Her Cowboy Billionaire Butler

by Liz Isaacson

  She’d be alone in Colorado, and Bree knew Elise didn’t like being alone for very long.

  Bree reached over and laced her arm through Elise’s. “I’d miss you if you left.”

  Elise finally looked up, her light green eyes so innocent and so wide. “I’m not going to leave,” she said. “I’ve already followed a man a thousand miles to be with him, and look how that ended up.” She drew in a deep breath. “No, I’m not going to chase after Gray. Maybe we’ll just be friends. Maybe the time just isn’t right.”

  “Maybe you like living with me,” Bree teased, hoping to lighten the moment.

  “I’d definitely miss you too,” Elise said soberly. “I’d miss this lodge, and everyone we work with here. I’d even miss the loud brothers.” She grinned then, and all the melancholy that had been accompanying her fled.

  Bree giggled with her. “They are loud, aren’t they?”

  “Yeah,” Elise said. “But I do love them.”

  “Me too,” Bree said, thinking of another set of brothers that had recently gotten together for a big celebration. “But you know, Colton’s here. And Wes too. Maybe Gray will come to Coral Canyon. You never know.”

  “Not for a while,” Elise said. “He’s still lead counsel for the company until the end of the year. And then Hunter will be halfway through a school year….” She let her voice trail off.

  Bree took a few steps without jumping into the next sentence. “Anything is possible, Elise.”

  “Especially with God,” Elise added.

  “So maybe just make sure He knows how you feel and what you want, and maybe He’ll work on Gray’s heart.” Bree gave her friend a smile, and Elise returned it.

  “Thanks, Bree. So let’s talk about you and Wes.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so,” Bree said with a light laugh.

  “At least he doesn’t make you pay for things,” Elise said. “We can say that much, right?”

  “Yes,” Bree said with a grin. “We can say that much.”

  “Have you kissed him yet?”

  Bree’s first inclination was to tell Elise she didn’t want to discuss personal things about her relationship with Wes. But she had in other relationships. This one felt different, though, and a dose of fear catapulted through her whole body.

  “Yes,” she finally said. “We’ve kissed.”

  Elise squealed, and Bree shook her head. “It’s not a big deal. He’s like, the twelfth boyfriend I’ve had this year.”

  “Oh, that’s not true,” Elise said, swatting at Bree’s upper arm. “But maybe he’ll last longer than six months.”

  “Well, it’s only been two, so I guess we’ll see about Christmastime how things are going.”

  They reached the lodge, and that meant more people, more ears to overhear delicate conversations. Bree had never been happier. She knew Elise wouldn’t intentionally hurt her feelings, because Elise was the kindest person on the planet. But her remark about Bree’s relationships only lasting six months stung. She also wasn’t wrong, so Bree didn’t have an argument to give.

  It felt like she’d known Wes longer than two months, and of course, she had. She’d known him for nine months, since they started talking last Christmas. So maybe, just maybe, she could have a romantic relationship with a man that lasted longer than six months.

  The noise from inside the lodge leaked out when Elise opened the door, and Bree sighed. “Here we go.”

  “I didn’t think we were doing anything crazy today,” Elise said. “I wonder who’s here.” They went down the hall and around the corner to where everyone in the lodge always gathered: the kitchen.

  Celia wasn’t there. No sweet smell hung in the air.

  But someone had definitely made coffee and someone had brought breakfast sandwiches from town.

  As soon as Bree looked into the dining half of the kitchen, she knew who.

  Wes.

  He sat at the table with half a dozen pieces of paper spread in front of him, talking animatedly about something while all four Whittaker brothers, Patsy, Sophia, Annie, and Colton listened intently.

  The man oozed charm and charisma, and while Bree could hear what he was saying about group rentals and specific vacation packages, she didn’t comprehend his words. All she could see was him.

  His dark hair, that chiseled jaw, those blazing eyes like coal. He lit up when he talked business, and Bree realized she’d only seen a fraction of the man Wes actually was.

