by Liz Isaacson
There was no way a woman like her could hold the attention of a man like him. She strengthened the walls around her heart, because he was already starting to creep in. And she didn’t need to deal with another case of falling too fast for the wrong guy. She’d done that plenty of times now, thank you very much.
“I suppose I have a favorite flavor of ice cream,” he said. “Do you happen to have any cookies and cream?”
“No, sir,” she drawled. “We try not to keep ice cream in the cabin.” It was too dangerous, because both she and Elise loved it.
“You’re kidding.”
Bree shook her head.
“We have to remedy this,” he said. “Ice cream is one of my favorite foods.”
She couldn’t contain the smile for another second, and it spread across her face. “As I’ve said before, Mister Hammond, ice cream is not a food.”
“What is it then?”
“It’s a treat,” she said.
“I’m pretty sure it’s part of the dairy food group,” he said, his eyes sparkling like moonlight off dark water. Bree felt a magnetic pull toward him, and it took every ounce of willpower she had to keep herself against the counter instead of moving closer to him.
“Bree,” Elise called, and she turned her attention toward the front of the house, though she couldn’t see the door from the kitchen. “Bree, I have the greatest news.” Elise came tearing into the kitchen, and she stopped suddenly when she saw Wes sitting at the kitchen counter. He looked at her, and then back at Bree.
“You remember Wes,” Bree said, relieved Elise had come home. Bree had no idea what she would’ve done, but she was pretty sure it involved kissing.
Kissing. Ridiculous.
She couldn’t believe she was even thinking about a relationship with Wes. Though, if she allowed herself to really examine the past six months, she hadn’t stopped thinking about Wes.
“Of course,” Elise said, smoothing down the front of her slacks. She wore a nervous look in her eye, where before she’d only broadcasted excitement.
“What’s the news?” Bree asked, turning to open a drawer to get out the oven mitts. All these sliders needed was time to melt the cheese and heat the glaze on top of the sweet rolls.
Elise clasped her hands together and glanced between Wes and Bree. “It’s kind of silly.”
“I’m sure it’s not,” Bree said, though Elise did tend to get excited about little things. But the little things were important to her, and Bree thought more people should get excited about small things to keep the joy in their lives.
A smile crossed Elise’s face. “I just got my tax EIN from the accountant. Two Green Thumbs is officially a legal business in the state of Wyoming.”
“Elise, that’s amazing news.” She stepped over to her friend and hugged her. “Congratulations.”
The timer went off on the oven, and Bree moved over to take the sliders out.
“Are those the breakfast sliders?” Elise asked. “This is the best day ever.” She set about getting out plates and silverware, because Bree tended to put too many scrambled eggs on the rolls, and Elise had plenty of experience with the breakfast sliders.
“Are you going to advertise next?” Bree asked, wondering if Wes would say anything else tonight.
“I don’t know,” Elise said. “I mean, I have work up here.”
“Two Green Thumbs,” Wes said. “Do you do gardening?”
“Lawn care, too,” Elise said. “Landscaping. Anything outside, really.”
“You should advertise for customers,” Bree said. “You want to do this, Elise.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I’ll hire you,” Wes said.
Both Bree and Elise stopped working to get ready to serve the sliders.
“You will?” Elise asked at the same time Bree said, “You don’t even live here.” They both stared at him, and Bree’s heart started doing flips for some reason.
“I do live here,” he said, meeting her eye again.
“You do?” she asked, her voice pitching up. “Where?”
“I got a place…somewhere,” he said. “I don’t remember the name of the street.”
“You don’t remember the name of the street.” She didn’t mean to say it with so much sarcasm. “I think you’re lying, Mister Hammond.”
He removed his cowboy hat and pushed his hand through his thick, dark hair. Bree figured he knew exactly what he was doing, and that such a move would make her resolve weaken.
“Well, Colton’s yard needs some work, anyway,” he said.
Bree gave him a smug smile. “Colton lives on Talent Street.”
