Miles' Christmas Roundup (Holiday Hunks Book 2)

by Angela Stevens

  Caleb marched past him and down the stairs, but Miles was on his heels. At the bottom of the steps, Caleb pulled out a piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it to Miles. “Like I said, it was meant to be a surprise.”

  Miles read through the paper then looked up at his brother. “What the fuck is this?’

  “It’s what it says at the top. An ad for a job here.”

  “It says it comes with accommodations. Where the hell are we going to put anyone? I’m not losing one of the cabins. We need to increase our capacity, not decrease it.”

  “Seriously? You just helped me put the room over the garage back together.”

  “What, up there? No one would want to stay there.”

  “Yes, they would. It’s warm, cozy, and private. And with the under-counter fridge and the microwave, they can heat stuff up and keep milk or whatever up there. As you can see in the ad, they get most of their meals with us.”

  “No.”

  “Okay, well, I’ll get a two-ring burner and fix up a small countertop in the corner.”

  Miles shoved the paper back in Caleb’s hand. “I mean no to the entire ridiculous idea. We do not need any extra help.” He turned around and headed off to the stable, but Caleb caught up with him.

  “Ah, but we do. Have you updated the website?”

  “No, Cady is doing that for me.”

  “You think she will have time when she starts her new job?”

  Miles stopped. “Cady has a new job? How do you know?”

  “Jules mentioned it.”

  Huh, that was the first Miles heard. “Well, I’ll do it myself if she is too busy.”

  “If we had someone else working with us, we could actually take a day off a week.”

  “Why?”

  “Why? Well, I for one would like to go into town and have fun once in a fucking while. And you should, too. All work and no play makes a dull boy.”

  “I’m perfectly happy as things are.”

  “My case in point, Miles. Stop being stubborn. You know this makes sense.” Caleb held out the paper and pointed to the list of duties. “When do we get time to do half of these things? Not to mention, even if you don’t want a day off, you have to agree that Sarah deserves one.”

  Miles muttered an agreement to that.

  “I took a look at the accounts and we can afford this. It will mean we can take on some of the ideas you want to implement. With this extra help, we can expand.”

  “This is a family business, Caleb.”

  “Yes, and it still will be. Look, at least wait until you meet her.”

  “What? You already posted this?”

  “I already hired someone.”

  “Well, you are just gonna have to un-fucking hire them.”

  “I can’t, they’ll be here first thing tomorrow.”

  Caleb stood his ground and Miles bristled with anger. His damn brother was trying to hog-tie him.

  “Okay, then when they get here, you can turn them the fuck around and send them back where they came from.”

  “If you want to do that, Miles, then you can do it yourself. Now, if we’re finished, I’ve had enough of your fucking grouching. I’m going into town, and I’ll bring the new hired help back with me tomorrow.” Caleb stormed off toward his truck.

  “Caleb!” But Miles knew he could shout until he was blue in the face, Caleb was not going to cave in on this one. “Fine. I’ll drive whoever it is back tomorrow, but you have not heard the last of this. Dad left me in charge and…”

  Caleb stopped short of the truck and his shoulders tensed. He turned slowly. “And you are an obstinate ass, just like he was.” Then he climbed into the truck and drove off down the long driveway.

  Miles' mood for the rest of the night was sour, and to make matters worse, even Cady wasn’t very talkative. They’d barely chatted for ten minutes when she blew him off, saying she had a ton of things to do as she was preparing to start a new job tomorrow. Then she acted damn cagey, not even telling him anything about it. Miles hadn’t been able to get a straight answer out of her, and he wondered if she was avoiding telling him something important—like she was heading back to Seattle.

  Not that the fourteen hundred miles from Fountain, Colorado to Seattle, Washington really made any difference in the grand scheme of things. There was already sixteen hundred miles between them now. The only thing that altered, was the time distance, and that would work against him. No doubt, their evening chats would get curtailed. But he suspected if Cady went back to the city by her family, she might not feel the need to talk to him that much in the future.

