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

by Angela Ruth Strong

  Josh sat straight up. “I knew it. Who was it? Craig? He always seemed a little too interested in what I was doing.”

  “Uh . . .” Marcus paused. “I wouldn’t go pointing fingers yet. You don’t want to make any enemies. We don’t know who it was, so we’re going to keep you on suspension for a little longer to make the culprit think he got away with it. We’ll catch him when he lets down his defenses.”

  Josh climbed to his feet and ran a hand through his hair. There had to be something he could do to help out the investigation. “Do you want me to come back right now?”

  “Isn’t Bree at your place?”

  “Yes, but if I tell her that you’re clearing my name, then she’ll realize she can trust me, and she’ll work with me to get a new place rather than blame me for ruining her life.”

  Marcus huffed. Or someone huffed. Maybe it was Marcus. “No, don’t do that yet. I don’t want your patched relationship to tip off the suspect.”

  Josh nodded. He hadn’t thought of that. Not that he was going to start back up where they left off, but he could see how others might expect that. “Well, how long do you think it will be?”

  Marcus cleared his throat. “Hopefully before Christmas, Josh. I want this mess cleaned up as badly as you do.”

  Of course he did. It looked bad for the company. Josh would have to keep trusting in Marcus’s investigation. Keep trusting in God’s justice. Isn’t this what Paisley had prayed for over dinner the other night. She’d be thrilled.

  He glanced her way. She must not have overheard because she didn’t look very thrilled.

  Paisley wished she hadn’t overheard Josh’s exuberance about leaving—and right after he’d been teasing her about asking what she wanted. Some chaperone Sam turned out to be. He’d been sitting on the bench watching the whole thing.

  She poured a bucket of pond water across the ice. What she needed was another layer of ice to freeze around her heart. That way it wouldn’t be so easy for Josh to melt it.

  Water splatted next to her as Sam dumped out his bucket. “So, Ice Skating Champion of Bright Star Ranch, what are you going to ask Josh for?”

  Paisley pursed her lips. She hadn’t had anything in mind earlier. But she’d thought Josh had something in mind. Which had her trying to come up with arguments against it. It was hard to come up with arguments when he was holding her close. Maybe that had been his plan all along.

  Well, good thing she’d won. Because she had other plans. “I want him to cook dinner. And clean up after it.” She nodded in agreement with herself. That sounded like a great idea. A great way to avoid him anyway. Then she could do something relaxing for a change. Maybe watch a Christmas movie. She hadn’t done that in a long time. “Wanna watch It’s a Wonderful Life with me?”

  Sam grimaced. “The old black and white movie? Maybe I should trade places with Josh to get out of it.”

  Paisley tilted her head. Were they talking about the same movie? “Have you ever seen it?”

  “No.”

  “Then hush. You’ll love it.”

  “I call the couch. Then if I fall asleep, I’ll be comfortable.”

  She punched him in the arm.

  Josh strode over. “What’d he do?”

  “What did I do?” Sam played innocent. “She’s the one who punched me.”

  Paisley returned to her bucket. She couldn’t play along. Because then she’d be smiling and laughing and somehow end up in Josh’s arms again. “He doesn’t want to watch It’s a Wonderful Life with me.”

  Josh gasped as if his brother had done something truly horrific. “Sam.”

  Paisley tucked her chin to hide her smile. Why couldn’t she feel sisterly toward both of them? Then she’d be able to join in the fun without risking her heart.

  Sam bent toward the pond to retrieve more water but looked over his shoulder. “Don’t act all offended, bro. I know if it were up to you, we’d be watching Ernest Saves Christmas.”

  Josh nodded thoughtfully. “True. Don’t you want to watch Ernest with us, Paisley?”

  Ha. Even if she wanted to watch Ernest, it would not be with him. She stood and poked him in the chest. “You’re not watching a movie.”

  His gaze flew to hers.

  Oops. Too close. She backed up, ready to head to the lodge. The pond was wet enough. “You’re making dinner and cleaning up the kitchen.”

  His jaw dropped. “Hey.”

  She shrugged, though it felt more like raising her arms in victory. “You said you’d do anything I wanted.”

