“I’m not so sure. Not this time.”
I wouldn’t argue with Grandma, but her soft spot for Gemma had made her blind. There was nothing for Gemma to do here. She wasn’t cut out for ranch work. She’d be bored working for Kat in one of the trivial jobs at the lodge. And where was she going to live? Cash and Kat’s guest bedroom?
She’d stay and this vacation of hers would run its course, then she’d be gone.
I just had to wait it out. Stay away from Gemma so that the second time around, I didn’t fall into her trap.
And make the same mistake twice.
Chapter Six
Gemma
“Knock. Knock.” I inched Katherine’s office door open and peeked inside.
“Hey.” She waved me in. “What’s up?”
“I need to ask you a question and I need the answer to be yes.”
“Okay,” she drawled. “Should I be nervous?”
“Probably.” I plopped down in a chair across from her desk.
Katherine’s hair was pulled into a ponytail and she was wearing a long-sleeved zip-up with the resort’s name embroidered on the chest. She looked comfortable yet authoritative.
I had the comfort with my jeans and black sweater, but I lacked authority.
I missed authority.
“I’m bored,” I admitted. “Like, going-out-of-my-mind bored. Can I have a job? Please?”
It had been three days since I’d gone on my ride with Easton, and I’d spent those days largely in my room. It was easier to avoid him while locked inside. I’d passed the days by reading and pestering Benjamin. After my seventh call in seventy-two hours, he’d threatened to block my number. There were zero emails in my inbox and I’d poured over my financial statements with more attention to detail than I had in the past five years—total.
My life had gone from ninety miles per hour to a standstill gridlock. This morning, I’d admitted defeat.
Vacation pace was highly overrated and simply not for me.
I needed to work.
Katherine blinked. “A job?”
“Dusting. Cooking. Scrubbing toilets. I’ll do anything. But I don’t want to leave yet and if I spend another day in my room reading, I might die.”
“But you’re on vacation.”
I grimaced. “I hate that word.”
“Why not do the four-wheeler excursion? Or hike? Or go for another ride?”
“Thanks, but no, thanks,” I muttered.
It was too risky outside. It was much safer indoors where Easton avoided me and I had more places to hide.
“You don’t have to pay me,” I said. “Just give me something to do so I don’t sit around and dwell on the fact that last month, my life had purpose. And now the only thing I have in my future is a long trip to California in someone else’s car. Please. Pleasepleaseplease. Give me toilet bowl duty.”
Katherine giggled. “You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
She picked up the headset to her desk phone and dialed a number. “Hey, Annabeth, it’s Kat.”
Kat. I was still getting used to her nickname. To me, she’d always be Katherine.
“I have someone here who’ll be working temporarily for the resort. Would you mind if I send her your way?” She paused, the smile growing on her face. “Great. Thanks. She’ll be right over.”
“Thank you,” I said as she put the headset into its cradle.
“You’re welcome. Annabeth is in charge of the staffers. She coordinates the housekeeping, food service and front desk crews.” She pointed to a wall of bookshelves. “Her office is two doors down. She’ll get you through the HR paperwork and find something for you.”
“I mean it. Don’t pay me.” It wasn’t like I needed the money, something Katherine had learned over a dinner. The two of us had spent every night in the dining room, eating decadent meals and consuming an exorbitant amount of wine.
This week, we’d pulled on our old friendship and I hadn’t been surprised when it had fit like my favorite sweater. I’d forgotten how easy it was to talk to Katherine. How comfortable and effortlessly the conversation flowed. We’d talked about everything, from her time with the Greers to my experiences in Boston.
The only time I’d dodged a topic had been when Easton’s name was dropped.
That man . . . grr. I wanted to strangle him and kiss him and kick him and lick him all in the same moment.
Katherine had asked me how the ride had gone and I’d lied through my teeth. It hadn’t been horrible. Riding Sprite had actually been fun, but with Easton there, infuriating me with every word muttered from that delicious mouth, it had been nearly impossible to enjoy myself.