  Damn, it had only been a couple of weeks ago that she had returned home and he was already losing her. Come on, you know you’re being unfair. She’s young and single, why should she be tied to you? Cady never promised you anything, Miles.

  Feeling miserable, he found Juliet’s number and called her. Perhaps his sister could give him some insight into Cady’s sudden secretiveness. “Hey Jules, it’s Miles.” He heard the GPS kick in with a command for a right turn.

  “Hi. How are you, Miles?”

  “Oh, you know me, same old, same old.”

  “Is Mom okay? Did she get her results back yet?”

  “No, Friday, I think. But she’s doing okay. Caleb and I are trying to help her out more so she can get some rest.” Miles immediately felt guilty because Caleb’s harebrained scheme was designed to help Sarah more and relieve some of that stress for all of them, yet Miles quashed it without even considering it. “Jules, did Caleb talk to you about this job he posted?”

  “He ran it by me, yes. It’s a great idea, don’t you think? You have to admit you guys have been stretched since Dad passed away.”

  “Yeah, I suppose, but he could have fucking talked to me about it first. I don’t want a stranger hanging around our property day and night, sharing meals with us, and–”

  “Why don’t you give them a chance, Miles, before you start bellyaching.”

  “Well, I guess I’ll have to. Caleb says they arrive tomorrow, and he fixed up the damn garage room for them.”

  There was another interruption from the GPS and Miles waited for Jules to execute her move before he continued. “Is Cady okay?”

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t she be?”

  “No reason, she’s just been a bit quiet the last few days.”

  “Well, she is starting her new job tomorrow. She’s been busy packing.”

  “Packing?”

  “Oh, shit, Miles, I don’t think this is my place to discuss this with you.”

  “Jules, please.”

  “Just talk to her, Miles.”

  “I-I can’t. I don’t want her to think she has to answer to me for anything. We aren’t—”

  “You aren’t what?”

  “Together.”

  “Have you told Cady that? Because she thinks you are.”

  “Fuck.” That had all come out wrong and he still wasn’t clear where Cady was moving to. “Look, will you just tell me if she is going far?”

  Jules GPS announced that she had arrived at her destination. “Yeah, it’s a long way from Virginia. Look, I really have to go. Talk to her tomorrow, I’m sure she’ll tell you all about it then.”

  Miles ended the call and threw his phone down onto his dresser. What a fucking day! He went to the kitchen and grabbed a beer, took it back to his room, yanked the blanket off his bed, and went out on his deck. Wrapping the quilt around his shoulders, he sat in the Adirondack chair and rested his feet on the rail. Then, taking a swig of beer, he watched the satellites moving across the sky. The snow still covered the ground, muffling the sound, and he basked in the silence.

  Had he made the right decision letting Cady go? Not that he had any fucking choice. Four days was too short a time to turn your world upside fucking down. There was nothing to keep her here and way too many things to tear her away from him.

  18

  Cady

  Fountain January 16th


  Cady could barely keep still on the plane ride to Colorado. She had been going over every possible scenario in her head, and she still couldn’t decide whether she was doing the right thing. In the end, Jules had talked sense into her.

  What did she have to lose? No one ever knew if a job or a relationship was going to work out, there were no guarantees in life. Sometimes you just had to listen to your gut and go for it. And if there was one thing she did know, her gut was all for this crazy idea.

  The hardest part was not telling Miles anything about what she was doing. In hindsight, she really wished she hadn’t let Caleb talk her into keeping this secret, but that said, it took one of the complications out of the equation. Cady was pretty damn sure Miles would have made her analyze her choice and evaluate the situation. But that was the last thing she wanted to do.

  Deep down, she wanted to do this—not because it looked sound on a carefully crafted list of pros and cons, but because even after the impossibly short time she had spent with Miles, she knew they were good for each other. She loved him, and in her heart, she knew he loved her, too—the rest was details they could somehow work out later.

