A Longtime (and now the boss) Ex-boyfriend (Small Town, Big Sky Romance #3)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

R iley Barlow’s day took a sharp nosedive the moment Lucas Clark, her ex-boyfriend, waltzed through the doors of The Riverside Inn where she worked. He wasn’t just any ex-boyfriend. He was the one she’d been completely, madly, and stupidly in love with. Right up until she realized he’d cheated on her.

Lucas strode across the front room, flaunting his handsomeness as usual. The guy stood 6’3” with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a smile bright enough to give you a tan. He was so handsome that the women in Lark Springs liked to say that it was only fitting there were two copies of him—he had an identical twin brother, Jace. And more than one woman had said it was an oversight on the Lord’s part for not making them triplets.

The man making his way to the desk where she sat was definitely Lucas. Riley could tell because Jace wore glasses and Lucas didn’t and also because of the swagger in his walk. Jace seemed half unaware of how attractive he was. Lucas knew it through and through.

He wasn’t in his police uniform, so he probably wasn’t here on official business. Perhaps he knew one of the guests. Just her luck.

Most ex-boyfriends would avoid the woman they cheated on or at least manage to look abashed when they saw her, but Lucas never did. He still refused to even admit he’d cheated despite the evidence to the contrary. Riley had been the one who’d avoided him for the last six months. No easy feat in a city so small that downtown consisted mostly of two streets.

“Hey, Riley,” he said. “How’s it going?”

“Fine.” She was only half-gritting her teeth when she said it. “What brings you here?”

He shrugged. “I was thinking of going out on the river and came to see about your boat rental rates. What are they?”

Not likely. It was October thirteenth in Montana, too cold to go out on the river. Also, the locals generally went to Jimmy’s, the rental store in town, because it had a bigger variety. The Riverside Inn just stocked a few types for its guests. And besides, Lucas didn’t need a boat.

Riley smiled back pleasantly anyway. “That depends on the type you want. Were you looking to go kayaking, do some fishing, or do you want a motorboat?”

His gaze flicked around the lobby, taking in the empty sitting room to his left and the entryway to the dining room on his right as though looking for a boat selection inside the inn. “I haven’t decided. What do you suggest?”

“Hmmm,” she said, considering the question, “I suggest you think of a better cover story. It’s been a while since we’ve dated, but I still remember that your parents own a boat you can use whenever you want to go out on the river. What really brings you here?”

Instead of being embarrassed that she called him out, Lucas had the nerve to grin. “For all you know, my parents sold it. Unless, that is, you’re keeping up with my family’s doings. Do you still have an interest in what happens in my life?”

She wasn’t going to dignify that with a response. “I’m hoping you’re here for something intriguing like an undercover murder investigation.”

He cocked his head. “Anyone in particular you’re hoping is dead—well, besides an ex-boyfriend or two?”

“That depends. Is my boss within earshot?”

Lucas glanced around the room. “Nope. Mr. Ross is nowhere in sight.”

“In that case, I would say it’s been way too long since he gave me a day off, but if someone actually offed him, I don’t want to become a suspect.”

Lucas smiled, eyes crinkling at the sides. For a moment, the expression reminded her of the old times. Best not to think about those.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” he said. “My last police investigation involved a missing dog. Lark Springs just isn’t that intriguing.”

And that was the way she liked it. “Okay, so why did you really come?”

He hesitated. “I told you, I’m thinking of renting one of your boats.”

She nodded and steepled her hands together. “And you trust me to give you one that won’t sink while you’re in it? Your faith is touching although sadly misplaced.”

His grin was back. “Good point. Maybe you’d better come with me so I can be sure of getting a safe one.”

Was he asking her out? He couldn’t be. He was just teasing her because he knew she wanted nothing to do with him. “Sorry. As I said, I don’t have any days off.”

It was nearly the truth. Mr. Ross, the inn’s owner, knew Riley planned to buy the place when he retired next year, so he didn’t feel it was unreasonable to make her work long hours, six days a week, through the busy season instead of hiring an extra employee he’d have to let go come winter.

He said working overtime built character, and one had to make sacrifices when one was a business owner. Usually, she didn’t complain about the hours because she needed to earn every dollar she could for the down payment. She’d inherited her grandmother’s home in Bozeman last year and was renting it until Mr. Ross retired. She’d sell it then, but even with that amount, she’d still have to get a huge bank loan.

Lucas shrugged again. “We could go after you get off work.”

“I’ll have to pass on that. I already checked off Boating in the cold, dark of night with my ex from my bucket list.”

Lucas sighed and leaned closer. “Look Riley, as much as I enjoy trading barbs with you—or at least receiving all of yours—it’s been six months. Don’t you think it’s time we make amends? Or if not amends, can we be friends? Something?” He lifted his hands in a supplicating gesture. “I’m sorry about everything, and I want things to be better between us. What do I have to do?”

