Chapter 1
Sierra
The Present…
“Are you okay, Mr. Remington?” I questioned as I sat beside him with a full plate from the extravagant buffet. “Are you sure you don’t want some food?”
He didn’t look good.
I’d discovered that Asher didn’t deal well with crowds months ago, but he looked especially uncomfortable today.
All of the events that had led to his brother Cole’s wedding had been difficult for him because it meant he had to socialize and get close to people since he was his only sibling’s best man. However, there were a lot more people at this wedding than any of those other pre-wedding affairs.
Asher was edgy today, and it showed.
The events over the last month had just been too much for a guy who didn’t like to be in close quarters with other people.
Probably the only thing in Asher’s favor was the fact that the wedding and reception were outdoors.
He’d managed to tolerate the wedding, but I could tell that making it through the reception was a challenge.
I knew he needed a chance to take a long breath and decompress from the last month, and that just wouldn’t happen until this reception was over.
Asher’s brother and his bride, Lauren, would completely understand if Asher wanted to go, but Asher was a stubborn man.
He’d see this through for his younger brother’s sake, to the very end, uncomfortable or not.
I’d learned a lot about Asher since I’d started working for him, and his loyalty to his brother was one of his many good qualities.
Oh, he was still an unpleasant, grumpy guy much of the time, but he definitely wasn’t the beast I’d thought he would be in the very beginning.
For some reason, he really didn’t seem to mind my presence anymore, but being around anyone else who wasn’t family definitely wasn’t his thing.
I smiled as I remembered that he still warned me on occasion that he’d probably fire me, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
I couldn’t say that Asher and I had become friends, but we were a lot more comfortable with each other than we’d been in the beginning.
Maybe that was why I’d been invited to the wedding.
I didn’t really know Cole well, and I’d only met his bride, Lauren, in passing. I certainly didn’t know them well enough to warrant a wedding invitation.
I had a feeling I’d been included on the guest list to keep Asher company in a situation that wasn’t exactly enjoyable for him.
The other wedding events?
Asher had dragged me along to most of them, using the lame excuse that he might need my services during the event.
It was bullshit, and I knew it.
Who needed a housekeeper at a rehearsal dinner?
What he’d needed was some kind of distraction, and I’d never minded going to those events with him.
My position with him had helped me enormously, and I was more than willing to help him out.
He shrugged as he finally answered. “I’ll probably get something later. I’m not hungry right now.”
I watched as he took a slug of his beer.
Maybe he wasn’t thrilled to be here, but he looked smoking hot in a tuxedo.
I’d pulled out the one dress I still owned, a V-neck floral print dress that had suited the outdoor wedding.
Luckily, I’d been able to make the dress work for most of the events I’d needed to attend with him.
“You’re missing out,” I told him as I picked up a fork from our small table and started to dig in to my meal. “That’s the most incredible buffet I’ve ever seen.”
I didn’t have the extra money for some of the exquisite food on my plate, and I was looking forward to the meal.
The food had been a huge benefit to me at all of the wedding events. I hadn’t accompanied Asher for the food, but it had been nice to eat until I was full at those festivities.
Asher was silent for a few minutes as he simply watched me eat.
The way he stared at me didn’t bother me anymore.
The man was intense, and he was an observer of almost all things since he didn’t do much participating.
I was used to the way he mostly watched instead of talked.
I generally talked enough for both of us anyway.
I had a bad habit of babbling on about trivial things when I was nervous or when I wasn’t sure what to say.
He frowned when I finished my very full plate in record time. “You didn’t eat today? You just put away that food like a woman who hasn’t had a good meal in a while.”
To my embarrassment, my cheeks flushed a little as I used my napkin on my face and then took a long sip of my water.
That was the problem with Asher watching so much.
He actually saw things that other people might not notice.
“It was a busy day,” I said, blowing off his comments. “I missed breakfast. I was hungry.”
“Missed breakfast?” he said in a low growl. “You made me a very large breakfast this morning. Why didn’t you eat some of it? You made that food and it’s not even a workday for you.”
It was a Saturday, and I generally only worked Monday through Friday.