  He trotted to catch up then took her bucket and tossed it back to his brother.

  Paisley looked at Sam for help. She needed him to come to the lodge with them, not stop to put the buckets in the barn.

  “You did win. But you know what? I won, too. My boss called to say they’ve found evidence someone stole my ad ideas.” He sounded like he’d unwrapped the largest gift under the tree. “So if I’m cooking dinner, it’s going to be a huge dinner to celebrate.”

  She turned her focus to the lodge and marched forward. If they made it to the lodge without Sam, she’d excuse herself to shower. It would warm her up. Plus, it would be a good place to hide her tears. Then she could pretend to be happy for Josh. This is what she’d prayed for, after all. And it was proof that had she let him kiss her, she’d be forgotten the moment he was free to head back to his life.

  “Congrats. What are you going to cook?”

  He chuckled, lost in his own world. Probably imagining how he would have celebrated if was he back in Chicago. She didn’t have any thousand dollar bottles of wine at her place. “I can make spaghetti.”

  Shemarveled at Josh’s sweetness. The guy didn’t know how to cook. Probably ate out every night. If he’d stayed longer, she could have given him lessons. They could have worked together in the kitchen, sampling flavors, wearing aprons, and sidestepping one other until they couldn’t avoid each other any longer.

  She groaned. Why was she doing this to herself?

  “You don’t like spaghetti?”

  She climbed the steps to the front door and put on her brightest smile. “Spaghetti is great. Let us know when it’s ready.”

  His smile slipped. He studied her. “You’re going to start the movie with Sam?”

  What else would she do? “Yep. I’m sure you wouldn’t even be able to concentrate on a movie with all the excitement. You’ve got your own wonderful life to think about.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Paisley tightened her arms around Sam’s waist as the wind stung her neck above her scarf and underneath the helmet. The ride back to the ranch on the snowmobile wasn’t nearly as crazy as the ride out into the forest, since they were now dragging the giant Christmas tree behind them and had to go slower. “Thanks so much for doing this, Sam. Grandpa Johan loved putting up a tree in the windows of the lodge for people to see from the barn, but I didn’t have the energy to do it on my own.”

  “You have to have a tree.” Sam gunned the engine to make it up the hill to the lodge. “This is my first Christmas home after being deployed to Afghanistan.”

  Paisley kept forgetting Sam had lived a whole different life since they hung out in high school. Afghanistan at Christmas was about as far away as one could get from the beautiful snow-covered mountains of Montana. “Did it even feel like Christmas over there?”

  Sam’s back stiffened with his shrug. “It was a normal day with better food. And I dressed up like Santa—Santa with a sidearm.”

  Paisley pulled off her helmet and smiled at the image. “You do take Christmas pretty seriously.”

  “I do.” Sam chuckled as he cut the engine. “Now that we have a tree, we need to build a fire and play Christmas carols and make a popcorn string and eat ice cream.”

  Eat ice cream? Maybe if he was still in Afghanistan. “It’s a little cold for ice cream.” Paisley swung a leg off the snowmobile and pulled out the knife on her Leatherman to cut the rope that held the tree.

  Sam f
ollowed. “It’s never too cold for ice cream.” He reached between the branches at the top to grab the trunk.

  Paisley kept her mittens on to protect her skin from the rough bark as she grabbed the base. “I think I might have a pint of vanilla I never finished.”

  Sam started forward. “You better. Because I would seriously have to leave your ranch if you didn’t serve ice cream.”

  Paisley tromped after him up the stairs onto the deck. She knew Sam was joking, but the thought of him leaving made her stomach twist into a knot. Right beyond the doors of the lodge, Josh would be working in her office on an advertising campaign, and he’d join them as soon as they got the tree through the door. Setting up a tree alone with Josh was too cozy an image for her to allow herself to picture. “You can’t leave, Sam. I need you to be my chaperone.”

  Sam dropped his end of the evergreen. The weight of the tree tugged Paisley lower. He turned to face her and crossed his arms. “It’s about time you admit you have feelings for my brother.”

