Her Cowboy Billionaire Butler

by Liz Isaacson

  She picked up the larger pieces of ceramic and tossed them in the nearby garbage can. Elise could barely hold her head up as she said, “Sorry to startle you. I was just bringing in breakfast for everyone. Colton wanted to surprise Wes.”

  She reached for the paper towels and ripped off a healthy number of them.

  “Oh, so you know my brothers.”

  Elise froze with the paper towels under the running water in the sink. She looked at the sexy cowboy, imagining all that golden skin, those tight muscles in his back and chest. She ducked away again, her face on absolute fire. “Yes,” she muttered. “I know them.” She squeezed out the water and flattened the paper towels into a wet sheet.

  “What are you doing?” he asked as she bent to wipe the floor.

  “This gets all the tiny pieces of glass,” she said, feeling them catch in the paper towel. “It’s a trick I learned from my mother.” Satisfied she’d gotten them all and that Colton or anyone else wouldn’t step on something sharp, she straightened and turned the paper towels over. “See? You can see all the tiny little pieces of the mug.”

  He gazed at the paper towel. “Well, I’ll be.” He looked at her, and oh, Elise could really get lost in stormy, gray eyes like his.

  “I’m Gray,” he said, extending his hand for her to shake. Elise tossed the paper towels full of tiny spikes in the trash and shook his hand. Tingles ran up her arm and down her back at this man’s touch, and that hadn’t happened in a very long time. Too long.

  “Elise Murphy,” she managed to say, wondering what state her hair was in. “I’m a friend of Colton’s.”

  “Elise,” Colton boomed as he came into the kitchen, fully clothed, thank goodness. “What have you been up to?” He laughed as he took in the flavored creamers on the counter, the row of mugs, the full coffee pot. He didn’t seem to notice Gray standing there at all, which was surreal, because Elise couldn’t look away from him.

  He smiled, pulled his hand back, and got out of the way as Colton grabbed onto Elise and hugged her. “You’re the best best friend in the world.”

  “Yeah,” Elise said, patting him on the back and smiling. “I know I am.”

  “Seen Wes yet?” he asked, reaching for a mug. “He said he’d be here bright and early.”

  “Not yet,” Elise said. “I was just bringing in the pastries.” She ducked around Colton, who’d never made her feel self-conscious though he was twice her size. Gray, on the other hand, made her want to slip into the bathroom and make sure she looked her best.

  “I’ll help you,” he said, his voice much quieter than his brother’s.

  “Gray,” Colton said, as if he’d honestly just realized the man stood there. “Sorry. You’ve met Elise?”

  “Just now,” Gray said, smiling diplomatically.

  Colton watched him as he lifted his coffee to his lips to sip. Elise turned and walked away, because she’d never been able to hide anything from Colton, and she really didn’t want him to know she’d seen his brother half-naked, or that she was really hoping this day wouldn’t end without getting his phone number.

  Don’t be stupid, she told herself. Of the three Hammond brothers she’d met, Gray was by far the most cowboy of them. Not only that, he didn’t live in Coral Canyon. He didn’t even live in the state.

  Elise hurried down the front steps and continued along the sidewalk, aware of Gray’s footsteps right behind her. She practically yanked off the back door of her car in her haste to get to the doughnut boxes she’d stacked there.

  “Wow,” he said. “How many people are we expecting?”

  “A lot,” she said. “Colton asked all the Whittakers, and all the Everetts, and everyone at the lodge who could be spared.”

  Gray swallowed. “He really does endear people to him, doesn’t he?”

  Elise smiled, because Gray seemed to know his brother well. “That he does.”

  “You two are best friends?”

  Elise wanted to deny it, but she didn’t see how she could. Or why it would matter. “Yeah,” she said. “Me and Bree and Colton. We pal around a little.”

  “Bree…isn’t she Wes’s girlfriend?” Gray wore a confused look on his face, and it only made him more attractive to Elise.

  “Yes,” she said. “She’s my cabin mate. We live together up at Whiskey Mountain Lodge.”

