Her Cowboy Billionaire Butler

by Liz Isaacson

  He looked down at his phone again. He’d never truly taken a leap of faith. Gray studied things out before he took a single step, and he always knew where that step was going to land. He definitely wasn’t the leaping type.

  “I’m going to bed,” Wes said. “Thanks for letting me crash here, Gray.”

  “Anytime,” Gray said automatically, and then he was alone in the kitchen. He looked down at his phone again, trying to decide what to say to Elise.

  Surely he’d be able to slip away for a couple of hours. He’d have plenty of help with Hunter, and he was left trying to decide if he wanted to commit to a cup of coffee or a meal. Or a whole afternoon at the lodge, doing whatever Cupcake Wars was.

  He snapped his fingers, something he did when trying to make a hard decision. The steady rhythm of it kept his thoughts from wandering.

  He finally picked up his phone, and used both hands to tap out a message. Sure, Elise. I’m sure I can find some time to get coffee or go to lunch.

  He stared at the words, his heart now thumping to the rhythm his fingers had made.

  He literally felt himself leaping as he added, Not sure what Cupcake Wars is, but if it involves chocolate, I’m sure I’d be interested.

  He sent the text without giving it too much time or thought. If he did, he’d erase it all, delete the text string, and lay awake for the next couple of hours. He read over the sent words again, realizing he’d just told Elise he was interested in her.

  I’m sure I’d be interested.

  “You are interested.” He took his phone and headed toward the master bedroom. He had to get up and run before work, and he was already up too late.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Elise couldn’t knock as she carried a bottle of apple-grape cider under one arm, a pan of potatoes in that hand, and a bowl of salad in the other. Thankfully, Colton had somehow been alerted to her presence, and he opened the door a moment after she arrived.

  Sparky barked at her, growling low in the back of his throat. “Shush,” Colton told the dog, reaching for the bottle of cider Elise was about to lose. He took the salad too, and that freed up Elise to hold the heavy pan of potatoes with both hands.

  “Morning,” she said to him as she eased past him. “Where’s Annie?” She wasn’t worried about being alone with Colton. Since Bree had been traveling more the past several weeks, she’d been staying with Colton and Annie, as she really didn’t like being in the cabin alone.

  “She’s over at her daughter’s,” Colton said, closing the door behind her. “I guess Em is supposed to take a dessert to her in-laws for dinner, and she burnt the first one. Annie went to help her.”

  “Smells like she got the turkey in here first,” Elise said, setting the pan of potatoes on the counter. “These need a couple of hours, so if we’re eating at one, I can put them in about ten-thirty.”

  “We’re definitely eating at one,” Colton said. “That way, Eden can go to Mitchell’s at four.”

  “I can’t even imagine eating two Thanksgiving dinners,” Elise said.

  “That’s because you barely eat,” Colton said.

  “How many cupcakes have you eaten this morning?” she asked.

  “Who says I’ve had cupcakes?”

  Elise laughed, because Colton ate cupcakes every day, it seemed. “I’m sure it’s at least three,” she said. “Now, Annie said she’d get the cream cheese I needed for the cheesecake. The store I went to was out, if you can believe it.”

  “People seem to go crazy around the holidays,” Colton said. “Annie managed to get the last of the Chex she needed for that mix we like.”

  “Tell me she made a huge batch.” Elise looked around for it, her mouth already watering.

  “She sure did.” Colton grinned as he opened a cupboard and pulled out a big bowl of the chocolatey and nutty mix made with cereal, peanut butter, chocolate, and powdered sugar.

  “I’m so grateful for Annie,” Elise said, grinning as Colton put the bowl near her. She took a handful of it and started eating, everything in her life aligning.

  Especially since Gray had agreed to see her while he was here for Christmas. She hadn’t told anyone about that, and she strengthened her resolve not to say anything to Colton about his brother. More than likely, though, Colton would bring up Gray, and Elise would have to decide how to play it.

