Chapter Twelve #2
He secured his hook and set its pole down. “More than enough. But if you want to go ahead and try your luck one more time today, be my guest.”
“Well, maybe just one—” What sounded like a massive belly flop drew her attention away from her lure. “What was that?”
“Beaver. We must be getting near their…” He cursed. “Natalie, reel your line in. I’m gonna need some help paddling.”
“Paddling?” She cranked the spinner, panic creeping up her spine. “Will they attack us?”
“No, but if this boat drifts into the side of their dam, we’ll be swimming back to shore without our equipment or our catches.”
“Dam?” Hook secure, she tossed the pole down, grabbed a paddle, and craned her neck to see what had Sam breaking into a sweat.
That was when the current took them around a small bend filled with saplings—and revealed a massive beaver dam maybe thirty yards or so ahead of them.
The structure cleared the water by several feet, with jagged logs pointed in their direction.
Many jagged logs, getting closer by the second.
“And you wonder why I’m afraid of animals! ”
“Less talking,” Sam ordered with a grin, digging his paddle deep into the water, “and more paddling.”
*
Sam pulled their boat out of the water and dropped onto the shore’s soft ground, working to catch his breath.
A few feet away, Natalie sat with her knees bent and elbows resting on them, cheeks red from exertion.
They’d nearly capsized twice, both paddling like mad to keep from getting pulled into the beaver dam.
He would have jumped out and pulled them to safety if that was what it’d taken—he’d promised to keep her safe, and Sam was nothing if not a man of his word. Thankfully, it hadn’t come to that.
“Wow, my arms are going to be sore tomorrow,” she said on an exhausted laugh.
Sam nodded. “Epsom salt bath.”
“Sorry?”
“It’s the key to surviving out here—lots of Epsom salt baths.”
Natalie grinned. “I don’t remember reading that about cowboys in history class.”
“There’s a lot they don’t teach you in school about the cowboy way of life.”
“Because everyone would want to be a cowboy—or cowgirl—and then it’d be super crowded around here, huh?”
He chuckled, she assuming a more positive spin than he was thinking. “Something like that.”
The cool breeze that had nipped at them while fishing was a welcome relief swirling around them now.
Natalie’s lavender perfume tickled his senses, evoking memories from the prior evening.
Of tracing his hands along her silky skin, drinking in that very scent as he explored every curve.
Lord, he could have done that all night.
The minute she’d slipped from his bed, he’d wanted her to return; he was already brainstorming ideas to ensure a next time. It couldn’t come soon enough.
Sam eased closer to her once his breathing slowed and began massaging her shoulders, craving the closeness they’d shared yesterday—both the physical and intellectual kind.
Not only was she an amazing lover, but the woman truly intrigued him.
Both were a welcome change to his usual, lonely, single-again existence.
“So, how did wanting to be a cartoonist get you a job at Terakion?” he asked as he worked to relieve a knot in her upper back.
“Oh, it didn’t. My love of creating content landed me an amazing job at a company called Thinkology. We helped startup companies develop product line marketing. It was stressful at times, but I loved my job. Felt like I was finally using my creative talents, you know?”
“Sounds like a great place to work. Why did you leave?”
Her shoulders slumped. “Our company got bought out. Initially, they promised to bring everyone over to the new company. But before the ink had even dried on the takeover, the new owners started eliminating the highest positions that weren’t upper management.
My boss opted to retire early and avoid changeover drama, which left me without anyone in my corner to fight to protect my position.
The new company didn’t care about my work ethic or how many hours I’d put in off the clock.
In the course of a month, I went from being a highly valued, thirteen-year employee to unemployed with no severance package. ”
Sam paused what he was doing. “Wait—they just… got rid of you? Without any kind of compensation?”
“Yup.”
It was that kind of heartless, corporate bullshit that made him grateful to have a career out here, away from suits and cubicle world.
“Those assholes. I’m sorry about your job, but glad you’re not working for people like that.” He resumed his work on her shoulders. “Is that why you said you had to ask your sister for help getting on at Terakion?”
“Yeah. I put out dozens of applications, but I wasn’t getting anywhere.
I’d just bought a house, bills were coming due, and I was starting to panic.
So I turned to my big sister for help.” She shook her head.
“I’m sure I will owe her for life. Or at least until I get a position in the company that doesn’t require her to have to vouch for me.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m super grateful, and this job worked out much better than I ever could have imagined. ”
He grinned. “I feel a but coming on.”
