Three Words (Whiskey River Road Book 3)

by Kelly Moore

  “Tell him, Ellie. A man needs to hear the words.”

  “I don’t know if I can.”

  “Then, you’ll lose him again.”

  I roll my chair back and press my forehead to the edge of the desk. “I don’t want him to go.”

  “Then, you need to tell the man you love him.”

  “I do love him.”

  “See, that wasn’t so hard to admit.”

  “It is to him.”

  “Why? He should be the easy one to tell.”

  “I try to say the words, and they get caught in my throat. They smother me to the point where nothing comes out.”

  “Are you afraid he’ll reject you? Because the man I met would die for you.”

  “What if I’m not enough?” I sob.

  “What do you mean, not enough?”

  “Boone loved Clem with every ounce of his body, and he wasn’t enough for her.”

  “You aren’t Clem and Boone. I met her right after she left him at the altar. She was a complete confused mess. She knew she loved him but didn’t know what she wanted for the rest of her life. She was heartbroken over losing their baby. She felt like everything had been chosen in her life for her, the ranch, the horses, the rest of her life. She needed to get out and figure out what she wanted for herself. She was so lost for a long time. Slowly, she came out of it and saw a different life. But you know what?”

  “What?”

  “What she wanted was here. She needed it to be her choice. She thought she had lost Boone forever. Her tail was between her legs when she came back home. Look how it all turned out. She’s with the man she loves. And don’t you think Boone must have felt like Ian did?”

  “He left me. I didn’t leave him.”

  “No, but he wanted you to know what it was you wanted and not feel forced.”

  “When did you get so smart?” I sniff.

  “I listened to your sister whine about Boone all those years. I guess I picked up a few things.” He laughs.

  “Thank you, Ethan. You’re a good friend.”

  “I wish I could’ve been more to you, but I’ll settle for friendship.”

  “There’s a woman out there you’ll make extremely happy one day.”

  “I’m counting on it.”

  I hear my office door open and lift my head. “I gotta go. Thanks for the information.” I end my phone call and scoot my chair under the desk with my hands folded on top. “Do you need something?” I ask Watkins.

  He shuts the door behind him. Meandering over to my side of the desk, he sweeps a lock of hair from my shoulder. “We were all business before. I didn’t get a chance to tell you how nice you look today.”

  My blood runs cold. “Thank you, but I think when we’re at work, we should keep things professional.”

  He smiles, and moves around to the other side of the desk, sitting in the chair. “Okay. Then how about tonight, you come to my place for a drink, among other things.”

  I’d rather die. “I can’t tonight. I have plans.”

  “Change them. You’ve been teasing me long enough. You keep a man waiting, and he might think you’ve been playing a game with him.”

  Shit. “No games. I’ve been burned in a relationship before, and I need time to build on one.”

  “Your reputation around town says otherwise.”

  “There’s a difference between a relationship and fucking.” I angle a brow at him.

  “Either way, I’ve been a patient man. It’s time you and I move forward together unless you’re playing me.” He taps his finger to his chin. “I’ve wondered for a while now why a beautiful, smart, sexy woman would entertain a man like me.” He sucks in his gut. “Not that I’m a bad catch. I was handsome in my day. But being you’re a Calhoun, I’ve been suspicious of your motives.”

  I hate what I’m about to do and hope I don’t gag. I stand, walk to him, and sit in his lap, draping my arm around his neck. “Don’t be silly. You’re still a handsome man. A woman would be blind not to see it.” I lean down, pressing my lips to his. I feel the roll of my stomach. I hop up. “You need to go. I have work to do, and I can’t do it with you sitting in here looking at me the way you are.” I plaster on a fake, flirty grin.

  “Until tonight, then.” He stands. “Keep me posted on the monies. I should have everything set up on Friday.” He walks out, leaving the door open.

  I’m screwed. I’ll come up with some excuse to get out of tonight, like his kiss was poison and I’m dying. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. I grab my bag and head to the Magnolia. I can work there without being disturbed and go over everything Ethan gave me.