Easton was loyal and proud. He was punishing me for screwing up years ago, with him and with Katherine. It would be a lot easier to dislike him if he didn’t have grounds for his attitude.
It would be a lot easier to hate him if he wasn’t so damn attractive.
The way that man looked on the horse, his eyes hooded by the brim of his hat, was grossly unfair. No one in Boston would believe that Gemma Lane, always composed and sophisticated, would be lusting after a rugged cowboy with dirt on his jeans and a smudge on his cheek.
Until they saw him, then no one would fault me.
“Dinner tonight?” I asked Katherine. If she said no, I’d probably drive into town and get a little space from the ranch. It was much too easy to think of Easton when I was here. Especially in my room, sitting on the bed. Or when I was in the shower. Or when I was breathing.
“Yes, but I was hoping you’d be up for a change of scenery. Friday nights we always eat dinner at Jake and Carol’s. It’s a family tradition.”
“Oh, then that’s okay.” I wasn’t part of the family and there was one family member in particular I was hoping to avoid until Montana was a smudge in the Cadillac’s rearview mirror. “You go. I was thinking about driving into town anyway to see what’s changed.”
The Greer Ranch was located ten miles outside the small town of Clear River. From what I remembered, there wasn’t much more than a gas station, post office, café and a bar in town, but it was better than nothing.
“Not happening, sweetheart.” My head whipped around to the voice behind me as Carol marched into Katherine’s office. Her white hair hung loose today, draped over her shoulders. “You’re coming to dinner.”
“But—”
She held up a hand. “Think of it as a peace offering.”
“A peace offering? For what?”
“For the little arrangement you two girls made behind my back.” Carol aimed her finger at Katherine. “Don’t think I didn’t notice Gemma’s credit card on her room.”
“Oh. That,” I muttered.
“I told you that you weren’t paying, but if it means that much to you, then I’ll let it slide. But you’re coming to dinner. We eat at six o’clock. Be early. You two can ride together since you haven’t been to our new place.”
“Sounds good.” Katherine didn’t bother arguing. It would be pointless.
“I’m going to go.” I stood from the chair, gave Katherine a wide-eyed look, then scurried from her office before Carol could rope me into any other family functions.
Two doors down, I knocked on the half-open door and met my new boss, Annabeth, who I liked immediately. She was in her mid-fifties with warm eyes and a cute blond bob. We chatted briefly about my work history and situation here—the way I was leveraging my friendship with Katherine to score a job to keep me occupied—and she promised to be gentle with me since I hadn’t had a boss in over seven years.
Annabeth hired me as an unpaid intern. I’d never been an intern before or unpaid, but when she took me to the front desk and explained my new duties, I’d accepted them with a genuine smile.
The resort hadn’t had a receptionist in three weeks, not since the previous one had moved to Texas. It was the reason Carol had greeted me when I’d arrived earlier this week. So here I was, ready to greet anyone who walked through the front door.
<
br /> There wasn’t much walk-in traffic at a five-star mountain resort that filled its rooms with long-term, advance reservations. But when guests did come through the lobby, it was nice to have someone there to greet them—besides Clive the elk.
After signing a handful of employment papers and a brief tutorial on the computer system, Annabeth left me on my own, promising I’d be bored in minutes.
She wasn’t wrong.
But being bored at the front desk was better than being bored in my room.
I spent a couple hours getting familiar with the computer system, poking around the events calendar and reservation software, both of which were relatively intuitive. Carol brought me a ham sandwich from the kitchen at noon—my agreed-upon salary with Annabeth—and ate with me at the desk.
We talked about Jake and the ranch and how she wished Cash would open his damn eyes.
She didn’t elaborate on that one. Not that she needed to.