  “You work up there?” He finally bent to duck into her car to take out the doughnuts. He started stacking them on the trunk.

  “Yes,” she said. “I’m the gardener for the lodge. I do a bit of landscaping for a few people in town too. Colton’s one of them.”

  Gray chuckled, and if he knew what that sound did to a woman, he’d use it against them for sure. “I’ll bet he is. He doesn’t really like the outdoor work.”

  “He’s told me about your parents’ farm,” she said, closing the door once he’d pulled out all the doughnut boxes. She picked up three and started back toward the house at a much slower clip.

  “Has he?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “What else has he told you about the family?”

  “The usual stuff,” she said.

  “Did he mention me?”

  “Yeah, you’re the lawyer,” she said, giving him a smile before she went up the steps to the porch. “I just wasn’t expecting the cowboy hat.”

  Gray looked up at her, surprise clearly etched in his expression. “I like the cowboy hat.”

  Elise had no idea who she was, or where the last words she’d spoken had come from. Nor did she know where, “Me too, Gray,” came from. Or the flirty smile she felt parading across her lips. She gave him one last look and headed inside, her skin clammy from the effort it took to flirt with him.

  “Thanks, Elise,” Colton said, taking the boxes from her. “I could’ve picked these up, you know.”

  “Oh, it was on my way.” She reached up and wiped the sweat from her brow. She seriously felt like she had a fever, and she had no idea why.

  Yes, you do, she told herself. A cowboy, Elise. He’s a cowboy.

  “I saw you looking at Gray,” Colton said under his breath.

  “Colton,” she warned.

  “What?” he asked. “I told you he’d be perfect for you.”

  “You have literally never said that.” She rolled her eyes and opened one of the boxes. She really needed some sugar right now—and everyone else who said they’d be coming to show up. Then she wouldn’t have to be in this house alone with Colton and Gray.

  He finally came inside too, carrying the rest of the boxes. “Got ‘em,” he said, putting them on the counter beside the others. He had a special ability that allowed him to skip eye contact, though Colton was staring a hole in his brother’s face.

  “I’m gonna go shower,” he said, beelining for the steps.

  “All right,” Colton said, a little too loudly in Elise’s opinion.

  Relief rushed through her once Gray had disappeared, and a sigh leaked from her mouth.

  “Ah-ha!” Colton said. “What happened before I came into the kitchen?”

  “Uh, well.” Elise wiped her forehead again, still sweating. What in the world was wrong with her? Maybe she was coming down with the flu. A Gray flu. “He was pouring coffee. He may or may not have been wearing a shirt. Then I dropped the coffee creamer, and he threw his mug at me. Kind of?” She turned away from Colton and paced out of the kitchen. “Then we cleaned up, and he told me he was your brother, and does he work out?” She faced Colton, her heart beating oh so fast.

  Colton blinked a couple of times, and then he burst out laughing. Elise realized she’d been babbling, and sure enough, as she usually did, she’d said something to further embarrass herself. Not only that, but she’d said something without censoring herself. That seemed to be one of her biggest problems—not thinking before she just asked if Colton’s brother worked out. She couldn’t keep her thoughts inside her own head to save her life, that was for sure.

  “He’s a marathon runner,” Colton
said, still chuckling. “And wow, you saw him without a shirt on? I didn’t realize Gray could be casual.” He shuddered like he’d just seen a giant spider. “He’s usually so polished and buttoned up. Everything in the right place. He irons T-shirts, for crying out loud.” He laughed again, and Elise just looked toward the stairs. What version of Gray Hammond would she get after he’d showered?

  She hoped he wouldn’t shave, because she liked a little facial hair on a man, and Gray’s had been, well, gray. Sexy. Mature.

  Yes, mature was the right word. The safe word Elise was going for.

  Colton slung his arm around her, and Elise wondered how long she’d been staring at his stairs. “You know, I could put a bug in his ear about you.”