  “Hey, Ellie. I wasn’t expecting you here today,” Margret says.

  She looks a little flustered in her cheeks. “I freed up some time. I need to work on your taxes.” It’s a lie. I walk by her and into the small office area behind the counter, leaving the door open wide.

  I hear a familiar voice and see Wyatt coming out of the restroom in the foyer area.

  “It was so nice of you to stop by and help me with a legal matter.” Margret clears her throat. Wyatt glares at her as if she’s lost her mind.

  I see the slight tilt of her head in my direction. Wyatt’s eyes fill with understanding. “You’re welcome.”

  “Look who came by to work today.” Margret’s voice is high-pitched.

  Wyatt stares full-on into the office. I want to snicker at the hickey peeking above his stark-white collar.

  “Hey, Ellie.” He moves by Margret into my space.

  “Hey yourself,” I say.

  “I’m glad you’re here. I need to talk to you.” He shuts Margret out.

  “I bet you are,” I tease.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” His brows furrow.

  “You two aren’t real good at hiding. That hickey on your neck gave it away.” I snicker and point.

  He straightens his collar. “Mind your own business.”

  “There’s that bug in your ass again. I’m glad you’re having a little roll in the hay, or should I say closet, with Margret. At least she’s a woman,” I add, to stick the knife further in.

  “I done told you, I don’t like men.” He sits.

  “I love when you get all flustered. Your southern accent that you’ve tried so hard to lose comes out.”

  “You’re a pain in my ass!” he huffs.

  “Better me than some guy.” I roar in laughter.

  “Ha ha, you think you’re so damn funny.”

  “Oh come on. It was a little funny.” I pinch my fingers together, but that bug is too far lodged in my brother’s backend for him to see the humor.

  “Why are you here today? Shouldn’t you be at Watkins’s office?”

  My shoulders drop. “Ugh, I couldn’t stand for him to touch my hair one more time. He’s insisting that I go to his place tonight to prove to him that I’m not toying with his emotions.”

  “Now that would be funny under any other circumstances. You can’t go.”

  “I know that. I’ll make some excuse to get out of it.”

  “He’s suspicious.”

  “Well, Bear and Noah breaking into his place didn’t help matters much.”

  “I bet it didn’t.”

  I take out my phone and forward the information Ethan sent me. “Clem and Ethan did their spy thing and found some leads to Watkins’s backers. See if you can trace any of these numbers to any legal deals that Watkins has made.”

  “I’m not his attorney, Ellie. I don’t have access to his records.”

  “Oh good lord. Would you start acting like a Calhoun and grow some balls. Do you not know how to operate in the gray area?”

  “Of course I do. I just choose not to.”

  “If you want to keep Watkins from buying this town, you’d best change your ways.”

  “I’ll do what I can inside the law.” The crevice between his eyes deepens.

  “I guess it’s a good idea if one of us stays clean so you can get u
s out of trouble.”

  “One of these days, I’m not going to be able to. One of my siblings is going to cross a line I can’t fix.”

  I put my elbows on the desk, resting my chin on my hands. “It better not be Boone. That man’s been through enough in this life. He’s happy with Clem. I’d like to see them stay that way.”

  “You know I have no control over his loyalty to our father.”

  “Then, when the time comes, I’ll take matters into my own hands. Daddy has taught us all how to shoot to kill.”

  “Have you ever killed a man, Ellie? It isn’t like shooting an animal.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I’ve seen things I’d rather not talk about. It changes a man.”

  All this time I thought Wyatt had kept his nose clean. He knows a lot more than he lets on. “Let’s hope we can stop Watkins before it comes to any of us landing behind bars.”

  He gets up. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t share with our siblings what you saw between Margret and I today.”

  “Yeah, I think that one’s better left buried in the closet.” I wink.

  “Hey, before I go, I’ve arranged for someone from the lab to come to the main house tomorrow morning to test each of us to see if we’re compatible to donate a kidney to Jane.”