After lunch, she went back to work doing whatever it was Carol did and I manned my station at the desk. Few guests entered the lobby and when they did, I waved and inquired about their day. I played solitaire, partaking in the occasional staring contest with Clive—he won two out of three—until the clock neared five, my shift was over, and it was time to head to my room to freshen up before dinner.
I’d just closed down the computer when footsteps sounded beyond the door, lifting my spirits at the anticipation of another rare guest interaction. I squared my shoulders and readied my smile, but when the door opened, my expression dropped. “Oh, it’s you.”
Easton narrowed his eyes as he walked into the lobby. “What are you doing?”
“Working.”
His jaw ticked. “What?”
“I’m working. Katherine hired me this morning.”
“Like hell she did.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m here, Easton. Deal with it.”
He gave me his famous silent, brooding stare.
“I’m not leaving.” Yet.
“Because you have nowhere else to go, so you’ll just leach off us here until you’re ready.”
“I’m not leaching.” What a jerk. “But no, I don’t have anywhere else to go at the moment, so it looks like you’re stuck with me.”
He arched an eyebrow and headed straight for the stairs. Conversation over. I’d been dismissed.
I didn’t let myself watch him walk away.
Grr. No one had ever climbed under my skin as quickly as Easton. One of these days, I was going to do something to shock that hard, unwavering scowl off his handsome face.
I’d once been so desperate for eye contact from that man. I’d been the nineteen-year-old girl trying not to be affected when he walked into the room. The one trying not to look at him because it stung deep when he’d never looked back. Easton had always had better things to do than bother with me.
Not much had changed.
Except me.
I no longer had anything to prove. I’d shown the world I was more than where I’d come from. I’d made my mark, my fortune and fame.
And I’d learned the hard way it was just as hollow as the home where I’d been born.
This journey was about searching for a real life. The life money couldn’t buy.
I wanted the things I’d never had.
Family. Love. Peace.
Chasing down riches was easy. I could do that—I had done that.
There was no easy way to find the safety and security that came with love and family. People were either born with it, or they weren’t. For those of us who weren’t, letting others in meant exposing your weaknesses. It meant trusting others not to break your heart.
The concept was easy enough to grasp. Dr. Brewer and I had talked for years about my talent for maintaining emotional distance from others, even my friends. The problem was me. The solution was me too.
But letting someone share your life . . . they could turn it all upside down.
Because trust was something often betrayed, and innocence could be taken when the person you trusted didn’t protect you.
Like a mother.
A mother who allowed a man to drag her fifteen-year-old daughter out of her bedroom simply because the guy wanted an audience while he got a blow job.
The chains wrapped around my heart were courtesy of her betrayals.
I blinked the memory away, refusing to think of my mother’s face. It greeted me in the mirror each morning, and that was bad enough without letting myself revisit the past.
Hurrying upstairs to my room, I refreshed my makeup and brushed my hair. I touched up my lip gloss—three times—and changed my clothes twice. It was the fact that Easton would be at dinner that had me pacing my room, waiting for Katherine’s knock. It came at precisely fifteen minutes to six.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Sure,” I lied. I’d tamed cutthroat attorneys and ruthless fashion designers, so why was I so nervous about a family dinner?
“Easton just stopped by,” she said as we walked down the hallway. “He told me to fire you.”
“Stubborn ass,” I muttered.
“Don’t worry. I told him to mind his own side of the business.”
I frowned and followed her downstairs, making our way through the rear exit where she’d parked her truck. “So who’s going to be at dinner?”
“The usual suspects. Carol and Jake. JR and Liddy.”
I nodded, remembering Easton’s parents. “I always liked Liddy.”
“She’s a sweetheart. And then the guys. Just family tonight. That’s the rule.”
The Greers and Katherine. Just family. I was happy that she’d found one. But where did that put me? “Should I be going? I feel like I’m intruding.”
“You’re not. And besides, it’s too late now.” She laughed as she drove. “If you don’t show up with me, Carol will just come and collect you herself.”
