Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Sunny
It’s been two days at my new job, and my boss is a giant headache. “Daddy?—”
“We have weekly meetings. Sometimes, I’ll call in Hennessy. It helps to have real-world insight into what’s really used and how the money is spent. He does some of the ordering, but he’s there for all the using, so I expect you to hear what he has to say. He’s blunt. I’ll give him that.”
While my pulse spikes at Iverson’s last name, I have to focus. “Daddy.”
He continues pacing in front of the massive desk.
The giant oak desk that’ll be demolished with the house in a few centuries because it’s too damn big and heavy to move is not what I want to work behind.
Daddy had it built in this office when I was a kid.
I have foggy memories of the assembly of the desk, the massive bookshelves, and then there’re the custom paintings of the countryside—from an artist Daddy commissioned.
The office is ornately done in a very Old West masculine style. Not my style. Ideas to update and soften the look flow through my head.
“Every month, we meet with the county tourism board,” Daddy continues. “They’ll try to make it sound like they’re helping us, but don’t let them get high and mighty. It’s this ranch that brings in the tourism.”
And the rafting place, the fly fishers, trailer riders. Then there’s skiers, hunters, and people who just want to get outside of the more expensive tourist traps in Montana. Daddy’s talking like I don’t know the area or how the ranch incorporates into the tourism. He’s keeping a few things from me.
“Daddy, what happened to Glen?” The guy who occupied this office before me. Housekeepers and kitchen staff keep walking by, looking in, and once they see me, they tuck their heads down and scurry away. Is it because I’m the boss’s daughter, or am I responsible for Glen’s dismissal?
“He quit.”
How did he quit? Why? I have to know before I can really settle into this office. “Did he get fired?”
Daddy frowns. “No, but he knew this position had a time limit. I was clear with him when he started that you’d be taking over when you were done with school.”
That marginally makes me feel better. I’m thrilled to be home and have more responsibility on the ranch, but I don’t want to start by creating drama with my mere presence.
Drama might be a little of what I need. “If he was good at his job, maybe he should still have it.”
Daddy scoffs, puffing his white mustache up. “Glen started dating the head housekeeper. I think they were sneaking around behind my back because they knew he’d be free and clear soon.”
“They’re both adults.” Both Glen and Inez were in their forties. Old enough to make their own decisions. “You didn’t fire her, did you?”
“You know there’s no fraternization.”
Dammit. “Only nepotism.”
Daddy’s scowl deepens. “A drama-free business is a successful business. I can’t have one section beefing with another because a date went bad.”
He has a point. When I was younger, I overheard plenty of conversations between him and Mom about ranch hands and tour guides. Or ranch hands and housekeepers. Ranch hands and any other position at Hawthorne Guest Ranch.
None about ranch hands and his daughters. Only two people know about that. “You know me. Drama-free.”
He shoots me a dubious look. “You have grown up a bit over the years.”
I spread my hands apart and smile. When you cut a sheltered kid loose in the big, wide world, she gets into a little trouble.
There’s a popular sorority cocktail named after me.
I’m not proud because it’s called Sunny Side Up from the time I was caught skinny-dipping with the rest of my friends in the chancellor’s pool. I designed the drink.
In fact, at most parties, I was the bartender. I took orders and cut students off. I even carded them. I might have gotten slapped with a fine, but I wasn’t about to get in trouble for contributing to a minor or an accident.
I earned more respect from my unofficial bartending than from anything else I’ve done in life, which isn’t much.
I barrel raced in high school, but when your parents sit on all the rodeo boards, it’s hard not to wonder if it’s me, the horse, or the money behind the Hawthorne name that’s really good.
“I’ll send Hennessy in. You should catch up, see how he communicates. It ain’t for everyone.”
Iverson’s way of communicating is most certainly for me. “I’ll be waiting.”
Iverson
I take my hat off when I enter the big house and wipe the dust off the bottom of my boots. The employee entrance is through the side door by the garage. A hallway leads into the kitchen.
Cecil, the chef, tips his head at me, the dark skin around his eyes tightening when he sees my expression. “You aren’t going to the pokey, are you?” He’s joking, but he’s not. I don’t have a fancy culinary degree like him, but he’s still felt the wrath of William Hawthorne when shit goes south.
“Depends. What’s the new girl like?” I’m digging for as much dirt as I can without being suspicious. Any questions from me or any of the guys about Jamison Hawthorne would be noted and reported to the top.
The old accountant, Glen, was nice enough, but he never missed a chance to point out that his rank in the staff of Hawthorne Ranch was higher. Since Sunny is a Hawthorne, she’s in the fucking clouds.
“I worked here before she went to college.” He sidles to the edge of the bench he’s chopping an onion on. “All the girls are a delight. I hope she’s still as precocious as always.” He winks and returns to his station.
She is. But I can’t tell him that.
I walk down another hallway that’s separate from the wing of the lodge where guests can lounge and visit.
A small bar that I’ve never drank at is at the far end.
Upstairs are all the guest rooms and an elevator is hidden behind the main-level bathrooms. The estate is sprawling.
Sunny’s grandma knew what she was doing when she built the big lodge and designed a vacation ranch around a working ranch.
William would lose his shit if he heard us make a distinction, but there is one.
The working ranch is rougher, wilder, and we do things insurance won’t allow with the guests.
Cattle that are part of the guest ranch are kept in the most open pastures with the least amount of terrain change.
There are no cattle drives through a creek wider than a yardstick for them.
My stomach fills with lead the closer I get to Sunny’s office. I push a hand through my hair and dust off my front. A small cloud of dirt puffs off my shirt.
Shit.
