Her Cowboy Billionaire Butler

by Liz Isaacson

  “So you’re not at the lodge?”

  “Nope.”

  “I must’ve just missed you,” she said. “I just came in to see how your second day was.”

  “It was just fine,” he said. “I mean, it’s finding a name on a list and carrying a bag to a room.”

  “Yeah, seems a little basic for you,” she said. Her voice definitely held a hint of coolness.

  Wes didn’t know what to say. He didn’t need the job at the lodge. Bree knew that. Wes knew that. He wasn’t even sure what his end goal was.

  Yes, you do, he told himself. He just didn’t want to admit it out loud.

  “Tell me about your day,” he said. He’d soothed himself after distressing meetings by listening to Bree’s voice. He’d relaxed at night while she told him about the hiking trails in the Teton Mountains. All at once, Wes knew what he wanted to ask Bree.

  “Oh, it was a day,” she said. “I did have to break up a near fight at the employment office today.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “I am not.” She laughed, and Wes wanted to turn around and go back to the lodge. Maybe they could find a private spot to talk, and he could somehow figure out how to hold her hand while she told this story.

  But she continued talking, and he continued driving while she told him about two men who wanted the same job. In the end, they’d both applied, and a disaster had been diverted.

  “I don’t remember you working at the employment office last Christmas,” he said.

  Bree didn’t respond, and Wes could feel the tension even though they were miles apart.

  He gave her a few seconds, and when she still didn’t speak, he said, “It’s summertime, and I think you told me about a hike I simply had to do in the summer. What was the name of that?”

  “Diamondhead,” she said, her voice hardly her own.

  “Would you go with me?” he asked, drawing a breath and holding it.

  “I can’t, Wes.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t have time.”

  Wes thought of the employment office and the lodge. She worked at both, and he knew she hadn’t last year. He wanted to know her financial situation, because he could solve it.

  His father’s advice entered his mind though Wes had it memorized. You can’t save everyone, his dad used to say. Probably would still say if he knew what Wes was thinking. Don’t spend your money with your heart, boys. Use your heads.

  “Okay,” Wes said, trying to make his voice as light as possible. “I’ll look it up.”

  “Tell me about your day,” she said, and Wes suddenly didn’t want to.

  But he said, “I met with Andrew Whittaker today. He wanted to talk business strategy and how he and his brothers can improve the lodge.”

  “Oh? Is that right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him I have no idea how to run a lodge.” Wes had enjoyed the conversation though. “He wants me to meet with Patsy and see what’s happening at the lodge and see if the two of us can come up with some improvements.”

  “Are you going to do that?’

  “Probably,” he said. “I haven’t talked to her about it yet.”

  “Mm.”

  The silence that settled between them radiated awkwardness, and Wes didn’t like it. They’d never had this kind of silence before, and a slip of sadness moved through Wes.

  “Wes?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I can go on that hike with you this weekend if we go Saturday morning and we’re back by ten.”

  A grin chased away all the melancholy in his soul, and he let the happiness out through a chuckle. “All right then. What time do we have to meet to be back by your deadline?”

  Chapter Six

  Bree woke on Saturday with nerves parading through her body. Her shoulders ached too, from a particularly hard horseback ride she’d led yesterday afternoon. She was glad she’d gone though, because she enjoyed nothing quite so much as exploring nature from atop a horse.

  She loved hearing the moms and dads talk to their kids about the things she pointed out, and the cries of excitement when they saw wildlife. Wyoming and the Grand Tetons in the summertime were simply breathtaking, and Bree loved her job at Whiskey Mountain Lodge.

  She wished it was the only job she had, but she’d gotten over dwelling on things she couldn’t change. With the extra money she made at the employment office, she estimated she could quit at the end of the year and go back to working full-time at the lodge only. And if she didn’t get herself into another disastrous relationship, maybe her heart will have healed by then too.