“ But living out of a suitcase is starting to wear on me. I’m on the road nine or ten months out of the year. It’s been really cool to see so much of the country, but I miss my friends, my family. My house. I really never got fully settled in, you know?”
Sam didn’t know. He couldn’t imagine being away from his family—or his home—for that much of the year. Working on the ranch could feel lonely at times, but he always had family to come home to. Having a job that required him to be stuck halfway across the country wasn’t something he could do.
“Anyway,” she continued, “when I heard we have someone retiring in the site identification and development group, I did some research on it. Turns out, that job is hybrid remote, so I’d be able to work from home a good chunk of the time and only do site visits or go into the main office as needed.
Which, after all this traveling, is exactly what I need.
So, I mentioned it to my boss. He’s always told me it’s his job to train me, give me wings, and then let me fly if that’s what I want to do. ”
“This boss sounds like a much better person to work for than the buyout people.”
She snorted softly. “A million times better. And he will totally write me an amazing reference letter when the time comes.”
“Sounds like you’ve got this job in the bag.” And what did that mean for her? Would that free her up to come and visit? Would she come and visit?
“Well, I was hoping so, but then Marietta happened.”
Sam’s hands stilled on her shoulders. “Uh-oh.”
“Yeah, see, I’ve got this sexy, stubborn cowboy who’s doing his damnedest to block my project. The last one I need to round out the requirements for this big promotion.” She turned to face him, one brow arched.
“You think I’m sexy?”
“And stubborn.”
“I’m man enough to own both.” He pulled her closer. “But I didn’t know I was undermining your promotion possibilities.”
“I know, and I couldn’t blame you for pushing back.
Our company, we’re usually on top of things when it comes to identifying possible conflicts.
Like, to the nth degree. So when I arrived and then found out about your lease and your competing lodge and that there was the possibility of an endangered species living on the land we’re looking to buy, it really caught me off guard.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was internal sabotage. ”
He chuckled. “Sounds like someone’s been watching too much TV again.”
“Yeah, it sounds rather ridiculous when I say it out loud. What’s even worse is that I was starting to wonder if my sister was behind it all.”
Sam shook his head. “But that wouldn’t make any sense. Didn’t you said she warned you not to ruin it for her?”
“Yeah, that theory doesn’t add up, I guess. But she hadn’t sounded happy when I said I was looking at bidding on this other job. Said I was crazy to think about leaving my boss, Steven. Though, that’s probably the most we’ve talked in years.”
Sam smirked. His money was on the boss, who clearly didn’t want to lose his shining protégé. Natalie leaned back against him with a sigh.
“Are you and your siblings like this with one another?”
Sam chuckled. “No. ’Round here, we stay out of each other’s business. But we also stand up for one another, too. And if someone has something to say, they say it.”
“I’m more of a peacekeeper. Besides, I think if I told Julianna how I really felt, she’d probably fall out of her chair.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what you need to do.” Sam shrugged. “Better to get it off your chest than let it weigh you down.”
Natalie laughed. “Buddy, I’ve been carrying that weight around for years.”
“Then bring her out here, and I’ll say it for you. What’s the worst she can do? Convince your company to build a second resort out here?”
There was his protective side, coming out again. And he totally would put that sister in her place if she ever came storming out here.
“Oh Lord. Don’t give her any ideas.”
He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. “So, when we prove the ferrets are on Hank’s property and Terakion can’t build here, they won’t hold that against you for this promotion, right?”
“You seem a little confident about the downfall of this project, buddy.” She elbowed him softly. “But, yeah, I don’t know. I’m afraid it’ll disqualify me; Steven doesn’t seem as worried.”
“I’m with Steven. You couldn’t have predicted ferrets, so that shouldn’t count against you.”
“But it won’t count as a success for me, either.”
Sam brushed her ponytail aside to kiss her neck. Enough talk about work. They had more important things to do. Out here. All alone. “How about we have our own little ferret discovery pre-celebration party?”
She giggled. “What, right here?”
He kissed his way down her neck to her collarbone, one hand easing under the hem of her shirt. “There’s no time like the present.”
“But what if someone sees us?”
He kissed her until she was breathless, then leaned away to strip out of his shirt. “That’s the beauty of Big Sky country, sugar. There’s no one around for miles.”