Today was special because it was his only sibling’s wedding day.
I’d gotten to Asher’s ranch early to help him get ready for the big day.
Cooking him breakfast was no big deal. He’d had plenty of other things to worry about as Cole’s best man.
I licked my lips to stall a little as I thought about the routine that Asher and I had fallen into since I’d started to work for him.
Things had evolved from just a cleaning job to more of a household engineer for me.
I wanted to cook for him.
I wanted to organize and make his life easier because he spent long hours in his office every day.
I wanted to do more because he was paying me a ridiculous amount of money.
I felt like I owed him all of the extra things and more.
He’d balked at first, but one of the things he didn’t do well was cook and bake, so he didn’t grumble anymore when I put breakfast on the table after he came in from caring for his horses in the morning.
Lunch was usually a protein drink for him, and I left him dinner even though he’d insisted he didn’t need me to make anything.
I had weekends off, so I had no idea what he threw together when I wasn’t around.
I flinched as he sent me a long glare that said in no uncertain terms that he expected me to answer.
“I’m not sure why you’re making a big deal out of this, Mr. Remington. I skipped breakfast. I ate a lot from the buffet because I was hungry. I’m sorry.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have stuffed my face like a starving woman at his brother’s wedding.
“Don’t!” he said harshly.
I looked up at him, startled. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t fucking apologize for enjoying your food.
Get another plate or two or three. I don’t give a damn.
Just make sure that you’re not hungry anymore.
And you didn’t answer my question about why you didn’t eat some of that breakfast you fed me this morning if you skipped your own breakfast at home. ”
I had to admit that I’d thought about getting more food from the buffet, but I didn’t because I’d already put away enough to feed two people.
I wasn’t actually that hungry anymore. Everything had just tasted so damn good.
“I don’t grocery shop for two,” I told him honestly. “I buy whatever you need for the week.”
I happily did the grocery shopping for Asher since I lived in Billings, where I had a little more selection.
“Then start shopping for two,” he grumbled as he stood and nodded at my empty plate. “Are you going back for more?”
I shook my head. “I think I’ve eaten enough.”
“What’s good?”
“Everything,” I said with a sigh. “I didn’t get to the prime rib or the crab legs. I didn’t have enough space on my plate, but they smelled incredible.”
He turned and headed for the food without another word.
I watched as he picked up two plates and proceeded to load them up, stopping at the crab legs and prime rib station at the end.
I smiled when I noticed that most people gave Asher a wide berth as he plowed through the food selection.
He’d been serious when he’d said that most people were afraid of him.
The ones who seemed to know him or had probably known him when he was young seemed friendly, but there were some who eyed him like he was a monster to avoid.
I hated that for Asher. He might be grumpy, but I’d discovered that he was a man who was probably very misunderstood.
Was he a friendly guy?
Well…no.
But I was convinced that he was a good man who wanted people to fear him because that meant he didn’t have to socialize.
He muttered something to an elderly man who I knew was the owner of the Mug and Jug in Crystal Fork, but nobody else got close enough to speak with Asher.
I didn’t know many people in town, but I was acquainted with a few of the folks who’d gone out of their way to introduce themselves while I was doing errands in Crystal Fork.
Silas, the Mug and Jug owner, was a familiar face.
I’d also met Charlie, the owner of Charlie’s Restaurant, and I’d met every one of Asher’s cousins and their wives at least once.
I’d also been introduced to Millie, Asher’s aunt who owned the ranch adjacent to Cole and Asher’s properties.
I was probably better acquainted with Asher’s younger brother, Cole, because he passed by Asher’s home fairly often, but I tried to make myself scarce when Asher’s brother was there so the men could talk without the housekeeper around.
I couldn’t say I knew anyone at the wedding well, but not all of the faces here were completely unfamiliar to me.
I stared openly as Asher made his way back to the table, one of the chefs walking behind him and carrying a plate of food.
For a guy who hadn’t been hungry a short time ago, he was hitting that buffet pretty hard.
Asher placed his plates on the table and took the one that the chef had carried, dismissing the man with nothing but a quick nod.