Wes snapped his fingers. “That’s it.” He just grinned at her. “I know how to get there, and that’s all I need, I guess.”
“Oh, no,” Elise said. “You need a couple of these sliders.” She waited while Bree cut around each roll and then scooped a glorious, cheesy and scrambled eggy slider. She put two on each plate Elise had gotten out, and Bree slid a plate and a fork over to Wes.
“I’ll admit I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he said.
“It’s delicious,” Elise said, lifting hers and taking a bite. Bree waited until Wes picked up one of his sliders and took a bite, and she knew the moment he fell in love with it. She could see the surprise in his eyes, as well as the way they started to roll back in his head.
A moan came from his throat, and he chewed and swallowed. “This really is amazing.” He finished his first slider in only a few bites, and Bree finally picked hers up. “So, you work here and at the employment office?” he asked.
Bree almost choked on her scrambled eggs. She managed to swallow without coughing, and she nodded. “That’s right. At least for right now.”
“Why’s that?”
Elise looked at Bree then, plenty of her familiar anxiety in her light eyes. She knew why, as did the other ladies at Whiskey Mountain Lodge. Colton knew too. And for some reason, Bree didn’t want Wes to know.
Oh, and she knew the reason. He’d think she was pathetic, and Bree already thought that about herself. She didn’t need the sexy, handsome cowboy billionaire to know it too.
Thankfully, his phone rang, and Wes let it distract him. “It’s Colton.”
“You better take it,” Elise said, and Wes stood up to do just that.
“Thanks,” Bree said under her breath as the man left the kitchen and answered the call from his brother.
“Oh, my goodness,” Elise said, fanning herself with one hand. “Bree, that man is gorgeous.” She giggled, and Bree couldn’t help smiling too. “You’re going to go out with him, right?”
“What?” Bree asked, already shaking her head. “No. No way, Elise.”
“Why not?”
“Why not? How about let’s start with the fact that his jeans cost more than I earn—from both jobs—in a month? Or that he’s from a completely different league than I am.” She shook her head. “No, I’m not going to go out with him. Besides, he hasn’t even asked.”
“Okay, but just think for a second,” Elise said, retrieving some errant scrambled eggs from the pan. “He’s supposedly on a trip around the country to visit every state. Yet, he’s stopped here. I think that says something.”
“I disagree,” Bree said.
“Second,” Elise said as if Bree hadn’t spoken at all. “He got a job here. Here, Bree. A job. He doesn’t need a job.”
“No, he doesn’t.” She heard what Elise was saying, she just didn’t want to acknowledge it.
“I’m just saying—he’s already asked.” Elise gave her a pointed look and put the last bite of her slider in her mouth.
Bree turned away from her friend and roommate and started washing the few dirty dishes she’d created to make the sliders. She’d washed the bowl she’d cracked eggs into when Elise said, “I’m going to go shower.”
“Okay,” she said. She hadn’t heard Wes leave, but she couldn’t hear him talking either. Her nerves wouldn’t settle, and
she worked her way through the sink and finally loaded the dishwasher.
“Hey,” Wes said, coming back into the kitchen. He radiated power from his broad shoulders, and he’d definitely command any room he entered. “I have to get going. Thanks for dinner.” He slid his arm around her effortlessly, and Bree’s heartbeat crashed against itself inside her chest. He bent down before she could even move, pressed his lips to her temple, and stepped back. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” she said dumbly.
“Great.” He grinned at her, turned, and left.
Bree had no idea how long she stood in the kitchen, but her left foot had started to fall asleep before she moved. Pinpricks and tingles spread through her foot, and she wanted to make it to the privacy of her room before Elise found her staring off into outer space over a quick, five-second exchange.
A touch. A kiss.
Bree closed the door behind her and pressed her back into the wood. A sigh slipped between her lips, and she closed her eyes, already reliving the weight and warmth of Wes’s hand along her waist, the pressure of that mouth against her temple….