  “So what are you doing with Wes?” she asked herself as she measured coffee grounds, set the maker to brew, and turned her attention to packing a sandwich. They wouldn’t be gone over lunch, but she’d need to eat breakfast, and she didn’t care if that meal came with the traditional breakfast foods or not.

  “Why are you up so early?” Elise asked as she came into the kitchen. “I mean, yay, I don’t have to make the coffee.” She grinned at Bree as she got down a couple of mugs. She was already fully dressed, her light blonde hair pulled up into its customary ponytail, and perky.

  Bree wasn’t a morning person, that was for sure. She did manage to smile at her cabinmate and say, “I’m going hiking with Wes.”

  “Ooh, Wes,” Elise teased. “He is gorgeous, isn’t he?” She added a giggle to her question, though Bree knew she was serious.

  “He is.” She sighed like his handsomeness really put her out.

  “Oh, okay. What’s wrong?” Elise poured two cups of coffee and nudged one closer to where Bree stood peanut buttering bread—something she’d been doing for the past five minutes. Snapping to attention, she finally put the knife down and reached for the strawberry jam Celia made.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” Bree said, but she couldn’t quite erase the misery from her voice.

  “I know you, Bree,” Elise said. “And something’s wrong. I thought you’d be thrilled to see Wes up close and in person.”

  “Yeah, I thought so too,” Bree said, finally abandoning the sandwich to look at Elise. “It’s just…I have a really bad track record with men. What if I’m missing something with him? What if he’s not what he seems?”

  After all, Jay hadn’t been. Jay hadn’t even been the man’s real name. And Alex hadn’t been the guy he’d portrayed himself to be on the dating app either. They’d both taken something from her, and it was more than a piece of her heart and some of her pride.

  She’d lost her confidence completely. Not only that, she didn’t trust herself anymore, not when it came to choosing the right man to spend time with.

  “He’s Colton’s brother, and Colton says he’s a good guy,” Elise said. “I think you might be overthinking this.”

  Overthinking something was Bree’s superpower, and she didn’t know how to turn it off. “I just think…I don’t know what to think.” That was the problem, but Elise clearly didn’t get it.

  And how could she? Bree hadn’t told anyone about the root of her problems, because she couldn’t go down into that deep, dark hole and confront them.

  “Bree.” Elise stepped to her side and put her hand on Bree’s forearm. They looked at one another, and so much compassion streamed from Elise. Bree loved the other woman, and she tried to smile at her. It shook on her mouth, and Elise pulled her into a hug. “You’re smart,” Elise whispered. “And strong. And don’t think you don’t know what to think. You know how to feel, and maybe just see how today goes on the hike.”

  She pulled away but kept her hands on Bree’s shoulders. “Okay?”

  Bree nodded, her throat too tight to speak. Elise smiled and backed up, turning to open the fridge a moment later. As she poured cream into her coffee, Bree’s emotions loosened, and she could breathe normally again.

  “What about you?” she asked Elise. “Are you going to go out with one of Colton’s brothers?”
<
br />   Elise pealed out a string of laughter. “Are you kidding?” She shook her head, still giggling. “Not a chance.”

  “He said he’d, and I quote, ‘hook you up.’” Bree grinned at Elise, glad the conversation had turned lighter.

  “I know what he said,” Elise said, lifting her mug to her lips. “And I told him in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t interested.” She sipped, her light green eyes dancing with merriment.

  “You don’t date very often,” Bree said. “Why is that?”

  Elise shrugged with a sigh. “I mean, I don’t know. Brandt really stomped on my heart, you know? And Wyoming doesn’t seem to have a man that doesn’t own fifteen cowboy hats. So.” She shrugged. “I don’t want to move, so I either need to figure out how to like and trust cowboys again, or I need to be happy on my own.”

  “You don’t like cowboys? How did I not know this?” Bree picked up a spoon and started stirring sugar into her own coffee.