We bounced along the gravel road, driving toward the mountains that had greeted me each morning this week. When a house came into view beside a grove of aspen trees, my mouth fell open. “Wow.”
“Pretty, right? Carol wanted to coordinate the house with the lodge, so they went with the same look.”
The dark wooden siding along with the stonework out front was rustic yet classy. The house was warm and inviting but too big to be considered cozy. It was the castle for a Montana working couple who’d earned their retirement.
A line of dirty vehicles crowded the long gravel driveway, and before we were even parked, the front door opened. Carol’s white hair caught the fading sunset’s light, tinting the soft strands pink.
“I only have five bottles of wine,” she said, waving us inside. “Save two for the rest of us, will you?”
Katherine and I both laughed as we stepped across the threshold. Then we were mobbed.
“Welcome back.” Jake hugged me first, then pulled Katherine into his side, pinning her there.
Next came JR who clapped me on the back. “I’m Jake Junior. Or JR. Not sure if you remember me or not.”
I smiled. “Of course, I do.”
“Heard you’re our newest employee.”
“That’s right,” I said. Easton was standing in the living room, close enough to overhear. I shot him a smug grin. “Today was the first day of many.”
He scowled and took a long drink from the beer bottle in his grip.
“Hi, Gemma.” Liddy took her husband’s place for a hug. “It’s so nice seeing you again. Welcome back.”
“Thank you for having me.”
“Hey, again.” Cash extended a hand from where he stood beside his mother.
“Hi, Cash.” I shook his hand, taking in the similarities of the Greer men now that they were in the same room.
Easton had inherited his father’s and grandfather’s black-coffee eyes, while Cash had gotten Liddy’s hazel irises. But that seemed to be the only thing she’d passed to her sons. Otherwise, with their strong jaws and dark hair, Easton and Cash were yo
unger versions of Jake and JR.
“Come on in and sit.” Carol escorted us all to the long dining room off the kitchen.
Above the table, a bright glass chandelier illuminated the room. The table was a deep stained walnut, the top satiny smooth and each place set with a glossy cream plate.
“Liddy. JR. Cash. Katherine.” Carol pointed to the assigned chairs as she fired names.
I held back a smile that she’d paired Cash and Katherine together. Then my heart dropped. Because there were two seats left beside each other.
One for me.
One for Easton.
Damn it, Carol.
“Wine?” JR offered, lifting a bottle after we’d taken our seats.
“Please.” I held out my glass. And keep it coming.
Easton ripped his chair out, sitting down with a loud huff. The clank of his beer bottle hitting the table sent the message loud and clear. He was pissed I was here, and he was pissed he had to sit beside me.
I gave him a saccharine smile and held out my glass. “Cheers.”
His lip curled.
“Cheers.” Cash chuckled and came to my rescue, extending his beer bottle across the table to clink with mine. Then he tipped his bottle to Katherine’s glass before taking a long pull.
I took a sip of mine as Liddy, seated to my left, held out her hand. She smiled sweetly.
What was she . . . oh. Right. The prayer. The entire table joined hands as Jake Sr. bowed from his seat at the head of the table.
I took Liddy’s hand, then kept my eyes glued to my plate as I lifted my right into the air. It was up to Easton if he was going to touch me or not.
His hesitation was obvious.
The entire table waited. And waited.
Jake cleared his throat, and finally, Easton grabbed my hand, jerking my arm in the process as he lowered his chin.
The smell of his soap wafted to my nose. His face was clean shaven, and he must have showered between the time he’d seen me in the lobby and the time he’d come here because his hair was damp at the ends.
Easton’s grip was rough, his callouses pressing into the tender skin of my palm as Jake prayed. Tingles shot up my arm and that scent of his was dizzying. But I’d held up under more extreme situations than this. I would not let myself drool.
Wild Highway: Runaway Series - Book 2 Page 7