When he put that plate on top of the empty one in front of me, I said with a gasp, “I told you that I didn’t want anything else.”
“Eat,” he said sharply as he sat down. “You sounded like you regretted the fact that you didn’t make it to the crab legs or the prime rib.”
“I don’t want to make a pig of myself at your brother’s wedding, Mr. Remington,” I whispered in a disconcerted voice.
He shot me an annoyed glance. “Don’t be ridiculous. The food is meant to be enjoyed. And I already gave you permission to call me Asher. Weeks ago. If you don’t start using my first name, I’ll probably fire you.”
I smiled. “No, you won’t. I’m too good at my job and nobody else will put up with you.”
He had given me permission to use his first name, and I’d ignored that particular request.
Using his given name seemed too personal, and the last thing I needed was to get any closer to Asher Remington.
I might think of him as Asher in my head, but being on a first-name basis with my boss could be dangerous for me.
We had a routine.
We got along just fine.
I didn’t want to think of him as anything other than my boss.
I hadn’t quite managed to get over the attraction I had to Asher Remington but reminding myself that he was nothing but my employer every single day seemed to help.
Sometimes.
Except for the days when he wasn’t acting like a complete jerk and it was easy to notice how incredibly breathtaking he was.
Granted, Asher was almost always a jerk, but he had his moments…
Like today.
I had to wonder whether he’d really wanted all the food he’d gathered from the buffet or if he was just trying to encourage me to eat more.
“That’s probably true,” he finally said between bites of his food. “But there’s always the possibility that you could annoy me so much that I actually do fire you. Eat.”
The smell of the prime rib in front of me tempted me, and I finally picked up my knife and fork with a shrug.
There were worse things he could insist on rather than eating more of the fabulous food that was being served.
If he didn’t care how much I ate, I wasn’t going to sweat it.
I hadn’t had food like this in a long time.
I managed to devour everything in front of me before I dropped the utensils on the plate.
“I’m stuffed,” I groaned as I put a hand on my belly.
Asher nodded at the second plate on the table. “There’s more. I can’t eat much more. I had a big breakfast.”
He’d already cleaned the first plate and was reaching for the second.
“Not happening,” I informed him. “I’ve gone from I’m not really that hungry anymore to I can’t eat another mouthful of food. You’ll have to eat the rest yourself.”
He cocked a brow as he put the other plate in front of him. “You sure about that?”
“Absolutely,” I assured him.
“What about the cake?”
I shot him a cheeky grin. “My mother once told me that you can always find room for dessert.”
Our cake was already on the table, but I hadn’t touched it yet.
I needed to give all of the food in my belly a little time to settle first.
“You’ve never mentioned your mother,” he said thoughtfully. “Does she live here in Montana?”
Crap!
I really needed to monitor my habit of talking too much.
I’d always made it a point not to mention anything personal around Asher, and I’d just broken that rule for the first time.
Asher and I knew very little about each other, and that had been deliberate on my part.
“Texas,” I answered. “She’s retired in a small town, not far from Houston.”
Before he could ask anything else, I rose abruptly from my chair and added, “I think I’ll find the bathroom.”
I wanted to escape before Asher decided to ask more questions.
I grabbed my purse as I tried to convince myself that I wasn’t really running away.
I did need to use the restroom.
It just wasn’t as urgent as I’d made it sound.
“Sierra?” he questioned stoically before I could make my way to the house.
I looked down at him, and my heart stuttered as I met his solemn gaze. “Yes?”
“Fuck knows that nobody has more skeletons in the closet than me,” he drawled. “If you don’t want to talk about something in your personal life, all you have to do is tell me.”
My breath caught as our gazes held for a moment.
I wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but something passed between the two of us during that short period of time.
I felt closer to Asher than I ever had before, and it alarmed and mesmerized me at the same time.
Some kind of understanding flowed between the two of us, but it was an understanding that I couldn’t quite quantify or explain.
Flustered, I broke eye contact and headed for the house before I did something incredibly stupid.
Asher had no idea what kind of skeletons I had in my closet, and it was better that way.