The answer to that, unfortunately, was to time travel and make different choices—to be the sort of boyfriend who’d been faithful.

And then, even though she hated thinking about that time, it all came back in a rush.

When Riley moved to Lark Springs at the end of her sophomore year of high school, she’d had a crush on Lucas from the first time she laid eyes on him. A large percentage of the girls at Lark Springs High were either Team Lucas or Team Jace in their crushes. Jace was the quieter, more studious one, and Lucas was a flirt and an unrepentant prankster.

Riley had loved Lucas for his confidence and humor, for the way he refused to be too serious in class and made everything more fun.

He never noticed her. Not really. He was a year older and constantly surrounded by adoring girls.

Two months before he graduated, he started dating Winter Harris—homecoming queen, beauty pageant winner, and the undisputed prima donna of the senior class. She went off to college and bigger and better beauty pageants, and he joined the police force and stayed in Lark Springs, but the two still had a long-distance relationship. Then after three years of college, Winter dumped Lucas for the son of some rich tech oligarch.

Riley may have secretly rejoiced when she heard the news.

It wasn’t long afterward—and therefore fate—that Lucas pulled Riley over for going ten miles over the speed limit in a school zone.

“No junior high kids are around,” she said when he came to her window to chastise her. “I would’ve seen them and stopped.”

He glanced at her over his sunglasses, unimpressed. “The speed limit still applies.”

“It’s the middle of the day,” she pointed out. “All the children are safely tucked behind their desks. I couldn’t hit one if I tried.”

He wrote something on his pad. “This isn’t the debate team, Riley. You don’t get a rebuttal.”

She was surprised he remembered that she was on the debate team. “Okay, debating was never your thing. How about I challenge you to a game of racquetball? Winner gets out of paying the ticket.” She played racquetball once a week. She could beat him.

He tapped his pen against the pad, and she thought he was about to lecture her for trying to weasel out of the fine, but his all too familiar smirk appeared. “Make it basketball and you have a deal.”

“Basketball? You were all-state in basketball.”

“I might let you win. You never know.”

“I went to every game. You never let anyone win.”

“Every game?” He nodded appreciatively. “I might give you a couple of points for being such a dedicated fan.”

She coughed. Lucas’s ego hadn’t changed since high school. “I wasn’t a fan . I had to go because I was a cheerleader.” She put her hand to her heart. “I’m wounded that you don’t remember the sacrifices I made to cheer you on. You can make it up to me by ripping up that ticket.”

His eyebrows drew together. “Wait, were you actually a cheerleader?”

Good. He didn’t remember that no, she hadn’t been. She’d been on the pom team. She’d still been at the games, still done all the hard choreography, but without the glamor of a cheerleading title.

“The fact that you don’t remember is only making this worse. I stayed up late baking cookies for the team. Now in order to make it up to me, you’d better take me out to dinner as well.” She batted her eyelashes at him.

His grin grew. “Fine. We’ll play to see who pays the ticket, then I’ll take you out to dinner to apologize for never giving you the attention you deserved.”

“Finally,” she said. “I can rest assured that learning how to do the splits wasn’t in vain.”

That basketball game, it turned out, was a memorable one. Neither of them played by the rules. At one point, she swiped the ball from him, and he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Another time, he backed her up against the basketball pole in an attempt to take the ball from her.

“Are we out of bounds?” she asked.

“Probably.” He leaned down and kissed her.

It was magical. It was all of her high school wishes coming true.

Those sorts of memories would only make her weepy and sullen. They reminded her of all that could’ve been but wasn’t. It was better to concentrate on the other memories.

After Riley and Lucas had been together for five months, Winter moved back to Lark Springs, boyfriendless once again. She kept calling Lucas. When Riley complained about that, he swore he didn’t have feelings for her anymore. He said they were still friends, though, and she was going through a hard time. She needed her old friends.

Lucas had done a good job of making his attention to Winter look justified and Riley’s worries seem ungrounded.

One night, he’d told her he was playing basketball with some guys from work. She’d believed him. He played basketball with them often enough, but she’d accidentally left her phone in his car. When she tracked it, she saw Lucas’s car was parked at Winter’s house. If he’d lied about playing basketball, what else was he lying about?

In what was perhaps the worst moment of her life, she drove to Winter’s house and retrieved her phone from his car. She hadn’t planned on peering into Winter’s living room like some sort of stalker, but the curtains weren’t drawn. How could she not look? Lucas was there, sitting knee to knee with Winter, deep in a conversation.

While Riley watched, Lucas put his arm around her shoulder and Winter leaned her head against his chest. His head tilted down so that his chin rested on her hair. It was such an intimate pose, filled with all sorts of familiarity. Not a we’re-just-friends pose.

Riley took a picture of them, but even then, she hoped she was wrong. She hoped that Jace had driven here in Lucas’s car, taken off his glasses, and he was the one she was seeing. She wanted there to be an explanation.