  She and Colton were close enough that if he was looking at her at all, he’d see the nervousness in her expression or hear the hesitation in her voice before she answered. And Colton saw and heard everything.

  Elise started making the cheesecake they’d eat for dessert after their traditional Thanksgiving meal and getting out the ingredients and tools she needed gave her a distraction from consuming the entire bowl of sweets—and from thinking too long about Gray Hammond.

  She’d told herself a dozen times she wasn’t going to date her best friend’s brother, because so many things could turn awkward so fast. She would not put her friendship with Colton at risk, and she’d already seen the impact Bree’s relationship with Wes had had on her and Colton’s friendship.

  They hardly talked anymore, and even Colton had noticed and asked Elise what was going on with Bree.

  She hadn’t known what to say. Maybe because Colton looked a lot like his brother, or maybe because he definitely possessed a similar spirit as Wes. No matter what it was, Bree didn’t seem to want to spend much time with Colton anymore.

  She didn’t spend much time with anyone, and Elise didn’t like that. She’d done everything in her power to stay as close to Bree as possible. She made sure to eat breakfast with her in the morning. Send her funny memes throughout the day. Make sure Bree knew about all the meals at the lodge, though they didn’t ever eat a whole lot with the guests.

  Bree had changed a lot in the past couple of months, and she now wore freedom on her face that she hadn’t before. She laughed easier. She told Elise she was making good progress on forgiving herself, as she went to therapy every week and spoke to her parents daily.

  Elise was happy for her. So happy. She still didn’t quite know what Bree needed to forgive herself for, or why she went to therapy, but that didn’t matter. Elise had always loved Bree, and she missed her when she left town. She missed the threesome she and Bree and Colton had once been.

  If Colton did too, he’d never said.

  “My brother says I need to watch Hunter for a bit while he’s here,” Colton said, and Elise dropped the rubber spatula she’d been using to scrape the filling down closer to the beaters. She looked up, her eyes wide, to find Colton smirking at her from across the counter.

  “He said that?”

  “Want to see the text?”

  “No,” Elise said quickly. She picked up the spatula and finished the job before turning on the mixer again. “And? Can you do it?”

  “Of course I can do it,” Colton said. “What I want to know is why. I asked him, and he said he’d rather not say.”

  “Well, then I’m not going to say either,” Elise said. “Not that I know.” She was practically yelling above the noise of the beaters. “I mean, it’s not like Gray tells me everything he’s doing.” In fact, Elise wished Gray would communicate with her more. They’d been texting a little bit since she’d asked him if he’d like to get together with her over Christmas.

  She’d honestly been shocked—a pleasant shocked—when he’d said yes. And to find out that he’d already texted Colton to make arrangements for Hunter made Elise’s face start to warm. She attempted to pull back on that, because heat in her face meant she’d soon turn red, and then Colton would know she definitely had feelings for his brother.

  Elise couldn’t even believe she had feelings for Gray, but literally no one had intrigued her as much as he had, and she’d only met him the one time, when he’d come for Colton’s wedding.

  She’d gotten his number through a sheer miracle, and she thanked the Lord every day for that amazing coincidence that Colton had said, “I can’t deal with t
hat. Gray, will you work with Elise on the sound?”

  So she’d gotten his number, and they’d been talking since. Just a little bit, she told herself as the cheesecake batter reached peak creaminess. She switched off the mixer, very aware of Colton’s eyes still on her.

  She glanced up as she removed the beaters. “What?”

  “What? Nothing.”

  “You’re staring at me.”

  “I’m just sitting here.”

  “Could you go sit over there?” she asked. “Or set the table. Or something.”

  “Lunch isn’t for four hours,” he said. “I don’t need to set the table right now.”

  “You don’t even know how to set the table,” she said.

  “No, I don’t,” he said, grinning.

  Elise couldn’t help smiling as she lifted the bowl to pour the filling into the crust. “You’re pathetic.”

  “I know,” Colton said, still smiling. He didn’t move hardly at all. “I know how to peel potatoes, but you made those already.”

