Chapter 2 #2
His new resort manager, Marlowe-with-the-sexy-voice, had suggested her sister-in-law for the bakery. The little building set aside for the shop was quaint and cute. Closer to the main road than the hotel itself, but walkable still.
So, he sure as hell hoped that worked out, because it all felt like a package deal, and if her baked goods sucked, he was going to be in a bad way.
He walked up toward the house, which was about half a mile away from the barn. He could’ve driven, but he liked getting the exercise.
Plus, he needed to walk off the tension coursing through his body.
Because he shouldn’t be panting after a married woman, based on a phone conversation about work experience.
He didn’t know what she looked like. But in his mind, he had decided that she was beautiful.
A problem.
Not that Cody ever had any issue with self-control, or choosing when not to have it.
That was part of the nature of the rodeo. Any vice that a man wanted was available, free and clear, without having to look hard for it.
He had heavily overindulged himself at first, and why not?
Because here in Mustang River, he had been nothing other than a poor kid with nothing to recommend him, and everyone had treated him accordingly. But when he had started winning in the rodeo? Yeah, then suddenly he’d been worth something.
Oh, not that the girls here hadn’t liked him, they had, they had just hidden him away as a dirty secret. They thought he was hot, and he didn’t think much of his looks, but he was over six feet and always in shape from ranch work, so there was that.
Add something like bull riding to the mix, and that made getting laid easy.
He kind of liked it, if he was honest. Making those women who wouldn’t acknowledge him on a street cry out his name in bed. Proving exactly who they were, and who he was.
At least, he’d liked it when he was in his twenties.
Now he just felt tired. Tired of all of it.
Maybe that was the problem. He was building a business, he was doing something to prove that he wasn’t what any of his teachers, any of his peers had thought he was.
That he could amount to more, to anything that he wanted to, honestly.
So, he’d been remiss in dealing with his libido. Which explained why that husky, feminine voice on the other end of the phone had done something to him.
And by done something, he meant, got him hard in his sleep whenever it came to him in his dreams.
Not that thinking of that now was a good idea.
Thinking of it ever wasn’t a good idea.
The farmhouse was up on a hill, and as he crested the top of it, he saw his sister, Lila, sitting there on the porch in a plaid shirt, denim jeans, and her boot pressed up against the railing as she sat rocking in a chair.
“Good morning,” he said.
“It’s morning,” she said. “I’ll get back to you on whether or not it’s good.”
The only person on the planet who was grumpier than he was, was his younger sister Lila.
Well, that wasn’t true. The winner of the award for grumpiest asshole on the ranch definitely went to his best friend, Nolan. When Nolan and Lila were in proximity with each other, it was like two angry cats circling.
That put him in half a mind to get them in the same room today, because Lila was clearly already in a state.
It would be entertaining, anyway.
Too bad he didn’t have any time for bullshit today.
“Don’t be surly,” he said. “We have new employees joining us today.”
“We have new employees joining us every day,” she said.
She wasn’t wrong. The operation was huge to the point that sometimes it felt unwieldy to him. How he’d gone from being a lone wolf — with the exception of his siblings — to managing a staff this size…
He had no one to blame but himself.
His big Fuck You, Dad ambitions were bigger than his tolerance for humanity, but it turned out you needed humanity to make dreams a reality. So here he was.
The ranching part had a substantial staff at this point, and with the addition of the resort, it was getting even bigger.
Lila had been helping manage a lot of the construction, communication with foremen, contractors, and subcontractors. She was grumpy, it was true, but she was also direct and not afraid to tell people what they needed to be doing. Or where to go if they got off task.
That was why she was his operations manager. They’d had to put official titles on the loan paperwork they’d signed. Walker was the VP of Guest Experience and Marketing. Lila was the Operations Manager, which meant she got to use her ruthless and terrifying efficiency.
Lila had been management material from the time she was a little kid. She was more than ten years younger than him, and it had been his great burden, and his great pleasure to take care of her when she had been a little sprout.
It was still both.
“This is different. This is management. God knows I’m not equipped to run the hotel.”
“I’ve got you,” she said. “All the scheduling, vendors, logistics, I’m on it.”
“I know you are. Maybe a little too on it.”
“No such thing.”
He smiled. “Probably not.” His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he took it out. “Looks like they’re about fifteen minutes out. Want to go to the hotel and meet them?”
“I’ll have to catch them later,” Lila said, shaking her head. “I’ve got an appointment with Nolan.”
“Oh. I don’t actually want anything on the ranch to blow up today.”
“Neither of us is carrying dynamite.”
“It’s more the interaction between the two of you that creates the explosions.”
“We’re grown adults,” Lila said. “We can both behave ourselves.”
“Okay.”
“Oh, ye of little faith,” she said.
“I don’t have little faith, but I do have enough knowledge of human nature, and of the two of you, for me to have my concerns regarding behavior.”
“You want a nature trail, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Logistics, Cody. You want me on logistics, and I’m logisticking. We’re working on the nature trail. A nice little flat loop for the people who don’t want to do any hiking. Something that’s a little bit more accessible. It’s all good. We have a common goal. We won’t kill each other.”
How did that common goal even come to be? He didn’t know, and he didn’t even really want to ask.
“Fine. Go do your thing. I’ll go do mine. Do you want to have dinner later?”
She wrinkled her nose. “I mean, are you cooking?”
“That was the offer.”
“Then yes. See you at dinner time.”
“See you,” he said.
He walked past her, going into the house and heading inside.
He had done his best to make this place into nothing like his father, and into something for him and his brother and sister.