Riley called Lucas’s phone and watched him pick up.

“How’s the game?” she asked, trying not to let her voice shake.

“Pretty good,” he said. “But I have to get back to it. I’ll call you later, okay?”

Perhaps she should’ve confronted him right then. She couldn’t speak, though. She thought of all the times he’d been busy lately, the times he’d been hanging out with the guys, and everything inside her shattered.

Riley had clearly only ever been a rebound, and all Winter had to do to take Lucas away was pop back up and reclaim her position.

Riley hung up the phone, spun on her heel, and stormed back to her car. When she arrived home, broken and crying, she sent him the picture. Just like the saying, it was worth a thousand words. She wrote, “I’m done being lied to.” and blocked him.

The best and worst part of the breakup was that Lucas and Winter never officially got back together. Winter had come back to town only long enough to ruin Riley’s relationship with Lucas, and then she flitted off to Europe to go to school there while she looked for the next rich guy’s son.

But Riley couldn’t trust Lucas again.

Riley’s mother hadn’t done much for her, but she’d given her good advice on men: Never take back a liar or a cheater. There’ll always be a repeat performance.

She smoothed her hands across the desk. “It’s nice that you want to be friends. I mean, you certainly have a track record of attentive friendship with your exes, but I don’t think I could do that to your current girlfriend.”

Lucas pressed his lips together, clearly trying for inward patience. “I don’t have a current girlfriend.”

“Oh, see, I’m not as up to date with your doings as I should be. Next, your parents will sell their boat, and I won’t even know.”

He sighed and folded his arms. “Riley, you know that your best friend and my brother are serious, right?” The twins’ older brother Carson had been dating Riley’s former roommate, Olivia, since the beginning of the summer. “If you don’t want to make amends for our sake, how about making them for Olivia and Carson? Otherwise, things are going to be awkward at their wedding.”

Granted, Olivia had moved to Denver in September to be near Carson, but she hadn’t said anything about an engagement. She’d never mentioned Carson dropping hints or asking about her ring preferences. “I’ll worry about that when it happens,” she said.

Lucas looked off to the side, thinking. She remembered that look from when they’d dated. He knew more and was debating whether to say it.

Riley straightened. “Wait, do you have insider knowledge about a proposal?”

“I never said that. I absolutely didn’t say that.”

Why else was he bringing it up? “Did Carson say something to you about proposing?”

Lucas didn’t reply right away. She waited.

“I’m his brother,” Lucas said at last. “Of course we’ve talked about marriage in nonspecific ways that you shouldn’t say anything to Olivia about.”

That answer spoke volumes. Riley put her hand to her lips in excitement. “Really? Has he picked out a ring? I mean, a guy should look at a woman’s Pinterest board before dropping a lot of money on a diamond. Just saying.”

“What’s a Pinterest board?”

“Maybe have Carson call me.”

Lucas hesitated. “I’ll pass that on.”

Whatever Carson bought, it would be expensive. He was an offensive lineman for the Broncos and could afford some serious bling. “So when is he asking her?”

Lucas lifted his hands, palms facing her. “I’m not making any announcements. I just wanted to point out that when something does happen in the non-specified future, we’re going to be thrown together a lot. It would be nice if you weren’t constantly glaring at me.”

“Pretty soon, then,” she said.

“Is that a yes, you’ll play nice and won’t add any unnecessary drama to their wedding?”

Riley let out an offended cough. “I would never add any unnecessary drama to Olivia’s wedding.” And because she could never resist an easy punchline, she added, “Just the necessary kind.” She snapped her fingers, brainstorming. “I could tell everyone that your car is actually Carson’s so they’ll paint it with wedding messages.”

Lucas snorted. “Good luck selling that story. Everyone knows Carson can afford a better ride than a five-year-old Honda.”

“Fair point,” she said. “Challenge accepted.”

He didn’t laugh. Instead, he fixed her with a frustrated stare.

“I’m just joking.” She held up her hand as though making a pledge. “Should nuptials take place, I will be perfectly civil at all times. I won’t even give an exposé of your faults during the toast.”

“Thanks.” He pressed his lips together again. He had more to say but was thinking better of it. Finally, he nodded a farewell to her. “I’ll see you around.”

After he left, Riley sagged into the chair behind the desk. She was happy for Olivia. She was. But another part of her felt the bitter irony of it. She’d dated a Clark brother first. She’d met Lucas’s family, gone over for Sunday dinner with his parents, and considered what it would be like to tack the name Clark onto her own. She’d pictured a wedding day surrounded by the Clarks, all of them looking pleased to add her to their tribe.

Now Olivia was going to be part of that family. She was going to have the wedding.

Lucas would be there with some beautiful woman on his arm, and Riley didn’t want to have to smile through the day, pretending it wasn’t painful to see him with someone else.

One thought kept going through her mind: I can’t go to that wedding alone .

She’d have to find some hot, successful man to be her date.