  “Brandt was a bull rider,” Elise said. “He was born with spurs on—or so he liked to say.” Her features turned hard for a moment, which was so uncharacteristic of her. “And he broke my heart, so no, I don’t really like cowboys.”

  “I’m sorry, Elise,” Bree said. She’d heard about Brandt before, of course. She just hadn’t realized how deeply his exiting spurs had scarred Elise.

  She waved her hand. “It’s fine. It’s been a couple of years, and I just need to figure out how to get back on the horse.”

  “I’ve done it,” Bree said. “But I keep picking the wrong horse, so that’s why I’m thinking it’s safer to just stay in the cabin from now on.”

  “But not this morning,” Elise said. “You love hiking, and you’ve always liked Wes. Just try to have an open mind.” She took another drink of her coffee and set her mug in the sink. “I have to run, because I’m doing that herbal class this morning.” She grabbed her visor and a jacket from the back of one of the kitchen chairs. “Call me when you get back from your date.”

  With that, Elise strode out of the cabin before Bree could tell her the hike wasn’t a date.

  The more she thought about it as she filled a hiking backpack with her breakfast and the pouch with water, Bree thought perhaps this hike with Wes was a date. Her heart rebelled at that idea, though her mind seemed completely okay with it.

  She’d made arrangements with Wes to meet at the trailhead to Diamondhead. Did meeting for a hike count as a date? She’d met plenty of men at restaurants, the rodeo, the movie theater, and classified those outings as dates.

  So this probably was too.

  When she pulled into the trailhead a half an hour later, Wes’s enormous black truck waited in the lot. A few other cars did too, but in an hour or so, this lot would be full and cars would be parked down the road.

  Wes got out of his truck, already wearing a smile to go with his khaki shorts and bright blue T-shirt. It had a horse on the front, with the words KENTUCKY, and for some reason, that made Bree smile.

  Wes certainly seemed like the real deal. He didn’t mince words, and he didn’t put off an air of importance, though she knew he had more money than a lot of people. Probably more than Graham and his brothers, and that was saying something as they were all billionaires.

  In that moment, she realized Wes was a billionaire too.

  He had to be.

  And she worked two jobs to pay off debt she’d incurred from her last, idiotic boyfriend.

  Shame moved through Bree, and everything inside her laced tight. When Wes reached her, his backpack slung sexily over one shoulder, she could barely lean into him.

  “Something’s wrong,” he said instead of hello.

  Bree couldn’t really contradict him, because something was wrong. He was here with her. Didn’t he know what a loser she was? How had she hidden it from him?

  “Wes,” she said, unsure of what else to say.

  He looked closely at her, his dark eyes probing yet kind. “What’s wrong, Bree?”

  She shook her head, because the way he said her name with such care made all the tight parts of her loosen. No one had used such tenderness when saying her name, and she didn’t know what to make of it.

  “I just….” She looked up at him, needing him to know who she really was. Then he could make a more informed decision about whether he really wanted to waste his time with her. “I don’t know what you’re doing here,” she said. “You, you know, being you, and me, well, being me.”

  Confusion filled his expression. “You being you? What does that mean?”

  “It means we’re not from the same worlds, Wes. You’re rich and powerful and able to travel the whole country for months at a time. And I’m…I work two jobs, because I incurred some debt in the past six months I can’t pay off with just one salary.” The dam broke behind her tongue, and Bree just kept on going.

  “You’re amazing and wonderful, and I don’t know. I’m not. We don’t belong together, and I just think you’re making a mistake, and you should know I’m not on the same level as you.”

  She took a deep breath and forced herself to stop talking. But at least the truth was out now. It hovered between them, and Wes even fell back a step.

  He blinked a couple of times and glanced around, though no one else had pulled into the parking lot yet. “You think we don’t belong together?”

  “I think you’ll eventually realize what a loser I am,” Bree said. “So yes. I think you’d be happier with someone more of your caliber.”

  “What makes you think you’re not my caliber?”