  “And there you have it,” he said, leaning back.

  A moment of silence descended on the kitchen, and then everyone started talking at once. Graham asked questions, and Patsy said, “That will never work,” and folded her arms. Even Sophia had something to say, and all she did at the lodge was cook.

  Wes sat in the middle of it all, grinning as if he’d eventually win everyone over to his side. Which, of course, he would. One didn’t run a multi-billion-dollar company for fourteen years and not have some skills in getting people to see things his way.

  Bree leaned against the wall while Elise joined the fray of people. She just watched Wes, because he was glorious to behold. A few seconds later, he noticed that she’d arrived. He jumped to his feet, gathered his papers into a stack, and handed them to Graham.

  “All right, guys,” he said. “We can talk more later.”

  “Later?” Beau asked. “Where are you going?”

  “We just got started,” Andrew said. “Did you hear what he said about the private boat tours? I actually really liked that.”

  “This guy’s crazy,” Eli said. “But in a good way.”

  Graham looked up from the pages as Wes tried to get out from behind the table where he’d been sitting. “He might actually be on to something here.”

  Wes finally freed himself from the fray of bodies and chairs, and he approached her with pure joy on his face. “Hey, gorgeous.” He swept her into a hug and kissed her quickly. “What are you doing this morning? Can I tag along?”

  “I think you might have a riot if you try to leave,” she said, indicating the mass of people behind him, still talking and asking questions.

  “Oh, they’ll be fine,” he said. “They have the proposal.”

  “What proposal?”

  He laced his fingers through hers, and they went into the much quieter living room. “I guess I can’t leave. I have check-out in fifteen minutes.” As if drawn by his words, a couple started down the steps, their suitcase thumping on every one.

  “Let me,” Wes said, springing into action. Bree watched him help them with their luggage, grab the tablet, and start the check-out process. He turned back to her. “Andrew and Graham wanted me to do a little consulting on the lodge. It kept getting put off, but the past couple of weeks, I made a proposal for what they might do to bring in more business or charge more for what they already have. And I presented it this morning.”

  “What about the boat tours?”

  “There’s a great lake just down the road from here,” he said. “Gray took Hunter fishing there when they came. No motors allowed on the lake, and you can rent paddleboats and fishing boats. So I thought—why don’t they offer fishing weekends? Or midweek activities? Guy’s getaways for fathers and sons? They could rent every boat at that lake, and essentially be renting the whole lake. Bam. Private lake tour.”

  Bree simply looked at him, because he emanated happiness, and power, and perfection. “That’s a great idea,” she said.

  “Right?” Graham grinned and turned when someone else started down the steps. Up he went again, seemingly spurred on with energy from his presentation. Bree wondered how long he’d last here at the lodge, carrying people’s bags up and down the steps, checking them in and out on a tablet.

  It didn’t fit his personality at all. Wes was made for lucrative deals. Big boardrooms. The spotlight.

  Which left her wondering, once again, what in the world he was doing here in Coral Canyon, at this lodge, with this job.

  And what had he been th
inking when he’d started a relationship with her?

  Chapter Eighteen

  Wes waved to Bree when she indicated she was going to head outside, but he was with guests, so he couldn’t go with her. Something pumped in his blood he hadn’t felt in a long time, and he knew exactly what it was.

  The high of a presentation. Adrenaline over talking about business.

  Wes loved business, and making deals, and trying to push his mind outside of the box it was in. And hey, Graham and Andrew had asked him to do that. He’d noticed Patsy’s reluctance, the way her eyebrows drew down, and her statement about how something would never work.

  He’d worked with plenty of people like her. Their businesses eventually went bankrupt or closed their doors. He knew from a vast number of experiences that it wasn’t until he allowed himself to think absolutely crazy things that he would find one idea that could change the course of the whole business.