Maybe, she thought.
“No,” she told herself. “Remember who you are. Remember who he is. A lion does not fall in love with a mouse.”
Chapter Five
Wes woke just before the sun and got dressed in his running clothes. Colton liked to put in a few miles before breakfast, and Wes said he’d join him. Never mind that he hadn’t gone running in the past six months, other than that one time in Louisiana when that Rottweiler had chased him.
Because he was closer to fifty than Colton, Wes took several minutes to stretch before he left the guest bedroom he’d been given. Colton lived in a very large and very nice house in a newer part of town, and when he and Annie got married, she’d move in here with him.
The wedding wasn’t for another couple of months though, and Wes would be back in Coral Canyon for that. He’d planned to loop back through after he’d visited the West coast. He still had plans to see all the states, but he could spare some time.
How long, he didn’t know. What he did know was that he wanted to spend more time with Bree, though she had seemed a tiny bit standoffish last night.
“Ready?” Colton asked when Wes made his appearance in the kitchen. He took a sip of coffee, and Wes shook his head.
“You drink coffee before you run?”
“I can’t seem to do anything without a little coffee in me,” Colton said, grinning.
“You’re younger than me,” Wes said, leaning into the counter so he could stretch his hamstring again. “And I haven’t run in a long time. How fast do you go?”
“Not fast.” Colton set his coffee cup down, a wicked grin curving his lips. “Let’s go.”
Wes followed his brother out into the garage, and it was clear that Colton was going to run fast. He’d been training since he’d moved here, and Wes spied a bicycle on the wall. He pulled it down and swung his leg over the bar.
“Cheater,” Colton said when Wes caught up to him.
“Dude, I can barely keep up on a bike.” Wes would get plenty of work out of cycling, because Colton ran fast.
“Tell me what you’re thinking about Bree,” Colton said, and how he could talk and run at the same time was amazing to Wes.
“I don’t know,” Wes said, because he didn’t. “I just…when I saw her sitting there at that restaurant, I knew I wanted to stay. So I’m staying for now.”
“Are you serious about her?”
“Of course,” Wes said, looking at Colton.
“She’s had some rough waters in the dating pool.” Colton wouldn’t say more than that, and Wes didn’t really want him to. He wanted to get to know Bree on his own terms, and to do that, he needed to talk to her on his own. Share things the way they used to do.
He’d done that through phone calls, and the seedling of an idea rooted into his head. He’d call her as soon as it was a decent hour, and maybe he’d find a way to work in asking her out.
Later that day, after Wes had worked the check-outs in the morning, he drove down the canyon, following the electronic voice directing him to Springside Energy. Andrew Whittaker had called as Wes was stepping out of the shower, and he wanted to meet at the family energy company to go over business strategy.
Graham had flat-out told Wes during his job interview that he and his brothers were interested in increasing the productivity of the lodge, and that they’d love to hear his ideas. He’d been ecstatic to learn that Wes had been a CEO of a family company too, and he’d obviously passed the information on to his brother.
Andrew ran the public relations and marketing at Springside Energy, though Wes knew all the Whittakers had plenty of money. He could almost smell it on them, though they didn’t put on airs or treat anyone poorly.
Wes had plenty of money too, and there was simply a way Graham had carried himself that testified to Wes about his means. Graham reminded Wes so much of himself, except Graham had managed to find a wife and start a family.
Wes felt his age keenly as he pulled up to an immaculate building with a couple of fountains out front. A sprawling sign read Springside Energy, and Wes could see the wealth pouring from the building itself.
His skin itched as he walked toward the doors, and he wasn’t sure why. He didn’t want to return to downtown Denver and HMC. He didn’t want the corner office on the top floor. Yes, it had been hard to walk out that last time. But it had absolutely been the right thing to do.
Wes kept in touch with his old assistant and his former secretary, and they both seemed very happy at HMC. His cousin, Laura, had taken over, and both Matthew and Myra didn’t have a negative thing to say about her.
