulled back into a kneeling position, brushing snow off her pants and refusing to look at him. “You’d better get that. You don’t know when you’ll have coverage again.”

  What a horrible time for phone coverage. He stared up into the blue sky. Not quite the same as looking into her eyes. He remained on the ground as he stuck a hand into his pocket to retrieve his phone. If it was Bree, he was so blocking her number.

  But it wasn’t. It was the office. His pulse pounded harder in his wrists and behind his knees. He hadn’t heard from his boss since he’d arrived. Was it going to be good news or bad news? Maybe he wouldn’t have to go back to Chicago after all. Then dating Paisley wouldn’t be as impossible. But that’s not really what he wanted, was it?

  “This is Josh.”

  “Josh. I left a message at the number you gave me but decided to try your cell, as well. Are you still in Montana?” Marcus’s voice sounded jovial. Was that a good thing?

  “I am. What’s up?” He looked over to check on Paisley who had Sam joining her to finish flooding the ice. What had she been about to tell him she wanted?

  “We found evidence of your designs being leaked to a competing company. It looks like you didn’t steal their ideas. They stole yours.”