  When she arrived at Denver airport, Cady nervously collected her four suitcases together. The excess luggage fee had cost her almost as much as another plane ticket, but her whole life was packed into those four suitcases, and she didn’t plan on ever going back to Virginia—even if stuff didn’t work out in Colorado, she’d decided her life there was over.

  She piled the cases onto a trolley and headed to the exit. Chewing on her bottom lip, she waited on the sidewalk, her eyes peeled for Caleb’s truck. Every time a black RAM rounded the corner, the butterflies in her stomach surged. The text from Caleb, still waiting on her phone when she landed, had said he had a run-in with his brother. Somehow, Miles found out about the job position and they’d argued. But Caleb hadn’t said if Miles knew it was Cady that was coming.

  Another dark truck appeared and her heart leaped into her mouth when she recognized Caleb in the driver’s seat. Then relief flooded through her when she realized he was alone.

  Caleb jumped down from the cab and crushed her against him. “I was so nervous in case you changed your mind.”

  Cady blushed, because for the last ten minutes, she was thinking a similar thing. What if Caleb didn’t show up and she’d come all this way to find he’d changed his mind, too?

  “Let me put your stuff in the back. Is this everything?”

  “Yes, that’s it.” She clambered into the cab and waited for Caleb to climb in next to her.

  “Does Miles know about me coming?”

  Caleb glanced over at her as he negotiated the access roads around the airport. “No. I got this close to telling him last night because he was in such a foul mood.” He held his hand out, his thumb and forefinger hovering a hair’s breadth away from each other. “But we've come this far, so I reckon it will be worth it when he sees you.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “I am. I’ve never seen my brother so into anyone before. This is real for him, Cady.”

  She found it hard to keep up the conversation when her stomach was turning over and her throat felt like it would close up at any moment, but Caleb didn’t seem to mind driving the whole hour and forty minutes in silence. When he pulled up in front of the farmhouse, he yanked on the parking brake and looked across at her.

  “You okay?”

  “Nervous.”

  “Don’t be. Miles is going to be ecstatic when he sees you. Just give me a few minutes to find him. Wait here.”

  He disappeared into the house and reappeared a few minutes later. Coming over to the passenger window, he said, “Sarah says he is in the stable, come on.”

  With her knees shaking and her hands sweating, despite the frigid temperatures, Cady followed Caleb to the barn. At the doors, he put his hand up. “Wait here a minute.”

  She watched him walk down the entire length of the barn and realized that Miles must be in Miss Molly and Good Golly’s stall. She saw Caleb lean against the stable door, but couldn’t see Miles from her vantage point. The seconds ticked along at a snail’s pace, and with each added moment of delay, her heart pounded against her chest, and her emotions ratcheted up.

  Then Caleb moved away from the stall, his hands up as if in surrender. He turned to face her, and grim-faced, he beckoned her forward. The walk down the length of the barn could have only been fifty yards, but it felt like a mile. It might have been her imagination, but each footstep seemed to echo around her like the tolling of a bell.

  “Be nice,” Caleb warned his brother as he pulled open the stall door.

  She stepped around it and caught sight of Miles squatting on the floor, a chunk of carrot in his hand as he fed Good Golly.

  Cady was vaguely aware of Caleb leaving, but she kept her eyes fixed on Miles’ back as she cleared her throat.

  He stood up at the sound. “My brother informs me you are our new…” He turned and his voice trailed off as he saw her. “Cady?”

  She nodded, not daring to speak, not knowing what to say.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I-I came to start work.”

  Miles frown disappeared and as the realization dawned on his face, he swept off his hat.

  He stared at her for a moment, then his gaze rose to someone over her shoulder. Cady glanced back and saw Caleb standing there, a smug expression on his face.

  “Aren’t you going to kiss her?” Caleb winked at Cady as he said it. “Or should I tell her there’s been a mistake and you are not hiring after all?”

