Chapter Two
Two
“How are you, Leslie?”
Leslie knew the man towering in front of her was every bit of six two, and her five-foot, eight-inch height didn’t reach his chin even in her stilettos. But his height wasn’t what had her heart pounding and pulse racing.
Ten years ago, Sloan Outlaw was considered extremely handsome.
By today’s standards he was that ten times over.
And he wore a suit better than any man she knew.
He’d always been a sharp dresser, even in college, when he’d had the preppy style down to an art form.
Even now his jacket embraced a pair of masculine shoulders while covering the broadness of his chest. Her gaze lowered to the zipper of his pants, and she recalled all the times she would ease it down.
He loved whenever she undressed him, and she had loved it as well.
She had never regretted sharing his bed.
..except for when she thought he’d betrayed her with Sarah.
After Sarah’s drunken boast, Leslie had thought about contacting Sloan to apologize.
Locating him would not have been difficult, since his family’s freight line was a successful one in Alaska.
However, considering how she’d broken things off between them, leaving town without letting him know where she’d gone and then sending him a nasty email, Leslie had figured she was the last person he would want to hear from, even if it was to apologize.
She had looked him up on social media. In addition to being the handsome man he’d always been, Sloan Outlaw was now successful in his own right.
Not only did he work in the day-to-day operations of his family’s multimillion-dollar business, he was involved with several of his own companies, including a foundation he’d established a few years ago.
He gave of his time and money, which meant Sloan was still the generous and caring guy she had known and fallen in love with at nineteen.
Leslie noted that he also gave of his time to the opposite sex.
He’d been captured in a number of photos with beautiful women on his arm while attending several high-profile events.
But he hadn’t married yet. She found it hard to believe that someone hadn’t snatched him up by now.
Just looking into the darkness of his chocolate-colored eyes and seeing those well-defined lips was making it hard to breathe.
He’d had that impact on her from the first.
“I’m fine, Sloan. You look well,” she finally found her voice to say.
She didn’t miss the way his gaze drifted over her. The same way hers had done to him. “And so do you.”
Electricity sizzled through her veins just from hearing the sound of his voice. Now was not the time or the place, but was she really surprised when Sloan had always had this sort of effect on her?
“I’m happy for Tyler and Keosha,” she said, not able to break eye contact with him, although she knew she should.
“Hell, it took them long enough.”
Leslie fought back a smile, because he was right. Tyler and Keosha had been high school sweethearts who’d refused to go to different universities like their parents had suggested. Instead, they had ended up together at University of Alaska at Anchorage.
They’d dated all through college and had been the perfect couple.
After college they had returned to Juneau and worked for their families’ corporations, satisfied to live together.
They saw no rush in getting married, to the dismay of their parents.
Tyler and Keosha always said they loved each other and didn’t need a piece of paper to prove it.
Now they were ready to start a family and felt they should do so as husband and wife.
The couple had refused to give in to the pressures of both sets of parents, who wanted a huge, over-the-top wedding.
The bride and groom had preferred a small wedding.
When the planning of the large wedding was getting on both their nerves, Tyler and Keosha had taken matters into their own hands and eloped to Vegas just days ago.
Those who’d showed up today discovered they would be attending a wedding celebration instead of a ceremony.
“Well, I guess you can say they got married when they felt the time was right. Just look at them now.”
Their gazes traveled across the room to the couple, who were smiling brightly while taking pictures. “They are happy,” Sloan said, returning his gaze to her.
The moment their eyes reconnected, she recalled how it felt being touched by Sloan’s strong hands. Being stroked by them. Caressed in places that could take her breath away.
She felt a tightness in her throat. “Yes, they are,” she agreed. She needed to say what she needed to say before Carmen returned from the dance floor. “I need to talk to you, Sloan.”
She saw his face tighten when he said, “You’re talking to me now.”
She swallowed deeply. They were standing off to the side, where it wasn’t crowded. That afforded them some privacy, at least. “I ran into Sarah three years ago, and she told me the truth.”
“And what truth was that, Leslie?”
