Chapter Four #2
legal stuff. I handle cows and cowboys, and I’ll tell you one is way easier to
deal with.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “So you weren’t bashing me?”
“I wasn’t bashing you,” Garrett said quickly, his face a
nice shade of pink.
He had to try to save this or they would both get their
butts kicked off this plane and they would be looking for new jobs. If that
happened… Well, he didn’t know. This was the perfect job. Garrett spent a
couple of days in Fort Worth or Dallas every week and the rest of the time in
the foreman’s house on the O’Malley Ranch.
And he also didn’t want her to think he would ever say a
word against her. “I was trying to convince him to honor your boundaries. He
wanted to figure out your real name so he could ask you out.”
“And you didn’t?” One brow rose over those green eyes.
“I did, but I’m more practical. I could tell you’re a woman
who has a good education, likely has been around money most of her life. I’m a
foreman. I work with my hands not my brain. I’m good for a night, but you
wouldn’t have any interest in dating me. Much less in having an open threesome
with us. I honestly thought that if you met us in the real world, you would be
interested in Garrett, not me.”
“You. Keane. You’re my brother-in-law’s foreman. He speaks
highly of you. So does my sister.” She frowned and pointed Garrett’s way. “Of
course she also likes his ass, so I have to question her taste.”
“Shit. She’s Lexi’s sister,” Garrett said with a frown.
“Lexi mentioned she had a sister, but I never saw a picture of you.”
“You’re not very observant since I’m right there in the big
family portrait in the dining room.”
“Oh, we don’t eat with the family, ma’am.” He had switched
into complete polite cowboy mode. “We either eat at our place or with the
hands. Your sister’s house is pretty far from the office and the foreman’s
house. We’ve been there but only briefly.”
She sighed. “You’re going to be difficult.”
He shook his head. “Not at all, ma’am. I’m trying real hard
to ensure we’re not trouble. Garrett was frustrated.”
Her nose wrinkled. “Garrett was an asshole.”
“I’m right here,” Garrett said.
“And yet you are somehow still an asshole.” She turned back
to Keane. “You’re as bad as him.”
That made him sit up straighter. “How so?”
“He made assumptions about me and so did you. He decided I’m
some kind of woman who didn’t earn her place, who likes to walk in and screw
everything up just for fun.”
“I didn’t say you did it for fun,” Garrett attempted.
Olivia…he liked her name…ignored him. “Keane decided I was
some kind of rich girl who would look down on a cowboy. My dads are cowboys at
heart. I know they’re wealthy now, but they worked for every penny. I grew up
around hands. I practically lived in the bunkhouse when I was a kid. There is
nothing I find sexier than a good man who happens to work with his hands. And
quite frankly, his brain. You don’t get to be my brother-in-law’s foreman
without a brain.”
Something warm lit in his chest even though he knew she was
likely saying it to put Garrett in his place. Damn, that boy had dug a hole.
Her eyes went hard and that warmth curdled quickly because
that look was not for Garrett. It was directed squarely at Keane. “But I don’t
know why you would be worried that I might not date you since you could find
another one like me at any club.”
Fuck. How long had she been listening? “I’m sorry I said
that.”
“I’m not. Now we all know and we can move forward. Garrett
isn’t interested in a ball-busting bitch, and I’m a bit common for you. I’ll
admit I had a great time last night and I seriously considered looking you up.
You’ve saved me the trouble.”
“He didn’t mean it like that,” Garrett said quietly.
She turned his way, her eyes lit with irritation. It didn’t
make her less beautiful. In fact, it kind of did something for him. “How did he
mean it then, Counselor?”
Keane wasn’t sure how to reply.
Garrett did. Or at least he thought he did. “He shuts down
when he’s afraid of rejection, and honestly, he’s got a lot of reason for that.
He took you at your word. In some ways he was content to only have one night
with you because he firmly believes if you know who he is, you’ll walk away.”
“And you?” Olivia asked.
“I’m an asshole who was pissed off the hottest woman I’ve
ever seen snuck out of bed this morning, so I was taking it out on the woman
who runs the company. I chose misogynistic words, and I’m ashamed of them. I
have biases I need to work on, and one of them is rich people.”
“My parents are rich,” she countered.
“And you don’t have a trust fund to fall back on?” Garrett
replied.
She went silent.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. I shouldn’t, but I grew up
dirt poor. When my mother died, my father took me to a bus station. He didn’t
actually buy me a ticket. He told me someone would take care of me and then he
was gone. I was eight.”
“Are you honestly trying to trauma dump on me right now?”
Olivia huffed.