  She gestured to the truck, the fancy backpack he wore. “It’s obvious, Wes.”

  “Because I have money and you don’t.” He wasn’t asking.

  “That’s one of the reasons,” she said, getting dangerously close to things she didn’t want to talk about.

  “I don’t care if you don’t have money,” he said, his dark eyes flashing with a warning. “And if you’re unhappy working the two jobs, I’d pay your debts off too.”

  “No way,” she said, taking a step forward. Her own resistance to that sparked through her. “Absolutely no way. I can manage it.”

  “All right,” he said coolly. “But money is not important to me.”

  “That’s because you have it,” Bree said.

  Wes blinked at her again, and she was sure he wasn’t used to people talking to him like this. She wasn’t sure why she was talking to him like this. She liked him. He was gorgeous, and strong, and why was she trying to sabotage their relationship before it had even really started?

  “I can accept that,” he said. “And try to be sensitive to your lack of funds.” He flashed a brief smile. “But hiking is free, and I think you’re one-hundred percent wrong when you say we don’t belong together.” He slipped his free arm through the backpack strap and tightened both of them. “You’re smart, and talented, and wonderful, and I know exactly what I’m getting when I look at you.”

  Bree let his words wash over her, and they did scrub out some of the tainted parts of herself that Alex had left behind.

  “I don’t make mistakes, Bree,” Wes said, grinning now. “Except for the one where I haven’t really done much physical exercise while I’ve been driving around the country. So just try not to show me up on this hike, okay?”

  She allowed herself to smile too, because Wes was just so darn charming. “You don’t make mistakes.” She scoffed. “Everyone makes mistakes, Wes. Even CEOs.” They started toward the trailhead, their booted feet crunching against the gravel.

  “Well, I’m not a CEO anymore,” he said. “So I guess you might be right.” He reached for her hand, interlocking his fingers between hers. “Oops. Is this a mistake?” He squeezed, and Bree’s whole world got brighter.

  Her skin tingled, and electricity shot up her arm and into her shoulder. She hadn’t had such a powerful physical reaction to a man’s touch in a long time—not even with Alex or Jay—and she squeezed Wes’s hand back.

  “If it is, I kin
d of like it,” she said.

  “I really like it,” Wes said, his voice almost too quiet to hear. “Now, tell me about the hike. The trees we see. Everything.”

  Bree smiled, this time the action sinking all the way into her soul. Holding hands with Wes calmed a lot of her fears and getting her thoughts out of her head had helped too. She was able to enjoy the feel of his skin against hers, and tell him about the lake they encountered, the swans and pelicans that visited it, and the views of the Tetons they could see once they reached the top of the loop.

  “I love listening to you talk,” Wes said once they started down the second half of the loop. “Can I call you tonight after you finish at the lodge?”

  “What will we talk about?” Bree asked, because she’d never had a man tell her he liked listening to the sound of her voice.

  “I don’t care,” Wes said. “I just want to hear your voice again tonight.” He gave her another grin, and Bree felt her world shift again. Maybe he could be something good in her life. Maybe Elise was right, and all Bree needed to do was have an open mind.

  “I guess if you called,” Bree said, flirting with Wes now. “I’d answer.”

  “Perfect,” he said. “Now tell me what’s going on with those trees. They’re all dead.” He glanced at her, and she followed his gaze to the right, where yes, the mountainside of trees had died.

  “This part of the mountain got infected with brown rot,” she said. “It’s a type of tree fungus that kills whole forests….”

  Chapter Seven

  Wes really could listen to Bree talk all day. He got her back to the trailhead by ten, though, and he managed to sneak a hug from her before she climbed behind the wheel of her car and drove away.

  He’d gone back to Colton’s, where he’d showered and then taken his coffee to the back porch. He didn’t have email to check. No social media he cared about. He didn’t read much fiction, and he didn’t have a device to do it on anyway.

  He just sat and watched the leaves blow in the breeze while he let his mind move wherever it wanted to go.