Chapter 7 Weston #2
I didn’t stand a damn chance.
We rounded the corner to Savannah’s office, and all the air left my lungs at the sight of her in her element. She was staring at her computer while on the phone, with papers spread out all over her desk, so lost in thought she hadn’t noticed us yet.
I never had the chance to see her work, and had always been curious. But I never expected her to look like something out of a dirty office fantasy while doing it.
Levi strode into her office like he’d done it a million times, and when he placed his hand on her shoulder to get her attention, I wanted to growl at him like a fucking animal for touching her.
I didn’t know I could be so territorial. So jealous. But seeing them so close together made my blood boil.
But when she stood from her desk, all of that vanished from my mind when I saw the way her skirt hugged her hips.
Jesus Christ, my mouth watered. But it was more than that; she moved like she knew the power she’d always had now.
She was confident and collected, not the shy girl I knew who hid behind pleasing smiles, and it was mesmerizing.
I would’ve given up anything to be with her again.
“…and we can go to the conference room to talk,” she said. Apparently, I’d missed half the conversation while drooling over her.
She gave me a little glance as she passed, leading the way.
The air stirred when she walked by, a hint of her perfume trailing behind her.
It was sweet but sensual, something warm and inviting.
My eyes drifted shut, imagining burying my face in the crook of her neck with her gorgeous body splayed out beneath mine.
I needed to stop while I was ahead, or I’d end up waddling to that conference room with a hard-on.
I stopped short at the sight I was met with when I made it to the conference room. “What is he doing here?” I blurted when I saw Levi sitting next to Savannah.
He was like a fucking gnat, following us around just like when we were kids.
“Weston,” Savannah warned through clenched teeth. “Levi wants to help.”
I glanced at Beau and Claire, who seemed wary but not all that determined to make him leave. I sat down next to Claire, directly across from Savannah. “Fine,” I said, staring at her.
My head rolled towards Levi. “We’ve got three dead cows because of your family, and another dozen are sick.” I raised my brows. “Know anything about that?”
Savannah gasped, and at the same time, Levi’s mouth parted, all the color vanishing from his face. “What? Are you serious?”
“About as serious as three innocent, dead cows, yes.”
He leaned back in his chair, looking at all of us. “Oh my God,” he rasped. His mouth bobbed like he didn’t know what to say. “I-I’m so sorry. I had no idea they planned that.”
I scoffed and glanced at Beau with a ‘get a load of this guy’ look. Except he was glaring at me. My brows furrowed. “What?” I mouthed.
“Cut it out,” he replied silently, a warning in his eyes.
“You really didn’t know?” Savannah asked Levi, her chair now angled towards his.
“I swear I didn’t. That is”—he shook his head disapprovingly—“that is absolutely vile. I’m disgusted they’d stoop low enough to go after your animals.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, not sure if he was lying or not, but he seemed genuinely upset. He could’ve been telling the truth, might’ve had no clue what his grandfather and brother were up to. But I didn’t care. I still wanted him gone.
“We’re here because we don’t have any proof it was them,” Claire said. “But we know it was. No one else would do something like that to us.”
“I can’t do anything legally without proof,” Savannah said, looking disappointed.
“Nothing at all?”
Her lips went into a thin line, and she shook her head.
“That’s not true,” Levi said. Savannah looked at him again, and I was tempted to slam my concussed head into the table just to put myself out of my misery. “You could file a complaint with the environmental agency, and it’d start a formal investigation.”
He looked at us and explained, “They’d come out and test the water, the land, anything that could’ve caused the cattle to get sick.
This, coupled with how recently they filed the false environmental impact claim, is enough to at least warrant an investigation against them and a temporary restraining order. ”
There was a pause, and then he said, “I’d be more than happy to help you guys with this. In fact, I’m asking you to let me help.”
“Aren’t you a divorce lawyer or something?” I still didn’t know what he was doing here.
“He does a little bit of everything,” Savannah said.
I let out an amused, sarcastic huff and looked over at her. “Is that right?”
She wrenched her jaw and sprang out of her chair. “Let’s go have a talk outside,” she said, her voice low and confrontational in a way that startled me and somehow turned me on at the same time.
It wasn’t the way I had planned on getting her alone to talk, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Once we were outside behind the building, she whirled on me. “What the hell is your problem? You’ve been acting like an asshole since the second you got here.”
“My problem is that fucking snake in there,” I said through gritted teeth. I couldn’t stand him with his perfect suit, perfect hair, and perfect smile. Couldn’t stand the thought of her wanting him or needing him the way I ached for her.
“Levi?” She scoffed. “Are you serious?”
“He looks at you like he knows you, and I can’t stand it.” Couldn’t stand it because it felt like I didn’t anymore.
“I don’t give a shit what you do and don’t like!
” She stormed up to me, eyes burning with a fierceness I’d never seen from her.
“You can’t show up here acting like some jealous high school boyfriend.
If he can help with the ranches, we should let him.
I’ve been working with him all week; he’s harmless. ”
“I’m not just some high school boyfriend, Savannah, and you know it,” I said lowly, taking a step with each retreating one she made. It pissed me off that that’s what she thought we were when it was so much more.
Her eyes widened when she hit the wall, looking at it and then at me, her breathing quick and shallow. “An hour-long engagement doesn’t count, Weston,” she rasped. “We were just kids and didn’t know what we were doing.”
“That’s still a lot more than what you’re making it out to be, don’t you think?” I braced my good arm on the wall next to her head. “And I knew damn well what I was doing. I wanted you to be my wife, Savannah. So don’t you try and rewrite what was between us. I was there.”
She swallowed roughly, her eyes flitting all over my face before settling on my mouth. “You need to let this thing with Levi go,” she whispered. “He can help us. Get information from them.”
I could hardly think with the way she was looking at me, at my mouth. One word, one look, from her to do it, and I’d kiss her until the world ended. “Give me one good reason why I should trust him.”
Her eyes met mine, pupils wide with desire. A look I never thought I’d see from her again. “Because I don’t want him.”
She slid along the wall out of my reach and went back inside, leaving me in the alley, heart pounding and stunned. Not from her words, but the implication of them.