She drew in a deep breath, knowing he would not make this easy for her—and frankly, she couldn’t blame him. “The truth that you had not slept with her behind my back.”
“I would have told you that if you’d given me the chance.”
Yes, he would have, but she had left town without letting him know where she was going, and she had forbidden her father from telling him as well.
When she had reached her aunt’s house in DC, the first thing she’d done was send Sloan that email, and it hadn’t been nice.
And then in anger, she had deleted his replies without even reading them as well as blocking his calls.
“I owe you an apology, Sloan.”
“Yes, you do.” The gaze holding hers was hard, unwavering, and she saw the snarl that curled his lip.
“I apologize.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, then he said, “Apology accepted.”
His features were hard and unyielding. The one thing she knew about Sloan was that he didn’t forgive easily.
For him, forgiving did not mean forgetting, excusing or reconnecting.
He was a man who loved deeply and cherished friendships until trust was destroyed.
By not believing in him, she had destroyed his trust in her beyond repair.
“Thank you for accepting my apology.” She felt compelled to say it, although she knew his words had merely been lip service.
“I heard about your father. I offer my condolences. I liked him,” he said, propelling the conversation to another topic.
There was no need to tell him that Lester Cassidy had liked Sloan, too. In fact, when she told her father what happened, he had strongly suggested she hear Sloan’s side of the story. She hadn’t, and now she wished she had taken her father’s advice.
“How is your family?” she asked to change the subject. She had met his father, four brothers and sister when he had invited her to his home for Christmas one year. They had all been nice people, although his father had acted sort of reserved.
“Everyone is fine. Garth and Cash are married, Maverick is still happily single, and Charm is still Charm. Jess is a United States senator.”
“I know, I voted for him.”
He lifted a brow. “You’ve been back in Alaska for a while?”
“Yes. I moved back to Wasilla two years ago to help Dad run the company.”
He nodded and glanced at his watch before looking back at her. “It was good seeing you again, Leslie. I need to let Redford, Tyler and Keosha know I’m leaving. I’m flying to the lower forty-eight in the morning for Thanksgiving.”
She noted he didn’t tell her which state. It wasn’t any of her business. “It was good seeing you again, too, Sloan.”
She watched him walk over to where Redford St. James was talking to a group of guys. She was glad she’d gotten the chance to apologize to Sloan. Although that meant closure, it also meant accepting that some things were never meant to be.
“What’s wrong with you, Sloan?”
Sloan glanced up at his brother Garth, the oldest of his siblings. He and his family had returned to the office today after spending Thanksgiving at his brother Cash’s ranch in Wyoming. This year they were joined by their cousins, the Westmorelands.
“What makes you think something is wrong with me?”
Garth leaned back in his chair and smiled. “The meeting ended a few minutes ago. Everyone has left the conference room, but you’re still sitting here.”
Sloan glanced around the room. Yes, he was. He then glanced back at Garth, gave him a cocky grin and said, “So are you.”
“Only because I figured you might want to talk.”
Sloan lifted a brow. “About what?”
“Anything. I noticed you weren’t your usual chipper self over Thanksgiving, either. Is everything going okay with your new position within the company?”
Cash’s marriage to Brianna had caused a shifting of job duties at the family’s multimillion-dollar company, Outlaw Freight Lines, which was located here in Fairbanks.
To accommodate Cash’s permanent move to Black Crow, Wyoming, they had established a satellite office of Outlaw Freight Lines on Cash’s ranch.
Cash now handled the company’s expansion into various other states in the lower forty-eight.
Sloan, who had been in charge of international sales and marketing, had replaced Cash in the office to assist Garth in the day-to-day running of the operation.
His youngest brother, Maverick, had been more than happy to take over Sloan’s former position in charge of international sales.
Their brother Jess had been the company’s executive attorney until he’d decided to run for political office two years ago.
Now as Senator Jessup Outlaw, he lived most of the time in the nation’s capital.
Twenty-five-year-old Charm was their only sister.
As far as what Charm’s duties were at the company, the jury was still out on that one.
At the moment they’d given her a job mainly to keep her out of their hair.