  “Thanks,” he said as someone handed him a five-dollar bill. He’d been saving all of his tips for the past two months in a jar, of all things. Wes usually didn’t even handle cash, and he certainly didn’t keep it in a pickle jar on his nightstand.

  But he was right now, because he was going to give the whole thing to Bree for her birthday. No, she had not told him when it was, but Annie had mentioned it when Wes was at Colton’s house for dinner earlier this week.

  In fact, he was going to ask her out on her birthday and see what she said. Wes had no more barriers up when it came to Bree, but he could still feel a wall coming from her. He knew it surrounded personal things, like her family and her birthday, and he was determined to chip away at it one day at a time.

  He almost felt like he was doing something wrong, but he’d been praying about Bree, and the Lord hadn’t told him to back away yet. But he didn’t want to pursue her if she wasn’t as interested in a relationship with him.

  “Maybe better stop kissing her then,” he muttered, but he didn’t want to do that either. Bree genuinely seemed to like spending time with him. She liked kissing him, from all he could gather. They saw one another every day, and she even texted him at night. She’d given no indication that she didn’t want him to chip away at her walls.

  Except for her complete silence about her family and a few other personal details. Wes didn’t know if she just had a different personality than he did—which she obviously did—or if it was something he should be concerned about.

  When the last guest had checked out, he texted her. Where are you? I wanted to see you before I left for today.

  Not doing check-in? she messaged back.

  Nope. Afternoon off. What are you doing? Want to go to Yellowstone today?

  Bree didn’t answer. Wes sat on the steps just across from the giant front doors of the lodge and waited. She didn’t work in town on weekends, and surely she was around the lodge somewhere. She sometimes helped Elise with the grounds, and she sometimes ran classes if there were a lot of guests staying through the weekend.

  Wes had checked out half the guests today though, so if Bree was doing something, it wouldn’t be with very many people. She didn’t normally plan activities for only a dozen or so people, so he’d be surprised if she didn’t have the afternoon ahead of her with not much to do.

  He looked up when the front door opened, and Bree walked in. “Hey.” He grinned at her and stood up. “There you are.”

  She folded herself neatly into his arms, wrapping hers around him and holding him tight. Everything inside him sang, and he put this moment in his memory so he could remind himself that yes, Bree Richards liked him.

  She eased back a little and looked up at him. “Yellowstone is a two-hour drive.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  “One way. It’s noon already.”

  “So maybe we’ll stay overnight,” he said. “I’m not doing check-in tomorrow, so I have a while off. You’re not working at the office. What are you doing around here?”

  “Not much, I guess,” she said, stepping out of his embrace completely. “You want to stay overnight?”

  “We’d get two rooms,” he said, thinking she was probably worried about that.

  “You have guitar lessons this afternoon.”

  “Do you not want to go?” he asked. “If you don’t want to go, just say you don’t want to go.”

  Bree looked at him with those dark, brownish-hazel eyes he loved so much. He hadn’t meant to sound harsh, and he realized he’d reverted back to his CEO-ways. Just state the facts. Don’t make anything about how you feel.

  “Sorry,” he said quickly. “It just feels like you don’t want to go.”

  “I do,” she said. “I love Yellowstone.”

  “Great,” he said. “I’ve never been, and I’d love to go with you. So let’s go.”

  She gave him a soft smile, and the tense dam inside Wes broke. “You need to get a place to stay before we just go,” she said. “You realize people make reservations for Yellowstone a year in advance, right?”

  “I…did not know that,” he said. “I’ll do it right now.” He sat down on the steps again and got busy on his phone, searching and finding a place right in the park where they could stay.

  But the room he was looking at had communal bathrooms. No, thank you, he thought. He had enough money to find a place with a private bathroom. “Oh,” he said. “We could get a two-queen suite, private bathroom, Old Faithful Inn.” He looked at Bree. “Doable? Or do you require your own room-own room-room?”

  “Own room-room?” she teased. “My own bed should be okay.”