He pushed through the front entrance and into the blessed air conditioning. A woman looked up from the reception desk, a smile blooming across her face. Wes noted her beauty, but there was no bubbling, boiling chemistry the way there was with Bree.
His heartbeat accelerated, and all he’d done was think about the woman. Get yourself together, he told himself. He wasn’t sure what it was about her that called to him so strongly, only that she possessed it. In the past, he’d never had to work very hard to get a woman to like him or go out with him, but Bree seemed to have some resistance keeping her from a real relationship with him.
He’d always been the one holding the women at arm’s length, and he’d never been this excited about a relationship before.
A potential relationship, he reminded himself as the woman asked him who he was there to see.
“Andrew,” he said, wondering if last names were needed. “Whittaker.”
The woman didn’t so much as flinch. She reached smoothly for the phone and pressed the number one. “Andrew,” she said. “You have a visitor.” She lifted her eyebrows, and Wes knew secretary speak.
“Wesley Hammond,” he said.
She repeated the name and hung up a moment later. “He’ll be down in a few seconds.”
“Wow, seconds,” Wes said, smiling. “Your elevators must be much faster than the ones I’m used to.”
She smiled and shook her head. “He seemed very excited to see you.”
“Oh, well.” Wes smiled at her and moved to the side. “I’ll just wait over here.”
But he didn’t have to wait long. True to his word, Andrew appeared before a full minute had passed, and Wes supposed that was only seconds.
“Wes,” Andrew said, striding toward him. He wore an expensive suit in dark blue, a white shirt and tie, and a cowboy hat. Wes was still getting used to the abundance of cowboy hats in Wyoming.
“You must be Andrew.” Wes shook his hand, both men smiling.
“Thanks for coming,” Andrew said. “Let’s go up to my office.” He led the way back to the ultra-fast elevators, which did move quite quickly, and down the hall to an office with a wall of windows, just like Wes’s old one.
He paused in the doorway and scanned the space, finding Andrew’s office completely differe
nt than the one that had housed Wes for fourteen years. Evidence of Andrew’s family lingered everywhere in pictures on his desk, toddler artwork magnetized to the front of his desk, dirty fingerprints on the windows in front of him, and even a brightly colored plastic cup on the small table next to the door.
“Sorry about the mess,” he said, striding past all of it. “My wife has been sick, and I’ve had the kids in the office with me.”
“How many kids do you have?” Wes asked, finally entering the office.
“Three,” Andrew said. “My one-year-old just started walking, and I can’t keep up with him.” He chuckled, and Wes smiled too. He couldn’t even imagine having a one-year-old, and yet, something paternal yawned within him that he’d never felt before.
“Another son who’s almost three, and a daughter who just turned six.”
“Oh, so when your wife is down, it’s all hands on deck.”
“Plus some,” Andrew said. “Come sit down. I can’t promise that chair isn’t covered in bananas, but I think Lois wiped it down before she sat there this morning.” Andrew gave him a bright, beaming smile, and Wes sure did like him immediately.
He prided himself on being a good judge of character, and this man had a spirit about him that couldn’t be denied. So Wes sat, and he folded his hands in his lap. “So, what can I do for you, Andrew?”
That afternoon, Wes carried bags from the circle drive to the rooms upstairs and down. He didn’t see Bree in the lodge, and he had a feeling he should give her some breathing space. With the job done, he tipped his hat to Patsy and headed out to his truck.
On the way down the canyon, he dialed Bree. Their relationship had started on the phone, and maybe Wes just needed to get back to those roots. He’d surprised her at the lodge yesterday, and while she’d been friendly and made him dinner, there’d definitely been an invisible wall between them.
“Hey,” she said easily, and Wes’s grin could’ve lit a whole city.
“Hey,” he said.
“Where are you right now?”
“Driving home,” he said. “Well, driving back to Colton’s.”