“I am trying anything that will salvage this situation. I
love my job. Keane loves his job. It keeps us together in a way no other work
will,” Garrett admitted.
Her eyes rolled. “Yes, because cast-iron bitch will almost
surely get you fired because her ego can’t handle a few insults. Let me tell
you how I grew up. Yes, we had money and I didn’t go hungry or worry about
where we would stay, but the minute I stepped off that ranch I got looks. They
called my dad the devil and my mom that woman. Some of them still do
to this day. My papa was the dirty little secret they forgot to keep. Do you
know how many times I heard my mother called a whore?”
“I’m sorry. That had to be hard.” Keane hadn’t expected that
from her. He was every bit as guilty as Garrett since he thought Olivia
Barnes-Fleetwood likely didn’t have a care in the world. Growing up rich didn’t
keep the world from taking a bite out of her soul. “I heard my mom called that,
too. Except it was her job. It was how she paid for the cheap motel room and
all the drugs.”
Her mouth dropped open and then she did something he didn’t
expect. She laughed. Long and hard, until tears fell from her eyes. When she
got her breath back she looked at Keane and then Garrett. “Please tell me you
met in foster care.”
He wasn’t sure how that was funny. “We did.”
She took a long breath as though she needed a minute to calm
down from the hilarity.
Garrett’s jaw went tight. “That was rude. He’s not joking.
I’m not joking.”
“It’s irony.” She wiped tears from her eyes and held up a
hand which brought the flight attendant forth. “Sherri, could you get me a
couple of fingers of whiskey? The good stuff. I know my dad hides it, but he
would understand.”
“Of course, Olivia. I think Mr. Barnes only put that rule in
because Josh and Grim drank and entire fifth of twenty-five-year-old Scotch
during their bachelor party. I told him it was the only wild thing they did.
They went to Vegas and from what they said on the way back they played some
cards and mostly missed Nicole.”
Olivia’s lips turned up in a bittersweet smile. “That sounds
like my brothers.”
The flight attendant turned his way. “And for the
gentlemen?”
Garrett frowned. “I’m not sure we’re staying.”
Oh, he was going to be so dramatic. “I’d like a beer,
please. Whatever you have is fine.”
Garrett leaned in. “I’m not going to let her talk to you
that way.”
Olivia’s brow rose again. “I think the counselor will have a
Scotch, too. The cowboy prefers beer. And maybe some snacks. Thank you so much,
Sherri.”
“Of course. We’ll be taking off shortly,” the flight
attendant said and walked to the galley.
“I’m serious. She was mean,” Garrett insisted.
“And you take everything seriously, Counselor. I was
laughing because your story sounds very much like my dads. They met in foster
care after their families blew up.”
Keane couldn’t quite process that information. He’d met Mr.
Barnes and Mr. Fleetwood several times. While they were down to earth and
friendly, they both knew how to move in a wealthy world. He knew they hadn’t
always been wealthy, but he expected they had normal childhoods. “They were
foster kids?”
She nodded and sobered. “Yes, they were, and it was bad. My
dad… That’s what I call Jack Barnes. He’s dad and Sam is papa. At some point my
brother started calling him Pops because he thought Papa made him sound like a
kid. My dad was in from a young age. His mom died and his biological dad had no
use for a bastard kid, so he had no one and went into the system. Papa was
older when his parents and brother died in a car accident. I don’t suppose the
two of you…” She hesitated and then seemed to find the courage to go on. “I
don’t suppose the two of you play together.”
“Of course we do,” Garrett replied. “We top subs together.”
But Keane knew what she was asking. “We’ve never had sex
together. Garrett is straight.”
Her lips curled up in the sexiest smile. “But you aren’t.”
Keane said nothing, simply stared at her.
Garrett sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. “Olivia,
could you please put us out of our misery? Are you firing us? Could you do it
before the plane takes off? I don’t want to get stuck in Willow Fork with no
way to get home.”
She wasn’t going to fire them. She was going to put them
through the hell of being near her and not being able to touch her. She was
going to show them exactly what they lost. What they never actually had.
“My Uncle Lucas adores you, and Aidan does, too. I would
never piss my sister off that way. Your jobs are secure, but unfortunately I’m
going to have to ask you to find a motel. Or rather check into the only one we
have in town. I’m sure Keane could stay in the bunkhouse, but I don’t think a
lawyer would fit in there.”
“I thought we were staying in the big house,” Garrett said.
She shrugged. “The big house is being renovated because my
parents are now empty nesters and want to put the kink back in their marriage.
My mother asked me to host you at my place, but obviously I wouldn’t want Keane
to have to stay with such a common woman and Garrett can’t possibly live with a