William peeks his head out. “I seem to be waiting on you lately.”
I came as soon as he texted. “Sorry, boss.”
He nods, satisfied with my answer.
I follow him into the office. Sunny sits behind the giant damn desk. Only where it swallowed Glen, the monstrosity appears to bow at her boots. She wears another loose yellow sundress with her hair piled on top of her head.
Goddamn, she’s beautiful.
I’ve never seen her before. We’ve never met. I don’t know her. My dick needs to get that message pronto. I tip my head. “Ma’am.”
Her golden eyes narrow. “Mr. Hennessy.”
“Jamison needs to hear it like it is. Treat her like you would Glen.” He claps my back and leans in. “But with a load more respect or else.”
If he only knew I worshipped her body just last night. An uncomfortable pressure builds behind my zipper.
He leaves and clicks the door shut behind him. He never did like just anyone overhearing ranch business.
“Iverson.” Her voice is a purr, caressing right to my cock.
“Jamison.”
Disappointment makes her lower lip pout out. “You can call me Sunny.”
“Beg your pardon, ma’am, but I can’t.”
A frustrated sound leaves her. “If you call me ma’am again, I’m going to tie your dick in knots.”
I meet her gaze. Promise?
As if I said the word out loud, a flush creeps up her neck.
“You’re blushing, sunny day. Is that what I missed in the dark?” My damn mouth. I came here to talk to the boss’s daughter. Not flirt with my hookup from last night. She’s supposed to be nothing but a searing-hot memory. “Fuck. Forget I said that.”
“Why? It’s true.”
“Jesus, Sunny—Jamison.”
Her sigh resonates loudly between us. “I didn’t realize you worked for Daddy.”
“I sure as hell didn’t think you were a Hawthorne. What’d you mean that you were maybe passing through?”
She smooths a hand over her skirt. “I love this place, Iverson.”
The way she says my name in the light of day, with all the familiarity of lovers, caresses my eardrums. I’d love nothing more than to hear it every day. But that isn’t going to happen. She’s off-limits as the moon.
“I love the ranch,” she continues. “This job? I can’t believe I can walk right into it. It doesn’t feel right. But…I’m working for my dad.” She taps her fingers on the edge of the desk. “What have you heard about me?”
She still hasn’t answered my initial question, but I’ll play along. “Not enough, or I wouldn’t have touched you.”
She points at me, her eyes narrowed. “Exactly.” She rises and her dress swirls around her hips.
I drink her in. She’s not mine, but dammit, she’s a sexy woman.
“That’s just it. My parents micromanaged us.
Me and my sisters have all the freedom in the world, but we have none.
I barrel raced in high school. Want to know why?
” She doesn’t wait for my response but throws a hand in the air.
“Because I was told to. I went to school for accounting. Want to know why?”
It doesn’t take a genius to see where she’s going. “You were told to.”
“Bingo! I got a master’s degree in business administration.
Do you think I was asked if I even wanted to?
” Again, she doesn’t wait for me but starts pacing in front of me, arms crossed in front of her chest. “This job was meant for me, and I want to be part of the family business. But I don’t want to be in an ivory tower.
I’m not going to live like I did when I was seventeen, getting told who I can talk to, who I can date, or what I get to do in my off time. ”
“He has his rules for a reason.”
She gives me a flat stare. “You sound like a proper minion.”
My patience bends toward breaking. She doesn’t understand. She got the ivory tower. If I fuck up, I will be moving into that derelict mine. “Yeah, I’m a proper minion. My brothers work here too. We make our living here. It’s not just me, sunny day.” I wince at how easy it is to call her a pet name.
“Aren’t your brothers adults?”
“Would you leave your sisters here if they had nowhere else to go if they lost their job?”
She blanches, but then she stiffens. “Actually, yes. They can handle themselves.”
“Your sisters have resources. My brothers don’t.” The figure Myles quoted streams through my head. A fuckton of zeros follows that number.
“You have skills and a résumé that would get you hired on any dude ranch in the west.”
This ranch is closest to my family’s land. I didn’t get long in Huckleberry Springs before we were taken away, but I’m here now. I don’t want to leave.
I’m not going to abandon the last thing on earth left of my dad because I’m a horny idiot.
“With all due respect, ma’am. I’m proud of my work.
You might not have chosen to work at Hawthorne Ranch if given the option, but I did.
So did each of my brothers. And I’m not fucking it up for some woman who climbed into my back seat. ”
Her mouth drops open with a gasp. Acid burns its way up my throat. I was crass on purpose. It’s necessary. Otherwise, I’ll take her in my arms, apologize, and sweet-talk her until I get under that dress of hers.
Jamison Hawthorne is beautiful and sexy. She seems smart and driven and not just because of her family. She’s loyal, and she indicated she’s willing to burn a few bridges if she’s not happy. She’s the type of girl who makes me wonder what if…
“We’re done here.” Her voice shakes. “Some women have a job to do. You can go.”
My boots won’t move. I hurt her feelings, and I should leave, but I also can’t keep coming back. I can’t talk to her like I don’t want to taste her again. “You can get information from any of the ranch hands for what you want. I’m not the only one with the knowledge you need.”
She lifts her chin, her eyes sparking. “It’s funny, Iverson. You told me in the dark of night that you wanted more.”
I drop my gaze to the floor. “That’s a low blow.” I opened up to her, thinking I’d never see her again.
“I’m going to leave if Daddy tries to pin me into a life where I don’t get a choice.
” She walks toward the picture window that overlooks the gazebo in the backyard.
Her arms are still hugged around her. “Why do I feel like you can have more whenever you want, but when the opportunity arises, you hide behind this ranch?”