  Miles stepped toward her and his confused expression vanished; in its place a large grin formed. “You are staying?”

  Cady took a deep breath hoping there would be enough of this thin Denver air in her lungs to answer. “If you will have me.”

  He swept her into his arms and squeezed what was left of the oxygen out of her chest, and before she had time to refill, he kissed her.

  A snigger from behind reminded both of them they weren’t alone, and they hastily pulled apart.

  “I know I’ll never get an apology out of you for not trusting me, but perhaps a show of gratitude?” Caleb said.

  Miles held Cady against his chest, and with a voice that had grown suddenly gravelly, he said, “Thank you, Caleb.”

  “Well, that’s a first.” Caleb chuckled.

  “So you knew it was Cady taking the job all the time?”

  “Of course. First, I had to convince her to do this because I knew I didn’t have a hope in hell of trying to convince you unless I presented a fait accompli.”

  “I bet you think you’re so clever, huh?”

  Cady held on tightly to Miles, and she took comfort at the equally tight grip he had on her.

  “I outsmarted you.” Caleb was obviously reveling in his victory.

  Miles shook his head, then placed a kiss on Cady’s temple. “Well, if you are so smart, why did you waste all that energy preparing the room over the garage? You have to know there is no way she is staying there.”

  But Caleb’s grin didn’t budge. “Oh, that’s for me. Cady gave me a good idea when she suggested offering it with the position. I got to thinking how it would make a cozy love shack.”

  Miles head went back and he roared with laughter. “A love shack?”

  Caleb shrugged his shoulders. “Well, it cramps my style living with my mother.”

  “Hmm,” Miles scratched at his chin. “Maybe I was a bit hasty, perhaps I should move out there with Cady.”

  Caleb’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, no. I thought of it first. Besides, I’ve almost moved all my stuff in.

  “I’m kidding, Caleb. Cady and I will be fine. My room is downstairs away from the rest of the house. Tell, you what, Cady. There’s another room adjacent to mine that we use for storage. If we cleared out the crap, maybe we could set it up as a sitting room for us?”

  She grinned up at him. “That sounds lovely, but honestl
y, Miles, as long as I am with you, I really don’t care.”

  Miles took her hand. “Well in that case, let’s go ad tell Sarah the good news.”

  Caleb set off in front of them and when he was out of earshot, Cady looked up at Miles. “You are sure about this, aren’t you? I feel like I ambushed you, but Caleb was adamant this would work better as a surprise.”

  “My little brother always did have an air for the dramatic, but as surprises go, this couldn’t have been any sweeter. My only regret is not thinking of this first. I should never have let you go home after Christmas. I should have found the words to ask you to stay.”

  He took hold of her hand and they walked back to the house. “I’m beginning to like the idea of getting someone in to help, though. I can see that having time off once a week might actually be a good idea.”

  Cady placed her hand on his chest. “Well, that is why I am here. With the proper scheduling, everyone will get down time.”

  “Ah yes, but I wanna spend my day off in bed with you. It’ll only be fun if we can be together.”

  “Hmm, with careful scheduling, I think that can be arranged.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah. We can make it work.”

  Miles was quiet for a minute, and he seemed to ponder her answer. “But what happens when you are pregnant?”

  Cady almost choked. “What?”

  “I want kids, Cady, and I hope you do, too.”

  “I-I do.”

  “In that case, we shouldn’t leave it too long, I’m not getting any younger.”

  “Don’t be silly. Men can father a child into their seventies or older.”

  “I don’t want to wait until I’m seventy. I want grandkids by then.”

  “Oh, I see, you have everything planned out?’

  “I do. So, what do you say? You wanna go practice a bit before we set my plan in motion?”

  Reaching up on tiptoe, Cady put her arms around his neck. “I’ll tell you what, how about we do a lot of practicing and then after the vacation season is over, when the winter months keep us inside, we stop practicing and make it real.”