  “You do, and you’ll be dead to me.” Elise glared up at him with everything she had in her five-foot-one-inch frame. “And you won’t get your chocolate birthday cake.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Forget I said anything.” He grinned down at her. “I’ve never seen you get worked up over a man.”

  “You’ve known me for seven months,” she said, pushing him away from her playfully. “I don’t think I’ve met a new man in that time.”

  Colton looked back to the stairs too. “Yes, well, Gray’s…unique, that’s for sure.”

  “We’re here,” Bree announced, and Elise sighed with relief. Wes’s booming voice filled the house too, and it wasn’t long before Annie arrived, and then Andrew and Beau Whittaker. With more people in the house, Elise could get lost in the shuffle, something she was very, very good at.

  And yet, when Gray came back downstairs with a boy that couldn’t be older than twelve or thirteen, he made one sweep of the kitchen and living room, looked past the dozen people who’d shown up for doughnuts and coffee before Wes’s big move, and locked eyes with her.

  Maybe he’d want to give her his number before the end of the day, because Elise had no idea why she’d need it, which meant she wouldn’t ask.

  Just see how today goes, she told herself. And if you have to, you can ask Colton for his brother’s number.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Bree stood in the doorway of Wes’s new house, trying not to feel completely inadequate. But of course she did. He’d bought one of the new houses in a brand spanking new subdivision on the northeast side of town.

  Rich people lived here.

  Which fit, because Wes was indeed, rich.

  “Come in,” he said. “You don’t have to stand in the doorway like a lurker.” He grinned at her, and Bree took some of his confidence and pretended it was hers. She smiled back, and let him take her hand in his.

  “You’ve done a lot already,” she said, noting the vase of fresh flowers on a tall table in the foyer. Fresh flowers? What universe had she landed in?

  “I’ve done nothing,” he said. “For the record. This is all Cindi.”

  “Oh, the interior decorator.”

  “Right.” He held up his phone. “I do get texts when it’s time to order another vase of flowers or when to change the air filter in my air conditioner.” He beamed like getting texts was the most amazing thing ever.

  Bree nodded and continued to look around. Yes, she’d been here already. She’d seen the house before Wes had moved in, actually. She’d helped him move. She’d listened to him talk about the amazing backyard where he wanted to house a couple of dogs. Big ones.

  “Maybe a horse,” he’d said, but Bree didn’t think the CCR’s of this subdivision would allow horses. He’d just laughed and said he was joking.

  “So,” he said, slowing as they reached the kitchen. Everything was so clean, and so bright, and so…wonderful. “Just me and you today. Finally.” He wrapped both arms around her, and Bree swayed with him, all of her fears and worries evaporating with his touch.

  It had been a few weeks since their near-kiss in the stables, and something always seemed to get in their way. First, he’d been paged, then Colton had been on the front steps of his house. When Wes brought Bree lunch, her boss had actually run out into the parking lot after her to ask what Willie’s favorite soda was.

  She didn’t want to kiss Wes in a hot parking lot anyway.

  They hadn’t gone hiking again as Wes looked for a house, bought one, and then arranged—remotely—to pack and move everything he owned in Denver. He’d taken a quick trip to the city, and his brother, Gray, had dominated this week with talk of selling the penthouse Wes owned to one of their cousins.

  To the company, actually. The family company that Wes had headed for fourteen years. HMC.

  In one of her worst self-doubt cases yet, Bree had looked up HMC online. What a mistake that had been. They were a huge, global company with profit shares in the billions. They were a Fortune 500 company, and were in fact, in position ten as of last year.

  Ten.

  Huge conglomerates like Walmart and Apple and Amazon were higher than them, but that was about it. And he’d run the whole thing.

  Bree had no idea what he was doing with her.

  “Are you ready to go?” he asked. “I’ve been hearing about this elk poutine for far too long, and I’m dying to try it.”

  Oh, right—she was going to Jackson Hole with him today. They were riding the gondola to the top of the world and eating dinner at the steakhouse with the delicious elk poutine. “Yes,” she said. “I’m ready.”