  Paisley stubbornly held onto her end of the tree. She’d made a statement rather than opening up a new topic of conversation. Especially with Josh awaiting their return. “It doesn’t matter. He’s leaving soon. Now grab the tree and take it inside before my toes turn blue.”

  Sam held up a glove. “One sec. Why do you think Josh is leaving soon? He looks pretty comfortable here from what I’ve seen.”

  Paisley sighed. She might have agreed with Sam if she hadn’t seen Josh’s excitement the day before when he got the message from his boss. “He’s going back to Chicago as soon as his name is cleared.”

  “Hmm.” Sam tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. “Josh is good at what he does, but he’s also a romantic at heart. He left Sun Valley because of a woman. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he came back west for one, as well.”

  Paisley twitched. She couldn’t even allow such a notion to implant in her mind. “Me? You think Josh would leave everything and move out here for me?”

  “He’d be a fool not to.”

  Ahh . . . kind words. And they meant even more coming from the ultimate commitment-phobe. “That’s very sweet of you, Sam, but Josh can find a woman wherever he goes. Sure, he’s here right now and wants to kiss me again . . .” Her numb cheeks blazed back to life. “. . . But that doesn’t make me anything special.”

  “Oh?” Both of Sam’s eyebrows arched like question marks. He unfolded his arms to lean against the deck railing. He crossed one leg over the other like he wasn’t moving until he got answers to his unasked questions.

  Paisley dropped her end of the tree. She didn’t want to stand around discussing her love life, but she couldn’t very well carry the whole tree into the lodge by herself.

  “Josh certainly got over Bree quickly if he’s kissing you.”

  What? No. “He hasn’t kissed me since he’s been here.” Because she pushed him away, but that was beside the point. “He kissed me back in high school.”

  Sam’s expressive eyebrows dipped down. “In high school? He was a senior when we were sophomores. How did I not know you were kissing upperclassmen? That would have been big news.”

  She hadn’t told Sam because she hadn’t told anyone. She glanced toward the windows to make sure Josh didn’t overhear her talking about it now. “I don’t think Josh wanted people to know.”

  Sam studied her eyes. His voice softened. “Why do you think that?”

  She didn’t mean to make Josh sound like a jerk. They probably both just got caught up in the moment, and Josh didn’t want to embarrass her by rejecting her publicly. How did she explain? “Remember how I passed out in the cafeteria in fourth grade?”

  Sam’s eyes rolled toward one side to look back through his memories. “I think I was sick that day, but I heard about it.”

  “Well, that’s when I was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.”

  Sam stood up straighter. His arm dropped down to the side. “I didn’t know.”

  It had been degrading enough when Dad found out about her disease. She wasn’t going to give her classmates the same reason to look down on her. “Yeah, I was embarrassed and tried to hide it, which made it even harder for me to monitor my sugar levels.”

  “Oh, man.”

  He didn’t know the half of it. But she’d tell him this part to gain his support in keeping her from falling for Josh again. “A friend from 4-H invited me to go with her to prom during Josh’s senior year. I fainted and Josh caught me.”

  Sam’s lips parted. “You?”

  “I know.” Paisley shook her head at the irony. “I’m supposed to be this strong cowgirl who can shoot a rifle and take care of myself, then I passed out in a man’s arms like the cliché damsel in distress.”

  Sam ran a hand through his hair. “This is crazy.”

  “It gets worse.” She grimaced. And not simply because of the situation but at how she’d reacted to the situation. “He carried me out into the lobby of the Sun Valley lodge so he could lay me down on a couch. I was out of it and scared. And I was afraid that if he called an ambulance, I’d get in trouble with my dad. So I clung to him.” Paisley couldn’t look Sam in the eye. “And he asked to kiss me.”

  “Holy buckets.”

  Paisley peeked up. “Finally he convinced me to let him go get a cup of water. After he left I remembered where I’d put my purse with my insulin. I retrieved it and injected myself in the bathroom where nobody would ask questions. When I went back, he was gone. I felt really dizzy and had Evangeline take me home right away.”

  Sam blinked repeatedly as if in shock. But the fact that Josh never told him about kissing her was proof his older brother wanted to keep it a secret.