  “Okay. I’ll be there.”

  He walks out, and a few minutes later, Margret appears at my desk. She stands with her arms crossed, staring at me.

  “Can I help you with something?”

  “You know, don’t you?” She plops down in the chair. “About Wyatt and me.”

  “What you and Wyatt do are none of my business.”

  “Since you’re the only one that knows, I need to talk to someone.”

  “Please don’t let that someone be me.” I squeeze my eyes tightly together.

  “Oh come on. You and I’ve become friendly.”

  “I do your books. That doesn’t make us friends. Go talk to Clem.”

  “I can’t tell her about Wyatt. She’ll tell Boone.”

  “So what?”

  “It’s kinda awkward, don’t you think. I mean, I was married to Boone.”

  “Nobody cares about that anymore. We’ve all let it go.”

  “Still.” She shrugs.

  She’s obviously not going away. “Fine. Say what you have to say so I can get some work done.” I toss my pen on the desk.

  “I like him.”

  “And?”

  “I really really like him.”

  “You’ve said that.”

  “I’m not sure he feels the same way about me, and I don’t want another repeat of Boone.”

  “I see.”

  “When we’re alone, he makes me feel like I’m the only woman alive. I never felt that way with Boone. Clem was always in the picture even when she was a million miles from home.”

  “That’s a good thing that he makes you feel that way.”

  “But in public, he acts like he can barely stand the sight of me.”

  “Have you said something to him about it?”

  “I did.”

  “Are you going to make me wrangle it out of you?” I cross my arms over my chest.

  “He said he’s not ready for anyone to know or to make a commitment. Is that code for he’s ashamed of me?” She wipes away a tear.

  “I think he’s honestly got too much on his plate and isn’t ready for more. Why don’t you play hard to get and see how he reacts?”

  “I’ve never thought about that.” She straightens her spine.

  “Well, there you go. I solved your problem. Now get out of here so I can get some work done.” Look at me giving advice. She’s doomed. I can’t manage a simple “I love you” much less play hard to get.

  After an hour of finally getting something done, I hear Ian talking to Margret. I grab my purse and walk out into the foyer.

  “Howdy,” Ian says, and I almost melt.

  “Hey. I was just leaving.” I lower my head.

  “I’m headed upstairs. Do you have a second?”

  “Sure.”

  “You two have fun.” Margret giggles.

  I follow him up to his room. “I spent some time with Ethan today. We found out a lot about Peter Granger.”

  “I know. Clem called me.”

  He shuts us inside his room. “You have to quit working for Watkins. Things are about to get ugly, and I don’t want you anywhere near him when it does.”

  “And to think, I was only worried about getting out of my date with him tonight.”

  He takes my purse from my hand, tossing it on the bed. “Tell him to kiss off.”

  “It’s not that simple. If we’re going to put all this together, I still need to have access to his books.”

  “If he’s suspicious of you, he’s probably not showing you his true books.”

  I hadn’t thought about that. Even more reason for me to go tonight. I could do some snooping. “Possibly.”

  He corners me against the wall with his body. “I see that look in your eye, and I know it very well. It means trouble.”

  “You’ve been gone a while. Maybe my looks have changed.” My heart is racing with him so close and his breath against my ear.

  “Stay the fuck away from him, Ellie.”

  I raise my hand, unbuttoning his shirt. He leans back, watching me.

  “I love the feel of your chest.” I dip my head and kiss his nipple.

  “Don’t,” he warns but doesn’t pull away.

  I slide my hands to his buckle. “This is, by far, my favorite part.” His zipper moves easily.

  “I can’t do this with you.”

  His words say no. His body tells a different story. I reach in, clutching his hard cock. “Ellie.” His tone is caught between telling me to stop and begging. I go with the latter.

  I wiggle free of my panties, lifting my skirt. “Fuck me, Ian.”

  He lifts me, forcefully sliding into me. I can’t hold back a gasp.