  Elise tapped the springform pan to get all the air bubbles out of the cheesecake, and then she set it in a deep sheet pan. She slid that into the preheated oven and picked up the tea kettle. She poured hot water into the shallow pan surrounding the cheesecake and closed the oven. “There.”

  “I can’t wait to eat that.”

  “You eat more sugar than any human should,” she said.

  “I like it.” He tapped the counter at the spot next to him. “Come sit by me.”

  “Why?” Elise reached for a towel and wiped her hands on it. “So you can tease me about Gray?”

  “Yes.” Colton rested his chin on both of his hands. “Tell me about you and Gray.”

  “I’m not having this conversation,” she said. “And just because we’re friends doesn’t mean you get to make this awkward for me.” She gave him the hardest look she could, and Colton’s smile slipped off his face.

  “Okay,” he said, holding up his hands now. “It’s just…I feel like I should sign something or get you to sign something that says I’m not responsible for how Gray treats you. If you end up hurt, Elise, and we can’t be friends….” He shook his head. “I’ve already lost Bree.”

  So he did know. Sometimes Colton painted over hard things with a quick laugh, that infectious smile, and a lot of cupcakes. Elise tended to do the same, but she didn’t have as much room on her frame for extra sweets as he did.

  “You haven’t lost Bree,” Elise said. “She’s still with us.”

  “It’s not the same,” Colton said. “Maybe for you, because it wasn’t your brother who hurt her.”

  “Wes didn’t hurt her,” Elise said, rounding the counter and sitting next to Colton. “She hurt him. He left because she couldn’t tell him about her family.”

  “But she’s talking to them now.”

  “Yeah,” Elise said. “I think she’ll be ready to get him back soon, but I don’t know. We don’t talk about specifics with that.”

  “Has she told you about her family?”

  “No.”

  “Me either.” Colton sighed. “And I don’t really care. But I know Wes does.”

  “As he should,” Elise said. “He was right, Colton. She wasn’t. So I know it’s been weird with you and her, but that’s on her. Not you. Not Wes.”

  “Feels like it’s on me.” He reached over and covered her hand with his. “Gray is an amazing guy, Elise. You’re an amazing woman. I think you two would be great together, but you should know, he—”

  “Please stop talking,” Elise said, shouting over him. “I’ll find out about Gray when I talk to Gray.” She turned her hand and squeezed Colton’s. “It’s not your job to fix up all your friends with your brothers. I met Gray on my own, thank you very much, and I can’t help it if he was so taken with my beauty that he gave me his number.” She grinned at him, because that wasn’t what had happened at all.

  Colton chuckled and shook his head. “All right. So I stay out of it.”

  “That’s right, Colt. You stay out of it.” At the same time, Elise thought she could probably use the inside scoop on Gray Hammond. He exuded confidence and power, and Elise withered in his presence. She’d been working on that, but it was hard, because she felt confident around the lodge, with her job and her friends.

  “What’s your biggest hang-up with him?” Colton asked.

  “I have two, actually,” Elise said.

  “Oh, you’ve thought about this.”

  “Absolutely,” she said.

  “And they are?”

  “He lives in Colorado,” Elise said.

  “That’s a big one.”

  “And he’s a cowboy.”

  Colton whipped his attention back to her. He reached up and adjusted the big, white cowboy hat he wore day and night. “I forgot you don’t like cowboys.”

  “It’s not that I don’t like them.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Colton said. “I remember about that guy who cheated on you.”

  “Yeah.” Elise remembered that too.

  “Gray doesn’t cheat,” Colton said. “On anything. Ever. The guy graduated top of his class in law school because he’s a freak of nature when it comes to remembering things.”

  Elise giggled and slid off the stool. If he wasn’t going to set the table, she could. “Now I’m going to have three things. He’ll be too smart for me.”