  But she wasn’t sure if she really was or not. She wanted to be. Hoped she could hold the interest of a man like Wes. He seemed happy with her, and they never really ran out of things to talk about.

  His phone chimed, and he glanced at it. “It’s Colt. He wants to know if you’ll walk with me down the aisle next weekend.”

  Bree’s heart seized. “What?”

  Wes grinned as he turned his phone toward her. “He and Annie are finalizing everything. Gray’s over there right now, before he heads home.” He looked at his phone again. “I don’t know why he just doesn’t stay, but he says he has to work.”

  “He’s bringing your parents too,” Bree reminded him. Meeting Wes’s parents had her stomach in knots, but he claimed his mother would be thrilled. Simply thrilled. He even said she’d probably start crying.

  Bree thought her tears would probably be about what a poor choice Wes had made in a girlfriend. After all, Bree had nothing to offer him.

  Yes, you do, she told herself, trying to press against the ugly thoughts. She was smart. She did work hard. And why was her love worth any less than someone else’s?

  Wes finished texting Colton and turned around in a full circle. “My jacket…we do still need jackets, right?”

  “It’s very windy on top of the mountain,” Bree said. “But it’s up to you.”

  “I got it out…ah-ha.” He spied it on the back of the couch and walked toward it. “I told Colton you’d love to walk down the aisle with me. I mean, you’re one of Annie’s bridesmaids. I’m Colton’s best man. It makes sense.” He met her eyes, and Bree put a smile on her face.

  “Yes,” she said. “I’d love to.” And she wasn’t lying, so the giggle that followed was real. Easy. She just needed to get outside of her own head and enjoy her time with Wes.

  They loaded into his truck, and Wes told her more about his father and grandmother on the hour-long drive to Jackson Hole. “I’ve never been here,” he said, peering out the windows and windshield. “There’s people everywhere.”

  “It’s a big tourist town,” she said. “This is downtown. It’ll clear up as we go up to the resort where the gondola is.”

  “Did you grow up in Coral Canyon?” Wes asked, and Bree stiffened. He’d never asked about her family again, and she suspected Colton had said something to him about her resistance to divulge much about them.

  But Colton wouldn’t confess to that, and Wes seemed completely at ease in the truck.

  “No,” she said. “I’m from a tiny little town in Vermont.”

  “Oh, wow,” he said. “Is that like here?”

  “It gets cold there,” she sai
d, her mind wandering along forbidden paths. “I don’t mind the cold.”

  “Neither do I,” Wes said. “When I stopped working at HMC, I thought really hard about where I wanted to go. The beach doesn’t call to me.”

  She watched him as he looked at his phone and turned where the map program told him to. They left the hustle and bustle of downtown Jackson Hole behind, and Wes went further into the mountains.

  He didn’t ask her anything else about her family, and Bree found herself wanting to tell him. She trusted him.

  Immediately, she pulled back on the word vomit about to come out of her mouth. She didn’t trust herself, so how could she know if she could really trust him? Maybe she’d fallen for his good looks, his charm, his money, his family, just everything that made him so wonderful.

  She bit her bottom lip and looked out her own window, a sense of awkwardness falling over her. “Look,” she said suddenly. “There’s a moose out there.”

  Wes looked, his face brightening as if he’d just learned he’d get an extra birthday this year. “Look at that.”

  Bree grinned at him as he came up to where everyone had parked and was getting out of their cars to look at the moose. Normally, she’d have wanted to as well, but they had an appointment for their gondola ride, and they couldn’t miss it.

  “Do we have time?” Wes asked, pressing on the brake.

  “I don’t think so,” she said, watching the magnificent moose as it lumbered slowly along out in the field. “Maybe it’ll still be there when we get done.” But she knew it wouldn’t be. But being as close to Yellowstone National Park as they were, they could make another day trip to see wildlife.

  “I don’t want to miss the gondola,” he said.

  “I know.” She reached for his hand and squeezed it when he gave it to her to hold. “You’ve been talking about it for weeks.”

  “Oh, come on,” he said with a laugh. “We just planned this a few days ago.”