  “I hate what you do to me.” His growl is swallowed in my kiss.

  He thrusts, and the wall shakes, making a picture fall to the floor.

  “I. Don’t. Want. You.” He stops between each word.

  “I don’t want you either,” I rasp.

  His thrust gets harder each time, causing a heck of a noise, but I don’t care. I moan with each move of his hips upward. “Tell me,” he growls again.

  “I…I…” I let go when I feel his ass tighten, and he begins to throb.

  His heart beats against mine as his chest heaves. “Tell me, Ellie.”

  I slide down his body. “I have to go,” I say softly.

  He startles me when his fist hits the wall. “Goddamn it, Ellie. Why do I give in to you so easily? I have no fucking willpower when it comes to you.” He yanks up his jeans, turns in a circle, and runs a hand through his messy hair. Hair I only seconds ago had gripped between my fingers.

  His jaw clenches a couple of times while his mismatched eyes are on me. “I’m done! Done! Do you understand me?” If he were a dragon, there’d be fire coming out of his mouth.

  I reach out to touch his arm, and he flinches away. “I’m sorry.”

  “You’re sorry! You can say those words to me, but not that you love me?”

  “But I do!” Tears flood my vision.

  “Then say it or turn around and walk out the door!”

  My body shivers as I move around him, picking up my purse. His head hangs down, and I see a single tear fall on his dirty brown boot. My heart clenches as I open the door, slowly shutting it behind me. I hate myself for what I’ve just done to him. What the hell is wrong with me? “I love you,” I whisper when he can’t hear me.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ian

  “Goddamn, woman!” I fall back on my bed. She’s as stubborn as a mule. What she needs is a good old-fashioned spanking. “Hmmm…that would only succeed in turning her on, and me.” That part’s easy, but getting her to tell me she loves me? Well, s
hit. That woman could make a preacher cuss. I should’ve stayed gone. And to think, she says she’s the broken one when, in fact, it’s me.

  I’ll never forget the first day I laid eyes on her. I knew she was trouble from the get-go. She’d been sittin’ at the cafe talking to Bear, and I was at the counter. She was the prettiest peach I’d ever laid eyes on. I couldn’t take my gaze off her.

  Bear and I became friends that day. We sat and talked about ranching for a good couple of hours. He needed help building a barn on the Calhoun ranch, and I volunteered my services.

  I showed up every day to work on their barn and made sure I got to see Ellie anytime I could. It didn’t take long for us to start stealing away together. The more I got to know her, the more I fell in love. She was sweet yet feisty. I loved her brains as much as her body. And I adored how much she loved her family.

  She’d told me about what happened between Clem and Boone and how hard it had been on her family after Clem left town. She’d even told me how much it changed her. How she looked at love differently. I didn’t let it bother me because I knew I’d get her to fall in love with me.

  I recall the first time I told her I loved her. I didn’t get the reaction I’d expected. She slapped me, telling me never to say those words again. She left me with my mouth gaping, standing in the middle of the barn. I didn’t see her for two days, and when I did, boy howdy the fireworks started. She’d gone and colored her hair the prettiest shade of auburn I’d ever seen. Her blond locks were gone. This Ellie was a spitfire. She later told me she did it because she knew how much I loved the color of her hair, so she thought changing it would make me take back the words I’d given her.

  * * *

  “What in Sam Hill have you done?” I asked her when she romped toward me in her short green dress, shit-kicking boots, and cowgirl hat.

  “I got rid of that girl you were so in love with.” She stopped a few feet in front of me with her hands firmly planted on her sexy hips.

  I closed the gap between us, reached up, took her hat off, and tossed it in the hay. “This woman is twice as pretty.”

  “Damn you, Ian. You were supposed to hate it.” She brushed my hand away.

  “You thought dying your hair was going to make me change my mind about how I feel?” I fisted a handful of her locks in my hand. “I love you, Ellie Calhoun.” I leaned close to her hair. “And this color turns me on.”