Lila currently lived in a tiny house on the property, which was so tiny that she frequented the main house to get some space and access to a nicer, more modern shower, as well as meals.
Walker lived in a cabin down by the creek that predated what had later become the main house.
He had spent the past year refurbishing it, and it was pretty good now.
As for this place… He had basically gutted it.
Left no trace of his father or his father’s taste behind.
Not because Cody cared so much about his surroundings, but because his father had liked his surroundings to look a certain way, and dismantling it, stud by stud, had been the closest thing to therapy Cody was probably ever going to get
It was also very different from the apartment that he had spent most of his childhood living in. Bright, with tall ceilings, and it had amazing views.
He went upstairs and stepped under a cold shower before changing into some fresh clothes. He didn’t need to meet new employees looking like he had just rolled in from a dust heap.
This was going to continue to be a working ranch. He was going to continue on with his passion, which was ranching, the land, and there was going to be this other piece to it that kept things running.
He rubbed his jaw, which was rough with stubble, and glanced in the mirror. It was going to have to do.
He put a black cowboy hat on his head and took the stairs two at a time, then got into his truck to drive a couple of miles to the hotel.
There was the hotel proper, plus some riverside cabins, a sauna out by the river, and a whole lawn with games for people to play. Cornhole and horseshoes, things like that.
There was a pool, and a hot tub, a whole pool deck that was looking really nice, if he said so himself.
It was the kind of place he never would’ve been able to stay when he was a child, that was for sure. And now, it was his.
The money was all his hard work. The inheritance of the ranch was his dad’s hubris and possible deathbed guilt – though Cody doubted it. Either way, it wasn’t anything he’d ever take for granted.
He pulled his truck into the newly paved parking lot and parked before heading up to the doors to unlock them.
The lobby was almost entirely finished and smelled brand new, the scent of wood, the stone from the fireplace, and the fresh coat of paint. He flicked the lights on, looking up at the antler chandelier, which was more modern than rustic, but gave it a nice western edge.
It was good. It was looking good, and it was going to work. He had a lifetime of failure, and for the past decade, he had only succeeded. He didn’t do failure, not anymore.
An SUV pulled into the space next to his truck, dusty and with a bent Vermont license plate.
There were two women sitting in the front seat.
Though it was hard to make their features out through the glare on the windshield.
He turned away because it felt like it was a weird thing to do, to stand there and stare at them while they made their way inside.
This must be them. Cara, the baker, and Marlowe, the wife, must be in the front. The husband must be tucked in the back.
The wife.
She was a wife.
He couldn’t remember that guy’s name.
He could remember Marlowe’s voice.
He squinted up at the chandelier. Then he wondered if it looked even weirder that he was standing facing away from them.
So, he turned around. Just as the door opened.
The first woman to walk in had dark hair.
She was wearing a flowery, ruffly mini dress.
She was petite, and only the very short hem of the dress made her legs look like they had any length at all.
But it was the other woman who caught his eye and held it.
She had red hair that fell down past her shoulders in waves. She was pale. All freckled, and it was a hell of a thing that the first thought he had was that he wondered how long it would take to kiss every single freckle on her face.
He didn’t need them to introduce themselves to know who he was looking at.
The redhead had to be Marlowe. Or maybe she didn’t. Because there was no rule that said a voice that affected him the way hers had would be attached to a woman who was just as much of a gut punch.
Not that the other wasn’t pretty.
But this wasn’t about pretty. This was about something else. That kind of something else that grabbed you low and held fast.
That kind of something else that he’d certainly never experienced before. It was just the kind of thing that he’d heard about. That somebody could be your own personal kind of accelerant to a lit match.
Her eyes caught his and held. And he could swear that he saw her cheeks turn pink. But he blinked, and then he wasn’t so sure.
“Hi,” he said, his voice more clipped than he wanted it to be. “I’m Cody Grayson. You must be—”
He waited for them to finish the sentence for him.
“Cara,” the brunette said, not surprising him at all.
“I’m Marlowe,” the redhead said, taking a step toward him and extending her hand. She had her right hand held out, but he looked down at her left hand and saw that it was bare. He looked behind them, waiting to see if there was another person coming in, but there was nobody.
He held his hand out to take Marlowe’s, and the touch of her skin against his was proof of what he had just thought.
Accelerant. Match.
He got through the handshake as quickly as possible, lowered his palm back down to his side, and flexed his fingers. Trying to do something to get rid of that sensation.
“You all caravanning?”
“So, I’m Cara,” Cara continued. “And I would love to be pointed in the direction of the bakery. You don’t have to take me there right away if you don’t want, but I’m excited to see it. And then of course, I’m not staying here, I bought a house in town, I think it’s about fifteen minutes away?”
“I don’t know where your house is,” he said.
She pursed her lips together. “Sure. But I meant town. In general.”
Marlowe was not talking, and it seemed to him that her sister-in-law was talking a little bit too much.
“Yeah. About fifteen minutes.”
“That’s just perfect. I’ve been working at a bakery in Vermont for years, and it takes me forty-five minutes to get there, and honestly, the mornings are just so early.”
“Cara,” Marlowe said. “It’s fine.”
“Oh,” she said.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Well,” Marlowe said. “You might have noticed that we’re missing somebody.”
“I had.”
“I’m really sorry, and I probably should’ve told you.
But believe me, it was a surprise to me too.
I… My… Well, there’s no easy way to say this, my husband told me that he was having an affair right when we were packing up our things to come here.
And that he wanted a divorce. So I know that you expected a couple, but it turns out it’s just… me.”