  “Nonsense,” Colton said, joining her in the kitchen as she got down plates and opened the drawer to get out silverware. “You’re a catch, Elise.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Thankfully, the conversation moved away from Gray, and the activity around the house picked up when Annie returned with her two daughters. Both of them brought their significant others, which only made Elise feel smaller than her five-foot-one-frame. They were ten years younger than her and had managed to find someone to spend their lives with.

  Eden wasn’t engaged—yet, but Emily and Kelly had gotten married a month or so ago, after several setbacks when the venue they’d booked had gone out of business suddenly in the spring.

  Elise pushed aside the feelings of inadequacy. It wasn’t like she’d never had a boyfriend before. She had. Of course she had.

  But she’d never had a man like Gray.

  Elise’s excitement for the Christmas holiday doubled as she thought about the sexy cowboy-lawyer and hopefully spending a couple of hours alone with him.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Bree put the plate with a stick of butter on it on the table and turned back to her parents. Her mother had invited her parents to their Thanksgiving feast too, and her father had invited his dad. His mother had died a decade ago, and Bree hadn’t come to Vermont for the funeral.

  A wave of uneasiness rolled over her, but she kept her shoulders square and strong. Her parents had been gracious and kind and forgiving, and with weekly therapy sessions, Bree was starting to believe that the Lord could forgive her too.

  The really tricky part was forgiving herself.

  Every once in a while, she believed she’d accomplished that, and she had a very good day. She toyed with the idea of texting Wes and asking him what his Christmas plans were. Then, the next morning, she’d be back at square one, almost crying because of the things she’d done, the pain she’d inflicted, the turmoil she’d caused.

  And not just because Bronson had died the day he’d fallen through the ice. But because of how Bree had chosen to handle every moment since.

  Help me today, she prayed silently as her mother lifted her eyes from the salad she was constructing. “That’s everything,” Mom said. “My parents should be here in about five minutes. Did you want to take Collie out for a minute?’

  “Sure,” Bree said. She moved over to the cupboard where her father kept the leashes, dog treats, and clothes their little corgi wore. Today, Dad had dressed the eight-year-old dog in a bandana with turkey feathers on it, and Bree liked the way the animal seemed to know his special cupboard had been opened.
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br />   Collie perked up and managed to get himself off the couch where he’d been snoozing. He stretched and yawned and trotted toward her, by which time Bree had selected one of his many leashes and picked up a bag of cheesy sausage treats.

  “Come on, boy,” she said. “Let’s go down to the river for a second.” She couldn’t believe she could even get close to the Marble Falls River. But she could. She had. She’d been to the place Bronson had fallen through the ice, and she’d stood there for a long, long time, crying and begging God to forgive her.

  Her mom and dad had initially gone with her, and they’d stood at her side and said, “We don’t blame you, Bree. Accidents happen.”

  Dad had said, “God must’ve needed him in heaven.”

  Bree wasn’t sure what God needed. If He was such an all-powerful being, why hadn’t He saved Bronson? Why hadn’t He communicated with Bree more clearly over the past twenty-three years since her brother’s death?

  Slowly, as she came back to her roots and made amends, Bree realized the blocks she’d put in her own ears. Perhaps the Lord had been calling to her all this time, and she simply hadn’t heard Him.

  She carried no blame anymore. Her guilt rode the same roller coaster her self-forgiveness did. Her therapist told her to be patient with herself, and kind, and to expect this process to take a very long time.

  Bree clipped the leash to Collie’s collar and she led the dog out the back door. She paused and took in a deep lungful of the clear, fresh air in Marble Falls, Vermont. There wasn’t air as crisp anywhere else.

  “Except maybe Coral Canyon,” she murmured. She and Collie crossed the deck and went down the steps to the backyard. From there, it was a straight shot back to the stand of trees. Vermont seemed to have trees everywhere, and Bree walked under their skeletal branches, her fingers turning cold.

  She’d forgotten to grab her gloves, but she didn’t mind. She actually liked the bite against her skin, as it reminded her that she was human. Humans made mistakes. Humans could try again. Humans could be forgiven.