  “It’s a suite. We can move one of the beds into the other area, and create two bedrooms.” He tapped to book that one, not even looking at the price.

  Bree sat beside him and looked over his arm. “Wes, that suite is twelve hundred dollars.”

  “Yeah.” Wes kept tapping to reserve. He had his credit card number memorized, and he wouldn’t miss twelve hundred dollars.

  “Wes,” she said.

  “What?”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Sure,” he said. “I don’t want to camp, and this is right by Old Faithful. It’s in the park. It has what we want and need.” He looked at her. “It’s no big deal.”

  “All right,” she said, but she sounded like she doubted him.

  Wes went ahead with the booking and tucked his phone into his back pocket. “Okay, so we need to pack. And then we can go. Yeah?” He smiled at her and leaned toward her, glad when she met him halfway for a real kiss. Nothing too quick or too rushed.

  Wow, he loved kissing her.

  “I wanted to ask you something else,” he said, pulling away. “Dinner this next week, on Wednesday. You and me. What do you say?”

  “Wednesday?”

  He watched something parade across her face, and he knew it came from realizing that Wednesday was her birthday.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I’m not working that day at all, and I thought I’d do a little hiking in the morning. I could take you to lunch instead, if you wanted. I’m going to move my guitar lesson to that afternoon. And dinner.”

  He had a lot more plans than that, but he didn’t need to spill the beans quite yet.

  “Sure,” she said. “I can do dinner on Wednesday.”

  “Great.” He stood up and extended his hand to pull her up too. He took her right into his arms, his heart pounding beneath his ribs. “I’ll make sure we have a big birthday cake too.”

  She stiffened in his arms and pulled back enough to look at him, her eyes wide. “You know it’s my birthday.”

  “That’s right,” he said, smiling. He would not let the fact that she hadn’t told him upset him. But she had kind of failed the test.

  “Who told you?”

  “Your BFF.”

  “Colton,” she said under her breath. “I should’ve known.”

  “Annie’s making the cake,” Wes said. “And why couldn’t you tell me it’s your birthday?”

  She sighed and stepped away
from him, and Wes suddenly felt tired. The two hours to Yellowstone felt like a chore—or something he’d do himself, and then he’d continue to Idaho, Montana, and all the other states he hadn’t visited yet. Alone.

  Without Bree.

  The very thought made him recoil from himself, and he cleared his mind as Bree turned back to him.

  “Because, Wes,” she said. “If you know it’s my birthday, you’ll spoil me rotten.”

  Confusion knitted through him. “And…you don’t want your boyfriend to spoil you rotten on your birthday?”

  She smiled, and she was so beautiful. “I mean, I guess so.”

  “You guess so.” Wes wasn’t sure what to do now.

  “I do,” she said.

  “But you didn’t tell me.”

  “I don’t want you to spend a lot of money on me,” she said.

  Wes wanted to argue with her. Tell her he had a lot of money, and who better to spend it on? Instead, he nodded. “Okay. Dinner. Cake. One present. Is that acceptable to you?”

  “One present,” she mused, inching a little closer to him. “It can’t be a car.”

  “I will not buy you a car,” he vowed.

  “Or a house.” Bree grinned up at him and stepped back into his arms. “Or anything bigger than a shoebox. Or any jewelry.”

  “Okay, now you’re just being ridiculous,” he said. He smiled too, but he wasn’t feeling very happy inside. “You can’t tell me what I can and can’t buy you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Would you object to a vacuum cleaner?” he asked. “That comes in a box bigger than a shoebox.”

  “If you buy me a vacuum cleaner for my birthday, it’s over between us.”

  Wes burst out laughing, glad when Bree did too. “But you just said no jewelry, and what if I want to buy you something sparkly? That’s smaller than a shoebox, and it’s meaningful.” He swayed with her, liking this new direction the conversation had taken.

  “It’s too expensive,” she whispered.

  “Bree,” he whispered back. “When are you going to accept that nothing is too expensive for me? Not when it comes to you.”