  She shrugged off the lingering disappointment. “I thought Josh would want to talk about it when he came over to work at our ranch the next weekend, but he acted like it never happened.”

  “That’s incredible. I don’t . . . I don’t know what to say,” Sam stammered. Sam didn’t stammer.

  “You don’t have to say anything. I’m not trying to badmouth your brother. He dated a lot of girls so, who knows, maybe . . . maybe he doesn’t even remember.”

  Sam motioned toward the lodge, a look of concern washing over his face. “Have you loved him all this time?”

  Love? Paisley pulled her head back at Sam’s overreaction. “No. It was a school girl crush. I’m over it. I was engaged to marry Nicholas Riley, remember?”

  “Yeah, but you didn’t.”

  Oh no. Sam was supposed to be on her side here. What if he really did think she loved Josh? What if he said something? Then Josh felt forced to talk to her about it? She’d feel even more pitiful than she already did.

  She pointed a finger and stepped closer until she could dig it into Sam’s chest. “Don’t you dare say a word to him.”

  Sam grabbed her hand and laughed one of his I’m-innocent laughs. “What would I say?”

  She knocked his arm away and poked him with her other hand. He had to know how serious she was. “Sam, if you want ice cream tonight, then you will promise.”

  The laughter died. He lifted three fingers in the sign for Scout’s Honor. “I promise.”

  The door creaked behind her. “It’s warmer in here, guys.”

  Paisley’s heart lurched into her throat. She had enough to worry about without the threat of Josh bringing up their past. She sharpened her glare to stab Sam with it one more time.

  He pressed his lips together to symbolize them as sealed.

  The pressure in her chest eased away on an exhale. She could trust an American soldier, couldn’t she?

  She pulled her hand from his chest and scratched at the hair tucked underneath her beanie to appear nonchalant. “We’re coming.” She spun and gave Josh a candy-coated smile. Why did he have to look so perfect in overpriced sweaters? “If you’ll help Sam set the tree in the stand, I’ll go dig some vanilla ice cream out of the freezer.”

  So what if Paisley had stood outside talking to Sam in the col
d? Josh was planning to leave soon. But he hadn’t left yet. He was just being treated like he wasn’t there.

  He twisted the bolt on the Christmas tree stand, while lying on his belly underneath the prickly branches. Sam simply stood next to it and held it in place. Josh grunted. “How’s that?”

  The tree swayed toward the wall as Sam let go. He righted it again so Josh could screw the far side in tighter.

  Josh’s fingers pinched against the hard metal until the bolt refused to move farther. “Try again.”

  The tree stayed in place. Success. And it smelled so much fresher than the fake tree Josh pulled out from storage now and then.

  He dug his elbows into the nubby carpet to belly crawl backward from underneath the branches. He stopped in front of the stone fireplace and surveyed his handiwork from the floor. Beautiful. Maybe he should spend every Christmas in Montana.

  Paisley padded into the room wearing fuzzy, striped socks. He should definitely spend every Christmas in Montana.

  She nodded at a white, ceramic bowl in her hands. “Do you want ice cream, too, Josh?”

  He shot a knowing look Sam’s way. “It’s too cold out to eat ice cream.”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “You guys are pansies.” Sam took the bowl and sprawled out on the rustic leather couch. “Thanks, Paze.”

  Paisley moved past the couch to pop open the plastic crates of decorations they’d brought up from the storage room. “Paze? I haven’t been called Paze in a long time.”

  Sam’s familiarity gnawed at Josh’s gut. He’d known Paisley in high school, too. Well, he knew the dirty looks and snide remarks she shot his way when he tried to talk to her at her dad’s ranch. And he hadn’t made much progress since. He climbed off the floor to help her string the lights she’d found.

  Sam scooped a spoonful of his favorite dessert into his mouth. “What do people call you now? Any new nicknames?”

  Paisley plugged the white lights in to make sure they still twinkled before uncoiling the strand to pass it around the tree to Josh. He looped it over a low row of branches and handed it back. His fingers brushed hers—still cold from the snowmobile ride or maybe from scooping ice cream. If Sam weren’t sitting there watching them like a Christmas movie, Josh would have cupped her hands in his until they warmed.